GP vs Psychiatrist: Advice?
Hi All,
I’ve suffered from panic disorder with agoraphobia for 15 years. I’ve tried CBT, EMDR, years of therapy, EFT Tapping, hypnotherapy— you name it, I’ve tried it.
For most of those 15 years, I’ve been on antidepressants. I’ve been on Prozac, Effexor, and now Zoloft.
I’ve been on 100mg of Zoloft/sertraline for three years now. Earlier this year, around January, I tried tapering down, as it had literally zero effect. I was still having panic attacks multiples time a day, and had to cancel holidays due to being unable to leave my house. It was like I wasn’t on any medication at all. However, the tapering process almost killed me.
My psychiatrist recommended vortioexetine, which she feels would help with the anxiety— when many medications were only able to for a short while— and it would have less of the numbing/sexual side effects, which are almost as bad as the anxiety, if I’m honest.
I’ve been cross-tapering from sertraline as follows:
50 mg sertraline, 5 mg vortioexetine
My psych wanted me to increase after 7 days to:
25mg sertraline, 10mg vortioextine
However, when I tried that, I couldn’t stop puking— I mean PROJECTILE vomiting. I was previously like that on the 5mg dose as well, but my GP prescribed zofran, which helped prevent the puking.
My psych wants me to power through and keep taking the 10mg.
My GP says being on zofran this long isn’t great, and that I should stabilise before increasing.
I’d love some guidance on what to do.
For reference:
My psychiatrist isn’t great at responding; I need to find a new one but it’s difficult to find one that my insurance covers;
I live in the UK;
I’m TERRIFIED of sertraline withdrawals effects when I tried to come off of it earlier this year— even incredibly, incredibly slowly— I was suicidal and was on the verge of being admitted. That experience is what sparked my agoraphobia.
My questions are:
- Which route would you choose?
- Does the nausea get better? I’ve read a lot on this Reddit that for many people, it never went away.
- Have anyone used vortioxetine for panic? Has it worked?
Sincere gratitude!