Worse from medication

[kathhughes1971]

Has anybodys anxiety increased from taking medication? I was diagnosed with gad about 2 years ago when I had a panic attack out of the blue . Body went into spasms and I thought I was going to die!! I was on 20mg prozac at the time for post natal depression I had only taken them 1 week and the depression was starting to lift but 2 weeks in I had the panic attack. My life has gone spiralling ever since. I used to drive, go out everywhere, have fun with the children and their friend s always sleeping over.  I don't drive now. I hardly go out and if I do it is only local no more than a ten minute drive. I have seen a psychiatrist who has prescribed various different medications none of the helpful. The last being 75mg venlafaxine which I stopped after three days because I was so ill with them.  About a month ago I went to the doctor after suffering from pain which I believe was nerve pain and gave me 10mg amitryptiline. After taking these for a month I suffered bad depression and went back to the doctor who gave me 37.5 mg venlafaxine to take in morning and the 10 mg amitryptiline at night. I have been taking these for about ten days and although the depression has lifted I feel like I have a permanant lump in my throat and am feeling anxoius for no reason. Can anbody please tell me if this is normal and would it be a good idea to hang in there. Thank you

[lynn57]

The increased anxiety is probably causing the lump in your throat.  The meds are probably causing the increased anxiety.  When starting most SSRI's there is a chance of increased anxiety.  It may take a month or so to settle down.  It usually decreases gradually until one day you realize it's gone!  Good luck.

[kathhughes1971]

Thank you for your comment. I will give it another month and see how it goes. It does some to have the advantage of lifting the depression so lets hope this is at last the one and the anxiety calms down :-)

[JGF25]

From my own experience, my increase in Wellbutrin from 150 to 300 caused a spike in my anxiety.  I was very jittery every morning.  It usually subsided a bit in the afternoon/evening.  This continued for about 4 to 5 weeks at which time the medication had built up in my system to where it was working effectively.  The jitteryness and increased anxiety went away.  You need to give the medication a good 4 to 6 weeks to really see if it is working for you.  You should see an improvement as you go along those 4 to 6 weeks.