Approximately 8 months ago, I entered a mental health treatment facility for a week because I was feeling suicidal. I have continued to work intensely with a therapist, and a DBT, group. I was diagnosed with PTSD, Depression and chemical dependency. They started me there on Prozac, but the anxiety I suffered as we tried to raise the dose to address depression issues was unbearable. We switched to effexor, first immediate release, then extended. The extended seemed to help stabalize some of the peaks and valleys in my mood, but again we kept increasing the dose to try to help with the depression. 2 weeks ago we went from 150 to 225 mg of the effexor ER, and again the anxiety went through the roof. Contacted the doc, agreed to go back down to the 150, and when I asked about options...he said "not many'...any insight into why he might have said this? I would think there are other possible meds to try, I found his response very disheartening and depressing. The anxiety contributed to a relapse in my sobriety...which I also found incredibly depressing and frustrating...there seems to be a very clear pattern of relapse or craving when my anxiety is high.
Coming back down I felt better within about a week, but I'm feeling really hopeless...it just seemed like a not very well considered response to my question given that I've only been on two anti-depressants...any insight, thoughts would be very appreciated, I'm feeling frustrated and starting to feel more than a little hopeless....
Posted by mikki
Approximately 8 months ago, I entered a mental health treatment facility for a week because I was feeling suicidal. I have continued to work intensely with a therapist, and a DBT, group. I was diagnosed with PTSD, Depression and chemical dependency. They started me there on Prozac, but the anxiety I suffered as we tried to raise the dose to address depression issues was unbearable. We switched to effexor, first immediate release, then extended. The extended seemed to help stabalize some of the peaks and valleys in my mood, but again we kept increasing the dose to try to help with the depression. 2 weeks ago we went from 150 to 225 mg of the effexor ER, and again the anxiety went through the roof. Contacted the doc, agreed to go back down to the 150, and when I asked about options...he said "not many'...any insight into why he might have said this? I would think there are other possible meds to try, I found his response very disheartening and depressing. The anxiety contributed to a relapse in my sobriety...which I also found incredibly depressing and frustrating...there seems to be a very clear pattern of relapse or craving when my anxiety is high.
Coming back down I felt better within about a week, but I'm feeling really hopeless...it just seemed like a not very well considered response to my question given that I've only been on two anti-depressants...any insight, thoughts would be very appreciated, I'm feeling frustrated and starting to feel more than a little hopeless....