Being destroyed by Anxiety!

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The type of Anxiety's i have are OCD, General Anxiety and Social Phobia. i have been on 3 types of Medications so far and nothing has helped (except for some Anti-psychotics that were prescribed after a melt-down and those cause me to fall asleep) OCD has went down, and social phobia isn't so bad, but general anxiety is still awful, Panic Attacks will sometimes cause allergic reactions like Hives, and swollen tongue. and almost always cause Irritable Bowl Syndrome. I have lost countless nights of sleep and haven't been to school since March because of my anxiety and sensitivity to anxiety. i will be so anxious on walks with my dog, it will make her stressed and snap at people.I have been comfort eating for a while now and now im 50 pounds over weight. i'm not sure what else i can do.

I have social anxiety disorder and generalized anxiety disorder as well. I was put on citalopram to help with my anxiety. May I ask what meds you were put on for your anxiety?

Not sure what to suggest, apart from observing that some anti-anxiety meds (particularly antipsychotics, with a few brand names being particularly noticeable for this effect) can lower the metabolism and lead to severe weight gain. I had this problem with risperidone, and when I cut it out my weight began to fall immediately.

You may find weight gain an acceptable side-effect if your meds are working for you; I found it unacceptable and exacerbating my depression, so I stopped taking them.

If you find this unacceptable, my advice would be to cut them out over a period of months and see what physical effect it has. There may be other anti-anxiety meds available that don't lead to such undesirable effects (lamotragine worked fine for me). Good luck.

Well, imipramine helps reduce anxiety and gives you better sleep; I've been taking two tablets of that every night for years, and I couldn't be anymore better!

What you probably need is an SSRI antidepressant which I think is used to treat anxiety disorders. My antidepressant, Celexa (citalopram), is part of that class and it works wonders for me and ebbs off the anxiety and depression. I know Zoloft is also an SSRI but if one antidepressant in that class isn't working, you should probably try different ones and see what really works for you.

I'm not a mental health professional or a doctor but this is from experience and what my doctor told me when I first started taking Celexa.

I am also on Citalopram and have found it helped quite a lot with my anxiety. I have had a similar side effect to others above in that I gained weight with them, but I would rather be calmer and just buy a bigger pair of trousers. I have comfort eaten as an escape all my life and found it a difficult balance so will not criticise you for that. However, if you can find a medication that helps with the anxiety, then maybe that might help you in lots of other ways too.

I have very bad anxiety as well. I get so stressed out I scratch and scratch until I'm covered in blood. (Once my neighbor knocked on the door and I didn't realize I was covered in blood and answered it. She called the cops! Imagine trying to explain that one away....)The only thing that has helped me is adderall. It helps because it makes me focus on one thing at a time, so I don't have a million different stressful thoughts in my head at the same time. Only having a few things to stress about makes it a lot easier to cope.

If Quetiapine (Seroquel) worked, you can just stay with that. They prescribe it for OCD and autism, though usually in a lower dose as you don't need the anti-dopamine effect [which kicks in at higher doses] as much (well, I guess with really bad OCD you do) -- the anti-anxiety effect works fairly well at a lower dose.

Weight gain and all, but it always works, unlike say the mild sedatives Valium and Xanax, which you get a tolerance to fairly quickly when you take it at a dose that works and regularly. The latter 2 and similar are more of a, take one as needed to calm you down [somewhat].

There's the sedation, though, and not everyone gets used to it.

I lost a lot of sleep when I had generalized anxiety disorder. When I changed schools, I recovered from my generalized anxiety because my previous school was stressful.

If your anxiety is being caused by life circumstances, then a better way to treat it is to do something about those circumstances.

Hi, ZombieBride,
I ran the gamut of medications: risperidone, Geodon, Seroquel, Zoloft, Welbutrin. Antidepressents did not work for me. Seroquel turned me into the walking dead. I won't even mention the horror of Geodon. I now take lamotrigene (Lamictal) to control my mood swings. It works well for me. I had terrible anxiety at one time. My therapist even wanted me on antianxiety meds, but I really didn't want those. I discovered that as my attendence at church lessened, my anxiety levels decreased. By the time I quit church altogether, my anxiety symptoms disappeared. My poor brain couldn't handle the abstract concepts in religion. I couldn't imagine how anyone else understood the songs and sermons. But, they did. I was so upset because I never shared those experiences.
However, it's different for you. I am sorry that your symptoms are plaguing you. As a registered nurse I can't recommend any medications. Keep regular appointments with your doctor. I notice that you are 16. Things may get better for you as you get older, but I'm speculating.

That's the trouble with some anti-anxiety meds; you build a tolerance and then they don't work anymore. So they're best used short-term. That's why doctors talk about them being "habit-forming". Sometimes people use them for particularly bad spots, like say somebody who has a phobia of flying might take them to survive an airplane flight with their nerves in one piece.

Antidepressants can have an anti-anxiety effect. I've been getting good results from Prozac (yes, seriously Prozac) at a relatively low dose, primarily against depression but also some benefit for PTSD-related anxiety.

One thing I have learned about living with anxiety is that you can't fall into the trap of being afraid of being afraid... you have to kind of accept the fact that you're going to feel horribly anxious sometimes, that you have to go on with your life regardless, and that however uncomfortable it is, it's survivable.

I think it's such a trap because most of the time when you feel fear, it's for a good reason. There's a tiger coming at you, or you're on the edge of a cliff, or something. So naturally your brain says that this fear is the most important thing in the world, dangerous, something to be focused on, which makes sense if you're afraid for a good reason; but if you're not, it's just... exhausting. Better to give yourself some slack, just keep going until it passes and you can get back to whatever you were doing. Easier said than done, of course; I mean, this is coming from somebody currently putting off sleep because I know I'll have the same old nightmare!

Ah, well, hang in there; you're not the only one dealing with it. Try distracting yourself a bit; that often lets me relax.