Have experienced anxiety for a good part of my life. When this problem became obvious in my 20's, I was treated by a wonderful PhD. psychologist who helped me a great deal. He did not believe in any kind of medication. I am now much older (60) and still fight anxiety from time to time. I have gone recently through a few very stressful experience and it really set me back again. I am such a worrier and obsessive thinker. My blood pressure is up and down and my panicky feelings come and go again. I visited with a competent psychologist recently and he suggested I try Prozac. I went through Lucinda's problem and I think it is great. But when I get like this, it is so very difficult to keep myself up. All the old fears and doubts come back. I continually beat myself up. I would appreciate your comments and ideas. My blood pressure might be more controllable if I try the Prozac but I am afraid to try .

Hi Anne ,I just wanted to let you know that i too was scared to try Prozac maybe cuz all the stigma attatched to the word prazac.Well i got over that fear by trying it and i have to say it helps pretty well.And i will let you in on a little secret it also helps with p.m.s time when anxiety is high,It didnt do anything weird to me but at first when getting use to it it made me a bit drowsy.Hope this helps

Niecy
Thanks for your advice. I take it that you did not have any reaction to it.

Hi,

I just started taking Lexapro. I tried others and the side effects bothered me. Lexapro is suppose to be easier on the side effects and is reported to start with the good effects sooner than the others. I'm on day 6 and the side effects are tolerable for me and I am feeling better already. Your doctor should be the one to decide what you should try though. I just thought I'd put in my two cents. Good luck

I second Joanie.

How much time did you spend with the Midwest Program? Did you go through it and that was it, or have you continually gone back to it for help. I am on meds still, since 1977, but the program is my first experience with cognitive behavioral therapy. I've had the program now for 3 years this month. I have recovered from a severe depression which left me in bed a lot. I also haven't worked in 7 years due to my condtition, but I have been offered employment for the tax season and am still going through training for it. I have hope I will do well so that my unemployment days will be history in January. One of my anti-depressants has dropped from 175mg daily eight months ago to 75mg currently and I believe it is still dropping. I was on a moderate amount of anti-anxiety medicine since 1977, but have been off of it for about 2 months now. The program has given me my life back. But I worked it for over 2.5 years and have recently gone back to it after a 2 month vacation from it. I think meds are great if you really need them, but I believe in CBT as taught by the program. I am finding that it never fails me when I need to pull out of a downturn. However, I have never been afraid of meds.

Ditto don.