My anxiety got a bit better for a few years, then came back with a vengeance. I went back to the doctor and we tried
Effexor XR; aside from not being able to sleep for the first few days, it didn't make me feel too bad, and eventually it helped quite a bit; I was on it for about 2.5 years with only occasional, relatively mild anxiety.
During those times I took Xanax, which worked WONDERS. It really seemed to do the trick for nearly all my symptoms, even more so than the Effexor.