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Suggest Treatment And Medication For Anxiety

Posted on Fri, 4 Sep 2015

Question: I have found myself in a bit of a jam in regards to my medical & psychiartric care. I am out of Xanax, my GP says I need to go see a psychiatrist, which is fine, except there is a major shortage of psychiatric services and I am unable to get an appointment until December. I don't know what to do. I went to the ER, they told me to contact my primary care physician. Called my primary care physician and was told he was out of the office all week and I should go to the ER. I'm stuck. I don't know what to do. I have been using all of the other tools I know to calm my anxiety to no avail.

Answered by Dr. Shubham Mehta (4 hours later)

Brief Answer:
addition of drugs; benadryl; herbal preparations.

Detailed Answer:
Hello
Welcome to HCM.
I have read your query and understand your concerns completely.

You suffer from anxiety and panic since long. You been taking zoloft, ativan and xanax but still have your symptoms. Now you are out of drugs.

Benzos like ativan and xanax have tendency to cause dependence. Thats why there prescription is difficult to get as most primary care doctors show reluctance to prescribe these drugs.

However, since you do not have relief with these drugs, augmentation of your current drug therapy with other drugs is needed.

I would suggest an addition of seroquel or lyrica (prescription drugs). These drugs should certainly help.

Other than this, inderal (prescription drug) can be taken to curb acute attacks of anxiety.

You can visit ER or your PCP, discuss about these drugs and get a valid prescription if possible.

Apart from this, I would also advice you toavoid caffeinated drinks and alcohol as these increase anxiety.

You can take benadryl (available OTC) till you get your prescription refill. This drug does have antianxiety and sedative effects.

You may find some herbal preparations containing ashwagandha and green tea extracts to be helpful for your anxiety.

Hope to have addressed your concerns satisfactorily.

Feel free to discuss further.
Thanks.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Shubham Mehta (55 minutes later)

I'm sorry I failed to give a few details. First, I only have a prescription for one benzo or the other either, Ativan or Xanax are just the 2 that have helped my anxiety. I also take 30 mgs of BuSpar 3x a day and use Vistaril 100 mg up to 3x a day. I have also trialed many other prescription medications: doxepin caused a seizure, Topomax made me faint, Inderal causes my vision to go so blurry I can hardly see anything. Many others have had no effect on me - Seroquel/Seroquel XR, Welbutrin, Gabapentin, several other tricyclic antidepressants, Lyrica, Abilify, and others I can't recall at this time.

Also, at what dose is Inderal helpful for anxiety?

Answered by Dr. Shubham Mehta (7 hours later)

Brief Answer:
alternative therapies.

Detailed Answer:
Hi again.

Sorry for the late response.

Its very unfortunate that no drug has worked for your anxiety except benzos.

You can try some herbal drugs like valerian roots also. These can help. These are available online.

Some alternative therapies like massage and acupuncture are also claimed to be beneficial.

The dose of inderal for anxiety can be upto 80mg depending on the response. Beyond this it can cause hypotension.

Hope this of some help.

Take care.
Thanks.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar