What are/did you take for Anxiety? NEED HELP!

I’m with Darren - SSRI’s are usually best for long term treatment of anxiety.

SSRI’s have gotten a bad rap as far as that suicidal thoughts thing goes: most people who work in mental health will tell you that when a suicide has happened early on in SSRI treatment, it’s almost always because the person taking it was someone who was suicidal to begin with but was so flat out depressed that they lacked the energy to follow through before they started on meds, but the SSRI began to work and the depression started lifting (they weren’t fully recovered from depression yet), giving them some energy to then carry out their plans. You don’t get well from depression all at once - you gradually progress upward from the depths and need close monitoring, but some people refuse it or hide out from the people who are trying to monitor them - that’s why they say meds plus therapy is better than meds alone for very depressed people.

Also, I wanted to comment that at one time I lived in a college town where a lot of fringe folks believed in that whole body yeast thing and I even bought a book, thinking maybe I had that too. I’ve since become someone who prefers good science based evidence, and it turns out that systemic yeast is quite rare. AIDS patients and cancer patients may get it, but most people are unlikely to get this - it’s probably sold a bunch of books, though, and had a lot of people cutting out all forms of sugar from their diets. Makes eating BORING. Unless a doctor has diagnosed you, I wouldn’t assume you have it. It’s not science based. It’s money based.

I do think anxiety needs to be addressed soon because it’s like an electrical short and it just keeps causing problems, sometimes when you really need it not to be there but you can’t help it. I think the wiring analogy is helpful because it’s something that can go awry and something that can be fixed, but to let it just keep firing itself when it will keeps you feeling out of control.

Hi bcrelief,
really sorry to hear what you’re going through - I just hate the anxiety aspect to all of this.
I just wondred how long you’ve been on Topamax 75mg for?
I only ask because I was fairly recently tritrating upwards on a Topamax trial, and had been comfortably at 100mg for around 8 weeks…and then it all turned to sh*t! Massive, massive anxiety and panic (just like I had when I tried to jump from 25 to 50mg too soon), along with too many of what I call ‘attempted mini spin attacks’ (where a sudden vertigo spin feels imminent). Perhaps these mini-spin attacks were causing or pre-empting the anxiety, but previously I could ride them out, but suddenly the waves of panic and anxiety were too great. Backing down to 80mg again eased the problem.

I only put this out there since I know you are wondering where the anxiety has come from, and thought it might be useful info, and worth considering…?
Best wishes,
Tony.