Starting Prozac For Anxiety N Panic Attacks (Top voted first)

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I have been switching from lexapro to prozac.. started with 5mg. Lexapro n 10 mg.. I have panic attacks and anxiety all day.. for someone that hates taking xanax because I'm afraid to be addicted.. it has made me even more panicy just taking the xanax to bring it down.. this has been going on for a good week now.. I can't be alone.. always wanna go to the er for some help. I was prescribed. 25 mg 2x a day of xanax.. it absolutely does nothing it's only 1130am and I've already taken 1mg n .50mg to get thru it.. please help I feel like I'm going nuts.. does this ever end.. is it just a phase to get thru until the prozac actually starts working.. scared this will never end.. my mind races of all the horrible things going on..

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You have my sincere sympathy. I know how you are feeling. Even though you feel so scared I urge you to try to get the message from that book. I know its difficult to concentrate but I also know from personal experience, if you do what it says, it WILL cure your problem. The Prozac will kick in as well, and will probably help, but the solution is to accept the symptoms instead of being scared of them. Believe it. Thousands of people have been the same way. Best wishes.

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5

Newgirl, try to be patient with yourself and your own mind. Try to go to sleep and it is usually different or somewhat better when you wake up. I know it is impossible to try to sleep during a panic attack. I have had lots of panic attacks and they are some of the hardest things to get through in mental illness in my opinion aside from a full blown paranoid psychotic shizophrenic meltdown which I have had. My mother and other people i have known all got extremely agitated on Prozac. I would suggest getting off that medicine as soon as possible. Do not just stop though or things will get worse. Especially with psych meds it is very important to taper off to give your body and mind time to acclimate. Ask your doctor to try Wellbutrin instead i have had good results with it for 8 years now and it does not cause drowsiness in me like effexor did. It can also help with cravings for food or smoking especially if you have any of those issues. Best thing for the panic attacks i have found to prevent them in the first place is Buspar old generic anti-seizure medicine. I used to get 3 panic attacks a week fear of imminent death in a car crash sometimes thinking it had already happened. I got down to about 1 panic attack a month since taking 60 mg a day. It helps to prevent them in the first place for me. Which is much better in my mind cause once they start it is kind of too late isn't it the xanax will lessen it though. Keep in mind that everyone is different though and reacts differently to each medicine. Since i started taking Latuda a new expensive very good and strong Bipolar medicine I have not gotten one panic attack at all. In fact I am going to try to come off the Buspar. Latuda has done great things to stop my suicidal fantasies as well and get me to go to work regularly. Strongest best psych medicine I have ever taking. Search it on here and you will see many people saying the same thing. Good luck remember things do change all the time and they go from worse to better. The pendulum swings so you have some happier more stable times to look forward to I promise you.

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8

Hi. I'm the new kid on the block - I would like to chat about ANY aspect of Prozac...good or bad. I recently "shoehorned" my GP (who I see monthly for new scrips on Lyrica) into giving me Prozac, and he finally accomodated me with a 3-month supply of 20 mg. I am SURE that I can snake him up to the max dose in the next visit or two. (What IS the daily maximum - anybody know?)

I had taken Prozac in days agone, and very successfully so I might add. Memory fails me about how the hell I ever got OFF of it. I can assure you that it was not at my behest, because I thought it was a miracle drug! That's why - for several months now - I was trying to get my doc (not a shrink, oh no...just a GP) to give me back my binky dammit, and he kept giving me that regular garden variety of doctor bulls*** saying stuff like "Let's just increase your Celexa and see how you do for a little while longer" - stuff like that, just variations on a theme. Most recently he put me on Lexpro to substitute for the Celexa - his brilliant idea was to keep me from bugging him, I'm sure. (I forgot to mention ...my condition has been dually diagnosed as PTSD, although I currently have no "counselors" I see. Reasons WHY I have no counselors or psychiatrists is because I have LESS than no respect for the entire Psychiatric Community, but the explanations about "how come" I feel this way are way too long to elucidate upon in this limited venue.)

Anyway... after I took the damn Lexpro for a while I found it to be as useful as screen doors on a submarine. It did zilch for my dark depression waves which haunt me, the foggy bottoms of gloom, worry, despair, hopelessness and the overwhelming feeling of shame and self-hatred that always accompanies these oft excursions into depression.

So FINALLY (drum roll please), my old buddy is back. But, hey...I'm like 20 or 25 years OLDER now, and I have noticed a couple things that are quite different now to how I was in the good old days!

The first thing I noticed was that I got an IMMEDIATE result...not the usual three to five weeks that most people claim for their individual results. And I am sure that there was no "placebo effect" at play. Before my retirement, I was a Doctor of Audiology, so I know about old Mister Placebo. In spades.

I still rate Prozac FIVE STARS - but I still have a lot of questions to ask.

Anyone?

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I have bought this book.. I tried reading it. It's very hard to concentrate on reading while I'm going thru these episodes.. I just wanna know if there's a light a the end of the tunnel.. will this prozac start to kick in so I can live a normal life again. . Please help.. so scared.. any positive replies is helpful..

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4

Get off Prozac have heard nothing but bad things about it. I have had good results with wellbutrin which has a generic and is inexpensive. For the anxiety i would try Buspar which is non addictive and has helped me greatly. Good luck I know how it is u are not alone. I have everything. Schizophrenia Bipolar with severe depression and anxiety attacks. I am 44 and have a long history with meds. You know it is different for everyone on each med though. Just realize that this too shall pass and try to get some extra sleep that is how i have gotten through my difficulties over the years. You can look up cognitive behavioral therapy and get some free info on it online it helps you to change your thought patterns with effort.

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Newgirl81..I seem to have your same issues. Xanax and the like can build up therefore u eventually need more. I was also scared to take any Xanax- tried it a few times. It didnt do much. Valium works much better and remains in my system longer it seems. I rarely take it for the above reason as well. when i do. its a low dose and i will wait 5 or more days to take again if needed for fear of just creating another problem. Ive recently started Viibryd, only day 10. Three of the days I was up on 20mg. Not fully kicking in yet-but its helped. A bit hard to wait for the full affect to kick in. Hope ur feeling better!

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7

Have gotten off the Latuda could only sleep 2 hours at a time for months. Big downer every 4 days.

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9

Yiu might try KLONOPIN - (I sure wish I could get some again!) When I took it I had really fantastic results... really defeated panic attacks big time!

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1

Get a book called "Self Help for Your Nerves" by Claire Weekes. This book has the answer to this problem. Seriously you really can solve this. Many people who thought they would go mad have found a solution with this book.

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