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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Monika on February 15, 2000, at 23:54:40
Hello everyone...I'm a 23yr old female and I have been suffering from severe anxiety since I was 15...along with periods of depression....
I have done the whole routine of prozac, zoloft, paxil...clonazepam.....and I am about to go on Celexa.
I am curious to know of anyone's experience's with celexa relieving anxiety.....
Am also curious of what are the side effects when going off this drug.....as in weening off the drug...
I am scared to take this new drug since I have weened myself off of paxil...which by the way was only 20mg...and was a hell of a ride....Paxil is very difficult to get off of...thus this is why I am scared to take the celexa...cuz I don't want to have a rollercoaster ride when I want to go off..
Personally, I don't like the idea of being on pills....I want to get rid of my anxiety without the use of drugs......
But at the moment the only drug I take is the clonazepam....and I experience 2 or more serious panic attacks a day....
Am tired of living like this....especially since I was 15 yrs old........
I have heard doctors say you can get rid of the anxiety by taking pills (celexa for instance) which will get rid of yer anxiety....and not experice one for an extended period of time....then go off the pills and one's mind will have "forgoten" how to have a panic attack.....is this true..
I know...I have mentioned alot here...but I am getting to the end of my rope with this damn anxiety....I don't want to have to take pills for the rest of my life....nor do I want to experince panic attacks for the rest of my life.....
If anyone can relate or shed some light for me....would be appreciated ......
Thanks for Reading....
Posted by JohnL on February 16, 2000, at 5:19:53
In reply to ANXIETY AND CELEXA AND DEPRESSION AND MORE!!, posted by Monika on February 15, 2000, at 23:54:40
Monika,
Sorry to hear of your continuing despair. You can indeed by normalized with pills, but they have to be the RIGHT pills. There are multiple chemical imbalances that can cause anxiety. Such as: serotonin deficient, GABA deficient, excessive norepinephrine receptor density, dopamine excessive, dopamine deficient, and electrical instability.
So far you have been treated for serotonin deficient (Zoloft, Prozac, Paxil), and dopamine excess (Clonazepam). There isn't much hope to expect Celexa will do much after failures on the other three. The underlying cause of your anxiety symptoms is probably not serotonin related, as evidenced by your medication responses so far. I think it has become urgent to move on to other classes of medications.
For GABA deficient, a benzo type drug will correct the imbalance quickly. For NE excess, an antihypertensive medication (usually prescribed for high blood pressure) will completely neutralize the anxiety symptoms. For dopamine deficient, a stimulant would work (similar to ADD or ADHD, even in the absence of any symptoms of those conditions). For electrical instability, one of the mood stabilizers like Depakote or one of several others.
I think your doc is concentrating too much on too few causes of the anxiety. Trials of these other drugs would seem urgent to me at this point. When the right one is found to correct the underlying imbalance, you will know it very quickly, often within days. Thus only short trials should be needed to fine-tune the search. The farther away a drug is from targeting the problem, the longer the wait for it to work, if it ever works at all.
If you insist on going without pills, you might try the herbal supplement Kava Kava. It has a powerful reputation for its anti-anxiety properties. It's cheap and natural. There are counseling psychotherapies designed to counter anxiety too. From what I've heard, they are effective. They don't cure the anxiety, but they teach you how to control the anxiety, rather than the anxiety controlling you.
There are lots of options. I think it has become urgent to move on to other treatments that target chemical imbalances that have so far been overlooked.
Posted by Rick on February 17, 2000, at 14:03:50
In reply to Re: ANXIETY AND CELEXA AND DEPRESSION AND MORE!!, posted by JohnL on February 16, 2000, at 5:19:53
Both medical literature and anecdotal reports suggest that one medication within a given class may be effective for a given individual, even though other medications in the same class have failed. That was certainly the case for benzos and my social anxiety (two failed, and then the third one I tried worked wonderfully). This concept also applies to SSRI's, so it's quite possible the Celexa will work...although three SSRI failures (if given at least six weeks to work, at optimal doses)does begin to suggest that serotonin deficiency might not the primary culprit.
---
> Monika,
>
> Sorry to hear of your continuing despair. You can indeed by normalized with pills, but they have to be the RIGHT pills. There are multiple chemical imbalances that can cause anxiety. Such as: serotonin deficient, GABA deficient, excessive norepinephrine receptor density, dopamine excessive, dopamine deficient, and electrical instability.
>
> So far you have been treated for serotonin deficient (Zoloft, Prozac, Paxil), and dopamine excess (Clonazepam). There isn't much hope to expect Celexa will do much after failures on the other three. The underlying cause of your anxiety symptoms is probably not serotonin related, as evidenced by your medication responses so far. I think it has become urgent to move on to other classes of medications.
>
> For GABA deficient, a benzo type drug will correct the imbalance quickly. For NE excess, an antihypertensive medication (usually prescribed for high blood pressure) will completely neutralize the anxiety symptoms. For dopamine deficient, a stimulant would work (similar to ADD or ADHD, even in the absence of any symptoms of those conditions). For electrical instability, one of the mood stabilizers like Depakote or one of several others.
>
> I think your doc is concentrating too much on too few causes of the anxiety. Trials of these other drugs would seem urgent to me at this point. When the right one is found to correct the underlying imbalance, you will know it very quickly, often within days. Thus only short trials should be needed to fine-tune the search. The farther away a drug is from targeting the problem, the longer the wait for it to work, if it ever works at all.
>
> If you insist on going without pills, you might try the herbal supplement Kava Kava. It has a powerful reputation for its anti-anxiety properties. It's cheap and natural. There are counseling psychotherapies designed to counter anxiety too. From what I've heard, they are effective. They don't cure the anxiety, but they teach you how to control the anxiety, rather than the anxiety controlling you.
>
> There are lots of options. I think it has become urgent to move on to other treatments that target chemical imbalances that have so far been overlooked.
This is the end of the thread.
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