Anxiety on and off for over 20 years

[Grateful Jeff]

I have been dealing with anxiety and depression on and off for over 20 years. Had some good periods and some bad setbacks. The last 1 1/2 years has been real tough. The 2 new medications I had been using, Prozac and Ativan, started becoming ineffective and I had to change to Lexapro and Klonazepam. I started on the Klonazepam a few months ago and the Lexapro a month ago. I have been told it can sometimes take several months before a new medication becomes totally effective. I have dealt with a lot of different disturbing and scary physical symptoms over the years when things weren't going well. The recent ones that I deal with on and off are lightheadedness, nerve tremors in the hands and feet causing feelings of weakness, stomach tension which sometimes kicks in after eating something and sometimes just kicks in. My biggest seems to be the ongoing problem of disturbing thoughts which only serve to heighten the intensity of the symptoms or bring on the symptoms if the thoughts start occurring when I am physically calmer. It's a vicious cycle that is herd to break. The Lexapro seems to be starting to help as I am actually having some periods of time when I get relaxed, but I can see I have a long way to go. One thing that I find quite surprising, though I have dealt with sleep deprivation in the past, is that I generally sleep quite well and for up to 7-8 hours. In fact one thing that has been happening regularly is that if I am experiencing any symptoms at night while still awake, then take a hot shower and my nightly dose of Klonazepam, I then lie down to go to sleep and all my symptoms just seem to go away and withing a half hour or so I fall right to sleep. This pretty much happens every night.

Any observations, comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

[SunnieDebris]

I'm sorry that you're having such a hard time. I wonder, are you being treated by a GP or a psychiatrist? Psychiatrists go through a bunch of additional training, mostly in how psychotropic drugs work in the body, and how they interact with each other. At least you are experiencing a good side effect, which is restful sleep. That is so important. So is giving your meds time to work before you decide that the side effects outweigh any potential relief you might feel. With this in mind, drugs alone will probably not fix everything. Now may be a good time to find a therapist, start practicing progressive relaxation, and perhaps even journaling your thoughts and feelings, to try to purge them from your brain. Just my 2 cents. I hope you find the answers that you seek.