Not sure if I need to change drugs or do something else

[thebaseball2001]

Hi All,

I am currently taking Effexor for long running anxiety. I take 150mg per day and have been for about 5 weeks now. I also take 1mg of Xanax in the day and 1mg in the evening and have been doing that for probably 6 months. Last week I ran out of the Xanax for about 3 days and I was in a terrible places mentally. I felt like my mind awareness on steroids. Visually everything seemed really strange, almost like I was sensitive to everything around me like light and movement. Loud noises bothered me a lot and made me anxious and irritable. I have been dealing with high blood pressure for about a month and it was running very high all 3 days (and that raised my anxiety even more). And I couldn't think straight, everything seemed harder to come by like memory and my words when speaking. Most distressing of all is the feeling of detachment I get, like my surroundings seem flat and my emotions are flat. As soon as I got the Xanax filled and took a few, things started to calm down some and since this past weekend I have been able to cope better now that I am taking the Xanax again.

It seems to me that without that little bit of Xanax, my body and mind are like an open nerve. Everything gets amped up and I have a very hard time coping. At this point I am wondering if Effexor is doing anything for me at all. I was hoping that would control the anxiety and the Xanax would serve as an emergency go to but it doesn't seem to be working that way. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Chad

[Kirk]

Hello Chad. I would call the physician who gave you the medicine and tell him/her your symptoms and concerns.
I hope you feel better soon!

[gypsylee]

Hi Chad and welcome :)

"It seems to me that without that little bit of Xanax, my body and mind are like an open nerve." That's pretty much spot on. I haven't been on Xanax in over 15 years (but lots of other benzos). You've done well to stick to the same amount over 6 months and 2mg/day is a reasonable amount. So 3 days without that stuff and you are really going to feel it. My psychiatrist switched me from Xanax to Valium years ago and I'm not even sure if Xanax is still available in Australia in fact..

I'm on Prozac and benzos (Mogadon) so that's a similar combination to the Effexor + Xanax. I'm with you in that I have my doubts about whether the Prozac does anything much either. The Mogadon (a medium-acting benzo) I just try not to take more than he prescribes for me because you build tolerance to benzos really fast and you seriously don't want to run out of them (as you found)!

Cheers,
Gypsy x

[Boo Bass]

Hi Chad

Your situation is almost the same as mine a few years back. Efexor and xanax combination.

I was put on Efexor and told to stop taking xanax. I was on 2.2 mg but psych wasn't listening properly. The withdrawal symptoms were terrible BUT didn't come for about a week or longer. So I would say that those 3 days without xanax was you really scaring yourself and so getting all those weird symptoms.
I had been on xanax 10 months going from 1.2 mg to 2.4 mg. The country I live in has 0.4 tablets only.

The problem with being on xanax and Efexor is that the xanax masks the effect of the Efexor, which for me proved to be excellent.

Because of the xanax withdrawal symptoms, I was put on a diazepam reduction regime which took 10 days and I gradually began to feel better.
This is the same principle as a heroin user switching to methadone because the latter remains in the bloodstream longer.

Everyone is different but you might like to ask your doc about doing the same thing. It sounds scary but as I said it worked for me.

The other problem being on benzos with and antidepressants is that benzos can make you feel depressed.

Anyway that was my experience. I wish you all the best.

BB

[Anne1221]

You can't really judge "what is what" because the anxiety you experienced when you ran out of Xanax could be because you abruptly stopped taking it. You are never supposed to do that with Xanax. You are supposed to slowly taper off. If you ever slowly tapered off, you could see what your anxiety is like without it.

[thebaseball2001]

Thank you all for your help. I didn't think about the Xanax lending to my low mood and masking the effect of the Efexor.

Chad

[Anne1221]

I asked my doctor could Xanax cause depression and he said in some studies they found that when the anxiety was suppressed, what was left was the depression. I personally feel like my antidepressant helps me with both. I use a medication like Xanax (but longer acting) when I need it but not for every single day use.