New medication for me

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
So as most of you know, I have been struggling terribly with my anxiety lately. Actually, not just lately, it's been about the last three years. I have tried every single antidepressant on this planet and nothing helps. I was on Zoloft for about 19 years and it was my wonder drug, till it suddenly quit on me and no longer works. I have Xanax for acute panic attacks but I can only take on pill at night when I don't have to drive. I am always super paranoid about Xanax lingering in my system when I have to drive the next morning, so I only take it twelve hours or more before I have to get up in the morning. So basically during the day I'm stuck. My Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) has also gotten really bad and I keep having intrusive, obsessive thoughts that I can't control. psychiatrist decided to put me on Luvox. I could have sworn it was one of the numerous pills I've already taken, but he says I haven't so I guess I'll trust him. If i have taken it in the past, it was probably years ago. So I'm going to see if it will help me now. Does anybody have any experience with this medication? Either for yourself or your kids? Good, bad, or indifferent? I am going to ask this question on my anxiety board and see if anybody else has tried it there too.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Thanks. It's one of those medications that takes a few weeks to kick in so I will have to wait and see. So far no bad side effects except I have been getting these irritating headaches in the afternoon. I don't know if it's the medication or stress.
 

flutterby

Fly away!
Luvox is an old SSRI, came out shortly after Prozac. It's supposed to be really good for anxiety, not so much for depression.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Anxiety is what I need it for so that's good to hear. I have been on every single other SSRI on the planet and nothing works, so I'm a little surprised psychiatrist is trying yet another one. I have no idea why there are so many different SSRI's when they all apparently affect the brain the same way, but I guess there must be a reason. I am keeping my fingers crossed it works otherwise we are out of options.
 

flutterby

Fly away!
Other than benzos which are sedating and can be addicting, and Buspar (same thing), SSRIs are really the only good medications for treating anxiety long term as opposed to a PRN. Cymbalta is also approved for treating Generalized Anxiety Disorder and it's an SNRI. Luvox is approved for treating anxiety disorders, including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I have tried SNRI's as well, and they actually make my anxiety much worse plus kick start my mania into full gear. I guess that's why he's trying another SSRI, but I know there are also tricylic antidepressants out there but for some reason he doesn't want to try those. I guess I will have to trust his judgement.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
I know there are also tricylic antidepressants out there but for some reason he doesn't want to try those
... reason is probably the side-effects. The older ADs seem to have a lot more side effects.
 

flutterby

Fly away!
Plus the tricyclics generally aren't as good as the SSRIs for anxiety. But everyone reacts differently to different medications.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I thought I already tried Luvox several years ago and it didn't work for me, but I could be wrong. The antidepressants I know for a fact that I've already tried and failed at are Prozac, Zoloft, Effexor, Wellbutrin, Vybrid, Celexa, Paxil, Cymbalta, and Pristiq. If there are any others out, there, I certainly don't know about them yet. Like I said, I could swear Luvox was also one of them but I could be wrong. Only time will tell, I guess. medication wise I think I am just out of options, and the cognitive behavior therapist I'm working with so far has not been very helpful. He has given me some great tips on how to combat depression, but nothing he has had me try works when I'm having one of my really bad panic attacks.
 

SuZir

Well-Known Member
To my knowledge (and according both difficult child's doctors and psychiatrist we talked about difficult child separately) BuSpar is not addictive. It can be same way habit forming as SSRIs, but for most is easier to get off than those. But not addictive like benzoes. For our difficult child it has been helpful. Not any spectacular changes and it ended up not being enough on it own, but when Lexapro (and Atarax PRN) was added, he seems to be doing fine medication wise. According docs BuSpar is also sometimes used as a booster for SSRIs with anxiety symptoms.

CBT is slow work. They don't have any patented solutions or tricks that would work for anxiety attacks right away. It takes lots of work and quite a bit of time to first learn the techniques and then learn to use them in real situations. I do know that my son has slowly built his coping techniques both with his therapist and his sport psychologist (to bit different things and to different situations with both) and it took lots of time, visits, homework and practising to use them before they were for any use. But he says that now he is often able to use those tools and make things better for himself. And while he is kind of sabbatical from most of his work with therapist (and only has an online meeting twice a month with him) he continues to very regularly work with his sport psychiatric with partly very similar issues and techniques.

So try to be patient with seeing results from the therapy (and also from the medication, it can take months to see if it works or not as you probably well know.)

Maybe you should keep record of your anxiety and sleep? Mark to your calender how you slept, how was overall anxiety, did you have any anxiety attacks etc. Same way we do with our kids. You could notice some patterns and it would also help you notice if drugs are working or not. At least with my kid there was never any great feeling that drugs worked and made his life better, but when he tracked his feelings (and certain physical factors) and also others recorded his mood etc. it was evident that drugs did work even though he may not have felt like that (of course he is rather medication resistant so he didn't want to notice them helping.)
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Add Buspar to the list that I've already tried, too. With the therapy it's still too soon to tell, I guess. I have only seen him about four times so far, reason being that this therapist is always going on vacation! The last time I saw him was about three weeks ago and I am not seeing him again till November 5th. He just went on a month long vacation over the summer, too. The first time I saw him he brought up my childhood sexual abuse and wanted me to describe it in detail. Then he sent me on my way with abosolutely no coping techiques when I started with the nightmares because he bought it up again. I'm not there to discuss my family member who repeatedly sexually abused me from the ages of 11 to 13. I already dealt with that issue in my 20's. He brought back memories I had left in the past and I didn't appreciate it. Thankfully he only talked about my abuse during one session and never brought it up again. The last time I was there he wanted to know all about my break up with my kids' dad and all about their disorders. That wasn't what I wanted to talk about either! I am there to learn how to combat these darn panic attacks, especially when I'm at work and pretty much helpless to do anything about it. Next month when I see him, I am going to sit down with an agenda and tell him right away what I would like to work on. Maybe I will find what he has to teach me a little more useful if I actually speak up and let him know where I'm currently struggling.
 

in a daze

Well-Known Member
My son started on gabapentin last week and he says it helps. He is also on Cymbalta, but still with lots of anxiety. He started the Cymbalta about 2 weeks ago.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
In a daze, is Gabapentin the same thing as Neurontin? If so, I have been on that one too. I took it for several months and unfortunately it didn't help much. Yesterday I felt less anxious so I was hopeful that maybe the Luvox was working, but today I'm here at work feeling lots of anxiety and panic yet again. I guess it's still too soon to tell and yesterday was just a random good day. Go figure.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I didn't sleep well last night and lack of sleep usually makes my anxiety worse the next day, so that may be why. Hopefully I make up for the lack of sleep this weekend. I usually do, since I know I don't have to stress about waking up on time for work. I sure wish I could sleep just as good during the week as I do on weekends. Right now it's random and some nights are better than others.
 
J

Josie

Guest
My daughter took Luvox about 5 years ago for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I thought it worked pretty quickly on the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) symptoms but she did have some side effects. We took her off that and tried another one. She had so many side effects that we had to stop trying for a while. Eventually, she ended up on Lexapro. I am not sure it is the best one for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) but she seems to be tolerating it. She had tried it before and had side effects, so you might find success with some of the ones you have already tried.

Anafranil is another Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) medication that you didn't mention.

She has had a lot of success with CBT/ERP. It is a special kind of CBT where you confront your fear, live with the anxiety, and see that it goes down. She has done it for two separate issues and they are both completely gone. She has also been able to apply what she learned to other Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) things popping up. She still has other Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) issues that she hasn't worked on with it yet, so she is not completely Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)-free.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Anafril is the next medication psychiatrist says he wants to try if the Luvox doesn't help. I hear that is a triclylic antidepressant so maybe that will help better since I have been on all of the SSRI's.
 
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