Does anyone feel like this with fast acting anxiety meds (Xanax, Ativan) etc?!

i mentioned the same problem to my doctor. She said that she has had about a dozen of her patients say that. It could be a reaction or you need to be on another benzodiazipine with different properties like klonipin or valium. They do not work as quickly but they do calm you for a greater length of time.

Ativan can be bad news for some who take it, it's called mind benders, it's given to Vets who are traumatized by war, something must have traumatized you in the past, when you realize what t was you can then change the way you think about it Anxiety is a learned behaviour you need to unlearn it replace the bad feelings with positive ones only then will the anxiety subside

Some info I have been told for myself and also read is that xanax does not help anyone with psychosis. It can make me agitated until I fall asleep.
I love ativan, and when I have had to go the ER they always give me two shots of ativan. Because I am in bad shape if I have to go the ER the first shot doesn't really make a dent.
I have always been prescribed klonipin (generic is clonazepam) it is more often used when someone has an illness in the psychosis category.
A different drug used for anxiety is buspar (generic is buspirone) and because it not a tranquilizer it doesn't make you sleep. I had good luck with that one, although it takes the maximum dosage for it to be beneficial. It is usually taken twice a day, morning and evening.
My former drug regime had me taking buspar and only in extreme stress the klonipin. Just taking it as needed prevented me from being physically addicted to it.