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  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | paranoid android

Persistent agitation and restlessness; inability to enjoy anything

It seems like all the anti-depressants which are specifically indicated for anxiety (Paxil, Avanza, amitryptaline, imipramine) are associated with weight gain. Can anyone think of any AD's used for anxiety which do not cause weight gain?
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Would [potential] weight gain be so bad so long as the meds are helping with the anxiety if that's one of the main reasons why you've been prescribed the meds in the first place? Avanza ( Mirtazapine ) does apparently increase appetite for some, which is a useful effect for those who's appetite suffers because of depression, but it may not actually affect you in that way all that much at all, and at least you can do something about that through diet and exercise if it does. Think it will largely depend on how your appetite is generally. Mine is generally good, and seems unchanged on it. You might even feel up to exercising if it helps elevate your mood and energy levels sufficiently? I think it's a case of what's the least worst option Suessmayr.
 
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Mirtazipine sent me insane, I was gutted coz I know a lot of people that have benefitted from it, but the females I know all gained weight like crazy and just couldn't get it off, even with exercise and a healthy diet ( I was writing their diets and training plans as I used to train for semi pro mma fights and that usually meant a strict diet and various exercise depending on if I needed to go up or down a weight)
 
Don't women put down fat more easily than men though Doomed2pain anyways in general, typically in areas where it's harder to shift like thighs and hips? May not be so much of an issue for Suessmayr being a bloke?
 
Yeh that is usually the case, but I know a guy who has weight problems down to his meds too, unfortunately they are the only combo that keep him out of the psych ward. So it just depends on the person really, some men gain weight more than others, my fella really struggles with his weight and he cant keep it off with exercise anymore now coz of a knee injury from judo. I'm a woman and sometimes struggle with my weight ESP as I can't train now but I've been at a constant healthy weight since June, I put on after the accident then lost too much when it started affecting my ability to eat coz of the stomach pain. Now I drink complan if I am struggling, better than nothing :)
 
I was on mirtazepine previously and it was great for almost everything, but especially sleep and anxiety. But my weight went from 70kg to almost 95kg over a few years. Now I think I've got it down to about 85kg. But that was a big concern for me so I really don't want to go back to that stuff.
 
suessmayr said:
Alex000 - I actually only recently got off buprenorphine after several years. So aside from using it occasionally, I'm not willing to go back there. Stimulants I would actually be willing to try - mainly because I never have before - but there is absolutely no chance of getting them from my shrink. He knows all about the previous benzo/opiate stuff and there is just no way he would ever write. I doubt he's even legally allowed to.
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Let me just ask, was this restlessness, apathy, anhedonia, and malaise present or much less noticable when on buprenorphine? I wasn't really trying to advocate long-term amphetamine use, but if used very cautiously I don't see why it would have to be a problem. I think buprenorphine would be a better bet, possibly with a low dose round-the-clock benzo, only if needed. You specifically said you don't feel right without one or the other. I wouldn't suffer in agony if there was an easy fix.
 
I have gotten this sometimes when Ive been manic. Currently i take 200mg's of lamotrigine, 4-6mg's of clonazepam, 300mg's of bupropion a day for bipolar disorder as well as anxiety. I also take various anti-psychotics when needed such as zyprexa, risperidone and seroquel. When i get restless or manic really bad i sometimes go off my wellbutrin as restlessness and feeling wired can be a side effect of bupropion. For neuropathic pain i take 120mg's of morphine along with anywhere from 240-3200mg's of gabapentin a day.

As much as these drugs can dampen down my restlessness they don't numb me out or anything which i guess is a good thing. When i get my condition under control i get this much less often as well. I wouldn't suggest opioids to you to help with restlessness because the effect wears off fairly quick and you need increasing doses to get the anti-anxiety effects. This as you can imagine can lead to your dosage going up fairly quickly. Though i hear bupe may be abit different then typical opioids like morphine, heroin, etc in this regard i still wouldn't suggest it. It's one of the few opioids i have no personal. experience with. I would have to say that for me personally opioids don't do alot for the psychiatric conditions i have. If they where the cure all i wouldn't have to take mood stabilizers or anti-psychotics i guess.

I would suggest seeing a doctor if it get's bad at all as any number of things can cause it. Anti-depressants like SSRI's and wellbutrin which is a DNRI and thus can be stimulating can cause restlessness. It's a common side effect of ssri's such as lexapro too. So going back to your doctor to figure out if it's possibly a medication that is causing it would be worth it in my opinion.
 
Well the thing is, when you gain weight, it makes you feel worse and more self conscious which makes anxiety and depression worse. Like I said though venlafaxine is meant to be ok for the weight gain, intact it can be known to cause weight loss, and it's used to treat anxiety disorders a lot too. I think I may have lost weight while on it, but I didn't see any positive effects from it even after upping the dose so I came off it and had a break for a while, which of course did not help my mental state at all, but I was so frustrated with nothing working I had a bit of a wobbler and quit all of my pain meds too :/
 
I was on Pristiq (desvenlafexine) which I think is essentially the same as venlafexine and it didn't do much.

I see a psychiatrist either once or twice weekly but he's mostly a psychotherapist and I know what he'll say - "just breathe, do some meditation, listen to some music (etc.)". When I insist that this does fuck all and that I can't even listen to music these days he'll say "well what do you want to do? do you want to stop taking your meds and go back to being depressed?". It's like it's impossible to treat my anxiety and my depression simultaneously - whatever helps one aggravates the other. Stimulating things like bupropion help my mood but create horrible restlessness; sedating things like mirtazepine kill anxiety but make me so lethargic and depressed.

When I was on bupe I had no anxiety, but I don't think that's a reason to get back on opiates. It made me a real cunt and unbelievably lazy. A drug addict, essentially. I don't get this 'being on bupe is not the same as being on morphine' bullshit. It's exactly the same to the extent that you are still dependent on one thing that is the object of all your thinking. You dose less but I doubt whether you think about it or about opiates less.
 
I've found the exact same problems, they try and treat all of my disorders with one pill (mental health wise anyway) and I get told oh well this will help your panic attacks and your depression but it does tend to make me either more anxious and I constantly get anticipatory panic attacks and get them in my sleep, depersonalisation/derealization or I just get that depressed that all I can think about is suicide constantly and find no joy in things. Or I end up psychotic. I didn't actually leave my house for 6 months apart from to go to see my dr for medication, and even then I used to put it off and put it off and eventually rang them to do my appointment over the phone coz I just couldn't deal with it. Now I am trying to force myself out to the drs but again I very rarely leave the house, can't even look outside and have to have my living room curtains closed as there are too many people that go past and it freaks me out.

Bleh! That's all I can say, just plain bleh. Been feeling a little better today mentally had a nice afternoon with my son watching him play games and watching cartoons but I'm stuck in bed due to my pain being off the scale and I can't get to sleep :/
 
D2Pain- have you had any experience with pregabalin? It's not just for fibromyalgia... it helped wonderfully for my old war wounds, and aided quite a bit in alleviating my crippling black-funks.
IIRC, its still one of the more expensive pain-medications no matter what nation you live in.... or at least until the generics hit the market. 8)
 
I have and unfortunately I did not tolerate it well at all, it made me shaky, really dumbed down like I was a zombie, and made my legs give way on 3 occasions, gabapentin was the same but I was on that a lot longer. As I have crps and am stupidly sensitive to temperature and pressure, every time I fell I ended up stuck in bed for days so had to stop it. I was really hoping they would both have helped me but alas no, my body didn't like them. I was on gabapentin for about 8 months eventually at 3200mg day, pregabalin I only gave it 2 months but had to stay at 150mg as it just made me too unwell :(

I'm glad it helped you though, some people I know benefit, some really don't which is unfortunate.
 
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hrm..... that is unfortunate. Pregabalin does hit some people hard like that; and from what I've witnessed, especially if already on pain-mgmt and/or anti-anxiety meds.
Sucks.... because if one dodges those side-effects or interactions, it is an excellent stand-alone painkiller.
Ah well.... I guess the good ol' fashioned morphine is still with us for a reason. :\
 
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I tried them both with and without opoid therapy and without any other anti depressants to make sure. They just really screwed me up.

I wish my morphine was working :( it is the worst potent opiate I have tried so far. I was meant to go for a med review in 2 weeks butnin going this week, I can't go on like this I haven't slept since fri night. Stupid horrid snowy icy crap weather!
 
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Doomed2pain said:
I tried them both with and without opoid therapy and without any other anti depressants to make sure. They just really screwed me up.

I wish my morphine was working :( it is the worst potent opiate I have tried so far. I was meant to go for a med review in 2 weeks butnin going this week, I can't go on like this I haven't slept since fri night. Stupid horrid snowy icy crap weather!
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What dose of morphine are you on? I find that morphine works fairly well but I'm abit odd as i don't find oxycodone to work that well at all for pain or atleast the type of pain that i get. If i could afford it or get it covered id rather be on the fentanyl patch though as i have to say those where the most pain free months Ive had in years when i was taking that. But since i couldn't afford it any longer it was back to morphine :\ . Lyrica is another drug that worked well for me (though i still need opioids with it) that i can't afford. I actually found it to have less side effects then gabapentin so go figure.

I would say talk to your doctor about it because if the meds aren't doing their job then you should maybe try something else. There are lot's of options for pain control granted it helps if you can afford them :\
 
I've been on fentanyl 75mcg and ir oxy 40mg for break through, my pm dr put me up to 100 then discharged me saying that was all he could do. Me and my gp decided to stay at 75. But I had really bad skin reactions to the patches, now have scars on my chest, and I'm a girl so I didn't want big ugly scars allover from the patches. My gp then put me on mst 60 mg per day ( he later realised he miscalculated the dose). I got so frustrated and pissed off I quit all my meds. Back at 60 mg now but the other night I ate 8 30 mg tablets, chewed 3 of them and still only got back down to an 8, I was desperate. I can't keep doing this. I just really do not find morphine helpful to me at all

Tried other meds too but the fent and oxy had me the most stabile at a 7 unless I got a bad flare up then I'd need more oxy.

I'm waiting for a PRIVATE pain management dr now but my solicitor needs to get the insurance to agree to it so mean while me and my gp are trying to get me more stabilised. She couldn't come see me today so I'm still in constant tears and being sick from how much pain I am in ( and no I'm not withdrawing from the large dose I took, my foot and arm have swelled up and gone lovely multi coloured shades of red and purple due to the stupid weather and me standing for 40 minutes on Friday)

Glad morphine works for you but I really do not find it effective at all, and oddly my night time panic attacks occur more frequently on morphine too even though i don't dream as i rarely sleep and don't get deep enough before the pain wakes me.

Sorry we have hijacked the thread btw. Didn't mean to.
 
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