advice on meds please??

[david_351]

Hello all, I am new here to the forums, but look forward to getting some good advice. Just a little backround, I am a 27 year old male from Alberta, Canada, and have been suffering from anxiety and panic attacks for about 5 years now. I never thought to seek help for it until last year, as I felt guilty that it was not a real problem, and I did not want to tie up the medical system with my minor problems.

Last summer I finally went to see my doctor as my panic attacks were becoming quite frequent, with feelings of chest pains, intense fear of dying etc. Also my anxiety was always present, making me stutter at work, avoid eye contact with people, basically my mind was just going a million miles an hour. So my doctor started me on Clonazepam and Cipralex. Within a couple of days I felt like a whole new person. I had wondered how I managed to make it through a day before. I had been able to achieve so much, I finally had really good concentration at work, I was feeling really good. And so I stayed on the medication, 1mg of Clonazepam and 20mgs of Cipralex for 6 months, and my anxiety was completely cured, no more panic attacks or nothing.

After 6 months my doctor told me I could no longer use Clonazepam, and pulled me off, and gave me 15 .5mgs of one called Ativan, and told me to take as needed. So I put them in the medicine cabinet and went about my life. 2 days after my last dose of Clonazepam, I began to feel extremely anxious, and experienced my first panic attack since I had started treatment. So I took my first Ativan, and it helped, and so I took them one a day until they were gone 15 days later. Again the anxiety and panic attacks flaired up. I went to see my doctor and he told me this would stop in a few weeks, and prescribed me another pill called Buspirone, in 10mg strength. So I started taking the Buspirone, and it provided to effect what-so-ever. I began feeling like I did for the previous 5 years, constant panic attacks, inability to concentrate, stuttering, feeling embarassed all the time, unable to socialize etc.

After about 2 months I went to the doc again, and told him this wasnt working for me, so he switched me to Zoloft, and off the Cipralex, while keeping me on the Buspirone, long story short, after 2 months of this treatment, I felt no different. So again he switched my prescription, he put me on 30mgs of Mirtazepine, and when I questioned him about side effects, he mentioned weight gain was the only noticeable one. The Mirtazepine helped me to get to sleep at night, which was welcome, but provided zero relief for the anxiety. So now, 2.5 months later, I am still on 30mgs of Mirtazepine and 10mgs of Buspirone. All I have to show for it is the extra 20lbs I have gained since starting Mirtazepine.

If your still around after reading all that, I guess my question is this, why would my doctor switch me around from med to med, if what he did first was working so great with zero side effects. I guess I should also note, he has tried me on Seroquil as well, which I refused to take after a week as all it did was make me into a Zombie. After some research myself I found out that Clonazepam is widely abused, so I am feeling quite low now, is my doctor thinking I am abusing this medicine? Is that why he has pulled me off it? I never took more then my 1mg per day, never asked him to up my dosage or anything. Am I being forced to suffer through life just because the only treatment that worked for me is also a drug of abuse? Anyhow has anyone had a similar situation, and if so, what medication ended up working for you?

[alankay]

As long as you were on a steady dose(1mg is not huge) plus the ssri you should have been tapered slowly off klonopin. Or just used klonopin "as needed" after going down on the dose slowly as the ssri helped.
If you were steady and stable on the 1mg or klonopin plus the ssri, he should consider resuming klonopin or another long acting benzo like valium, prazepam or clorazepate seeing how you've done so far(poorly). He was right to try to get away from the benzo or limiting it but in this case I think because you were not taking it to get high or taking a higher dose, you should see another doc and go over all this history. He may resume a benzo(only as little as needed) along with an ssri like fluoxetine and just hold you there and monitor you. This is not an unheard of scenario with a patient with anxiety/panic. But you really should also stay on an ssri like fluoxetine, celexa or zoloft as well.
You have nothing to feel guilty about. Anxiety is as much a medical problem as diabetes or epilepsy. Find another doc and go over how you are doing and what you were taking when you were doing well. I bet you can find another doc to agree for some patients this is needed with proper monitoring. Over time they will see you are benefiting, keeping the dose stable and should get treatment in this way. Over time you may be able to slowly taper down to an "as needed" benzo basis as I have. That should be your goal over time(IMHO).
Don' t forget proper education on anxiety, counseling, good diet, exercise, relaxation/meditation, deep breathing, etc, to form a healthier lifestyle for yourself. PM me any time. Alankay.