Posted by Elroy on June 3, 2005, at 16:35:29
In reply to Re: deep and surface anxiety » JenStar, posted by FredPotter on June 2, 2005, at 16:01:26
Fred,
Yes, know exactly what you mean.
I have tried Ativan (no luck at all) and was then moved to Xanax XR (1mg x 2 daily). It does a nice job with the active (jittery) type anxiety but nothing for the strong background (deep dread) anxiety - and it is there in the background about 90% of the time.
I too used to be a drinker - and a fairly heavy drinker (which I think now was indeed a form of self-medication) - and wonder if that's somehow connected.
Two suggestions.
Number one, I have been involved - for just a few weeks - with EMDR therapy. It has worked wonders. With some people it can have very quick results with complete remissions. With others (with lots of background problems over a lot of years), it can take quite a bit longer. I appear to be one of the latter types unfortunately... but have still been very, very impressed with the therapy.
For more info see:
http://www.remedyfind.com/rem.asp?id=7766
http://www.remedyfind.com/rem.asp?id=5779
http://www.remedyfind.com/rem.asp?id=4144
http://www.remedyfind.com/rem.asp?id=12635
http://www.remedyfind.com/rem.asp?id=12636Not sure if there's any postings on this Board concerning EMDR or not (it stands for "Eye Movement Desensitization" something or the other).
Also, would strongly look into having your cortisol levels checked. I found out - after the development of my severe anxiety problems about one year ago (prior to that had a couple years of very low level anxiety and about 4 years of chronic high stress) - that I had highly elevated levels of cortisol. We're talking at the time levels that were about 5- 6 times the normal maximum of the reference range. The levels were so high that I had to go through a lot of advanced testing to see if it was Cushing's Disease or not (it wasn't). One of the things that I did find out (through research and discussions with Endos) was that elevated cortisol can cause anxiety and / or depression (actually "manufacture" it) or escalate exisiting conditions.
Finally, would want to also have testing done to see if you have a Pheo tumor or not. That is a tumor located inside the adrenal gland that causes a lot of grief through the excessive otuput of your adrenaline type hormones and neurotransmitters (especially epinephrine and norepinephrine). A very specific symptom is very high levels of anxiety. Generally very high blood pressure is symptomatic of a Pheo tumor, but as many as 20% of Pheo positive patients do not reflect BP problems.
BTW, if it's a high cortisol problem, you can attempt to address it with various supplements, but their effects appear to be most positive in only marginally high cortisol cases. The other legitimate response at this time appears to be Remeron. There are some relatively recent studies that show it apparently has a quite strong effect on cortisol levels (even in "normal cortisol" people). A very recent study report released (like last week) showed that Remeron was statistically more effective than SSRIs...
http://www.docguide.com/news/content.nsf/news/8525697700573E188525700E00608A93
General info:
http://qualitycounts.com/drugs/remeron_mirtazapine.html
In my own case, there appears to be "something" holding back the EMDR from being a complete breakthrough. My hope is that the Remeron WILL be effective in significantly lowering the cortisol and that it is the highly elevated cortisol that is (A) keeping the anxiety going and (B) preventing the EMDR therapy from being completely effective.
In any case, would check out the EMDR therapy and see if you have a qualified therapist in your area (my current therapist is moving out of state in a couple weeks and is herself locating a replacement EMDR therapist for me - as she was the only one in their office!).
Elroy
P.S. Do you have any physical symptoms involved with your anxiety? Tinnitus? Insomnia? Loss of libido? Extremities pains?
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X> Thanks Jenstar No drug seems to help, apart from alcohol and I don't drink anymore. There's usually something in the background of my life that is behind it. Hence the looming feeling I suppose. Feeling the fear and getting on with life anyway seems for me to be the only way
> Fred
poster:Elroy
thread:506541
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050601/msgs/507395.html