<p>I suggest that when you shop for a therapist, you ask how familiar they are with panic/anxiety disorders and depression. Some will do more work with this than others. It’s better to go with someone who works with it a lot if possible.</p>
<p>My D was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder a year and a half ago when she was 21. I think she had it for much longer, but we just thought she was “high strung”. When she had a panic attack she sought medical help. </p>
<p>I think she had a couple of vertigo episodes, too, but that she didn’t know what they were. She told me she was in the shower and thought she was going to black out…maybe she just felt really dizzy.</p>
<p>She is doing well with Effexor XR (an anti-depressant) and Klonopin as needed for when she’s feeling anxious or can’t sleep. She had a great deal of trouble of sleeping. My understanding is that Klonopin is in the same drug family as Xanax, which is addictive, but it doesn’t tend to give problems like that.</p>
<p>She says yoga was very helpful to her, too.</p>
<p>
I have been on Cymbalta. I recently went off it. I called them “the chill pills”. I felt fine, but I just had no motivation to do anything. Also, I was gaining a little bit of weight. So, the “chill pill” part makes me think it would be good for your D’s anxiety.</p>
<p>I just switched to Welbutrin a week ago and my resting heart rate is between 80 and 90. I am having trouble getting anything done. I’ll give it a few more days then call the dr. It’s hard to find just the right medicine, so keep working through the various options.</p>
<p>It is tough to know which came first, the vertigo or the anxiety; I was Dx w/vertigo 15-20 years ago and believe me when the room is spinning, even when you are lying on the floor holding on, when the swirling makes you leave events and hope to get home before you throw up, that can instigate some anxiety.</p>
<p>Meclizine, like dramamine, can make you sleepy. Physicians have a tough time treating quality of life issues that can not be surgically improved nor have a medication just take care of it.</p>
<p>You are in the tough spot of having to explore anxiety/depression as the main or secondary diagnosis. If the vertigo and dizziness came first, the best “cure” is self-taught. Her body, for some reason is not working right, she needs to learn her triggers and avoid them and she may see an improvement</p>
<p>In psychology class, watched a video on new alternative treatments for vertigo.
Its tough to explain the machine, but many have found it to alleviate their vertigo.
For tehe acne, have you taken your daughter to a dermatologist? I have had problems with ance for the past 7 years. The general rx from regular did not help.
My acne was definetly worse than the average teenager who is upset with a few reaccurances of a few pimples I have outbreaks all over my face and back, just like my dad. Tried everything from creams, antibiotics and birth control.
After a year at a dermatologist, they finally gave me claravis(generic accutane) and it made a remarkable difference. It has been amazing. There’s a laundary list of side effects, and you have to go on the pill, but I did not experiance any serious side effects.
I can really relate to your situation, as I have first experianced problems with depression in second grade, as well as extreme social anxiety issues which peaked during hs, but my issues have been sporadic the last 7 years.
Being a teenage girl adds to it, as we are already fairly emotional, and to add the stress of a medical condition and college plans really adds to it. When I injured my knee and missed my hs senior soccer season, I was really withdrawn, and then the stress of hs social scene and college applications really added to the situation.
I woukd think senior year is just extremely stressful for certain people, add vertigo and the thoughts of college(cost, admissions, meeting new people, moving out) probably had a role.
I have had 2 friends who have taken anti deppresents, and I truly feel it made them more emotionally unstable. It takes time to find one that works, and can cause people to act a bit too happy.</p>
<p>btw son takes wellbutrin and klonopin together. They’re effective, for him, without any remarkable side effects.</p>
<p>Thanks 2331clk. I have read on another forum that particular combination of medications is very effective. D is seeing an adolescent psychiatrist who has see positive results from celexa which was the first med she prescribed (very few side effects and not physically addictive). Cymbalta (an SNRI) works a little differently than celexa (an SSRI) and was her second choice for my daughter after the celexa didn’t work.</p>
<p>I am going to do more research on wellbutrin and klonopin.</p>
<p>tiff90, thanks for the information. I am hesitant to have DD start accutane with everything else that is going on with her. Also you said that you had to go on the pill as well? Why is that?</p>
<p>Glad to hear though that this helped for you.</p>
<p>i’m not sure you have to go on the pill; you just cant have babies. the deformity rate of newborn babies is pretty high for patients on accutane. also, your son/daughter cannot have alcohol for the 4-6 months he/she is on accutane, as it can cause unnecessary stress on the liver. also cannot take vitamin A/multivitamins for the same reason…</p>
<p>This sounds very similar to what my friend’s D experienced last year. After an extreme episode of vertigo, she underwent many tests and was diagnosed with labyrinthitis. Anxiety and depression are common side effects. This girl was physically disabled for several months and even as the vertigo symptoms subsided and she was able to return to school, the anxiousness remained for awhile. She needed to take a light courseload her first semester back. The ordeal lasted 6-9 months but the good news is that she has fully recovered. Hang in there and good luck.
[Labyrinthitis</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinthitis]Labyrinthitis”>Labyrinthitis - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>The government regulates accutane through the IPLEDGE program at my dermatoligist. Basically I have to go in once a month for a pregnancy test, and the dr. has to write a new RX each month.
Isotretinoin causes serious birth defects, and the IPLEGE program is devoted to preventing pregnancy in females who use any form of iIsotretinoin(requires two forms of birth control). Birth control is great for females who have rough periods, and you can also ask for a brand which prevents periods, which would be a great benefit for college.
The major reason the depression sypmtom is so well known in PA is due to a case which involved the suicide of a politican’s son who was on accutane.
There also is fairly good chance the acne will never return.
This is at my dermatoloist, though. I am not certain if every dermatologist takes part in the IPLEDGE program. I would suggest going to a dermatoligist, and if the acne is bad, request the accutane the first visit(it takes 1 month after the 1st visit before you can start).
Make sure no other medication your DD is taking has Isotretinoin in it.
(Accutane is $550 a month without insurance, so I would suggest to make sure it’s covered)</p>
<p>Three issues. </p>
<p>1) D was on Accutane. Two full courses. It was a miracle drug. Chapped lips, no other symptoms. I think it is wonderful.
2) D has a great medicine man (shrink) who correctly diagnosed a thyroid problem leading to weight gain and general lethargy. Went on the meds and immediately lost 15 pounds and hasn’t looked back.
3) D also has a diagnosis of clinical depression. Gee. Imagine that. Only 2/3 of her kin have it including dear old dad. Wherever could it come from? 
No issues. Medicate and go. Search around and find the best medicine man in your area (or medicine woman). There will be a doc who just seems to be intuitive about what will work. IMO that’s who you want.</p>
<p>Good luck. I’ve fought the dragons since I was 20. Most days I win. :)</p>
<p>Well, Curm, you certainly fight them in admirable style 
Your attitude and writing results in some of the most entertaining posts & threads here.</p>
<p>somemom, thanks. You are too kind. I just wanted the OP to know that there is no shame in the diagnosis. None at all. I’m not bashful about my minor “frailties” (and I am painfully aware of my greater limitations as a human being, too). Clinical depression is just a “thang” and not even a big thing for me anymore. Certainly nothing to hide. I take my meds every morning as I have for over 30 years. </p>
<p>Most days I get the dragons. Some days they get me. When that happens I just ride it out (sometimes literally LOL. Just get on the bike and head out.). After 30 years I know the dawn will break before long and I’ll still be there to see it. ;)</p>
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<p>I guess I’m wondering who of us wouldn’t feel anxious and depressed if we were still struggling with vertigo after six months? Honestly, that’s gotta stink. It could very well be a situational depression that she will come out of slowly, and overtime as opposed to overnight.</p>
<p>No one here has mentioned Buspar. I had some luck with this many years ago while having a difficult time with anxiety; every anti-depressant I tried gave me horrific side effects that didn’t ‘get better over time’ as they usually promised. My anxiety was definitely situational - I had tumors on my thyroid that were being approached medically before going after surgically. I had a three year old and five year old and was terrified of having cancer (my dad had just been treated for melanoma). My body’s way of responding to that level of anxiety was to lose my appetite (along with the usual symptoms of anxiety) and I got down to 100 lbs. (on a 5’6" frame). I know people were worried that I was anorexic, but I was the one who went into my doctor’s office and told them if my scale ever hit 99 lbs., they needed to do something about it. Luckily, right about that time, they decided to abandon medical treatment of the thyroid, and do surgery to remove 1/2 of it, along with its little tumors (all along my thyroid function tests were coming back normal). I still had some lesser anxiety after the surgery (no cancer), so they put me on Buspar. Again, I was never able to get past a couple of the side effects, but they were so much more negotiable that I stuck it out. I noticed a huge improvement in my anxiety within a few days. I truly felt like I’d been given a new lease on life (actually, I kind of was). As months past by (and I began to put the weight back on that I’d lost) and I felt things return to normal, I decided to quit the Buspar, as I continued to have minor side effects with it (as strong then as on day one). My health had basically returned to pre-thyroid issues, so I quit and everything was fine.</p>
<p>I don’t know how to describe what kind of drug Buspar is, except that it’s non-addicting. But very few people have heard of it. It doesn’t fall into the benzodiazepam category, nor the antidepressant category. I wouldn’t hesitate again to take it if the need ever arose. </p>
<p>By the way, last month (as I recounted on one of my pity party threads), I experienced a ruptured ear drum after flying with a nasty head cold. The blood clot on my ear drum didn’t fall off for at least a couple of weeks, so one ear was completely useless. By the end of week two, I was about beside myself because there were so many things I couldn’t do, that involved bending over and standing up because my equilibrium was all off. It was very depressing, and that was only two weeks. I feel for your daughter.</p>