Medication for HA?

[melfish]

Is there a medication to treat health anxiety? I haven't had much luck with SSRIs in the past - they seem to cause paradoxical reactions in me - but I need to do *something* for these repetitive, intrusive thoughts. They are really interfering with my life.

I do take a low dose of mirtazapine to help with sleep and appetite, but is there something that will address the anxiety directly? I also have panic attacks, social anxiety, and GAD.

(Yeah, I'm a mess. But at least I'm clean and sober)

[TattooArtist]

CBT can help, if you are committed to improving your mental state

[sdoxo]

I take buspirone for my anxiety and it has helped a lot!

[AntsyVee]

Antidepressants are the typical drug of choice for HA, since most HA is a form of either OCD or PTSD or a combination of both. SSRIs are the most highly prescribed. They do cause "paradoxical reactions" in many people as they start on them, but once their bodies get used to them, and the drug builds up in their system. These drugs (SSRIs, SNRIs, TCAs and MAOIs) only work by building up in your system. So if you only took the SSRI for a few days or a couple of weeks, well yeah, it would have made you feel weird with no real effect.

My rule of thumb is, "If I'm bad enough to need medication, I'm bad enough to need therapy." Meds highly reduce racing thoughts and the need to dwell on or fixate on certain things. They also reduce mood swings. Therapy teaches you how to deal with your thoughts and problems. I suggest both.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I would suggest you post this on the Meds board. There is a guy on there, panic_down_under, who is a wealth of knowledge about meds. He can explain the differences and which disorders they are best to treat better than anyone I've come across on NMP.

If your diagnosis is OCD, the branch off into TCA's can differ to other disorders. But HA covers GAD, OCD and Somatoform Disorders (different labels in the US).

But generally it's SSRI & SNRI. Then you move into things like Mirt (NaSSO) and TCA's. MAOI's are less common due to how they were perceived to be more difficult to manage but science seems to altering it's view on this. Then there are meds like Pregabalin, anti psychotics, etc.

If you want quick hit meds when panic attacks come, it's benzo's and you can't stay on them with dependence which opens another door and you don't want to go there.

[melfish]

Thanks, all :)