Anxiety and panic - Klonopin not working anymore

[alexander101]

For the past 4 months I've been  on 2 meds:
Lexapro:  I quit lexapro (reaching 20mg) after 2.5 months as it seemed to not help.

Klonopin: Been taking klonopin for 4 months, 0.5mg 2xd. After 3 months my panic and anxiety returned full blown.
Lexapro again:  I started Lexapro again and after 5 days i started to feel better, then the doc upped my dose to 15mg and the panic anxiety returned. After 5 days at 15mg i cut back to 10mg because things were just getting worse. I've been 4 days on 10mg and i see no improvement. Panic and anxiety throughout the whole day, I barely even have an appetite. (so total of 3 weeks on lexapro again)

I am still taking 0.5mg klonopin 2xd, even though i dont think its doing anything.

Are there other meds to try? I'm so scared nothing is going to help me even though I've only tried lexapro and klonopin. 

If lexapro isn't working, should i try a different SSRI?
Should I consider an SNRI like Effexor?
Should I switch from Klonopin (I guess I'm tolerant, although it never completely wiped out my anxiety) to another benzo? I hear for some people this works. 
Should I try Buspar?

I have an appointment with my pDoc in 4 days, but i would still like some advice. 

[Paranoidling]

1) I find Effexor helped me (and a lot of other people) but the only thing to worry about is withdrawal or missing doses. Venlafaxine is notorious for brain zaps and grogginess if you just miss a single day. I quit because I was on it for 4 years and it just kinda made things colorless but that's my personal opinion. Other than that it killed two birds with one stone and dissolved my depression and anxiety I had at the time.

2) I only have experience with Xanax and Ativan. Xanax helped me initially but now it's just kind of meh. Maybe it's the fact that I have always taken 0.25mg but I never really got hooked on it. It's good for mild panic attacks and just needing to calm down a bit. As for Ativan... I started that 3 weeks ago and it has knocked me out of the park. Very powerful and sedating but also EXTREMELY addicting and I would only recommend it if your anxiety is unbearable. If I so much as go a day or two without it I start sweating like crazy and get chills and feel very restless. Again, only on it for 3 weeks! (Then again I wasn't put on it for anxiety, I have a fast heart and Ativan is a nervous system depressant. But the same side effects still apply)

3) Buspar is hit or miss. It either works for people really well or doesn't work at all. I was in the latter. All it did for me was make my head feel cold... whatever that was about. But I've seen many people here say they like Buspar's calming effects.

You'll find something that works. There are many other SSRI's and similar things out there.

Edited March 29, 2014 by Hpunk94

[melissaw72]

This is the same exact post from the panic forum, so I will copy what I've said from there:

 

It is important to take meds as pdoc prescribes.  They could take up to 7-8 weeks to fully work, and you may be experiencing some side effects from those in the beginning that could go away after time, while your body is getting used to the meds.

 

It is hard to tell if the klonopin is working unless you stick to your other meds.  But you never know, maybe the klonopin is doing something/helping, but you don't realize it.  That happened to me and at one point I went off it without pdoc supervision, and found that it really was doing something, so I started taking it again. 

 

Maybe you could ask for an increase in klonopin?

[Wooster]

You've already posted this in the anxiety forum, so I am going to close this topic.

The reason we prevent "cross posting" (two exact same topics in two diferent forums) is because posters tend to get the best number and quality of responses if their thread is concentrated instead of spread out.

Kind regards,

Woo

(admin)