Antipsychotic vs. Antidepressant for Anxiety. Advice ASAP please!

[hotscotch]

Hi i'm really struggling about medication right now and could use some unbiased advice. This might be long because I'm going to try and explain my whole situation but please bare with me and offer some advice. I'm 17, and have had sever anxiety for the past year. I've worried about everything from heart disease, to cancer, to HIV. I get panic attacks, get severely depressed, and always thing i'm going to die. i'm sure many of you know the feeling. when this initially started, i was put on lexapro 10 mg a day. i think it was effective because i loosened up and was less worried, but started to laugh spontaneously and sing to myself. my parents thought i was going crazy, so they reduced me to 5 mgs a day, which was uneffective.

Now, it's taken me 9 months to get back on medication and it's clear that i need it. I did physchological testing which has proven that I have GAD and hypochondria, and my physchiatrist wants to put me on an antiphyschotic called Abilify. He says this will help me puts thing in perspective. My concern is the possible side effects of antiphyschotics - .02% get NMS, where your body temp rises and can be fatal. People have had heart problems, it can cause diabetes, and something like 1% will get permanent muscle twitching for the rest of their life. In short, i am VERY uncomfortable with this medication and have a lot of anxiety about taking it. I don't think the risks of overheating, heart problems, and hypoglycemia are worth the benefits in my situation.

I would be much more comfortable taking an SSRI because their side effects are low, and in addition to reducing my anxiety, I could get a little happy boost. My doc won't prescribe me an SSRI because he thinks it would cause me to have a manic episode and commit suicide. i think he thinks this because during a physcho test, i had thought about suicide before but only because I was scared out of my wits of having heart disease - and it's never something i would actually carry out. he also may think this because of my response to lexapro the first time on it - where i was overly giddy. he called than an abnormal reaction - but to me that seems typical of people on antidepressants, and i was only on the meds for less than a month so maybe i didn't have time to adjust. It seems to me the risk of having serious side effects on an antiphyschotic are much greater than suicide with Lexapro or Zoloft. But now my doc's got me scared that i'm going to have physchotic epsiodes on SSRIs. I need a solution and would appreciate anyone's advice.

[raymond jannett]

Your fear of rare side effects is a symptom of your general aniety disorder. Your doctor may be right about SSRIs.
What side effect could be worse than living like you are?
Let go and follow your doctor's advice.

[hotscotch]

I agree that worrying about side effects is a symptom of GAD. But to me, the side effects of an antiphyschotic seem too prominent to ignore. 1 in 100 chance of developing a syndrome where you twitch your muscles for the rest of your life and 1 in 5000 chance of developing NMS (which can be possibly fatal) just seem to great. I feel like my physchiatrist has given me the impression that if i take an SSRI i won't be in control of my own actions. That's the only thing that scares me. I know as long as I'm in control of my own actions (as in not having out of body episodes) i would never even consider suicide. I feel like my doc hasn't given me an option that i'm comfortable with (bec. i was comfortable with SSRIs until he scared me).

[hry33]

all meds have long and frightening lists of possible side effects, including asprin and cough mixture

your psych may be right, give his med a trial for a while

[kathy mason]

Ask your Doctor about the medication Xanax, its for panic attacks and stress. Works like a MIRACLE! Only side effect I noticied - hunger - I've been taking this off and on for 20 some years, try it. God Bless.