Looking for a little advice or guidance

[CAK70]

On Feb 21, I went to the ER for a very rapid heartbeat...when I got to the ER my blood pressure was 164/98...I was on a heart monitor and had an EKG, an MRI and a chest x-ray...after 5 hours I went sent home diagnosed with anxiety and given a RX for Xanax. I took the Xanax as prescribed the following day. The day after my first full day home I followed up with my primary care doctor and she told me not to take as prescribed but take as needed. The ER doctor only gave me 15 pills. So, I was taking them as needed and it worked great. When I started to run low, I called my primary for a refill and she told me no, that I went through the pills too fast. 8-9 pills in 3 weeks does not seem fast to me. I only took them at night and never during the day.

My symptoms consist of:

rapid heartbeat
if heartbeat is not rapid I can feel it beat...pounding
shortness of breath
trouble sleeping...falling and staying asleep
I get irratated very easily (sometimes over the most stupid thing)
concentration problems
sweating
headaches
jumpiness (if someone taps me on the shoulder from behind I jump a mile)
restlessness in legs and feet
and most recently, I had a very stiff jaw...maybe from grinding my teeth at night

My most common symptom is the rapid heartbeat or pounding heart.

I went to see a psychologist yesterday...she called it panic disorder...I disagree...my symptoms and how I feel fall more in line with anxiety.

Now, after all of this...leads me to my question:

When I followed up with my primary care doctor she said she wanted to see if this was temporary and wanted to wait it out a bit...she said if it still bothers me we could talk about Zoloft.

Do you think I should make an appointment with my primary care doctor or try to get an appointment with a psychiatrist? I know my primary care will not give me a RX for Xanax but I am scared of what I will do in the meantime while I am waiting for the Zoloft to kick in. Right now, if I am feeling really bad, I can take a Xanax and feel better within an hour.

Which doctors are you guys getting your meds from?

Can you take Zoloft and Xanax together?

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated...this is all so new to me!

[hry33]

welcomeGAZ
anxiety sufferers often have panic attacks, read up about panic attacks and panic disorder on the net
your doc is too anti xanax, sadly some are, its a very useful med and I dont think you took them too fast, what strength were they?
consider finding another doc who is less anti xanax or anti other valium type meds as at your stage, they will help a lot, they work fastest if disolved under the tongue and its reassuring to always have a few tablets with you when out for sudden panics older GP docs are generally less anti xanax, sadly some psychs are also anti xanax, IMO I doubt that seeing a psych is worthwile, istead, get some books on overcoming panic disorder and anxiety and study them

zoloft is one of many prozac type meds but is being mentioned here a lot lately, perhaps its being heavily advertised or promoted to docs or are they offering triple frequent flyer points for prescribing it for anxiety
as you say it can take 6 weeks to kick in and often makes your anxiety and panic attacks worse at first

you should, IMO also have been given a beta blocker med such as inderal, this calms the heart and reduces sweating and jumpiness, doc should have thought of it
try to ignore your heart, dont monitor or worry about it it knows how to beat without any help from you
zoloft, xanax and a beta blocker are often taken together by anxiety sufferers

stay with us and read all the posts

[CAK70]

Thanks Hry33...my Xanax, actually it is Alprazolam (generic) is .25mg

And the reason why I said I didn't think I have panic attacks is because when I am feeling the anxiety, it is often for the entire day and not just an hour or two.

I know people who have doctors who give out Xanax like it is candy and here I am a legitimate recipient and my doc won't give it to me :-(

So, I should consider looking for another doctor?

[lena_33]

I have the EXACT same thing as you. Took a month off school because I couldn't figure out where this racing heart and shortness of breath was coming from!

Zoloft and anxiety meds personally didn't work well for me. They may be different for you, but as long as my heart rate is ok I don't mind the anxiety as much. I'm taking beta blockers now, they lower my anxiety, heartrate, and blood pressure, and I feel amazing with no side effects. I'm taking propranolol.

[CAK70]

lena_33

I was actually thinking about taking a quarter off from school just because I feel like I have no time for myself. I work full-time and go to school part-time. I take my classes online and this quarter I averaged approximately 25 hours of classwork/homework a week and I feel this is one of my major triggers for my anxiety. I tried taking one class but they said if I take one class then I have to foot the tuition myself because for my student loan I have to take at least 2 classes so I registered without finding out if I could possibly skip a quarter. I think it may have been the combination of classes this quarter though because all last year I was fine...I had spare time and was able to lead a semi-normal life.

I will have to look more into a beta blocker...I have an appointment with my NEW primary care doctor on April 3rd. He is the family doctor and he knows the history so even though I couldn't get an appointment right away, I think it was worth the change.

Is the beta blocker something you take all of the time? I am very interested in it because my blood pressure has been a little high too...averages around 138/83.

Is it habit forming say such as Xanax?

I would love to know anything more you know about it.

Thanks again for your response...this is all so new to me and I am glad I have found someplace I can go to for a little help from people who are going through the same thing.