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How to cope when meds don't help
Thu, 2010-09-09 14:52 | by Anonymous
I am seeing a psychiatrist for my anxiety every other week. Sometimes the meds don't work and I am still highly anxious even after taking them. We are trying different ones. But, what do I do in the mean time when I'm still overly anxious and can't take any more meds. I've tried yoga, physical exercise, deep breathing, counting,thinking good thoughts, talking to people (which sometimes helps),reading, but none help for very long and some don't help at all.
Is anyone else having this problem? If so, what do you do?
Having the same problems as you/One idea
I have posted my situation in other places in this forum, but here's a quick recap. I have severe GAD. I took BuSpar for three months and it did nothing to help me. I am addicted to generic Xanax (I do get it legally through my longtime psychiatrist) and I want to lower my dosage (which has been 3, sometimes 4 mg a day), but it's hard as hell to do that. For the past 2 weeks I have been down to 2 mg Xanax a day with the help of a tea I am drinking. (More on that tea later...) I am doing Qi Gong, which is supposed to help with anxiety, but I'm not doing it too much. So the one thing that is helping me is drinking a few cups of passionflower tea each day. This herb was suggested to me by my counselor, who is also a longtime herbalist. She is not anti-traditional-meds, though, otherwise I wouldn't see her. My huge concern was having a bad interaction between that herb and the other drugs I take. I am drinking this tea out of desperation, and I think it has helped me in a subtle-but-definite way. The things you listed haven't helped me with the exclusion of exercise (which I know *would* help me w/anxiety, but my severe depression is preventing me from doing it right now...ugh!) I also have bipolar one, to top it all off. I'm taking lithium and I take generic Ambien. But so far nothing terrible has happened from taking lithium, zolpidem tartrate, and generic Xanax in conjunction with the tea. I hope you write again with an update and I hope things are going better for you
Having the same problems as you/One idea
I have posted my situation in other places in this forum, but here's a quick recap. I have severe GAD. I took BuSpar for three months and it did nothing to help me. I am addicted to generic Xanax (I do get it legally through my longtime psychiatrist) and I want to lower my dosage (which has been 3, sometimes 4 mg a day), but it's hard as hell to do that. For the past 2 weeks I have been down to 2 mg Xanax a day with the help of a tea I am drinking. (More on that tea later...) I am doing Qi Gong, which is supposed to help with anxiety, but I'm not doing it too much. So the one thing that is helping me is drinking a few cups of passionflower tea each day. This herb was suggested to me by my counselor, who is also a longtime herbalist. She is not anti-traditional-meds, though, otherwise I wouldn't see her. My huge concern was having a bad interaction between that herb and the other drugs I take. I am drinking this tea out of desperation, and I think it has helped me in a subtle-but-definite way. The things you listed haven't helped me with the exclusion of exercise (which I know *would* help me w/anxiety, but my severe depression is preventing me from doing it right now...ugh!) I also have bipolar one, to top it all off. I'm taking lithium and I take generic Ambien. But so far nothing terrible has happened from taking lithium, zolpidem tartrate, and generic Xanax in conjunction with the tea. I hope you write again with an update and I hope things are going better for you