Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 11:06 am Post subject: Medication
Hi,
What, if any, medications have you people found useful for agoraphobia/anxiety?
I'm currently on Stelazine and I don't think it's doing what it should, plus it has some pretty terrible long term side effects. I think they put me on it because I have a phobia of vomiting and its an anti-emetic (even though I never actually throw up).
Aart from my fear of vomiting I get scared when I'm driving or walking if I'm too far from a safe zone (basically home or work) which si why I class myself as agoraphobic. Usually I can cope okay, but the last couple of weeks I've been so scared of driving that I haven't been able to get to work. I'm also pretty fed up/depressed which doesn't help because I can only see things going badly when I try and beat my fears.
So I'm thinking about seeing my doctor to change medications, but most of them seem to have worrying side effects. SSRIs look the best for me, but I don't know if they would have enough effect on my anxieties to help.
Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 5:22 am Post subject: Re: Medication
solent wrote:
Hi,
What, if any, medications have you people found useful for agoraphobia/anxiety?
I'm currently on Stelazine and I don't think it's doing what it should, plus it has some pretty terrible long term side effects. I think they put me on it because I have a phobia of vomiting and its an anti-emetic (even though I never actually throw up).
Aart from my fear of vomiting I get scared when I'm driving or walking if I'm too far from a safe zone (basically home or work) which si why I class myself as agoraphobic. Usually I can cope okay, but the last couple of weeks I've been so scared of driving that I haven't been able to get to work. I'm also pretty fed up/depressed which doesn't help because I can only see things going badly when I try and beat my fears.
So I'm thinking about seeing my doctor to change medications, but most of them seem to have worrying side effects. SSRIs look the best for me, but I don't know if they would have enough effect on my anxieties to help.
Xanax has worked for me. First encountered Agoraphobia in college at 24 . Tried everything from relaxation techniques, valium, etc. I pretty much gave up hoping for any positive results but xanax brought me back to nornal. (yes, I know some of you are anti meds but it has worked for me). For me .5mg three times a day will do it. No side effects or built up tolerance and I have been taking it for years. It doesn't make me a superhuman, it just brings me back to the way I was ,before my life was affected by all the symptoms. Good luck with whatever works for you.
im currently taking 20 mg citralopram, but im trying to get it changed as it doesn't seem to be working with me, at first yes they eased my anxiety the tiniest bit, but after a couple of weeks it was back to normal.
_________________ "Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed."
Joined: May 06, 2008 Posts: 104 Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 12:09 am Post subject:
Stelazine is an old antipsychotic so it probably won't do much for anxiety or agoraphobia. I take Zyprexa which is an atypical antispychotic, 10mg makes you feel a lot less anxious, it may be worth a try. A better option may be going down the SSRI path. I take Lexapro 20mg it does a good job for anxiety. You may find some relief with SSRIs. As Mark29 suggests Xanax (or valium, ativan etc) may be a good short term solution. I also worried about side effects of these types of meds but remember if everyone worried about the side effects of drugs nobody would ever take meds. I reckon you should ask for Lexapro as it has a reputation for low level of side effects or none.
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