What is a good medication for panic disorder and social anxiety?
I have severe panic disorder and social anxiety and I was prescribed trileptol and celexa. I’ve been taking them for almost a year now, and I haven’t noticed any change physically or mentally. Is there a different medication I should be taking?
Tagged with: celexa • medication • panic disorder • social anxiety
Filed under: panic disorder
Listen, I will suggest a medication, but I have a couple of things to say that WILL help you ALOT. Because medication is not always the answer.
You may need to take a medication for social anxiety but by all means, do not take short acting medications like klonopin,xanax , or adivan. You will become reliant on these meds. If you must take a medication try Seroquel XR(extended release, to mellow you out throughout the day) It will knock you out each time you take them for the first week or so, but after that it helps alot. Stick to a medium dose- you don’t want to end up a zombie.
Some tips:
-The more you expose yourself to social situations, the easier they become to deal with. You will be a little less anxious each time.
-Do not bail out, quit, or stay at home because that will only make the problem worse. [the opposite of the therapeutic effects of exposure.]
Finally- emotions come in waves. You need to jump in, stop thinking so much, and wait for the wave to pass. They always do. Good luck. You have one life to live.
Hi Victoria -
Sometimes drugs can’t fix anxiety/panic disorders all on their own. Have you tried working with a therapist? Usually a combination of medication and therapy work best. Many times the therapist will co-manage the patient’s care with a psychiatrist (an M.D.) so that both needs are met. The M.D. can prescribe the medications and you and your therapist can work on getting you desensitized to whatever it is that triggers your anxiety and panic attacks.
One word of caution – some people rely on a class of drugs called benzodiazepines to deal with anxiety and panic attacks. Stay away from these – they are highly addictive and they do not actually treat the problems. They simply mask the feelings of anxiety and panic. They also have some heavy side-effects. Some common examples of benzos would be Valium, Xanax or Ativan.
I hope that this information was helpful to you and I really do wish you all the best. I have a lot of personal as well as professional experience in this area (have a family member who has the same disorder) and I know how debilitating the constant anxiety and panic can be.
Feel free to click on my profile and then chose the email link if you want to correspond privately outside of this board. I would be more than happy to talk with you. Hang in there!
Doc Calypso
I wouldn’t take drugs if i was you. They are only for extreme situations like if you’ve been hospitalized for a nervous break down. You should know this by now if you’ve been taking them for a year with no affect. Try something else like yoga, meditation or natural medications
Drugs will only cover up the problem. Check this website out: http://www.stopanxietyhq.com/anxietyrelief/solutions . This site provides up to date reviews on all of the best anxiety and panic disorder programs on the internet! A majority of which are professionally recognized in the mental health industry.
Hey… Victoria here, maybe my personal story can give you some solace…
a lil about me- about a year after my husband left me and my daughter died about 5 years ago.. I was at a very difficult point in my life, and was ultimately diagnosed with depression, severe anxiety, and panic disorder. I would say that i’ve always for the most part been a little depressed and had some degree of anxiety, but this just completely tipped the scale. I remember there were days on end I would just lie in bed, and whenever I would be in a social environment my anxiety would go through the roof and I would often have panic attacks. Therapy never seemed to be effective for me, and my psych put me on damn near every med out there. I’ve been on everything from wellbutrin to paxil, zoloft, prozac, lexapro, celexa, buspar, valium, klonopin, xanax.. etc. Sometimes 2-3 different ones in combo at the same time. Nothing really seemed to work for me. With the exception of some of the benzos (klono./xanax) .. these worked well for a little while, but I grew tolerance quickly, and became highly addicted.
Then one day while researching online i came across this reputable looking website http://www.anxiety.pcti-system.com .. which talked about this program to eliminate your anxiety for good, all naturally. Long story short, I wound up signing up to try it and the program worked amazing.. Not only do I no longer have panic attacks and anxiety gone, but my depression has also seemed to dissipate a little. And I’m currently starting to slowly ween off the meds I’m on. >>>>
I would personally say that possibly the biggest driving factor in all this is OCD. I think obsessing and constantly having your thoughts focused on your own condition and constantly analyzing your own thoughts/actions plays a very significant role in the persistence of our ails. Almost like the condition is a small lit fire, and OCD is the fuel that keeps it consistently burning… Also, I’ve come to the conclusion that meds are generally a unhealthy short term cure that only semi-treats the symptoms, and never the cause. Hope I was of some help!