Q. Do I also need benzodiazepine to control my anxiety problem?

Hi doctor,

I currently take 5 mg of Trintellix and 400 mg of Gabapentin (100 mg at 9 AM and 200 mg at 9 PM) a day. We have recently reduced my Trintellix from 10 mg to 5 mg and stopped 100 mg Zoloft. I have had depression and anxiety for the past 15 years. I like what Trintellix has been doing for me, but my anxiety is out of control now. My anxiety is horrible. I am very irritable and agitated easily and want to burst out and cry many times throughout the day. My chest and throat are hefty with pressure. I wish to have a proper regimen so that this will subside. Please help.

Hi doctor,

Thanks for the reply.

I started 10 mg of Trintellix last year and continued to take 50 mg of Zoloft. At the beginning of this year, my anxiety was extreme, so my psychiatrist increased it to 100 mg. It did not help. So, a month later, I decided to wean myself off of the Zoloft because I thought that was the cause. I told my doctor about this in the first part of this month. I wanted to decrease my dosage of Trintellix to 5 mg but needed something for anxiety. He started me on 5 mg of Klonopin, which has helped me in the past. It helped for maybe a week, but then the anxiety came back. He thought 200 mg of Gabapentin would help. So, I stopped the Klonopin, and the Gabapentin helped for about a week, and then I noticed that if I took 100 mg at 9 am, 100 mg at 3 pm, and 200 mg at 9 pm, my anxiety was better. Now, a week later, I need more or something different. The Trintellix has helped with my depression, and I am so much more motivated to do things I have not wanted to do in a long time. Is the Trintellix causing the anxiety? If not the Gabapentin, is there a benzodiazepine with a longer half-life, so I do not have to take something every five or six hours?

Hi doctor,

Thanks for your reply.

But I was on the Trintellix and Zoloft, and my anxiety was horrible. Do you feel I will also need the benzodiazepines to control it?