Confused...Medication or Therapy which Dr to See??

[thomas014]

I have had social anxiety for a while now. I can remember having it since middle school (22 now). I dread giving any presentations/speeches. I will get extremely nervous/confused and my heart will race. Also I get anxiety when I have to smile for pictures/videos taken while people are watching. This seems to build anxiety which can make my smile shaky/twitch kind of, is hard to describe. Just knowing I have anything like this coming up I become obsessed with it and cannot stop thinking about it which makes it worse and often times I will do about anything to avoid this. Just thinking about it can also give me anxiety. I know I have read some things saying you should try to expose yourself to things like this but its always the same.

I used to take effexor for a while and had xanax for bad anxiety. This seemed OK but still had symptoms. Xanax helped to deal with general anxiety that I would get but I rarely took it. I stopped taking it because I felt that it was not doing much and that it was making my memory worse. I feel like I cannot remember basic things and am always misplacing things. I did great in college but I seem to not be able to retain anything anymore. Since my anxiety seemed to be getting worse I went back to my dr.(psychiatrist) and was prescribed lexapro insted of effexor and vistaril to take in place of xanax. I started taking it and felt OK the first week then upped the dose and had some of the worst anxiety I have ever had so I just stopped taking it. Now I don't know what to do.

Is there a different type of dr I should see such as a psychologist, masters level clinician, or keep a psychiatrist? Any suggestions if I should try a therapy or a different medication?

Any help/advice would be appreciated I am just a little confused on where to go right now

 

[lyricalliaisons]

For medication, it will have to be a psychiatrist. Most psychologists are not licensed to prescribe meds. But most psychiatrists don't give therapy, so for that, you will need either a psychologist or therapist. A lot of people say CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) works for them & a psychologist or therapist could help with that. If you would like to try another type of med, you could talk to a psychiatrist about Klonopin (generic clonazepam). It helps a lot of people &, for me, at least, has zero side effects, though all people are different. You could also switch psychiatrists if you feel this one isn't doing much good.
I have a great psychiatrist, luckily, but I'll soon be changing therapists because I've gotten no help from her.

 

[thomas014]

So you would recommend a psychiatrist and a therapist or psychologist to try both medication and therapy? Is Klonopin in the same family as Xanax? For some reason my psychiatrist hates xanax but I rarely take it yet I don't know what I would do if I didn't have it when I needed it.

 

[Noca]

See a psychiatrist or GP for medication and a therapist for therapy. A combination of meds and therapy is the best treatment for anxiety/depression.

 

[Noca]

So you would recommend a psychiatrist and a therapist or psychologist to try both medication and therapy? Is Klonopin in the same family as Xanax? For some reason my psychiatrist hates xanax but I rarely take it yet I don't know what I would do if I didn't have it when I needed it.

Xanax is a Benzodiazepene and so is Klonopin. You doctor hates Xanax because he/she is suffering from an illness called "benzophobia". In benzophobia, the doctors head is soo far up his/her ass that they cannot think correctly and instead of giving you a medication MEANT for anxiety they give you everything else they can throw at you that may or may not help (most likely WONT help).

 

[lithium]

Xanax is a Benzodiazepene and so is Klonopin. You doctor hates Xanax because he/she is suffering from an illness called "benzophobia". In benzophobia, the doctors head is soo far up his/her ass that they cannot think correctly and instead of giving you a medication MEANT for anxiety they give you everything else they can throw at you that may or may not help (most likely WONT help).

Hahaha, that's freaking hilarious.

 

[Hellhound]

Xanax is a Benzodiazepene and so is Klonopin. You doctor hates Xanax because he/she is suffering from an illness called "benzophobia". In benzophobia, the doctors head is soo far up his/her ass that they cannot think correctly and instead of giving you a medication MEANT for anxiety they give you everything else they can throw at you that may or may not help (most likely WONT help).

Lol! That was great

 

[sabbath]

imho meds r useless and dangerous, try ACT instead