First...I am NOT an anti-meds person, but I don't believe that everyone should just be on them. My friend has schizophrenia and absolutely needs her meds. It's scary when she's off them because of how negatively it impacts her life.
I called out of work one day due to having an issue and in desperation made a same day appointment with a psych NP. I was surprised at how immediate and quick she was to be like "hey sure yeah you can try meds if you want". They diagnosed me with the generic "depression and anxiety" and when from there.
Well the NP immediately quit after that and they transferred me to a new NP, who has continued to prescribe different meds for me. I also recently started therapy.
With the first med I tried (an SSRI), I continued to have my episodes, so I initially thought it had zero effect. In retrospect, I do think it slightly lowered my anxiety (but not enough to really do anything). Coming off them was unpleasant and I had another episode that may have threatened my job. I'm not sure if the episode was related to the med reduction or not.
My NP specifically stated that I do NOT have bipolar disorder, but that she wanted to try lamotrigine with me. I have been slowly over many months titrating up to my therapeutic goal dose and reached it a couple weeks ago.
She also recently prescribed me PRN propranolol which I also don't know if it has any effect. I very rarely get panic attacks. My NP's idea was that if I have a stressful that happen that day to take it so I am theoretically less inclined to have an outburst of some sort later. Again, I'm not sure if this is really doing anything for me. I don't notice an effect.
I know propranolol is preventative instead of used during or after, but I can't always predict when a trigger may occur.
My episodes generally begin with a trigger. So if there are no triggers, I have minimal/no issues. The triggers are not 24/7 and there are sometimes many weeks in between. So how tf am I supposed to tell if the medication does anything???
My issue: extreme negative emotions/spiraling generally tied to a trigger; can cause me want to self harm or do dangerous things, can sometimes cause outbursts at work which threaten work interpersonal relationships and my job. For the most part, my episodes occur outside of work and I am usually (but obviously not always) able to keep it together). So it can be very distressing and unpleasant to live with...but again it's not 24/7.
Sorry that was long!!!
i think propranolol is a pretty good choice for your situation, actually, i think, if the dose is high enough, and you can tolerate the effects on your blood pressure, then it can probably be very useful after a trigger? it depends on how you take it / the formulation, the short acting works for around 4 hours, but you can get extended release versions too
i took propranolol regularly for a couple of years for essentially the same thing, managing triggers. it was an effective way for me to deaden the intensity of feelings and be more productive handling them, although prolonged use eventually led to that sort of zombie lack of emotions effect. still, it did me a lot of good for the time i was on it
really, unfortunately, you have to evaluate the meds based on how you feel normally on them and when you encounter a trigger. it sounds like your triggers can get quite bad, so intentionally testing it doesn't seem like a good idea (if you're even able). you might just keep the propranolol on hand if it happens
in terms of data, i would look at the severity and length of the episodes where you encountered a trigger. ostensibly, the medicine should make it less severe and easier to pull out of. and if it's not after some time, then it's probably worth switching
I think what people are seeming to miss in my novel is that I am currently on 2 meds... lamotrigine daily and then propranolol as needed. I'm glad you had a good experience with it. Interesting how you ended up feeling like a zombie on it because it effects more of the physical side of things. I think my propranolol dose is pretty low.
ah, sorry, i saw it, i just don't know anything about lamotrigine. and the same stuff applies with it; you'll probably have to wait till you encounter a trigger and just gauge how bad it was and how long it lasted to see if it helps ๐