Cymbalta / Vyvanse / Xanax = Increased Anxiety?? (Page 2)
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I am 34 years old and have been taking anti-depressants for about 3 years. I started on Lexapro, which quit working after a year and a half. While I was taking Lexapro I was experiencing horrible exhaustion (I have a disabled child and work full-time...VERY stressful), so my doctor put me on Vyvanse. She also gave me an Rx for Xanax .25mg to take as needed, which I RARELY took (usually only at night to relax).
Last spring my stress level went through the roof and my doctor switched me from the Lexapro (which wasn't working anymore) to Pristiq 50mg, which was AWFUL (Horrible, vivid nightmares). I took that for one month before switching to Cymbalta 30mg. I have never liked taking the Vyvanse because it's an amphetamine. During the summer I began experiencing horrible anxiety and panic attacks to the point that I didn't want to leave the house. My Cymbalta was doubled to 60mg recently, which helped with the depression, but the anxiety and panic attacks continued. I have been tapering down off the Vyvanse 10 mg at a time because I think that's definitely making the panic attacks worse. Problem is, I have to take the Xanax everyday now to relax, and eventually got up to 2 mg a day (1x a day in the evening). After reading up on Xanax I believe the anxiety I suffer during the day is actually withdrawal from the Xanax 'cause I won't take it during the day (makes me VERY loopy). I have begun tapering off that, as well. I am currently taking Cymbalta 60mg, Vyvanse 20mg and Xanax 1.5mg a day, yet still have horrible anxiety. Anyone have any advice? I want OFF the Vyvanse and Xanax, but the anxiety feelings are debilitating:(. I'm all for natural medicine, as well. Is there something I could take that's natural to help with the anxiety, but won't make me sleepy? When I've tried not taking the Vyvanse on the weekends I have ZERO energy. Can't be like this with a disabled child. Please help with any advice or personal experiences you may have. My doctors are all idiots and just wanna put me on more meds.

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No problem!

I'm from Southern California (and try to visit often), but at the moment I'm up in Portland, Oregon for school. Are you anywhere in the area by chance?

The rain here used to be really depressing after coming from sunshine everyday in Cali. I've thankfully been able to cope with it now after the change in diet. It gives me that mental feel good sort of feeling that blocks out those negative vibes.

I don't know if you'd be interested in looking at this site called the Blindguru.com. But this guy has a deep insight to the whole raw vegan lifestyle and what to eat and what not to eat/etc... I don't follow it as closely as he does, but I found it really helpful when starting out eating like that. The site can be pretty biased to other eating habits so just try to ignore that viewpoint if you do visit the site, but everything said does make sense and seems to be working for me. :)

About the essential oils, this site has a decent amount of info to offer for individual oils:
http:/­/­www.essentialoils.co.za/­essential-oils/­index.htm

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Thanks, David...I would appreciate any more info you may have. I would love to get off prescription meds PERIOD and find a homeopathic way to help with my stress and depression. I will definitely look into the things you have mentioned.
Just out of curiosity, what state do you live in?

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Hi eyerishchick,

I'm not an MD by any means; just a student in the natural health and exercise field working my way up the latter. But I may have helpful information for you pertaining to natural alternatives that can help get you off of those Meds. Before I jump into mentioning each one, I just want to say that it is great that you are wanting to go natural, because the majority of prescriptions can be very addictive, and those types of doctors don't put any effort into seeking a proper alternative, other than giving you more Meds than you already had, which means more side effects.

The first thing I may suggest is trying out Essential Oils for controlling anxiety, panic attacks, stress, relaxing, and other related symptoms. These Essential Oils can replace prescription drugs if used properly. Some I would recommend looking into are: Bergamot, Clary Sage, Lavender, and Ceedarwood. There are plenty others as well that may be just as or more efficient for you than the ones I mentioned. The most potent brand I have personally used is called Young Living. I usually pick them out on Ebay or Amazon since the price can be stiff on their website (price ranges can vary greatly from $5 to over $100 depending on the oil) prices for the ones I have mentioned should be faround $10 to $40 range. As far as referencing goes, google each individual oil and look on a couple different sites for a detailed description of their benefits. Briefly though, I have read about Clary Sage being used as a treatment for people having opium withdrawals due to its relaxing properties; that goes to show how powerful some of these oils are. I'm giving this information out based on personal use and experience, and reference from natural books.

The other thing I want to mention is a change in diet. In particular I personally have dealt with anxiety and high blood pressure for what seemed like the longest time. I recently went 75% raw vegan, with the help of a blender, and I feel like a different person from the inside out (in a positive way of course). I believe that our bodies are also burdened with processing all these random ingredients put in our foods, that it makes our body work harder to perform a simple task that should not be stressful at all. My advice to you, if you have the means to, would be to try it religiously for a couple days and see how you feel. I don't think you will be half as exhausted during a hard day as you may feel now.

I hope some of what I said can be of use to you; I do have more knowledge to offer if you want more information about either of these two things I mentioned. Otherwise, please post back if you need someone to chat to about anything else that might help.

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