Has medication helped anyone's HA?

[Freddiemercury]

Hi all, my therapist and I have started talking about me going on medication to help my anxiety, which I have very mixed feelings about. I would like it to be temporary and only an aid during this particular rough period of HA I am going through while I work on my issues in therapy. But I feel like my anxiety is so specific to health stuff I'm worried medications for general anxiety or depression won't work for me. Has anyone had any luck with medication? If so, what were the meds that helped you in particular? Obviously I am NOT asking for medical advice or for someone to tell me what meds to go on. I just know my doc likes to be very collaborative about these things, so if I could bring up some ideas to him during our meeting I think he would be open to hearing them. Also just generally curious to know if people benefitted from them. Thanks!

[mummyanxious]

The way I view medication is that it may offer a temporary mood lifter but once you come off it the health anxiety can still come back if the underlying issues surrounding it haven't been addressed. That's just my opinion though.

[Freddiemercury]

No I agree with you and that's been my fear. But my anxiety has been so debilitating lately that I think it's actually interfering with me making progress in therapy. That's why I'm wondering if it could help take the edge off while I work on my issues. I know I have serious issues with death to address, especially since losing a young cousin to cancer and two aunts being diagnosed with cancer in the last five years. But my therapy is so consumed with my acute anxiety it's hard to focus on anything else.

[livethelife]

i have had health anxiety for many years and have had times when i have been on medication and other times when i have not been on any other than an occasional as needed clonazepam. these past 5-6 years i have not taken anything that i take daily and i have managed to cope thru the crises ok by getting prompt medical attention for my worries.

what i can tell you though is that the times where i did take an anti-depressant (sometimes for a year or more at a time) if definitely did help even though i didn't think it would. i have kept a journal of all of this and i even wrote in my journal many times that i didn't think the medication was going to work - of course it takes a while to start working (in my case i have always taken paxil because that is what works for me - i tried a few others but had some side effects that i just couldn't deal with) - they can take up to a month from what i remember - but it's amazing they do work.

if i was ever in an intense anxiety/panic state again for weeks on end and it was interfering with my life/ability to work etc i would not hesitate to go on paxil again. during the times i started taking it i was so bad off that i had to take short term leaves from work - 4 to 6 weeks until the medication would start to work.

that is my experience. hope that helps

[mummyanxious]

Most definitely it could take the edge off while you deal with the underlying issues yes if you feel that's what you need.

[Freddiemercury]

Thank you both. Livethelife, that is very helpful!!! Thanks for all the information and sharing your experience.

[Andria24]

Yes. Not immediately but several weeks down the line the meds have started to redress the imbalance. This helps me to think straight, which of course alleviates the symptoms. That said I am not relying on meds alone.

I try and stay on top of intrusive thoughts, and I try and maintain a reasonable semblance of routine. I am also down for a dual therapy approach, which I look forward to, as I believe it is the therapy that will help me to recover back to full mental wellness.

[Freddiemercury]

Thanks andria!

[polly81]

I've managed to become 'normal' after a year on Prozac so there is hope.....I'm tapering off prozac for the last 3 months and all going swimmingly so far. I'd recommend trying prozac but different drugs work for different people. But prozac is known for been easy to taper off. Hope you find something

[skippy66]

Ah, the medication dilemma!

Here's the problem with Health Anxiety and medication (or at least this was my problem).

Several visits to the doc and they can't find anything wrong. But at the same time they're wary of telling you you've got HA because WHAT IF the stomach pains you're complaining of IS something nasty - they'd be liable if they didn't get you checked out. So, they tentatively suggested (to me) that I try some anti-depressants, not that I'm depressed, but to simply see if they help things as apparently they can improve your physical symptoms.

So I paid the £6-7 for the prescription, on 3 separate occasions. but as soon as I got home and read the leaflet, guess what I did?


FREAKED OUT!!!!!!!!!!!

Side effects can increase palpitations - NO THANK YOU. They can cause coma and fits - NO THANK YOU. They can cause suicidal thoughts - NO THANK YOU.


I believe that anyone with true health anxiety would be far too scared to take anti-depressants - I certainly was. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for me as I managed to cure myself without them. Then a few months later I spoke to a friend who claimed that anti-depressants had 'ruined his life'. I'm SO GLAD I didn't go down that road as I hear that once you're on them it's very difficult to get off.

Don't get me wrong I've resorted to diazepam in the past. That didn't help much either though. The way to beat this is to face your fears with courage, on your own.