Hi I am new here and so could you bear withme if this has been dealt with before. I am on Xanax and Efexor but I don't feel the Efexor is working very well as I rely on the Xanax more and more to get thru each day.
My GP isnt intrerested; he just thinks I am a very cheerful person who has some blue spots. But my family see me all revved up and reckless and doing stuff that is dnagerous (getting on a horse i no-one else can manage and being bucked off). Then they see me on days when I can hardly keep awake or make sense and just want to hide from the world and even mixing horse feeds is a huge 'job" I can bearly cope with. I panic at the thought of being left by myself - I hate myself.
I feel haven't been diagnosed properly and as we have had a string of different doctors in the town they all just keep doling out the tablets and not referring to HELPING me to get my life together. I work 3 jobs and by the end of the day I am just exhausted physically but mentally still swinging madly and having racing thoughts and panicing - but I don't even know what I am panicing about!!
Is all this meaning a time for an over-haul? Does anyone think it could actually be bipolar to a degree and not the right medication?
INEED HELP PLEASE. I can't keep this up any much longer

hello, and welcome to the board!

Hi I am new here and so could you bear withme if this has been dealt with before. I am on Xanax and Efexor but I don't feel the Efexor is working very well as I rely on the Xanax more and more to get thru each day.
My GP isnt intrerested; he just thinks I am a very cheerful person who has some blue spots. But my family see me all revved up and reckless and doing stuff that is dnagerous (getting on a horse i no-one else can manage and being bucked off). Then they see me on days when I can hardly keep awake or make sense and just want to hide from the world and even mixing horse feeds is a huge 'job" I can bearly cope with. I panic at the thought of being left by myself - I hate myself.
I feel haven't been diagnosed properly and as we have had a string of different doctors in the town they all just keep doling out the tablets and not referring to HELPING me to get my life together. I work 3 jobs and by the end of the day I am just exhausted physically but mentally still swinging madly and having racing thoughts and panicing - but I don't even know what I am panicing about!!
Is all this meaning a time for an over-haul? Does anyone think it could actually be bipolar to a degree and not the right medication?
INEED HELP PLEASE. I can't keep this up any much longer

I don't know what caused or what was your "original" problem but I can tell you from what I've read up on that both AD's and Xanax can cause panic problems or make original ones much worse. AD's can also cause mania all by themselves; tolerance or intradose withdrawals from Xanax can also cause panic and sleeplessness(rebound).

If these meds are not working I would consider tapering but be careful; getting off these kind of meds can be dangerous if done too quickly.

Thanks Jennita for the info and Mudhound for the welcome.
I realize I have put this in the wrong section now after looking around.
I had NO idea that the Efexor could be actuallly making me more anxious as well. I will get into a local doc who knows more about this stuff - the doc I go to is just stabbling in the dark.
Thanks for the info - youmay have saved me a LOT of grief if I get my act tog - when i can stay focased enough to go sort this out.
Thanks a million times

that last comment about docs taking a stab in the dark is so true, it's been happening to me for about 15 years now.
ABout the Xanax, my social anxiety got so bad I was prescribed a ridiculously high dose of Xanax XR, 3 Mg's three times daily, and the anxiety seemed almost worse than before I started xanax at all! I'm off that, and now only on 30 mg of Serax twice or 3x a day, which seems to help quite a bit, but I also stopped lamictal which I think was causing a great deal of that anxiety. I'm still looking for a BP med though in the meantime, but serax has been great.