Posted by Racer on July 20, 2008, at 16:08:24
In reply to Obesity - Anxiety - Depression - Headaches, posted by JESSsMom on July 20, 2008, at 14:59:30
Howdy, I'm sorry you're having trouble, and hope things improve soon.
As for the specifics of what you're asking about, here are my thoughts:
A lot of people have a good result with Topomax to mitigate weight gain, but at much higher doses than you're currently taking. As I understand it, the therapeutic dose is about 200mg. It's well worth considering, to help with your weight issue, especially since so many psych drugs can cause weight gain.
Also, as someone who has both an anxiety disorder and depression, I have found that medications which improve my depression often improve my anxiety, as well, even if they're known for activating effects. It might be worth trying medications which don't seem, on the surface, to be the best choice for an anxiety disorder. It's also worth mentioning that often times the initial adverse effects fade once you've been on a medication for a while.
I've been on Prozac a number of times. At first, it almost always leaves me feeling as though I'm going to twitch out of my skin -- but once that goes away, it's actually been pretty good for my anxiety. It's just a question of getting through those first couple of weeks. Out of all the SSRIs, though, Zoloft has been the kindest and gentlest in terms of adverse effects -- and it's been as effective as any other SSRI for me. It might be worth revisiting, and see if maybe you just didn't reach a therapeutic dose for you.
Another option might be Lamictal, which is usually weight neutral.
Finally, don't let Meridia's surface similarity to Effexor stop you from giving it a try. The similarity of mechanism doesn't necessarily imply that it will have other similarities. All of these medications are different, despite some similarities related to mechanisms of action. For instance, SSRIs all inhibit the reuptake of serotonin, right? Yet I've never heard of anyone who has exactly the same experience on ALL of them -- mostly, you hear about people (myself included) who do better on one or another; have different adverse effects from each; etc. Meridia would address two of your problems, and it might very well be a good and effective choice for you.
As far as anxiolytics go, the best one for me was BuSpar, but a lot of people don't find it helpful at all.
Best luck, and I hope your appointment goes well. And, of course, that your next medication works beautifully.
poster:Racer
thread:841086
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080718/msgs/841100.html