Posted by Vincent_QC on May 18, 2013, at 9:57:26
In reply to Meds for panic/agoraphobia VS. anxiety, posted by Prefect on May 7, 2013, at 21:31:26
> I'm beginning to wonder if the conditions known as "anxiety" and "panic disorder" should be seen as two very distinct conditions with very different pharmacology and brain chemical states (even possibly opposing chemical states).
>
> I, for instance, suffer from agoraphobia, which I've been told is a complication of panic disorder. When I go out, my level of anxiety is directly linked to my distance from my house. But when I'm not faced with a phobic situation, I'm extremely serene and calm. I deal with life problems with a collected mind and my mind is usually a ghost town when not being used for a specific function. But put me 30 km from my house, I will get panicky for a little while until I calm down. This condition can be very debilitating.
>
> I know people, on the other hand, who suffer from "anxiety" or GAD. They're constant worriers and they obsess about stuff. It's as if there is a mental activation that will not turn off. This is certainly not me.
>
> But it seems both groups are prescribed the same medication. I'm wondering if the experts on this site can have input on the difference between these two conditions and what possible meds would be more suitable for my type of condition.
>
> Thanks folks!Hi ;-)
I think anxiety is very different from a person to another one.
I do suffer of agoraphobia + panic disorder as well as GAD, social phobia, somatisation disorder and simple phobias...
I think the agoraphoia start when the panic disorder get out of control, at first staying at home was a way to avoid panic attacks. I had difficulty to get out of the house more and more since it was the only place where I was feeling safe, so driving my car was really hard especially alone and the more far away I was from home and the more anxious I was...
Of course avoiding is the worse thing to do when you have agoraphobia, you have to force yourself to get out of the house everyday, and i'm talking by experience... I do the mistake to stop driving my car, then I didn't get out of my house for weeks and one day at the end of 2010 I start to have panic attacks at home and felt not safe in my own house!!!
That's when my anxiety start being the worse, with no safe zone, physical symptoms who are mimic real diseases, chronic pain, chronic headache, chronic tachycardia, low blood pressure, hypotension, dizziness, vertigo, difficuty to breath, name it, all my anxiety is now physical,
I'm certainly not like you in the way that i'm worry all the time abouth my physical symptoms, have many panic attacks everyday in my own house, it'S like I can't shut off my brains and stop worrying about my health.
One thing I know is that benzo meds who act on the Gaba-A are very addictive, i'm addicted to them and they don't even work anymore, i'm stuck on 7 mg of Clonazepam a day with no reduction of anxiety, I also take once in a while a small dose of Xanax especially when I have to get out of the house and have to go to an appointment, I also take a beta-blocker to reduce my rapid heart beat so 30 mg of propranolol divided in 3 x 10 mg dose... it's not even working to reduce my heart rate now and will have to switch to another one soon and see if it's helping me more...
On other hands, the SSRI's like the Paxil really work for panic,agoraphobia and health anxiety as well. The only one problem is to take them since they increase the anxiety at first most of the time and for someone like me, I can't deal with more anxiety since i'm med sensitive to the point that taking a simple med like a Tylenol will lead to side-effects!!!
If you are not med sensitive, the MAOI call Nardil is good for anxiety, if you can deal with the orthostatic hypotension and the lack of energy and insomnia...
The Clomipramine, who is a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) is for me one of the worse med I try in my life, it's impossible to deal with the side-effects it give...all the tricyclic antidepressant are difficult to take and have a lot of side-effects, some peoples here will say that it's not true, but they are probably more depressive than anxious!!!
So basically you are right, panic or agoraphobia answer well to same meds...
It's hard to separate the agoraphobia and panic part of the anxiety, but for me I know that the panic disorder lead to the agoraphobia...maybe for you the agoraphobia appear first???
Well, take care and don't give up!!! We will fight that anxiety!!!
Vincent
poster:Vincent_QC
thread:1043349
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130501/msgs/1043851.html