Low dose zyprexa for anxiety disorders?

[jaffy]

I have the wonderful combination of anxiety and racing thoughts. Not just the simple jitters but the kind where it seems like you are going to have a heart attack. That combined with racing thoughts (ocd type) has not made me the most "productive" person. I am thankful to never have had to gone to the hospital and would like to keep it that way.

I am wondering if being on two antipsychotics is healthy since I don't have auiditory/visual hallucinations and I don't want to go off my risperidone and when I was above 1.5mg of risperidone in the past this actually made all of my symptoms worse. 1.5 seems to be the sweet spot for helping a wide range of here and there symptoms.

I have no desire to go on the benzodiazepines. occasionally I have to take a little xanax but I hate when I have to do that.

I just need something to shut my brain the hell up so I can think clearly for once of my life.

-thanx-

[AnneMarie]

What have you tried for anxiety and why are you on Risperidone?

[Maceo]

I was prescribed Zyprexa in place of Valium for a while. It didn't work well for my social phobia which was the reason I took Valium but it really helped clear my head and make my mood more stable (in that way it did calm me). It did calm my racing thoughts so I guess in a way it's helpful for ADD and it was especially helpful with preventing me from self-harming. I didn't even plan to stop cutting I just started taking Z and didn't feel like it.

I stopped taking it because it made me gain weight after I went up from 2.5mg/day to 5mg/day. So, if you're concerned with weight, I wouldn't go above 2.5mg. The weight gain is very significant and happens quite quickly.

[jaffy]

What have you tried for anxiety and why are you on Risperidone?

It's the base med for my sensory issues related to Asperger's Disorder(agitation, annoying sounds bothering me, emotional over-reaction). Helps only slightly with racing thoughts and sleep but does next to nothing for anxiety. I was off of it for a while (bad idea) but now that I'm on it again life is slightly improved. Titrated from .25 to .5 to .75 to 1 to 1.5

Meds for anxiety hmm...BuSpar (drunk), Ativan (chalk), Paxil (made me suicidal), Depakote (shrudder), Lexapro(sorta helped), Zoloft (racing thoughts worsened), Klonopin (depressed/sleepy)....there might be a few more but I can't remember them right now.

[AnneMarie]

Ah. I see. And you've already tried most of the obvious choices.

It's never good to be on two AAPs because of the increased potential for EPS, TD, etc. That said, I think dose has a something to do with side effect potential. ? Hope so, at least.

Btw, Seroquel might be a good choice. It'd likely help with sleep and then have some left over anxiolytic effects. Generally, I think it's considered stronger in the anxiety dept than Zyprexa at low doses. It also is a less fattening med. Then again, it might help a little too much with sleep. Hard to know.

[gizmo]

I take a medium dose of zyprexa for my bipolar. I also have an anxiety disorder. I was chugging down xanax 3 times a day and barely able to leave the house (or shower, but that's another story). My anxiety was cut by about 75% when I got to 10mg of zyprexa (5 mg didn't really do anything for me, but again, I'm bipolar).

Of course, I had to ramp it up to 15mg because of a manic state, and whereas I used to be fine with food on 10mg, now after 5pm I want to eat everything in sight because I'm so friggin hungry.

As much as I LOVE my zyprexa, I would go with Stacia's suggestion that you try seroquel first.