Working for me

[Hepcat]

Dale :

Oddly, I find my worst symptom right now is anxiety. I've had free floating anxiety and dysthymia my whole life and thought I had it beat.

Then comes CP.

Even though nearly a year has past since this whole ordeal has started, I still sleep poorly and literally shiver like a wet dog. Panic attacks are just par for the course. Worst of all, I have a medical background and this makes it worse as I wonder if every symptom is a sign of something more ominous. So, you can see where this going as I slowly become paralyzed by anxiety.

My question to you would be, as a psychiatrist, what is the treatment of choice for patients resistant to the traditional meds (ie. ssri's, Elavil, clonazapam, buspar)? is there anything new on the market that approaches anxiety in a radically different way? Exercise, eating right, warm baths, lots of sleep and herbal's haven't helped either

I suspect I'm not alone in this, so any advice would be invaluable

[handyman]

Hepcat one of the newer treatments for anxiety and depression is NEURONTIN many articles on this if you do a search, and as you know it is one of the first line meds for cppps anyway. It has certainly helped me with both. maybe DALE could elaborate more as he is Psychiatrist. Hope this helps

[Hepcat]

Thanks Handyman, but I'm all too familiar with Neurontin.

I actually have a previous thread where I mention how I responded to it.
viewtopic.php?p=1847&highlight=#1847

Poorly, unfortunately

[Richard.N]

one of the newer treatments for anxiety and depression is NEURONTIN

That drug again Do you have a URL on this please Handyman?

[webslave]

Neurontin and anxiety:
http://www.psycom.net/depression.centra ... entin.html

[handyman]

Thanks Webmaster for posting reply an url to Richard N for me.

[ddarcher]

Day 10 post antibiotics. 90% improved, survived Acapulco and had a great time. Hepcat, I do have some thoughts on the anxiety issue and I'll address these tomorrow as I just got in and need some sleep. Supervising 17 yo's is exhausting!

[ddarcher]

Two weeks today post antibiotics! 90% improved. Stopped vistaril due to a fuzzy brain feeling. No apparent increase in symptoms except for allergies slightly worse. Feeling Good! Now as to anxiety:

My question to you would be, as a psychiatrist, what is the treatment of choice for patients resistant to the traditional meds (ie. ssri's, Elavil, clonazapam, buspar)? is there anything new on the market that approaches anxiety in a radically different way? Exercise, eating right, warm baths, lots of sleep and herbal's haven't helped either

Benzodiazepines remain the treatment of choice with the best succes for treating anxiety. Obviously you have addiction potential so a non addicting alternative is being sought. The most commonly used benzos include Xanax, Ativan and klonopin. Next would be the SSRI class with paxil being the most studied. I only like buspar for mild cases, and the TCA class while effective typically has side effects worse than the disease if you get the dose into the therepeutic range which is usually 100mg plus for imipramine or it's equivalence in others. There are several drugs in each class listed above( except buspar) and you should be tried on a few before calling the whole class a failure. Also behavior mod therapy and relaxation therapy are very effective in anxiety. Much like CP you have to break the anxiety cycle so a combo of meds and therapy work best. On the research front, the anticonvulsants hold great promise. The theory is that some anxiety/panic attacks may be subclinical limbic system "seizures". Depakote can work and so can tegretol and also some of the newer meds like neurontin.
The research front is very exciting with several new class drugs in phase III trails that will possibley be available by next year. Hope this helps.

[Hepcat]

Very Interesting.

Thank you Dale :)

[handyman]

Dale I have had great success with neourontin for pain and anxiety with very little side effects. But the post from webmaster about pancreatic cancer scares me what do think the risk really is as an MD. I know you can not give medical opinion on board but a personal one Thanks Handyman.

[ddarcher]

Dale I have had great success with neourontin for pain and anxiety with very little side effects. But the post from webmaster about pancreatic cancer scares me what do think the risk really is as an MD. I know you can not give medical opinion on board but a personal one Thanks Handyman.

When indicated I prescribe neurontin to my patients. It's effective with a low side effect profile and obviously it's FDA approved. If I personally needed it and it worked for me I would take it. If you have further concerns you should discuss with your Doc.

[ddarcher]

Today makes 2.5 weeks post antibiotics and almost 7 weeks since I started my regimen. Energy up- 95%, pain decrease-95%, Overall 95% improved. I will compile a full list of what I did to get here. It has been wonderful! Again I'm sometimes scared to post, afraid I may jinx it.

[webslave]

Are you still taking the Quercetin?

[ddarcher]

Started Quercetin about 2 weeks ago. Took a while to get it.

[ddarcher]

Did a 10 mile bike ride today! Used to be an avid cyclist before CP but had to give it up due to pain and fatigue. Decided to give it a try today and it felt great. No pain during but some increased pain about an hour after. Well worth it. Trying to get my life back to normal for me. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.