Anxiety meds - need advice!

[themoneytree]

My husband is having some trouble with anxiety. He has trouble in work meetings, giving presentations and in work negotiations.
He normally copes but it's tough and the worry keeps him up at night.
He has high blood pressure too and I'm getting worried about how much stress he is under at work and how anxious he gets.

He spoke to a doctor about it once and got a prescription for something to take before stressful events, but it really doesn't seem to help.

If you're on anxiety meds, how do they work? Do you take them daily or only before stressful situations? Do they help? Can you tell a big difference in how you feel?
He gets stress aches in his fingers during important presentations and things like interviews or high level meetings. He gets shakey and feels like there is an obvious change in his voice. I think he thinks it's worse than it is, but I know he had an incident several years ago when he shut down while talking to the CEO of a major company during a meeting and it was bad.

Any thoughts on this? I don't have anxiety myself, but I can understand how awful this must be for him. He's in senior management meetings today and I can tell from his texts that he's struggling and anxious.

I'm just not sure if meds are a good idea or if they would be effective.

I'd love to hear your experiences.

[Deleted]

Anti-anxiety medication isn't something you take for a situation. They are something you take every day. If he truly has an anxiety disorder then he needs to be on something that he will take every day. It takes time for the medication to really affect your mood. That's why taking it for a situation doesn't work. The medicine has to build up in his blood stream before it's really effective. Be aware that some anti-anxiety medication can make you sleepy so tell him to take it starting when he doesn't have to work for a couple days and take it at night. It may make it hard to wake up in the morning as well. Good luck!

[karmasabiotch]

I take Xanax. I can usally deal with my anxiety during the day but at night it's really hard for me. Xanax can help induce sleep with the right dosage. I can also take one during the day in a lesser mg and it takes off the edge when needed.

[smugleaf]

I am on anxiety medicine. I take the generic brand of Zoloft every day. I was scared to take it at first, and only after I went to the emergency room with what turned out to be a panic attack did I begin taking it. I started off slowly, with half a pill (25mg), and eventually started taking a whole pill. Other than making me hungry at first (my appetite eventually normalled out), I have only had good results. I actually feel hopeful often now, which was definitely not the case before. I had super strong social anxiety, and while I still can get nervous, it's not debilitating. I still feel anger, happiness, and sadness, but not as extremely and randomly. This is a good thing! I was afraid of becoming a "zombie", which happens to some people on certain medicines. I guess I was lucky that the first medicine I tried worked so well for me.

I would definitely suggest taking the medicine; if it doesn't have the desired affect, try different kinds until it does!

Good luck!

[themoneytree]

I think Ativan may be what he has but I'd need to confirm. I don't think it touches it.

Is it possible that this could also affect his sex drive? We're down to once every couple of weeks, once a week if I'm lucky. Just wondering if it could be related in any way.

Otherwise he seems pretty good - we laugh a lot together and he deals with daily stress at work pretty well, although he doesn't sleep well if things are crazy at work.

[falada45]

Has he thought about trying therapy? CBT in conjunction with Prozac has made a world of difference for me. I also used Klonopin for a short time while my panic attacks where at their worst point, but I haven't needed to take any of that in some time.

[SKP82]

I was in a stressful work situation a year or so ago and was experiencing high levels of anxiety daily. My PCP gave me a Rx for Xanax and told me to see a therapist. The Xanax helped in situations where I knew I would have anxiety. My therapist put me on Celexa (the therapist said I had generalized anxiety and a bit of depression). That really helped on a day to day basis and I didn't have to take the Xanax in the situations that caused me anxiety anymore. I also saw the therapist weekly to work on coping skills in those situations that caused me anxiety. It was extremely helpful to me and I would encourage your H to see a therapist or his PCP if anxiety is affecting him this much.

[SKP82]

Celexa did affect my sex drive at first, but that went away. We weren't having sex a lot before I started the meds anyway because I was depressed. It affects people differently, so your H may not have a problem with it.

[themoneytree]

I mean we're not having sex much now. Without meds. Hoping meds might improve it? Hope it wouldn't make it worse!

[hopecounts]

High Blood Pressure can affect things as can anxiety/anxiety meds.
He needs to see a mental health specialist who can evaluate what his issue is true situational anxiety or an anxiety disorder and help find the right combo of med and dosage to help him.
A PCP just isn't going to cut it, it sn't they're area of expertise and they know a bare minimum about the mess/disorders/adjusting meds to help the patient.

[karmasabiotch]

If he's feeling less anxious I would think he's be more likely to want to have sex.

[SKP82]

May 2, 2013 15:29:51 GMT -5 themoneytree said:

I mean we're not having sex much now. Without meds. Hoping meds might improve it? Hope it wouldn't make it worse!

Right.  The meds may help improve his mood, which may in turn make him be more interested in sex. 

Like I said, they affect people differently, but they did make mine worse at first.  But then that went away once my body got used to it.

[karmasabiotch]

I'm not on AD's and I would be perfectly fine never having sex again, so I guess it all depends on the person. I know it's flameworthy.