krojoy24 Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Hi everyone. I love reading all of your post, they are very informative. I have had panic, depression, GAD, and social anxiety for about 15 years now. Five years ago I went on Effexor XR between 75-150 mg. I has worked great for me, and every time I go off it I relapse. Have felt the withdrawles of this drug. No fun. Well anyways Effexor has pooped out on me. Very depressed having anxiety and mad sugar cravings. So i we to a pshycitrist. He wanted me to stay on the Effexor 150 mg, added Wellbutrin 100sr, and buspar 10mg 2times daily. This in hopes of getting off Effexor. Well stupid me I backed my Effexor down to 75 already. I am getting panic attacks again and feeling very hopeless. Switching meds is very stressful. I upped it to the 150mg today. I feel like I'm never going to beable to get steady on meds again. I want to stay on the Wellbutrin because of smoking and being overweight. I know I need something to help with my anxiety. I don't know if the buspar will help with that or if I should just give in and stay on my Effexor with the Wellbutrin. I am going to see my psychiatrist again today and I will update you. Till then , what do you think about my meds? What has been sucessful for you with anxiety and depression? Any information is greatly appreciated. B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConfusedCat Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 If one of your problems has always been anxiety, watch how you feel on the wellbutrin. While it seems to be great for many people for depression it can exacerbate those with anxiety in some bad ways. I am always a little surprised when docs put known-to-be anxious people on it. I guess he figures the buspar might cover you? I hope he is all for coming off of effexor slowly and you might ask him what his "plan" is for that, also read the how to withdrawal schedule here on these boards. If you have a really rough time it may be wise to ask for a benzo short term, like xanax or similar. Some docs are totally anti-benzo so if he is ask what other options you have. Try to remember all this does go away eventually (if the new meds work) and it is not a permanent condition. Best of luck and keep posting your progress for support. CC~ PS if you are not bi-polar and ssri's are an option many help tremendously with anxiety and depression, I am a long term paxil user for those same issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_krojoy24_* Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Just got back form the Psychiatrist. He wants to drop my Buspar, I mentioned a beta blocker and he wan'ts me to see regular doc for a check up first. I think the beta blocker would help in several areas. With Swearing and heat intolerance and anxiety. Does anyone have any experince with beta-blockers I am so irratated with this whole med thing thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Elvis Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Hi everyone. I love reading all of your post, they are very informative. I have had panic, depression, GAD, and social anxiety for about 15 years now. Five years ago I went on Effexor XR between 75-150 mg. I has worked great for me, and every time I go off it I relapse. Have felt the withdrawles of this drug. No fun. Well anyways Effexor has pooped out on me. Very depressed having anxiety and mad sugar cravings. So i we to a pshycitrist. He wanted me to stay on the Effexor 150 mg, added Wellbutrin 100sr, and buspar 10mg 2times daily. This in hopes of getting off Effexor. Well stupid me I backed my Effexor down to 75 already. I am getting panic attacks again and feeling very hopeless. Switching meds is very stressful. I upped it to the 150mg today. I feel like I'm never going to beable to get steady on meds again.Well. No. You never are going to get steady on meds if you keep fucking with them all willy-nilly. Why not increase the Effexor dose to 225 or more before you do anything else? The best way to avoid effexor discontinuation syndrome is to not discontinue Effexor. If you find a med that works well, stick with it until you've maxed out the dose and you're sure you're not going to get anything out of it again. Zyban is the same thing as 150mgs Wellbutrin-SR. It's to be taken twice a day in order to quit smoking. It has not been shown effective for smoking cessation at lower doses. The problem is that if you have anxiety problems to begin with, 300mgs Wellbutrin will have you wanting to crawl out of your skin. IMHO, buspar is worthless most of the time for general anxiety and has never been claimed to have any effect on social anxiety at all. You'd be better off raising your Effexor to where it helps with the anxiety or dropping it in favor of one of the SSRIs Paxil, Celexa, or Lexipro. A small dose of an anti-psychotic would help counter the anxiety caused by the Wellbutrin but would also be ineffective vs. your social anxiety. Ask your doc for some xanax to help you break out of panic attacks until you find a way to prevent them. Stopping panic cold is what xanax is primarily designed to do and it's damn good at it. Right now your cocktail sounds more like one geared towards treating depression than anxiety and panic. Since it sounds like anxiety problems are the worst of what you're dealing with right now, focus on getting that fixed first and then worry about everything else. I want to stay on the Wellbutrin because of smoking and being overweight. I know I need something to help with my anxiety. I don't know if the buspar will help with that or if I should just give in and stay on my Effexor with the Wellbutrin. I am going to see my psychiatrist again today and I will update you. In all likelyhod the buspar would not do much for your anxiety even if you were not taking wellbutrin. With wellbutrin they are most likely $3 tic-tacs. Till then , what do you think about my meds? What has been sucessful for you with anxiety and depression? Any information is greatly appreciated. B) Start with a benzo to get your anxiety under control NOW so you don't have to be going out of your skin while you're waiting for somthing else to work. For social anxiety I've found high-dose SSRIs effective as have many others. The serotonic properties of Cymbalta combined with Seroquel takes most of the edge off my GAD, social phobia, and OCD. I also take 300mgs of wellbutrin a day. Combined with the cymbalta it's been fairly effective vs. depression. I also take dexidrine for ADD and the seroquel is enough to keep that from making my anxiety too much worse though there are some days when my anxiety is so bad that I can't take dexidrine at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Elvis Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Beta-blockers often make depression worse. You don't want to touch them until you've got your depression under control lest you fall into the abyss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_krojoy24_* Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Thank you for your respone, that is alot of good information. On the effexor lately I haven't been able to do much and don't even want to get out of bed. That is why I was getting my meds switched. Do you think upping the Effexor to 225 would have helped me with that? Do you think taken Effexor and wellbutrin is okay? I want to take the Wellbutrin for energy, smoking and weight issues. Already with the Wellbutrin I can wake up and feel half alive. But anxiety is the main issue. So please shoot away. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wifezilla Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 "You never are going to get steady on meds if you keep fucking with them all willy-nilly" ::::wifezilla types Velvet Elvis' words of wisdom into computer ::::prints them out in 92 point type, red ink ::::mounts wonderful quote to a piece of very heavy card stock ::::hunts down hubby :::::shows him quote ::::beats him repeatedly with quote mounted to heavy card stock hoping he will get the message Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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