Please help me someone, I am in a severe anxiety state, i have had generalised anxiety disorder and agoraphobia for years, but now in the wake of a very stressful few months, I seem to be trapped in a 24/7 severe anxiety state. Doc won't let me take Ativan regularly/daily, says I need to get onto a proper treatment. I have refused the new drugs (don't trust new ones, I am a meds phobic). I have done a search here on Amitrip, but the negative reports are very discouraging and increase my anxiety. I am 18 months post and not suffering with any other meno things, but I think it could be why my anxiety is SOOOOO bad now. I am practically paralysed with it, have had the breathing difficulty for 3 weeks now and feel terrible. I have had heart/lung checkup and my lung function is good. It's just very bad anxiety. I am desperate, please help. My doctor is kind but what more can he do apart from prescribe the drug? I am having counseling, but that's not helping me right now.

My dear 'chico'
It's o.k. honey.I know what you are going through having walked that path and felt so desperate I almost had this desire to throw myself out of the window.It was horrible.
Eventually I was diagnosed as Post Menopausal and put on HRT.I was 39 at the time,knew nothing about Menopause thought your periods stopped and that was that.
I was never told about the crippling anxiety,the weird phobias,insomnia etc.
I finally saw a Psychiatrist.He listens well but is not a great believer in Therapy and says that for some people in a vulnerable state it might make them worse to start going down memory lane too quickly so he prefers to start with Meds.
He put me on Prozac 20mgs and Xanax-to be used as on needed basis-as he said that I would probably have even more hightened anxiety while first using the Prozac
He assessed me regularly.We have kept to the 20mgs as it it seems to do its job.He asked me about the Xanax and I told him there are still times when I need it and other times where I might not need it for weeks on end
I have now been on this dose of Prozac for many years and then he asked if I would like to be weaned off gradually.I did this very slowly for a year but it was a disastrous mess so we both concluded that in order to have a quality life I should stay on it possibly forever.

Sorry to ramble but I wanted to tell you that there is help out there
You must never give up
Call the Samaritans so someone can come to see you as you are unable to get out of the house.
Or if you have a very trusted friend or family member ask them for help to get into the battle line

We are all behind you 100%
We love you and care and we will not allow you to go under.

God Bless
And many Prayers
Warm Hugs
Please keep us Posted
Elizabeth

One day I woke up and I was an emtional, anxious mess. I have never experienced anything like it at all. I thought I was loosing my mind. I found out I was in meno. So I did the Hrt...It helped but the anxiety and fear and shaking and loosing weight was taking a toll on me. So I went to BHRT....It did not help. So a therapist told me to take Lexapro 10mg. and a little estrogen patch...It has been a life saver. I am not a medicine taker. In fact it took awhile to convince myself to try it. Now I am doing good. For how long, I don't know but I can handle meno now with the Lexapro and the estrogen.
I hope you find the strength to find what will work for you. It is not a easy road.
But you will find what will work for you.
Sishaircut

OH CHICO!!!! The AD was the best thing I have ever done! I was very scared to take any meds, so I toughed it out, spending money I did not have to spend on "natural stuff" that did NOT work.

I wish you the very best my dear!

I tried Elavil several times I too have the anxiety crying ect... Post 3 yrs. The Elavil did help my mood but just touched the anxiety, when I was on it with HRT was doing OK but had sideeffects to the HRT. Alone depending on the dose I was at 10 mg Not that great. :It does make you tired at first and my head felt strange but that faded after about a week. Easy to come off of then the other stuff, like you I,m thinking about starting Effexor but scared to with all the sideeffects I had to drugs but sometimes we have to try it ,.it may be the one that works. Good luck another one you might ask your Dr. about is Doxepan{sinequan} I was doing pretty good on that but had to come off due to my EKG showed I had a mild heart attack didn,t even know it and you can,t take that group of meds. Had no sideeffects at all to that one but tough to come off of . Good Luck I know what your going through it,s terrible. Hang in there LOL

chico, i just posted to this in the other spot you posted..i was very much like you, when i started taking this medicine...i took 25 mgs every evening. as someone here said, it made me feel funny for about a week..but once you are adjusted to it, there are very few side effects--mainly the dry mouth...DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE AMITRIPTILINE--it is a very useful drug...and besides its on the $4 list at walmart..it has been used safely for yrs, by me! in very stressful times, i was allowed to up my dose (50 mgs) to cope with things, and then when the stressful stuff was over, i just went back to my original dose of 25 mgs....i am not taking it now, since my new doctor told me i could change to nortriptylin and do away with the dry mouth...he told me if i wasnt happy with it..he would re-write the prescription for amitriptylin...but the new one doesnt give me as bad of dry mouth...so i have been on it for a year now..very happy with it, too..i am 18 months post, as you are..
btw--it is a $4 walmart prescription too!

Does the nortryp help with anxiety?

yes, it does..i have a lot of anxiety--it helps...last week i didnt have enough to get me till friday so i took them every other day and it was rough the days i hadnt taken it the night before...but i made it through..and im back to normal with not so many worries this week after getting the meds..

Thanks to all for your kind and helpful replies. I really appreciate it and it helps me feel not so alone. I will start the amitrip, I guess I don't have any choice. Doc said its OK to take the Ativan as well, to start off, cos the amitrip takes some time to start working. Altho i hate the idea of "mixing my drugs", maybe if I am calmer, on Ativan, I will have more courage to start the amitrip. I will update on my progress - at least I hope it will be progress! Thanks.

A lot of gals here take a benzo along with their AD. You will be fine if you have to use the klonopin while your body adjust. It is worth a shot to try these to see if it makes you feel better.

Well, I finally got the courage to take the first pill and have now been taking 10mg for a week. I really need to up the dose to 20mg if I want to get on top of all this though. No bad effect, just mild improvement, in that I feel a bit more calm. My breathing problem has improved slightly, but the big bonus is that the 10mg dose immediately "fixed" my chronic, long term "nervous" stomach which I have had non stop for a couple of years at least. No reflux, no bloating, belching, gurgling etc etc. Now I didn't expect THAT to happen! So at least that's one physical anxiety symptom that is better! I think I will need to be on it for longer and at a higher dose to help my depression and really help the anxiety. I guess I will double the dose to 20mg tonite. Feeling anxious about doing that already!

How are you doing with the upped dose?

HOW ARE YOU DOING LITTLE LIL....HAVE YOU TRIED THE NORTRYPTILINE?

No I started the elavil having a tough time crying alot head just doesn,t feel right!

When I was first diagnosed with FM my doctor put me on Elavil, never touch the pain so I stopped using it. I had no side effect except it made me sleepy so a good drug to take at night.
Now this was before my meno anxiety so maybe I shall give it another shot!
Love the fact the pills were so tiny like I wasn't taking much!