anyone been diagnosed with GAD or anxiety problems after cocaine use?

[xstalkrx]

Recreational cocaine use has left SWIM with General Anxiety Disorder and was wondering who else out there has been diagnosed with the same or similar problems.

What did you do to cure your problem? Is SWIY on any meds? What are the details of your recovery?

SWIM was just prescribed Lexapro for GAD and has yet to start the medication for fear it will make things worse.

[Fight Club]

NIK was originally prescribed Lexapro, but switched to Effexor after drinking moderate amounts on Lexapro made him ill. Effexor only started working after NIK gave up cocaine. He has been clean (mostly) since March 2006 and stopped taking the Effexor (which worked quite well) after 1 year, 9 months.

He still has to be vigilant and "manage" anxiety using the tools he has learned in recovery, but prefers that to the sexual side-effects that often accompany SSRI / SSNI medications.

FC

Reputation Comments on this post:

good responses

[xstalkrx]

swim feels he has ruined his life at the young age of 22......

it appears there is little hope for full recovery.

[Fight Club]

Originally Posted by xstalkrx

swim feels he has ruined his life at the young age of 22......

it appears there is little hope for full recovery.

Don't fool yourself; you haven't ruined anything. Why little hope for a full recovery? Consider yourself lucky. You haven't had to lose your family, your your health, your driving privileges, or your freedom, and you already appreciate the fact that maybe drugs aren't the solution you thought they would be.

Acute withdrawal syndrome lasts for 6 - 18 months and can be treated with anti-Ds. Thing is, they won't work too well if you continue to create wild swings in the brain chemicals that affect your mood with drugs.

FC

[hippie_lain]

yeah listen to fight club its definetly not over. the good thing about cocaine being mainly a natural drug is that most of the effects that is had on your brain will go back to normal. just hang in there for a while. i wouldnt recomend taking drugs like valium or ativan just cause its just another drug you might find your self hooked on and the withdraws are horrible. geodon seems to work for me but you might want to try an ssri like fc was talking about.

[cnsns2ccl2]

Just curious, does the anxiety usually go away at some point or does one learn how to manage it better? I find it hard to imagine that extensive cocaine use would not affect the brain permanently in some way but I could be wrong.

[xstalkrx]

as an update swim is MUCH better...MUCH MUCH better.

abstaining from cocaine AND even cigarettes and alcohol has helped a lot. Swim also does a TON of cardio workouts and weight lifting. swim had 3/5 of a panic attack the other night but it was the first one in many months. things are much better.

[mitchellca]

xstalkrx,

Hey, I know this thread hasnt been touched in a couple of weeks and you said things had improved greatly but i just had a question.
Was it or your doctor that said cocaine use was to blame?
Firstly there isnt really any way to prove what sets of conditions like this but FAR more importantly for anyone else reading who may have similiar problems, blaming drugs or anything else is not helpful at all and often makes things worse.
There is a tendency (especially with GPs) to say drugs have left you with this condition or that condition. This just makes people who have aquired these conditions feel worse and blame themselves, thinking they have ruined their lifes etc...
The cause of problems like this is more often than not completly irrelevant and better left out. If nothing else it detracts from the sufferers recovery.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good point for the right advice

[Spare Chaynge]

swim had a similar problem with gad and panic attacks. he was able to defeat it with therapy.. there is luck! Swim was miserable and things got much better. sounds like swiy is on there way to being better.

[sylenth]

informative thread. smurf has'nt been diagnosed with anxiety, but smurf knows he has anxiety. painfull chest pains is where smurf feels alot of it. don't know if any other swimmers feel it there? it sucks, you cant get too excited about something or put too much thought into something or it comes. it's kind of like paranoia how it feeds on thoughts.

well good to hear there's hope. smurf is trying to heal naturally as cash is low. does one need prescribed medication as a definete helper to be cured? or is natural gonna work over time? thanx.