Multiple medications - any success?

[PixieP]

Hi
I'll try to keep my story as short as possible - had GAD 3 years ago for 6 months and after trial and error on meds finally improved on venlafaxine. Came off last July (big mistake) but stress at work and injury leaving me unable to exercise saw anxiety reach unmanageable levels again (to the point where I could barely get through each day) so GP put me back on same dose of ven in October but anxiety seemed to increase. I had no enjoyment of life at all and husband at a loss what to do with me. Switched to mirtazapine which seemed to be helping but pooped out after 6 weeks (may just have been me enjoying Christmas and nothing to do with meds). Fast forward to April on 30mg mirt (doing little if anything) and I see a psychiatrist who adds Pregabalin to the mirt. Again early promise but stopped having any effect at 400mg (went up to 500mg but felt way too drugged so currently back on 400). So psych says drop mirt (taper off) and reintroduce venlafaxine. Day 2 off mirt and anxiety is off the scale so now I've been told keep taking the mirt and Pregabalin and add in the ven (to be reviewed in 2 weeks).
So.....any experiences of these or any other multiple combinations of meds? As ever in these situations, whilst the stressors that built up the anxiety have now been removed, the anxiety has taken on a life of its own - I'm now scared of everyday life, all day, every day. Tolerance has built up on lorazepam so that even 1mg gives no relief (not a massive dose I know but I don't want to go higher and risk dependency).
Anxiety is now making me think I hate my life (I don't, I'm really very lucky) and I just can't see a way out. Unfortunately, my husband has become less understanding the longer this has gone on (9 months now) and is out "doing his own thing" more than he is home. His attitude now seems to be "you just let me know when you're better again and we'll pick up where we left off." He's said to me on numerous occasions to "just stop thinking about it." I wish!
So.....anyone had success with multiple meds? I'm just so totally fed up with it all. I try not to wallow in self pity but when I see all the success stories on here and think how long I've been fighting and how many meds I've tried, I do feel
pretty despairing. Wish I could just accept the anxiety as all the self help books advocate but every fibre of my being is telling me how wrong it is to feel
this way and I need to find a way to get better.
Sorry for the very long post and apologies for any "poor me"
vibes. Just needed to share in the hope that someone else gets it and may have had success with multiple meds.
Thank you

[braindead]

last October i entered a breakdown, not my first , i am now on my 6th med CYMBALTA. you worry about 1mg of lorazepam i take 6mg a day have done for 5 years . Multi meds i dont agree with them to. if your taking say 4 meds 1 will be working against the others you can bet . I was on mirt and pregabalin togeather and like you all i got from pregabalin was constipation, mirt pooped out after a few weeks , i have just finished my last dose of pregabalin i cross tapered with Cymbalta i am in the hands of just Cymbalta 60mg and my 6mg lorazepam. To sleep i take 2 and a half mg a night olanzapine If you cannot sleep olanzapine in a life saver . So if you dont mind taking a anti-psychotic med olanzapine is cool:shades:

[poppadr3w]

Hey PixieP,

I haven't been on the same medications as you (I think one you said was the generic of Effexor, which I've been on and seemed to work decently), but I can tell you that, for a fact, that medication combinations are quite popular and work for many, too.

I've been on a bunch of medication combinations. Back in high school I was on Welbutrin and Prozac, which worked well back then (although I had no idea it worked so well back then... it was weird).

I started having issues like 3-4 years ago with panic attacks; since then I've been on a myriad of medications and combinations. I've tried the Welbutrin and Prozac combination again, but it didn't work for me. I've tried Effexor and Abilify. I've tried Prozac and Strattera (ADHD med). Many didn't work for me overall, but some did for a bit. Regardless, we are all unique biologically, so what may not work for me may work wonders for you.

Try not to think about how many medications you're taking and take into account how you FEEL - that is the most important aspect of this all.

I saw that you also enjoy exercising. If you want to look into it, I run a blog called The Anxiety Press (www.anxietypress.com) that talks about fitness and is geared more towards people with anxiety.