Question:
Any advice on the following would be greatly appreciated. I've had
panic disorder and agoraphobia for many years (about 30)and with
medication and counseling have mostly learned to live with it. I
rarely have full blown panic attacks anymore because I know what most
of my triggers are and I either avoid them or take enough xanax and
atenolol to blunt the attacks. I still continue to have an ongoing
problem with anticipatory anxiety, though, that prevents me from
sleeping most nights. My MD and I experimented with a number of drugs
and finally found that a combination of 20mg of Paxil and 75mg of
Imipramine enabled me to sleep most nights, but the side effects from
the Imipramine never lessened and were very unpleasant, so I finally
decided to taper off of it.
Currently I'm on 20mg of Paxil per day only and not having any success
in sleeping. With my MD's consent, I'm going to increase the dosage
to 30mg per day for three weeks, then go to 40mg daily. I know Paxil
can also cause insomnia so I'm not real sure this will work, but I
have to try because the lack of sleep aggravates the anticipatory
anxiety. Any advice on meds that have worked for others to induce
sleep with minimal or no side effects would be appreciated.
Answer:
effects or just plain didn't work. I've been taking Ambien 10mg at
night for about 9 months with good success. I don't wake up feeling hung
over,etc. One word or caution though, it starts working *quickly* and
when I have stayed up after taking it I have complete memory loss as to
what I have done during that time...may just be my particular reaction
to it though.
Twenty two years of PD and many phobias for me. Having them as long as you
have, you must have gone through all the miserable meds, psychiatrists,
therapists that were being used for years, before someone actually started
realizing that maybe this was a neurological disorder. My last PA was a year
ago, but I still have occasional anxieties - especially when doing some of the
things that were impossible for me for years because of PAs. So glad to hear
you're coping and pretty much PA free. :)
Insomnia has been a constant for me. My whole sleeping pattern is totally
screwed up. However, when my body decides it's time to go to sleep, I now sleep
like a log for a good eight hours, which I think has made a tremendous
difference to my anxiety levels.
I can sleep so well due to a prescription of Imovane, a non-addictive sleeping
med - it doesn't leave you groggy the next day at all, only side effect is it
leaves a terribly bitter taste in your mouth when you wake. I also, with my
doctor's approval, take 3 mg of melatonin each evening. I really researched
this on the Net, because OTC meds are not something I'm too keen on taking, but
could find no abstracts or FAQs that listed findings of severe adverse affects
except in very few instances. However, there are a few here on asap that say it
caused very bad reactions for them. So it's definitely one of those YMMV
instances, as it is with just about every prescribed or OTC med or therapy for
folks with PD.
I think Prozac worsened my insomnia, as did other ADs. I'm very happy with the
Imovane/melatonin combination as both are just used for the sleeping problems -
I don't seem to need to take any other meds for PD at present (hopefully never).
