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What Dose Of Anti-depressant Should I Take For Anxiety Disorder?

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Posted on Thu, 19 Apr 2012
Question: hi, im a 36 year old male , i have anxioty disorder and have been on diffrent midication over th past 5 years, strated with prozac , then effexor then finally for hte last year i have been taking Paxil (seroxate) . the resons why i switched from effexor to paxil is that effexor was so good that i decided it was time for me to quite, I quite in 2 weeks and then hell broke lse with side efects etc so my doctor put me on paxil. i was taking 1*25mg +1*12.5 mg so total 37.5 a day. things got better for a year, then i decided i want to get of it again so i started tapering down by -10% everymonth, i went ver well till i reached only 12.5 mg a day. now comes the problem. after a cuple of month i strated getting light anxioty again. so my doctor suggested i go up in my dose again which i refused causei hated this dug and what it does to me (sleeplesness, lack of consuntration etc) so he told me i can switch to prozac if i want, the method was to take one 20mg of prozac every day allong side paxil for a week then stop paxil and continue with prozac alone. I did that , the forst week was fine , but now things re very bad, im gettign contiues panic attacks, as sson as i wake up in the modning, numness in my head and no ability to concerntrate or work. the only way i ontrol it is by taking laxotanil 3mg and that doesn;t work also so i started taking xanax .5mg twice a day , hoping that these are just wothdrawal dimptoms and wll go away in a wek or so once prozac kicks in.
my question is :
1- should i hold on and wait , will proza ake the withdrawal symptoms of paxil go a away, and how long will this take.
2- sould i just go back to paxil (seroxate) and doube the dose.
3- an meanhile if yo tell me to wait ill prozac kicks in , is it ok to use xanax and laxotanile like im doing now.
please help me im very desprate and i dought my doctors advise and now i can't getin touch with him.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Raju A.T (6 hours later)
Hi XXXXXXX

Thanks for your query.

Very informative history you have provided and it helped me to arrive at below opinions.

1- should i hold on and wait , will proza ake the withdrawal symptoms of paxil go a away, and how long will this take.

Yes, you are right , safety is in waiting till the Prozac efficacy in you attains the optimum level. The withdrawal symptoms may take 2 to 3 weeks to disappear.

2- sould i just go back to paxil (seroxate) and doube the dose.

No , Its not a good idea for you to go back to Paxil, This may affect the Proazac action too.

3- an meanhile if yo tell me to wait ill prozac kicks in , is it ok to use xanax and laxotanile like im doing now.

Yes, it is not XXXXXXX to take Xanax , but lessen the dose to 0.5 mg once in the night only.

Hope I have answered your query. If you have any follow up queries I will be available to answer them.
Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Raju A.T

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2008

Answered : 4927 Questions

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What Dose Of Anti-depressant Should I Take For Anxiety Disorder?

Hi XXXXXXX

Thanks for your query.

Very informative history you have provided and it helped me to arrive at below opinions.

1- should i hold on and wait , will proza ake the withdrawal symptoms of paxil go a away, and how long will this take.

Yes, you are right , safety is in waiting till the Prozac efficacy in you attains the optimum level. The withdrawal symptoms may take 2 to 3 weeks to disappear.

2- sould i just go back to paxil (seroxate) and doube the dose.

No , Its not a good idea for you to go back to Paxil, This may affect the Proazac action too.

3- an meanhile if yo tell me to wait ill prozac kicks in , is it ok to use xanax and laxotanile like im doing now.

Yes, it is not XXXXXXX to take Xanax , but lessen the dose to 0.5 mg once in the night only.

Hope I have answered your query. If you have any follow up queries I will be available to answer them.