Tricyclics For Anxiety?

[Lightning-Nl]

My doc is putting me on a Tricyclic Anti-Depressant for anxiety. I, personally, don't have a lot of hope for these medications, but in order to obtain a medication I legitimately need (a benzodiazepine) I have to try these, before I can get what I believe is the only thing that will work (since benzo are the only thing that have reduced any anxiety for me).

However, I am going to give it my best, have an open mind, and be honest. If one of these does happen to work for my anxiety......great! That means I don't have to deal with dependency issues. However, with all the other shit I've tried (Many SSRI's, Hydroxyzine, Diphenhydramine, Buspirone, Gabapentin, Quetiapine, Aripiprazole, Chlorpromazine) I don't really expect these to be any different.

Anyways, has anyone here been prescribed a Tricyclic for pure anxiety? Did it help at all?

Anyone?

 

[nsauce]

Which tricyclic are you talking about specifically? I have soome experience here, specifically Doxepin. It worked well for me, but it WILL make you very sleepy.

 

[paranoid android]

It depends on the tricyclic whether it will do anything for anxiety or not. They mostly affect serotonin and norepinephrine as well as being mildly moderate to very strong anti-cholinergics. I was taking amitriptyline for neuropathic pain and to help my depression (which turned out to be bipolar disorder) and it worked great to help both those conditions and i found it to be the best sleeping pill ever hands down. Unlike quetiapine the sedation didn't wear off after a few weeks or so. Amitriptyline is basically a SNRI with very strong anti-cholinergic properties hence the heavy sedation. Due to it's serotonin and anti-cholinergic effects it can help some peoples anxiety and combined with the clonazepam i was taking at the time it did help mine.

They all have different effects due to their different properties. Some are serotonin reuptake inhibitors, some are serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors while other are norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors and they all have varying degrees of anti-cholinergic side effects. I've been told doxepin is the most sedating of the lot so that might be your best bet. But since we don't know which one your on we can't give you much advice.

I don't know wtf your doctor was thinking putting you on abilify for anxiety as that is a atypical anti-psychotic noted for it's non sedating and often stimulating properties. Also chlorpromazine aka Thorazine aka Largactil which is the first anti-psychotic to ever hit the market should not be used for fucking anxiety and certainly not before most other options including benzodiazepines and MAOI's have been tried. I have taken it for nausea and vomiting and i could see how it could help anxiety but that's like killing a mouse with a fucking shotgun! Not only is it stupid it is very reckless as it can cause permanent damage such as the various movement disorders that all anti-psychotics can cause. It is sometimes used with other meds to lessen anxiety before surgery but it is never given as a long term treatment for anxiety. So i would certainly question this doctors motives as he sounds like he is driven much more by ideology then by science. He sounds anti-benzo and also like a fucking moron to boot.

 

[Mass08]

I'm pretty sure anti-depressants (some maybe not all) cause dependence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSRI_discontinuation_syndrome

 

[paranoid android]

I'm pretty sure anti-depressants (some maybe not all) cause dependence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSRI_discontinuation_syndrome

SSRI's, SNRI's and some other ones such as certain tricyclics, certain MAOI's and others do cause withdrawal syndrome in some people. I was on 150mg's of amitriptyline when i stopped taking it which is the highest dose recommended for outpatients. I had been on it for years but i got no withdrawals despite stopping cold turkey. Bupropion (wellbutrin, Zyban) is another anti-depressant which i have been on and off for years with no trouble at all when it came to stopping. Venlafaxine aka effexor on the otherhand caused some of the worst if not the worst withdrawal symptoms i have gotten from any drug after only being on a low dose for maybe 6 weeks. The brain shocks made it unbearable.

For that matter certain anti-psychotics both typical and atypical can also cause withdrawal syndrome. Quetiapine, olanzapine, chlorpromazine and many others can all cause very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms though not usually as bad as say coming off a SSRI or a SNRI. But if you have bipolar disorder or some sort of psychosis stopping abruptly can not only cause bad withdrawal symptoms but also a return of your original symptoms and sometimes cold turkey withdrawal can make the symptoms worse then they where before you stopped the meds thus you may end up on a higher dose then what you tried to quit. Even anti-convulsants which are used as anti-manic drugs can be dangerous to withdraw from due to the seizure risk of stopping too fast.

Basically all psychiatric meds have to be discontinued slowly under medical supervision. The reason why some doctors are anti-benzo Nazis has to do with the fact that benzodiazepines can make some people high (though most don't cause any euphoria for me) and most doctors think that's bad for some reason or another