Anxiety Medication Recommendations

[Anonymous]

Mid-fifties woman and I’ve struggled with anxiety all my life. Up to now I’ve mostly managed it with meditation and exercise, herbal teas, magnesium, and melatonin for sleep. When it’s particularly bad, I take Xanax or propranolol as needed. But I’m starting to see how my anxiety may be contributing to other health issues - insomnia, IBSD, and lichen schlerosis - and I’m exploring other treatment options. Most of the anxiety meds I’ve researched have side effects - fatigue, weight gain, libido loss - and they’re intended for depression, which I don’t have. Any thoughts or experiences about anxiety drugs with minimal side effects?

[Anonymous]

Low dose Lexapro (10 mg) has been a lifechanger for me.

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty much exactly like you minus the xanax. I started therapy this year which helped a lot. Even though I was already doing a lot of the things she recommended, it was still helpful to unload on someone who didn't need anything from me or who I didn't have to worry about how she'd react or if it would add to her mental load (like when I vent to my awesome husband or friends).

I also take propranalol as needed and also hydroxyzine, which I find pretty mild but helps me fall asleep. I tried both lexapro and prozac last year with disastrous side effects (stomach issues, panic attacks, I lost 8 pounds in two weeks on prozac!).

But I also wonder how much my anxiety is affecting my health - especially my stomach, I have a real tendency to diarrhea lately when my anxiety spikes - so I still think about meds. Not sure what I could try though, that wouldn't give other side affects. I have thought about HRT or the pill (I'm 46 and pretty sure I'm in peri). Some people say that helps with anxiety.

[Anonymous]

I take Buspirone daily. Mine manifests in OCD symptoms. I’m 51 now but have been on it for years.

[Anonymous]

The three meds I’m exploring are Buspirone, Lexapro, and Prozac. I hate the thought of all of them. But my stomac is always upset and I can’t absorb nutrients (calcium and Vitamin D) due to chronic diarrhea. Osteoporosis is looming. My poor sleep is affecting my memory and job performance. When I do sleep I grind my teeth and wear a night guard now after cracking two molars. I’ve also tried regular acupuncture and massage to no real effect. I finally went to a neurologist worried about dementia. She told me to throw everything at my anxiety, so here I am.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s very individual as to how you’ll react. I was on Zoloft for years with no side effects at all but I don’t think it helped me.

I briefly tried Lexapro but didn’t think it was helping and no side effects.

Now I’m trying Prozac and it may be causing me insomnia and increased anxiety - which can happen as you adjust to these drugs so I’m giving it a bit more time but I will wean off if I don’t see improvement or that the drug is effective. It may be that ssri drugs just don’t benefit me.

[Anonymous]

“Low dose” is just something they say to get you to take the drugs.

[Anonymous]

I suffer from debilitating bouts of panic and baseline high anxiety, and have recently realized that my anxiety spikes make my blood pressure go up to 170/100. Not good. I can't take blood pressure medication, because when I'm calm, I have normal blood pressure - ie, it's not high all the time.

I recently tried buspirone, and got even more nervous and panicky. Apparently this side effect is rather common with SSRIs and assimilated (buspirone is not an SSRI but it's a serotonin agonist and is supposed to act in a related way). Nervousness is supposed to go away after a few weeks, but being already at a very high anxiety level, I couldn't take the additional load of panic it brought on.

I tried hydroxyzine, an anti-histamine whose side effect is drowsiness (used for insomnia and anxiety), and it made my occasional palpitations worse.

So now I have a script for the SSRI sertraline (Zoloft generic), and I will try it, but I hope it won't cause nervousness or palpitations. I get anxious thinking about it.

My point is that you don't know which side effects you'll get, if you get any. So this is very much a trial and error procedure, which, for me personally, is not good for my anxiety. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

13:28 again.

What you want, ideally, is a low-dose, non-habit forming, medication. SSRIs are the first line of treatment for long-term anxiety, because statistically their side effects are reasonably manageable, and because they are non habit forming. But your individual reaction is what matters, so start on the lowest possible dose of whatever it is and proceed with caution. Please give the psychiatrist a list of all the existing conditions you have and meds you take, as there are some counterindications for anxiety medications.

[Anonymous]

I take Zoloft. Helps a ton. No weight gain or other side effects (unless I up my dose past 125, in which case I’m too tired).

[Anonymous]

Fluoxetine. Be prepared to try several to find the right one for you.

[Anonymous]

OMG, I could easily be OP. Lexapro generic 5 mg a day was what cured me. i sleep through the night and can face everything)))

[Anonymous]

I take Xanax, as needed. I am finding that once I start a conversation about this nearly everyone I talk to is going through some degree of anxiety but mostly intense. This is the goal of people who carry out terrorist attacks. We have been fed so much fear by Trump and Fox News to the point where Americans believe a convicted criminal who has been impeached who tried to overthrow our government will save them. As we Watch our new fascist government being formed it is normal to feel anxiety. Trump supporters with any intelligence are seeing this.

[Anonymous]

I started Zoloft (50 mg) and HRT around the same time. Not sure which was the game changer or if it was the combo, but anxiety is gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Low dose Lexapro (10 mg) has been a lifechanger for me.

How long have you been taking it? Did you gain weight?