Do anxiety medications work?

Post Reply New Topic

No, no and NO. The difference is that I am a professional in this field and you are not. Your experiences are just that - my knowledge is fact, which is more valid than your experience.
I believe in cannabis, so ignored that.
I vehemently disagree with the supposed "prozac cover-up" as something that everybody in the entire psych industry knows was overblown by the media.

Be careful where you get your info.

And again, no psychiatrist I've ever met thinks exercise, nutrition and therapy can "cure" or even manage Major depressive disorder or Bipolar or Generalized Anxiety Disorder or a myriad of other diagnoses. I have personally saved too many kids and adults using medications (over a thousand) to listen to this crap any more.

*raises hand

I have a question... Isn't most information on neuropsych, and AS as well as autism written by people who do not and will never experience what it is? So how then can it be anything other than presumption?

The answers are "yes" and "it isn't".

That doesn't mean it's wrong or shouldn't be trusted. If you bring this up to play Devil's Advocate, it's false logic. On the other hand if you are actually curious, most science is performed by a group of specialists. It needn't be science, anything highly specialized. Most information on outer space, and other planets, is written by people who will never experience it firsthand. Careful observation and study can still give you accurate results.

Therefore, just because the neuropsych comes from NT's doesn't mean it's not valid. i'm not saying everything is, just that you can't throw it out simply b/c of the source.

alyissa,

a) I too have worked very closely with 100's of psychiatric patients, and in every area except extra-high security.
Although i did not prescribe treatment or recieve the formal training, in many cases i read and understood the confidential files, and attended the review meetings with the specialists.

b) You snipped the first line re: cannabis, then quoted the rest of the paragraph (about cannabis) out of context.

c) Paroxetine is not Prozac. Perhaps we are thinking of different scandals - i do not remember this one getting much coverage.

d) In the UK, SxRI's are dished out at the drop of a hat. For mild, non-clinical depression and anxiety. At the very first appointment, within 5 mins of having first mentioned the word 'anxious', and without prior referral to a psychiatrist. Exercise, nutrition etc may not even be mentioned at all.

Hospitalized patients, people at risk or no longer functioning well enough to think about 'the basics' are going to require more immediate measures, so im with you on that one.

Howdy
another 2 cents from someone still in the business?
credentials first.
PhD in psychology
diagnosed Aspergers
12 years experience in psychiatric crisis work
10 years training for and running marathons
can still touch my toes though i've stopped running for now.
family into health; father is nutritionist
DISCLAIMER
This is opinion only.

different things work for different people.
when i was running, i didn't need caffeine or stimulants to counteract my adhd symptoms, and i didn't need fluoxetine (prozac) for migraines and i never got sick. i use those things now because my life otherwise would be a shambles.
i use herbals for sleep because my sleep cycle regularly gets disrupted. i also use benadryl on occasion

medication works for people for whom it is suited. it does damage to the body, particularly to the liver, so it is best used as the lesser of two evils.
regardless of what research and personal experience tells us, little is know about the effects of most medications. It is true that drug companies will fudge things to get meds on the market.
our bodies were made to work without medication and with proper nutrition. However, since people are not all alike, and since we have ruined our planet and our bodies, it may be that medication will work better than attempts at nutritional remedy.

people have been "poisoned" by psychiatry. it has been my personal experience that medications will be given to people to quiet them down, that accidents happen and that between people not reporting side effects and not keeping up with labs, toxicity can occur.

there is also the possibility of what they call "polypharm" when a person is taking many different meds prescribed by too many docs who don't know about each other.

personal experience allows one to see a limited part of an issue. this is my limited version.

uhm, yeah, i have both types. i can get anxiety attacks when i am in my safe zone also.

My anxiety meds work ok I guess. I'm still anxious on an almost constant level, but I think they make my anxiety more mild. I take buspar by the way.

Id be wary of reading much into inividual reactions posted up on the web. Aylissa is right in as much as i ought to have placed a few more disclaimers in some posts.

I frequent another board where psych.meds are often discussed, and im always the guy telling everyone to stfu, when they misguidedly dish out rash recommendations based solely on their own individual reactions.




This issue puzzles me too. Im going to make a couple of wild guesses, perhaps they will trigger a new train of thought for your own research. Bear in mind that this is pure amateur speculation and i am not at all confident in my understanding of these issues;

- you have over-stressed your nervous system.
chronic over-exercise leads to chronic fatigue, which in turn over-stresses the immune system and would presumably affect your mental state. It may also be known as CNS fatigue (its years since i read up on it and i could be completely mixed up). As you say your not getting much physical exercise, perhaps the ongoing stress is responsible? By adding extra exercise on top, the cumulative effect pushes you a little too far. I know this all sounds a bit catch-22.

- some unknown physical factor has weakened you, so that you no longer have all the physical reserves needed to sustain your previous level of activity. By adding extra exercise, you push yourself into an unhealthy zone (see above) and in turn, this weakened state aggravates your underlying anxiety problem. The unknown factor could be anything, but might be as simple as a mineral deficiency or something. I personally, tend to have an extremely restrictive diet and probably run this risk myself.

- (sorry if this sounds ridiculous) You have an ear/nose or throat infection. This causes very mild dizzy spells, not enough to make your head actually spin, but just about noticeable. Because you dont conciously know your dizzy, the giddy sensations naturally make you anxious, and form a vicious circle of dizziness->anxiety anxiety->fear of dizziness.
This actually happenned to me a few months ago. Once i realised it was a simple infection, and it could not make me lose consciousness i immediately felt a little less anxious. I dont know how this might be related to exercise, but thought id throw it in anyway.

Do we need credentials?
Psych BA
Research Nut
Dx AS, ADD, Cyclothemia
I know more than my doctors... and
My father has done psych research for over 30 years. (sticks out tongue, then laughs at self)

I think I'll have to break it all down to make sense of it, sorry. Some quotations may be out of order, but no edits have lost the original meaning.

I'll get back to the first sentence when I address later posts. Given the information you've given over the course of this thread I feel I can make at least one assumptions. You mention LSD several times, and street drugs. (I do not judge any drug use by anyone. Not this topic, but so you know. I'm familiar, and impartial.) I can only assume that you yourself are "experienced"... and that leads me to:

Sertraline is linked to LSD flashbacks. In fact, one researcher has even coined the phrase "LSD flashback syndrome" which seems to fit your description fairly well. Note, this is in people who are not currently using LSD. Or even within months of starting the medication. I'd postulate your experience was more along these lines than serotonin syndrome. If you are curious, ref:
Markel H, Lee A, Holmes RD et al, Journal of Pediatrics, 125: 817-819. 1994. There are others, too.

Serotonin Syndrome itself is causing a little difficulty in this thread. I think some of it is confusion over definition. I've seen both hypersensitivity (single dose rxn) and the more familiar interaction type lumped under the category of Serotonin Syndrome. I think it's a catch-all phrase, but maybe should be limited to it's original use. It's true that most of the time SS is due to reactions with other drugs, particularly MAOIs and tryptophan. *However* there are plently of other drugs that can overstimulate the S receptors. This brings me to:



#1- "various street drugs" come into play. You didn't say, but I know this. Both cocaine and amphetamines act on S receptors and are DEFINATELY linked to Serotonin Syndrome. A bad reaction to the Venlafaxine is not surprising. Actually now I'm thinking of it I think this is more true for Venlafaxine than for other SSRI's and tricyclics. Marijuana you discuss elsewhere and it seems like everyone is in agreement on that one for now.

#2- ? doesn't sound like you know this person well, but I do less. Do you know of any other drugs this person was taking, if any?

#3,4- Family members. Skews the sample for two reasons. first it sounds like a sibling, in which case this person is statistically likely to have similar experiences to you, ie, used the same drugs- I'm thinking of the LSD and (what I think you experienced) "LSD Flashback Syndrome". Second, you are genetically very similar, and hypersensitivity to a drug or class of drugs is likely. Even if this person is parent or progeny this is still true.

All that to say that I think it's too small a sample to make such strong statements about the drugs. Relating a personal experience I think is fine and helpful, and what we all try to do, but in such an instance as this where each experience is so individual, I think folks should avoid strong generalities.



If this works for you, great! Sounds like the other drugs didn't. I've been riding the fence on whether to jump in on this further and I think an abhorrence of confict made me do it. From my POV I see different experiences in the psychiatric community from the WP members.




Psych, I'm sorry to say it seems you've had tough times in the past. Hopefully you have found some good doctors. I'm fully aware of the differences in health care systems around the world and the amazing ignorance that remains in the field. While I, and probably most people, would agree that yes, people can be poisoned by psychiatry, and yes, the power of pharmecuatical companies is scary and leads to abuse of the system. However I must respectfully disagree that either point is relevant to this discussion. You said it right there- "I don't trust doctors". I just feel that a lot of your statements on this thread come from this distrust. I think it's perfectly valid, and many can attest to that, but it appears to me that it does lead to some strong generalizations about doctors and drugs that may not be accurate.
The bits about the drugs scandals are interesting, but I submit also not relevent to "do anxiety meds work?" and also come from this distrust. Suicide ideation, yes, scandal, no. It's a problem, and a recognised one.

Here, too, most drugs are overprescribed. I've been in the situation you describe, talking to a doc for 5 minutes and being handed drugs. I didn't take them.

Phoey, I meant to do a fair and impartial review of several responses here. I'm not trying to attack anyone, I think all views are part of the picture. I think aylissa just wanted to point out that while nutrition, exercise, and herbs works for you, your experiences are the exception, not the rule, and that as a whole modern drugs are very useful and save lives. Or if that is too dramatic, they really help lives.

Well I hope any of that made sense. Brains are complicated, people even more so.

well I started writing before your post. If I had seen it I probably wouldn't have bothered... oops. But the flashback stuff may be interesting...

that happens to me all the time, it was a very good post with consistently relevant and apt. points.

Regarding the 4 cases i singled out, i should perhaps have pointed out that ive heard (via the net) many similar cases online (as well as plenty of positive ones). So the 4/4 example i gave, from my perspective fits into a wider context. I wanted to single out the people i was close to, as internet hearsay is obviously likely to be skewed. I only really mentioned them at all, because i thought it was interesting - not as a qualifier or necessary prelude to anything else i said, but i can see how you all got that impression. That particular paragraph was in relation to suicidal ideation, not serotonin syndrome. The person on Sertraline may have been on an anti-psych. Weve had some personal problems, so i dont think ill ask her just now.

And yes, the flashback stuff was VERY interesting! Perhaps if id taken 'proper' LSD, and less mucky street acid, id have had a better quality flashback! We are going back a long way - maybe 8 years, although i have taken mushrooms perhaps 3-4 years ago. And yes, all the people i mentioned have taken street acid.

I think i ought to clarify my position on psychiatrists;
In my experience, they are generally a good natured bunch and usually manage to put what skills and knoledge they have to good use. However, they are not without their shortcomings;

- IMO they tend to get 'set in their ways' in terms of treatment options, as is human nature (and perhaps applicable to most professions).

-I am strongly opposed to ECT.

-I have a light background in shamanic therapeutic practices, which includes the use of various psychedelics plants. Over the last few decades modern medicine has almost completely ostracised this practice and common misconceptions amongst the psychiatric community have made peaceful co-existance of the two paradigms fraught with unnessessary strife. Although that part of my life is now retired (except for cannabis) it has made a certain amount of duplicity necessary in my past dealings with the psychiatric services. ('drug addicts' are sometimes treated differently, and do not access the same services)

-Certain atypical experiences, which i might view as being of a 'spiritual' nature, would be treated as disorder by conventional psychiatry, and possibly terminated with drugs. I feel this is a great shame.

-There seems to be a grey area surrounding AS (especially adult dx) and it seems many UK psychiatrists are not adequately trained to recognise it.


Because of these issues (and probably others if i had time) i do not 'trust' doctors. Not because i think they are bad or untrustworthy people, but simply because in some areas i feel they are ignorant and on some issues we have completely different ideas, which are not always compatable. I 'trust' that they will act in a professional manner according to the best of their knoledge and ability, but i cannot place myself 'in their trust'. I hope that makes sense.

I still say medications have their place and help many people. But they've also harmed many as well. This doesn't mean we shouldn't use them. But use them with precaution. As I said before, medications in moderation.

I personally don't trust the FDA. So rarely does it require testing of long-term exposure. I've seen a fair amount of Schizophrenics for having not worked in a psychiatric facility, and many of them show the common signs of pseudo-Parkinsonian symptoms which are strictly a result from having taken too much antipsychotics and thereby not having enough dopamine in their systems to allow for fluid motor movements.

Not to mention some of the horror stories of minor brain damage coming out via hearsay about the long-used Ritalin. I have an acquaintance who was bombarded for many years with HUGE amounts of Ritalin. He happens to have Aspergers and was midiagnosed. Now, he is very willing to discuss his long list of deficits which he didn't have before his Ritalin regime.

I think medications have their place. But wholeheartily trusting the psychiatrists and the meds is a foolhardy thing to do. And can be dangerous. I really think future generations are going to look back on this med-happy era and shake their heads. By then hopefully people will have realized that doctors are not gods and too often have medications driven by "business" and "profit".

And if anyone is in doubt about this being a "med-happy era" or all this being run by business and profit, take a little time and count the number of medication commercials on tv. Commercials which urge people to ask for that medication from their doctors. I read an article which made note that a doctor is more likely to prescribe a medication they're not sure about if a patient requests it than if the patient weren't requesting any specific medication at all. Advertising works.

I, myself, can recall commericals for Vioxx. And look how that turned out.

How can you be wholly devoid of emotion? Emotions guide people's behavior.

You must be especially sensitive to medications because Lexapro and any other medications I've been on haven't had any of those effects. You said Lexapro caused you to have weird dreams; I almost never dream.

Yeah, I didn't feel like "me" but from talking with other people that seems to be mostly what the antidepressants do. I read where other people were experiencing a similar suppression of emotions. I probably had a stronger suppression than most people because it basically completely eliminated every single emotion in me but I didn't think of it as too unusual.



Yes, I'm not sure why. I generally never take medications of any sort. I don't drink caffeine, alcohol, eat refined sugar, or processed foods very much either so I'm fairly drug free. Drugs tend to have a much stronger effect on me than most people. I get a slight buzz from taking a single aspirin.

The Lexapro dreams were driving me insane. Just that effect alone is enough to make the not want to take it any more.

Incidently, after stopping the Lexapro I'm getting sharp stabbing pains in my intestinal area. The pain is so sharp and quick that it actually makes me jump. I hate this stuff.

Credentials: BS in Nursing, Registed Nurse, Public Health Nurse, for 10 years working in acute psych emergency, trauma, drug rehab, dual-diagnosed teenagers and MOST signicantly, worked as a clinical research coordinator for a large county hospital running over 30 clinical drug trials for HIV meds. I worked with the FDA, very astute doctors, drug reps and pharmaceutical professionals for years on a daily basis, therefore I have experience that some of you may not have. My passion is to continue to do medical clinical research, specifically on aspies and how we respond differently to medications. I am in the process of applying for a graduate program as we speak. And I believe that aspies DO respond differently to medications, and that psychiatrists don't yet know how because no research has been done on it. I intend to be part of that research.

I believe in medical marijuana, and spent a lot of public money trying to establish a study to allow it to be researched at my institution with no success. I believe that there are a number of substances that need to be researched for aspies, including MDMA, aka Ecstasy. I know for a fact how thorough the FDA is in terms of the years and the process to get a drug to market. The Vioxx case is NOT an instance of any conspiracy or corruption, rather it is a case of sometimes certain adverse effects and/or concurrent effects may take some time to show up. One of the reasons meds are so expensive is because of the years and years of research that must be done in order for the FDA to approve it. As far as I'm concerned, with all the corruption across our nation right now, I would totally trust the CDC AND the FDA.

Yes, there are some psychiatrists that are better than others. I've yet to find a good one myself. And every single medication, including tylenol and benadryl, has side effects that could be considered poisonous. Tylenol, aspirin and motrin can all kill you. I once gave pint after pint of blood to someone who took a standard dose of motrin every day, but he developed severe internal bleeding. He didn't make it. So to call psychotropics "poisonous" is ridiculous. By the way, please remember how many lives Lithium has saved since it was discovered decades ago. And lithium is listed right on the periodic table of the elements.

Hermit is right about the points I was trying to make. There are people out there, and ON THIS BOARD, who would not be here today if it were not for the fact that we have a pharmaceutical industry and psychiatrists, even if it's not perfect. If you want to go holistic, and you're not as screwed up as some of the rest of us, well of course that's up to you, but don't try to tell everybody else that all doctors suck and the pharmaceutical industry is just in it for the money, because that's just not true.