Posted by Vincent_QC on June 13, 2013, at 10:04:19
In reply to Re: New PDoc RX Lamictal for severe anxiety..., posted by polarbear206 on June 12, 2013, at 19:34:29
> WOW!!! What horrible events you've been through!! I'm very sorry you have been suffering this long!! Lamictal is a pretty smooth drug with a low side effect profile. I have mild bipolar, which surfaced after my son was born. Started with severe paralyzing anxiety, insomnia and weight loss. Dx. with post partum depression. They started me on klonopin and imipramine in the hospital. I would later go through cycles of anxiety alternating with periods of Atypical depression and then periods of normalcy while I was on my meds. I tried many AD. Paxil worked well at times, then would poop out. I've been on Effexor and lamictal for a long time with great success. You mentioned they told you you were passive-aggressive? Do you have shifts in your moods? Are you sleeping and what is your daily sleep pattern like? When someone has trialed and failed multiple AD and if they exacerbate your anxiety, this raises a red flag that you could have an underlying affective disorder, which is best treated with a mood stabilizer and an AD if needed for depression is present. Rule of thumb is to start any drug low and slow. Also, introducing one at time. You have to be patient while titrating up on Lamictal. I noticed an effect within the first week I started it. I worked my way up to 200mg whete I maintained a good response. I take 300mg of Effexor.Hang in there and give it a chance. I also take Klonopin as needed for sleep, however I don't need it all that much. Hope this helps.
Hi ;-)
Hummm sound like you had some difficulties yourself and do hope you feel better now!!!
Did you had difficulty to tolerating the imipramine? Any kind of heart side-effects? I react badly to the TCA's, they all give me bad tachycardia...
Bipolar 2 I guess no? It's hard to treat with only AD so that's probably why you are on the Lamictal right now...
I don't have shift of my moods at all, in fact I feel like I have no moods at all, flat, since my anxiety is in the roof and all turning into physical symptoms, it's like everything that I loved in the past like movies, music, going out with friends, architecture...it's like all my anxiety suck out all my energy and I can't enjoy simple things like in the past and I hate that feeling... it's not me at all.
I'm not depress, can feel like i'm irritated once in a while cause my anxiety is so high, I have no patiency at all...
I never had a hypomania episode, my sleep patern was always poor, I mean that I worked 10 years at a evening and night shift so I was at home late in the night, taking my shower and lost some time on my computer and go to bed... When I stop working at night, I return to an usual sleep patern but always had difficulty to fall asleep fast, always take 2-3 hours to fall asleep cause in my head I have a lot of thoughts and rumonation and can't stop thinking...When I finally succeed to fall asleep, I sleep 3 to 4 hours in a row and i'm awake with chest pain, tachycardia, sweating, lack of breath 1 night on 2 and can't return to sleep after...so I get up and go eat breakfast and return in my bed cause I feel so exhausted...
In the past I was put on seroquel for my insomnia, but at the end I was taking 100 mg and didn't sleep more and that Seroquel trigger the panic attack return on me, didn't had a panic attack in a while before starting the seroquel, only had social phobia...
It's funny cause before my anxiety become so high, I was used to start all my meds in normal dosage and sometimes therapeutic dosage, I always start my AD at for examples 20 mg for the Paxil, 20 mg for the Lexapro, 20 mg for the Celexa, 50 mg for the Zoloft, 20 mg for the Prozac... and I never had increase anxiety as a side-effects...Now it's like my body chemistry change and I became meds sensitive... I the last 2 1/2 years I try many times to return on an AD, 2.5 mg of Lexapro lead to supraventricular tachycardia and a trip to the ER, 12.5 mg of Zoloft lead to the same result so I tried to take 1 mg of Paxil and didn't had the tachycardia but my anxiety was worse, I took it for 1 month and reach 1.8 mg and my anxiety was only worse and worse each day... so I just stop...
But have to start it again, maybe going even slower than 1 mg and start at 0.5 mg and increase the dose every 2 weeks by 0.5 mg... I know it will take forever to reach the 20 mg but I really need to be on an AD and the Paxil is the only one who work for my anxiety, the worse is probably the Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac, Effexor-XR... The Paxil is not a magic pill, it make me very tired, lack of energy, I eat too much on it, I gain weight and a lot of weight in fact, BUT I will take the weight gain and lack of energy from the Paxil anytime if it can help to stop the panic and decrease my general anxiety...
Well thanks for your help ;-) Take care!!!
poster:Vincent_QC
thread:1045150
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130527/msgs/1045206.html