Anti Depressants for Anxiety

Hi all - Someone has recommended to me that some antidepressants that help with anxiety might help me to relax a little.

 

Have any of you had some good luck with this and which meds could you recommend that worked for you?

 

Thanks

Hi cubson,

 

I have been on AD's for chronic worry, and yes, they helped me a lot. I was on ssri AD's.

 

Not recommending though! Just saying what has worked for me. AD's can have quite negative effects on some people, so it's not something to be taken lightly.

A/ds had a negative effect on my anxiety.  I was tried on two different SSRI's and both made my anxiety worse, so not going down that route again. 

 

Having said that, there are a few in the benzo support group I go to who take an a/d with only positive results, so I guess it's just trial and error.  As with all meds there are good and bad reports, so its an individual choice. 

Whenever I started an antidepressant for anxiety it made it much much worse. IMO if someone has depression during benzo withdrawal the benzo caused it, not something in the body that an SSRI could fix. I've seen alot of stories on here of folks getting an increase in wd sx's because of antidepressants. I have had several days of depression but I'll be dead before I ask for an ad to fix it. I just rode it out and it left like the other symptoms did.

I was taken off benzos and put on seroxat a/d and am having the worst time with w/d from coming off this cold turkey, advised that there was not problem as a/ds are not addictive and I would advise anyone not to go on an a/d, once you are off the benzo, like me you will then have to get off the a/d and you are going to be back to square one.

 

poodlebell

if you spend some time in the SSRI withdrawal forums you'll see people suffering every bit as much as those of us here on the benzo forums...

 

it's not worth it if you end up being one of the people who have nightmarish withdrawals...

 

but just as there are people who will go to their grave saying how wonderful benzos are there are also people who will do the same with SSRIs

 

in my mind it's just not worth finding out if you're one of the lucky ones who does okay on them...

 

and yes, they sometimes cause monstrous anxiety where there was none at all...or agitation...and worse case scenarios hostility, violence and suicidality

 

 

Not a good experience at all .Try Wellbutrim ,drove me crazy . I was more anxious and felt like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. Stopped right away and refused to take any more, I was suggested Paxil and Lexapro. No way. I rather live with the depression and the anxiety ( that by the way are much better) than another experiment on my brain.  I do have good luck with Trazadone  at night , it seems to help me trough the night and also have lifted the profound depression I was) I take 50 mg , planning on taper it out soon too.

For what it's worth, Consumer Reports just did a report on this subject.  You may find it interesting:  http://pressroom.consumerreports.org/pressroom/2010/06/crh-survey-antidepressants-used-by-78-percent-of-respondents-with-depression-or-anxiety-.html

Tino,

 

My husband tried Zyban, which is the same formulation as Wellbutrin. He used it to quit smoking. He needed to smoke even more because he was soooo anxious!! The anxieties and panics ceases immediately as soon as he stopped.

I read something about GABA affecting/being "next door" to Serotonin.  Maybe that is why they prescribe a/d just to keep the serotonin level even.

It may not help benzo w/d but it keeps another neurotransmitter from going haywire.

 

I don't know I am on Lamictal and they want me to change to SSRI only = Zoloft.  I don't know what I think of this.

 

Mary

Since nobody really knows how these drugs are working and what they are doing to our brains, they definitely don't know how they interact when you take them together.

 

I've had terrible experiences with antidepressants, personally, worse for me than benzos.

 

My opinion is don't add anything.  Taper slowly and take care of yourself as well as you can in non-drug ways.