Yes, these physical symptoms are causing me great distress. I'm also in the process of changing my anxiety meds so I'm struggling with this. My mind is telling me that these symptoms aren't likely cardiac related (nuclear stress tests...which I've had are 90-95% accurate), but my heart hasn't quite got the message yet. And until my heart gets the message, or the pain goes away...I'm struggling. The hard thing is that I have the pain in my chest and throat is there pretty much all the time....from shortly after I wake up until I go to bed. It's there when I'm sitting, when I'm active, when I'm home and when I'm at work. I'm overwhelmed with the sensations all the time, with rarely a reprieve.
I hope you're able to get a refill of your prescription and that it continues to work for you.
I've been on Effexor, which is very similar to Pristiq, for about a month now. I was actually on the highest dose of Cipralex, but it wasn't working as well as I wanted, so decided to make the switch. I can't say that I felt well after only a few days, like you seem to have had, as I already had an anti-anxiety medication in my system. My anxiety still isn't very well controlled, despite the Effexor (I'm only on the lowest dose) and my coping strategies, so I'll be visiting my doctor on Wednesday and will likely be increasing my daily dose.
What medication were you given? In my experience, it's often the people who have bad side effects with medications that post about them. Remember, there are probably just as many (or maybe even more) people who take the same medication but have little to no side effects.
Aren't Klonopin and Xanax pretty much both the same type of medication (benzos used to treat anxiety)? I'm surprised you would be on both. Benzos can be very addictive so please use caution. When my anxiety returned in December 2013 and I started back on medication, I asked my doctor for a prerscription for Ativan (another benzo) but she doesn't like to give it unless absolutley necessary. Instead she gave me a script for Imovane to help me sleep. It's non-habit forming and allowed me to get sleep when my anxiety was through the roof.
I also took Cipralex (what you call Lexapro). The only major side effect I had from it was that it caused horrible sweating. I took it for about 9 years (it worked great) and then went off it, as my anxiety (at that time) was related to school, and that part of my life was over. When my anxiety came back, I asked to be started on Cipralex again, but it didn't work quite as well as I was hoping (not sure why...different situation....different anxiety....who knows). Anyway...changed to Effexor about 6 weeks ago (just had my dose increased the other day).
I suffer from a lot of health anxiety...specifically cardiac anxiety. I get a lot of chest pain, and am convinced it's cardiac in nature, rather than anxiety. I've had 2 normal nuclear stress tests in the last year....but still can't seem to believe my heart is fine. One of my challenge techniques is actually exercise. If I exercise, and nothing happens (my chest pain doesn't get worse, I don't have a heart attack, etc) it seems to help my anxiety.
Is there a specific health anxiety you have that you can challenge like this?
Take a 5 minute break...walk away from work for a while. Can you listen to music while you work?? Try some soothing music to take your mind off things.
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