11 years, and I'm just finding this forum NOW?!

[NotSoMellowMel]

Hey all,

I'm a 25yo accountant who was diagnosed with generalized anxiety/depression at the age of 14. For the better part of the last 11 years I have been on every med imaginable (sertraline, citalopram, cymbalta, resperidone, prozac), and they all eventually stop working.

Last spring I went to see a psychologist, whom I loved, and she taught me the "Integrity Model" to deal with my depression. It definitely worked for the longest time... I was happier, I weaned off my meds, I was proud of myself, my work, my family and love life...

And then all of a sudden on New Years Eve, this demon that I thought I had beat for good came back full force. Potential triggers: quitting smoking and travel down south this coming saturday (I've never traveled well).

Anyways, I've been in a constant state of panic for the last 3 days straight. Obviously it takes time for my meds to kick back in... so I'm afraid that I'm going to completely ruin my romantic getaway.

Are there any quick solutions?

Currently I'm on a drug cocktail of 40mg Prozac, 100mg twice daily of Theanine, 1000iu vitamin D3, and I have ativan and trazedone for emergencies...

[alankay]

Short course of a loooong acting benzo like tranxene(clorazepate or even valium) and a slow(2 week) taper off it to cover the period between new med implementation and the beginnings of it's anti-anxiety effects. PM dosing of say 15mg clorazpate at bedtime for 1 week then 7.5 mg for a week to tapper off(add a few days of 3.25 mg at bed if needed/helpful). Its long half life will help for longer than that though. Ask your Dr. about this but they may prefer clonazepam if they like the strategy. Message me any time. Alankay

[NotSoMellowMel]

thanks alan, you're a doll. I made an appt with the doctor for this afternoon to discuss... there's no way I want to ruin the boyfriend's (and my) vacation.

Hmmmm, I also think I may be stressing myself into a self fulfilling prophecy...

[alankay]

We ALL do that:) (get ourselves worked up and even though we know that, can't always get calmed down). Make sure your dr. understands this will be a transitional type regime only. Just to get you back on prozac only but at the same time to get a have a great vacation. I hope he implements something like this. Ativan is awesome for shorter term things but this seems more like an issue that will only get better as the prozac starts to help(takes time) and you deserve a nice calm break. It will be helpful in of itself I bet. Alankay.

[alankay]

NotSo, another thing to do is to split the 40 mg prozac dose(if you are taking it all at the same time now). Take 20mg in the AM and and the other 20mg at Dinner. This way the blood level won't get quite as high as just taking it all at once. This a one way I have used to minimize any increase anxiety(or other side effects) when starting, restarting or increasing the dose of an SSRI like prozac. If you have capsules it's harder but you can open the caps, stuff the ends with a bit of tissue paper(to keep the powder inside) and take half that way. When you're used to the dose again just take the 40mg as you were(if once a day that is). Just another thought. AlanKay