New here! Story and question.

[maddog]

I am a 42 year old man with general anxiety. I have been dealing with this debilitating problem for 2 months now. I was put on Citralphram and Sertraline which both made me sick. I am now on Lorazepam and Trazadone. The Lorazepam really helps. Not sure if the Trazadone is helping. I am able to sleep ok with these, but my problem is exhaustion. Are you guys tired all the time? This really sucks.

[Laika]

I am a 42 year old man with general anxiety. I have been dealing with this debilitating problem for 2 months now. I was put on Citralphram and Sertraline which both made me sick. I am now on Lorazepam and Trazadone. The Lorazepam really helps. Not sure if the Trazadone is helping. I am able to sleep ok with these, but my problem is exhaustion. Are you guys tired all the time? This really sucks.

I think fatigue can be a general symptom of prolonged stress/anxiety, but can also be a symptom of different anomalies like electrolyte imbalance, infection, etc. I know that even lengthy sleep doesn't always help with a lot of anxiety, but it is a start.

As far as sleeping, I have found that altering diet has helped a bit with reducing what I have to take to sleep. I used to take doxylamine, melatonin and valium just to get a few hours of sleep a night, whereas now I can sleep normally taking a fraction of what I used to take. Daily, I take magnesium, Omega-3, B-complex vitamins with folic acid, and drink black tea (decaf), all in an effort to lower my cortisol level. Also I'm exploring taking a supplement called Phosphatidyl Serine to lower cortisol.

I'm not sure it would help you to do these things if you don't know what your cortisol level is. It is possible to have it tested and you don't need to have a prescription to do so. Also might help to have your testosterone checked, if you haven't. I am 45 and recently found that I had both low-testosterone and high-cortisol.