Posted by JohnL on October 13, 2000, at 3:53:15
In reply to Looking for the experts, posted by David Newhouse on October 12, 2000, at 14:17:45
> Does anyone know of a good med. cocktail for severe generalized anxiety. I know it's subjective. I've tried the ssri,maoi's,and a bunch of other crap. If anyone out there has had any luck or knows of a effect combination, please let me know.
David,
I sense frustration, and rightly so. Some people get lucky and find the right meds for themselves quickly, while some of us aren't so lucky. A lot of it is just a guessing game based on statistics, and so luck is a big part of it I think. But hang in there. There is indeed an answer.Anxiety, like any other psychiatric condition, has a chemical imbalance cause at its core. But there are many different chemical causes. Finding the right one is the key to fixing it. From your previous trials, I think it would be safe to assume low serotonin is not the cause, and thus the SSRIs didn't help much.
In one pdoc's office during one year, these statistics were compiled showing what medications worked with complete longlasting results on anxiety. I think it's interesting to note that some of the things that ended up working are not things we would normally think of in treating anxiety, and they did not have clinical justification for trying them. But they worked nevertheless, proving that there are multiple chemistries that could be at fault, beyond the ones we normally think of in anxiety. One patient for example found complete robust response to a small dose of Lithium, and even more remarkable is the fact that it worked the very first day, indicating that this treatment scored a bullseye in targeting the underlying chemical cause directly. In another patient, Depakote did the same thing. In another, a beta blocker worked. For others, antipsychotics in very small doses work. Maybe these statistics will help provide some direction for you.
Serotonin antidepressants Worked 48% of the time
Benzodiazapines 24%
Lithium 22%
Stimulants 14%
Antipsychotics 13%
Depakote 11%
Tegretol 3%
Thyroid, even when blood tests were OK 24%Stimulant required low dose antipsychotic blend 21% of the time.
Also worth noting is that while the benzos are usually the primary treatment for anxiety, one may work where others don't. It's all a matter of a good match at a molecular level. Our body will embrace a particular medication molecule yet reject others that are similar but not the same.
John
poster:JohnL
thread:46210
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001012/msgs/46247.html