Anxiety medicine question

[Chawk384]

So my anxiety has been fairly intense lately- I have noticed I am having more panic attacks when I am away from my house- well on Wednesday I had a really bad one at work- I came home and my mother in law gave me one of her .25mg xanax pills- I know I know I should not take medicine that is not prescribed to me....however it did work- I def felt less anxious and not totally doped up. So that night I took one to help me sleep since I have not been sleeping well. On Thursday I took one pill at work in the morning and then another about 5 hours later, then I took 2 at night to help me sleep. My mother in law said they were low dose so it should be fine. Well Friday I took one at 7:30 am then one at 1:30, then I was going out to dinner with my family and I became nervous I might have a panic attack while out at the restaurant so I took two pills at 5:30- this made me feel so sleepy and out of it it made me more anxious, like I started to freak out that I might die in my sleep....... so I didn't get very much sleep last night at all and today I still feel kinda weird- foggy I guess would be the right word- anyway I have decided to not take the xanax because I did not like the way it made me feel.....however I am to see a psychiatrist in about 10 days and I want to take something for my anxiety like an antidepressant but also I would like something short term to deal with the panic attacks so I can at least function- go to the grocery store, work, etc but I am also a little nervous to tell the psychiatrist I took medicine that was not prescribed to me......so I guesss my question is- has anyone had any luck with any certain medications and has anyone had the experience I have had with xanax? Because at first it seemed to work so welll but now I am scared to take something like that because I don't like this foggy feeling at all- help!

[WoodChucker]

I can totally relate to that. My experience with those kinds of medicines is that they actually cause anxiety sometimes. I try to stay away from them as much as possible unless i'm feeling extremely panicky and would go to the hospital anyway if I didn't take them.

[Ethansmom]

I wouldn't feel bad about taking her medicine first off- you needed it. I would tell the psychiatrist you tried one and you felt better. I am currently in the same position you are, except my psy switched to me to Celexa and Klonopin to see if that works better than Xanax (since it's longer acting). I had a panic attack at a restaurant yesterday and had to also pop a .5 mg of Xanax. .25 MG of Xanax does nothing for me.

[Chawk384]

Oh thank you so much for your replies- I was really scared of being judged about taking medicine that was prescribed to me. I know I need to be on something but I am just not sure what will work best, that's what the doctor is for right? I am still having a foggy feeling from the medic Be I took yesterday, that last time I took it was at 5:30 pm so about 17 hours ago- is it normal to still feel a little out of it this many hours later?

[MyNameIsTerry]

I would be very honest about what you have taken when you see the psychiatrist. They won't judge, like we don't, but you are taking a medication with a known dependence issue and doctors have to control your prescriptions for a very good reason.

Do you understand the dangers of benzodiazepines? If not, please read about them on a proper medical site (there will be many scaremongering sites & horror stories about these meds) so that you are aware of how tolerance & dependence work.

I'm guessing your MIL is just trying to get you through to that appointment. I can understand that, but if your psychiatrist didn't know they may give out more benzodiazepines than they would want to as they wouldn't be factoring in this earlier sporadic use and this may be important in preventing any tolerance.

They tend to give out meds like this to combat the side effects of starting antidepressants. The antidepressant should help you out then going forward but therapy is also needed to get you working towards better thinking & devising strategies.