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Re: Meds for Agoraphobia with Panic Attacks?

Posted by SLS on January 8, 2001, at 16:03:20

In reply to Meds for Agoraphobia with Panic Attacks?, posted by Jackster on January 8, 2001, at 14:57:44


Hi there.

I guess the most obvious alternative is to try drugs that are similar to Paxil. This family of drugs is most often referred to as the SSRIs. That stands for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Drugs within this class include:

Prozac (fluoxetine)
Zoloft (sertraline)
Paxil (paroxetine)
Luvox (fluvoxamine)
Celexa (citalopram)

Despite the attention that any one drug may receive regarding panic-attacks and social anxiety, it seems that any one of these drugs have been used successfully. I don't know if one is better than another *statistically*, but I am sure there is. However, for any one individual, any of them might help. I am curious about this. If I have time, I will look into it.

While you are looking for different drugs, you will probably want to take things like Xanax and propanolol (Inderal) as a bridge to help you get through drug trials.

I don't know if it is still deemed true, but tricyclic type antidepressants like imipramine (Tofranil) were considered very effective for agoraphobia specifically. They tend to have more side effects than the SSRIs, but these side effects usually lessen with time.

I'm not sure about this, but I would guess that a tricyclic drug known as Anafranil (clomipramine) might be a powerful drug of last resort as it combines features of both a tricyclic and an SSRI. Of course, it is not necessary to find a single drug to treat everything at the same time. Perhaps simply adding imipramine or one of the more mild tricyclics like desipramine or nortriptyline to Paxil would solve the problem. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try that first before giving up on Paxil.

As you can see, you do have plenty of options. In the meantime, in addition to the benzodiazepine tranqualizers (Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin, etc.) and propanolol, you might want to try Neurontin. It has been known to work for anxiety disorders, including social anxiety.

You have every reason in the world to be optimistic. It might take quite a bit of patience and discomfort in the meantime.

Good luck.

(Don't forget about your doctor's suggestions)


- Scott


 

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