Paranoid schizophrenic with anxiety problems

[mrjeremyfisher]

Hello everyone,

I am diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and part of my illness is great anxiety. For psychosis, I take 700 mg of Seroquel; for depression I take 30 mg of Prozac; for severely scrambled thoughts and general thought disorder I take 18 mg of Concerta; and lastly, for anxiety I take 1.5 mg of Klonopin (0.5 mg three times a day). After spending some time in the local psychiatric ward and then in the mental hospital, I was released as a much more stable person. My paranoid thoughts, my psychiatrist says, are likely due to habit and less likely due to chemical imbalance since I am on an effective dose of Seroquel.

But the anxiety and depression I feel from several terrifying psychotic episodes over the last 10 years still remains a daily thing. What medications have you found to be most effective for long-term anxiety support? I am still in therapy but I think I might need something else in regard to anti-anxiety medication. Therapy helps but it's slow-going.

I hope you are having a good day!

Cheers,

Jeremy

[gypsylee]

Hello everyone,

I am diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and part of my illness is great anxiety. For psychosis, I take 700 mg of Seroquel; for depression I take 30 mg of Prozac; for severely scrambled thoughts and general thought disorder I take 18 mg of Concerta; and lastly, for anxiety I take 1.5 mg of Klonopin (0.5 mg three times a day). After spending some time in the local psychiatric ward and then in the mental hospital, I was released as a much more stable person. My paranoid thoughts, my psychiatrist says, are likely due to habit and less likely due to chemical imbalance since I am on an effective dose of Seroquel.

But the anxiety and depression I feel from several terrifying psychotic episodes over the last 10 years still remains a daily thing. What medications have you found to be most effective for long-term anxiety support? I am still in therapy but I think I might need something else in regard to anti-anxiety medication. Therapy helps but it's slow-going.

I hope you are having a good day!

Cheers,

Jeremy

Hi Jeremy,

Long-term I've found the SSRIs the most helpful with the least side effects.

I've been on Seroquel as well for suspected Bipolar II (stupid in hindsight) and it actually worsened my anxiety because it gave me a rapid heartbeat which is the same as I get with anxiety. I didn't know it was the Seroquel and just thought my anxiety was getting worse, which freaked me out!

Anyway, after 20+ years of dealing with extreme anxiety and seeing countless doctors, I've found that medication can only do so much. Things like deep breathing, meditation, exercise, diet, CBT are the key because the anxiety is caused by the way I think and the way my nervous system is geared.

All the best to you :)
Gypsy