Anxiety back

[shiznit76]

Hi, I have had troubles with anxiety and depression for years and have posted good few times here in past and tried lots different meds and treatments. Finally I seemed to find a combo that worked for me, 30mg mirtazapine and 300mg pregablin each day. For the last 6 months I have had no issues and felt great, however I have had massive anxiety crash starting over festive period. Going to go to doc's tomorrow, tried to ride it it out with exercise and meditation, but not avail. Wonder, would increase in meds help at all? Think pregabalin dose could go up, would that likely help me?
Thanks

[LD50]

Yes my anxiety is much worse on 300mg vs 600mg so an increase in dose would be worth trying. Hope you feel better soon.

[shiznit76]

so are you on 600 mg?

[LD50]

Yep I take 300mg twice a day.

[shiznit76]

Thanks , hopefully see Dr today

[shiznit76]

so doc has uppedmy dose to 450mg x day,will see how it goes. Hope it works, thought was doing really well on the 300mg. Anxiety is as bad as its been and struggling to lift it

[Carys]

Have you had any 'talking therapies' offered too?

[hanshan]

Hi Shiznit76 - Pregabalin is good to wonderful for low to medium generalized anxiety, but not much good in things like panic attacks. It also won't completely block out anxiety when there is something serious to be anxious about, like an examination or job interview. However, these situations can pass, and things can go back to how they were.

Is there any reason you can think of why your anxiety spiked over the holiday period? Any extra pressures, or looming relationship problems, for example?

[shiznit76]

Hi Shiznit76 - Pregabalin is good to wonderful for low to medium generalized anxiety, but not much good in things like panic attacks. It also won't completely block out anxiety when there is something serious to be anxious about, like an examination or job interview. However, these situations can pass, and things can go back to how they were.

Is there any reason you can think of why your anxiety spiked over the holiday period? Any extra pressures, or looming relationship problems, for example?

Hi, no it is just GAD, had it for years and have been on 300mg pregabalin since the summer and had been doing great. This has been a pretty intense and hope the 450mg might help settle things down.

I don't have panic attacks, just ongoing anxiety in these periods which is pretty soul destroying and exhausting.
Had the best 6months there than have in years since being on 300mg, felt great and everything was anxiety free, that's why I have taken it quite hard, the GAD springing back up, as thought the 300mg had helped me with it.
Like I say, fingers are crossed for the 450mg.
I am aware of when I start to feel anxious and do exercise quite a lot to help with it, but can't spend all my time out on bike or running.

Fingers are crossed. How long should it be till I notice any difference, is the preg fast acting?

[hanshan]

Well best of luck with the 450 mg daily of pregabalin. Hopefully it will work reasonably quickly. I have to say that I take 600 mg daily of pregabalin and 45 mg mirtazapine. I have done so for years and it's worked well for me. I don't get panic attacks (I did have a few a decade or so ago), but I still occasionally get anxious about things, though it's not GAD, just normal anxiety.

[shiznit76]

That's good to hear hanshan, I am now on 30mg mirtazaoine and 450mg pregabalin, so catching you up! Is the mirtazapine for depression?

---------- Post added at 10:52 ---------- Previous post was at 09:31 ----------


Have you had any 'talking therapies' offered too?

Hi, yes, did counselling, CBT even hypnotherapy, no joy. It is a genetic issue with me, obviously a chemical inbalance. No fun

[hanshan]

Hi Shiznit,

The mirtazapine was originally for anxiety and particularly disturbed sleep and anxious awakening throughout the night, culminating in waking up about 4:00 am and not being able to get back to sleep. The mirtazapine had a great effect on my sleep, but I was still getting anxiety, severe at times, during the day. When pregabalin was added in, it pretty much fixed things. I also think that some people just have their anxiety thermostat set at the wrong level. Whether it's genes or upbringing or a combination of both I don't know, but in my case, at least, years of various talk therapies only had a modest effect. Pregabalin kicked in in a couple of hours, and hasn't stopped working since.

[shiznit76]

Hi Shiznit,

The mirtazapine was originally for anxiety and particularly disturbed sleep and anxious awakening throughout the night, culminating in waking up about 4:00 am and not being able to get back to sleep. The mirtazapine had a great effect on my sleep, but I was still getting anxiety, severe at times, during the day. When pregabalin was added in, it pretty much fixed things. I also think that some people just have their anxiety thermostat set at the wrong level. Whether it's genes or upbringing or a combination of both I don't know, but in my case, at least, years of various talk therapies only had a modest effect. Pregabalin kicked in in a couple of hours, and hasn't stopped working since.

sounds very similar to me, kinda of wired wrong on the anxiety stakes.
Did you go right up to 600mg aor start at lower levels and worked up as anxiety came back or didnt ease?

Also, my doc said higher doses are normally only prescribed for pain relief, what is the normal max dose for anxiety and is it prescribed along with other meds for pain relief or is it acting as a pian reliever alongside reducing anxiety for you?

[hanshan]

Hi Shiznit - I started taking pregabalin back in the early days when doctors just looked at the range and picked a figure, so I think I started on 400 mg per day and then was switched up to 600 mg fairly soon. Most of the published studies of the time had doses in the range 200 - 600 mg daily. I've never used it for pain relief. I checked out the NHS site for pregabalin - it just gives 200 - 600 mg daily regardless of use (anxiety, nerve pain or epilepsy).

I think doctors have had the fear of god put into them by the opioid epidemic which may be why they have become cautious, but although pregabalin is used for some very specific kinds of pain (neuropathic nerve pain, shingles), it has no direct effect on opioid, GABA, or dopamine receptors, ie, doesn't press any of the usual addiction buttons. It is possible to become dependent on pregabalin, which means withdrawal symptoms will appear if it is stopped, but this is true for most psychoactive drugs that are commonly prescribed, including SSRIs and SNRIs. Basically, it's important to have a doctor that you can talk freely with, with mutual trust and respect, to discuss these issues - a bit hard these days!