Thanks for your time to respond to my posts. I'm a little tired and frustrated at the moment... however, I know it's time to push on.
No surprise... the chest sensations 'lit up' like a Christmas tree over the last day or so. I need to divert my attention and remind myself how many times I've been down this path before... although unpleasant, I'm moving through the discomfort.
The thing I couldn't remember the name of was Tryptophan and in the case of people who are either lactose intolerant or have fructose malabsortion they can become low on it which leads to depression. It is used by the body to create melatonin and seretonin, two chemicals that have an effect on sleep. It is available from the health food store, but I find scalding milk works just fine as a sleep aid. I put postum in it cause I don't like milk all that much. I also got the name of the book wrong, It's Anxiety & Phobia workbook. It's been a long day.
Me again. I forgot to mention Calcium should be taken on an empty stomach at least 1 hour from any medication and especially iron or iron bareing foods. It binds to some things and interfears with there absortion.
Yes, in fact I am at the point where 1 gram of calcium (2- 500 mg O-Calcium tablets) and a cup of ginger mint tea will stop a panic attack, but you must remember that mine are getting milder every day. For a year I tried to get off Ativan, then I started to take Calcium for osteoporosis and I could finally stop the Ativan. I take 3 grams a day spread out but I don't know how much of that gets used for the ostio and how much is for the panic. I do know that if I don't take it I get that antsy feeling and if I ignore it, it will often turn into panic. or at the least interfere with my ability to function properly. My doctor is Ok with this, If you are not prone to kidney stones it won't be a problem, besides there are tests for Calcium. My Brother has stones and he doesn't take calcium or drink milk. Calcium is not why scalded milk works. Scalding milk releases a tranquillizer whose name escapes me right now. It's in one of my other posts. There are a number of sites that mention Calcium's calming affect including the panic and phobias work book. Calcium is also needed for signals to cross the synapses. It is certainly worth a try. If you do use it on a regular basis then you should be checked to be sure your magnesium and potassium don't get out of whack.
I'm starting to think that my body doesn't handle any of the new meds. It's been over 24 hours since I took the Cymbalta and I'm starting to feel better.
I may ask the doctor for supplements and other suggestions outside of meds... does calcium help calm you down noticably?
I'm so sorry to hear that it didn't work. Maybe you could get your doctor to try you on something older and weaker instead of the latest super potent answer. Or maybe you are like me and don't do well on them. One of the things that worked very well for me was tricyclic anti depressants but I can't take them now with the other pills I take. I took them for a year after my father died of altzeimers. It was called trimipramine but I don't think it will help you sleep. You may have to do like me and just get by with herbals. You could try a couple of cups of sleepytime tea. Ok. I'm going to stop here before I get annoying, well maybe not, I do have valium for when I absolutely can't sleep but I try hard not to use it. And maybe like me having failed again you will be so mad you won't let it get to you. Let me know if you find something that lets you sleep. Odd thing about this lamp I'm using, I sleep sound now and have a hard time getting up in the morning.
I stopped the Cymbalta after 1 day... I had 2 really bad panic attacks and generally felt terrible. Considering that I was going weeks w/o panic attacks and was really dealing w/ the generalized anxiety, I told the doctor that I believed it was the med.
I know many of you can appreciate this... I'm feeling a little down now. Just trying to clear the med in my system...drinking lots of water. In this case the 'cure' was worse than the illness.
As w/ all meds, other people may have a totally different reaction... and I hope they do. So far I'm '0 for 2' w. Lexapro and now Cymbalta. Honestly, I just want to get a good night sleep tonight... I was 'tossing and turning' all night w/ weird dreams and tingling sensations all over.
Keep me in your prayers... I told the doctor I'm not sure if I want to try another med... they seem to not agree w/ my body.
Good luck with the new Medication. You do sound much happier and you are definitely in my prayers. Keep us posted, I have never tryed Cymbalta or even heard of it so I looked it up and I will definitely want to know how you do on it.
Went to my doctor today and received Cymbalta to try... the doctor told me that Cymbalta would control panic attacks and GAD better than Buspar. He said that Buspar was an older med and good for anxiety, but new meds were much better for GAD and Panic. Does anyone have experience w/ this med? How's the anxiety? The panic attacks on the med?
The Buspar, while I could handle it better than Lexapro, was only minimally effective. However, because Lexapro gave me some weird side effects, decided to stick w/ it and up the Buspar dose to 45 mg/day.
The doctor made me feel better... told me that he wanted to remove the Buspar once the Cymbalta kicked in... and told me the med was only a 'bridge' to get my nervous system 're-tiered' to a lower level of anxiety. Also wanted to get rid of the Xanax, which I don't use that much of now, ASAP.
It's feels like a couple of year's since I've been able to not think about these attacks and anxiety. It was a big step for me to go to this doctor... and now that I went, I'm saying my prayers that Cymbalta reduces my anxiety level to a 'normal' range.
Finally, the doctor told me that meds are meant to help w/ this type of program... not replace it.
