Suggest Remedy For Severe Anxiety And Sleeplessness While On Ativan And Zoloft

Posted on Tue, 5 Jan 2016

Question: Hello. I'm suffering from anxiety and sleep deprivation. I am on Zoloft and Ativan. Neither seem to help. I was taking Xanax but am no longer prescribed this. Not only do I suffer from anxiety but I suffer from severe lower back pain where I can't get up quickly and my shoulders are always sore. My hands get tingly like they are asleep most of the day. I feel I need to take pain medication but am not sure

Answered by Dr. Seikhoo Bishnoi (33 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Other drugs should help

Detailed Answer:
Hi, thanks for asking from HCM

I can understand your concern. Zoloft is Sertraline and the drug is a SSRI drug with good efficacy in anxiety. Ativan helps to improve the symptoms of anxiety and thus results in improvement. The drug has almost same mechanism of action as that of Alprazolam.

You have persistent pain which could be the possible reason for anxiety aggravation. The tingling in arms could be occurring due to some vitamin deficiency especially of Vitamin B12. Low vitamin B12 levels also aggravate anxiety. So improving the vitamin B12 levels should improve the anxiety and tingling. Drugs like Gabapentin or Pregabalin can help in reducing the anxiety as well as pain. These drugs will increase the actions of anti-anxiety drugs also. Try not to rely much on Xanax or Ativan because these drugs increase the risk of dependence only and will not treat the anxiety.

Visit your psychiatrist for detailed prescription.

Thanks, Hope this helps you, if you have more doubts you can ask again

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar