Posted by bleauberry on March 10, 2009, at 16:20:53
In reply to Lexapro or Zoloft, posted by nicksmom2495 on March 10, 2009, at 8:28:36
Just my opinion, but I think all the ssri meds are overated for treating anxiety. In general they take much longer to work on anxiety than depression, like in the 8 to 16 week range.
All meds have their own drawbacks and there is no guarantee any particular thing will work.
My personal preference for anxiety when someone does not want to be on benzos is small dose ssri with a low dose antipsychotic, or low dose antipsychotic alone. Zyprexa was my favorite. If one is to work, it should do so within a couple days to a week. If it isn't helping by then, forget it, move on. No long torturous wait.
The possibility is real that the anxiety is not coming from your brain but instead from something in your body impacting the brain. The meds don't fix that. They block it, cover it up, or compensate for it. Example...with longstanding morning anxiety as a history, I developed a boil that wouldn't heal and needed an antibiotic. Within 24 hours my anxiety of years was completely gone. That was a strong unexpected surprise clue, and a deeper look by a specialist showed a highly suggestive potential of Lyme or Lyme-like disease. Thus the dramatic improvement on antibiotic. No psych meds needed. A common disabling symptom of Lyme or similar pathogens is anxiety.
It is worth investigating where the anxiety is coming from. In the meantime, I am not as big a fan of ssris for anxiety as most doctors are. Keep in mind, one ssri may work great while another doesn't. It is personal trial and error.
poster:bleauberry
thread:884717
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090304/msgs/884755.html