Posted by dmel75 on July 25, 2001, at 10:22:22
In reply to Is it GAD? Does Effexor work for GAD?, posted by blayton on July 16, 2001, at 12:38:23
Did you feel fuzzy headed? I have an appt with a therapist on Friday for the first time ever. I have constant worry, anxiety and sometimes panic over things I can't control and most likely would never happen. Lately it seems I'm being physically affected by it, fuzzy headed headaches, bloodshot eyes, etc. I'm getting plenty of sleep and otherwise feel ok. Whenever I begin to feel this way I start to panic that it's something else wrong with me. I'm wondering, if the therapist puts me on meds what meds will they be? Sorry if this is off topic!
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> This is my first post on this board , so I will have to be slightly verbose in describing my problems . Please excuse the length.
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> I am 25 and suffer from an unusual variant of GAD( or so my present shrink tells me ) . Eight years ago , while preparing for an exam at high school , I was suddenly stricken by fears regarding what would happen if I were obsessed with fear thoughts during the course of giving the examination . That happened 8 years ago , but it still describes the crux of my problems : " continuously worrying about being worried in a critical situation "( I picked that phrase from an Internet site describing GAD and which beautifully summarises my problems ) . I have problems concentrating , as I am always monitoring my thoughts . You have to go through this to experience how disgusting and self-defeating it feels .
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> I was initially diagnosed with OCD although I have never had any compulsions anytime . I started Prozac in high doses ( 80 mg ) and found substantial relief from the frequency of the obsessive worries but somehow the core fears remained and would spring up whenever a high tension situation arose . But Prozac enabled me to get back to normal work and I pulled on . Then poop-out hit after 31/2 years . After unsucessfully trying many drugs , I finally found success with Zoloft. 100 mg and for about 11/2 years , I was as good as normal, or as normal as I remember normal to be . Then Zoloft pooped , and supplementation with Buspar pulled the cart for another year or so , Buspar dosage gradually increasing . Then the combo also stopped working three months back.
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> I changed doctors , and was diagnosed with GAD . I have been on Effexor for nearly five weeks now , being at 150 mg. for the last five days . I have noticed partial improvement , lets say 50-60 % but still have spells of high anxiety , all of which is anticipatory , and some of which involve conditions I am likely never to be involved in .
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> This fear of one's own thoughts and continuous monitoring of my own mind has left me very depleted mentally . Has anyone else suffered from any such symptom ? Is it indicative of GAD and if so, does Effexor work ? Also , how long does it take to work ?
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> Thank you for your attention . Any advice would be appreciated .
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> PS I have tried CBT twice , it made no difference to me .
poster:dmel75
thread:70320
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010725/msgs/71774.html