Difference between anxiety and depression medication ?
Q.So I guess my question is - what is the difference between anti-anxiety meds and anti-depressants? (aside from the fact they are treating 2 different illnesses) And can an anti-depressant help with anxiety? Is my doctor wrong to suggest anti-depressants for me? I'm worried about taking medication but I feel like I need to do something. It's getting hard to function like a normal person.
A.My doctor is recommending anti-depressants for me but I'm not sure if it's the right way to go. She seems to think I have dysthymia (chronic low mood) and I agree but I feel as though anxiety is worse than any depression I might have. I don't experience panic attacks but what I do have is generalized anxiety and sometimes I will be sick in the middle of the night because my stomach is so knotted. I end up being up for 2-3 hrs vomiting because of it (sorry, I'm sure that sounds gross). There doesn't seem to be anything I can do to alleviate this. By the time my stomach is so knotted that I'm physically ill, nothing helps. I also experience sharp pains and sometimes dull aching in my chest. I'm currently taking trazodone for insomnia and it does help a bit but it hasn't stopped these episodes. I also tend to have these episodes if I drink alcohol. The day after drinking the anxiety is almost unbearable. I used to have a major depression but these days it doesn't seem to be this way. I'm existing rather than living..but I don't feel the weight of a real or major depression. I have days when I'm really down but in comparison to the way it used to be it doesn't feel that bad.
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