HI,(and Help)


I need a little bit of calming down.

I'll give a quick summary. Six years ago my primary doc prescribed Effexor for social anxiety. I noticed two things about the EFX, it took away this buzzy feeling I had, and took away my racing thoughts that would sometimes make me go days without sleep.

Six years go by, I learn alot, and weaned off of Effexor a few months ago. Those old symptoms are coming back. At first they didn't bother me. I'm now working with a therapist for ADHD and OCD and have been taking Ritalin. Since the buzzy/shakeyness was bareable, I was going to work on my meditation and exercise to control it.

Over the weekend the symtoms are out of control. I'm tense, out of breath, shakey ALL THE TIME. I saw my therapist today and we talked about some relaxation and anxiety meds. I see the doc in a few weeks so I can get some meds.

I just need some advice to calm myself down a bit. Today I could not sleep at all, my mind was racing. This was even after being up for 24 hours.

thanks,

al

Hi Al,

Two comments for you. First, IMHO, the Ritalin isn't doing your anxiety or sleeplessness any favors.

Second, I think you've got something else going on, other than ADHD or OCD. I would talk to your doctor about this. There may be another diagnosis in your future.

Hang in there, and let us know what your doc says.

Andrew

Hi Andrew, thanks for the reply. I left out some details aobut the lack of sleep. Usually on the weekends I get less sleep because I've been working 3rd shift for 7 years now. I usually am up Friday and Saturday, but when I try to sleep at night, I only get a few hours. My bio-clock is used to me being awake at night. Sunday is usually catchup time for sleep and I can get a good 8 hours in. But this Sunday, we went to a Philadelphia Soul game and I only got a short nap. NO big deal, I figured I would make it to Monday am and get to bed. BUT, Monday am, I found out that my manager got fired and this slave-driver was taking over. I couldn't sleep on Monday because all the negative posibilities kept running thru my head.


This used to happen to me years ago, before i started the Effexor. Between watching my kids during the day and working at night, I could get called out for work and only get 3-4 hours sleep. Once that happened, I could not sleep the next day because I was worried that it would happen again. Next thing you know, I would not sleep for a few days. The EXF enabled me to put the thoughts aside so I could sleep.

My 6 years on the EFX had me fooled that I had my cognitive thinking under control. I think what really happened is that the EFX would slow my brain down enough so that I could sort thru my thoughts and decide which ones to worry about or not.

I'm a little confused about the Ritalin. When I started it a few months ago, I was still taking the EFX. The first two weeks of the Rit were amazing. It totally calmed me down, for the first time in my life, my brain was quiet. After a few weeks it didn't have the same effect. We bumped the dosage up to 20mg, four times a day. I still never got that calming effect, but I didn't get the jitters either. A few weeks after that, the jitters started(but different than the anxious feeling I'm having now). I ended up starting my night with a 20mg, second dose at 20mg, and third dose at 10mg. If my day was going to be long, I did the fourth dose of 10mg. If i did get the jitters, it would only be for the first hour of each dose.

About a month ago, when my therapist noticed an OCD trend in me, I started doing some thinking.(I'll make a separate post about the OCD Workbook). I noticed that alot of my thoughts create and instant anxiety. It doesn't really matter what the thought is, there's this excitment/anxiety.

In one of my last sessions, my therapist did bring up the posibility of some type of manic disorder. We didn't get into it too much, but he brought up that there are different degrees and variations of it.

The EFx did make a difference in how I felt, and it seems like it's anxiety related. I'm going to have to read a bunch more.

"Second, I think you've got something else going on, other than ADHD or OCD".

I'm curious, what are you thinking?

thanks,

al

I certainly am in no position, professional, ethically or know enough about you and your history to even begin to suggest a diagnosis. That being said, some of the symptoms you describe can be attributed to some diagnosis other than ADHD or OCD.
...my therapist did bring up the posibility of some type of manic disorder. We didn't get into it too much, but he brought up that there are different degrees and variations of it.
This is along the lines of what I was thinking. The best thing to do is explore this more with your therapist, and share your experiences with him/her (and us). We're here to help and support you :)

My experience with Ritalin was good as long as I had adequate levels of serotonin. I was taking Paxil which boosts serotonin. This made me content but very tired. Ritalin was added to this and some sort of balance was regained. I decided to quit Paxil and I slowly became a wreck. I ended up taking benzo's and anything else that would calm my anxiety. If I were you I'd either up the serotonin or reduce the dopamine(Ritalin) Too much serotonin, dopamine, or norepinephrine is not a good thing.

Only 10 more days till I see my doc. I've been watching my Rit. My normal dosage is 20mg; 3-4 times a day. I've cut them down to 10mg and 3 doses.


I did do some research on Mania, and oh boy, there are some things I can relate to. The number one thing is...racing brain.

The different times I've been evaluated, I've always been asked if I hear voices in my head. I usually give my comic answer "Just my wife's". But, when I think about it, I don't hear voices telling me to do things, my thoughts have a vocal quality to them.

Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with all this stuff. I read all the different disorders and can relate to so many of them. I guess the battle is to focus a little more on the symptoms and find solutions that work.


Al

I saw the doc on Thursday. I told him everything that was going on. He thought it was a good idea for me to go back on the Effexor. Even though my meditation and breathing helped to calm me down while on the effexor, as time went by being off the effexor, the meditation just wasn't working.


I was bummed since I had a long struggle dealing with the withdrawls. We stuck with the Effexor since it was proven that it does work with me. It really calms down my mind.

I'll update with my progress and my OCD discoveries.

Al