Nervousness and Anxiety all day esp in the mornings

[LadyBug]

Hi. I started out with panic attacks and mild anxiety. I battled it on my own for about a month before going to my gp. When I went she gave me xanax for the attacks and started me on Zoloft 25mg. I was on both about 3 years ago when i had the same problems. After about 4 weeks on 24mg i wasn't feeling any better and I started 50mg. I have been on 50 mg for the past 6 days. I'm not feeling any better really. Mornings are the worst! I feel so anxious and nervous that I can't lay still; i start thinking i'm going to lose control, end up in an institution, have a nervous breakdown etc. I can't even calm myself with breathing exercises. I feel these hot sensations down my arms...its just awful. After the morning it gets better, but I still feel quite nervous for most of the day and really anxious off and on. Up until this point I have been able to go to work, but the last 2 days I have not. I started seeing a counselor about 3 weeks ago, and after i go i feel better and reassured, but its hort lived. I just keep thinking that i shouldn't be feeling worse!!! And that makes my anxiety and nervousness worse!! Help!!! Has anyone else went throught this??? Is it just that i need to wait for the 50mg to kick in or what????? I'm SO sick of feeling this way. I just want my normal life back!

[PUGLETMUM]

hi upatnight,

ive been through this on a couple of occasions with different meds.

first time it lasted for 12 weeks or so until my doc eventually prescribed prozac, which saved my life and which i took for 2 years until i got pregnant.

then i started to lose control of my situation after 10 months(after id had my baby) and i went straight to the docs to get prozac again. it was a complete
NIGHTMARE. i took it for 2 weeks and i felt like i was going to die, so i went back and came off it, but i felt worse after a month or so , and i tried it again , but again the same thing happened. he said it was probably to do with my physiology changing due to having a child. and i have never taken drugs since because it was so horrible.

this is just to illustrate how you are not alone, but i think you have to have your doctors help and advice, but my own opinion of it is that you should start to feel better after a couple of weeks and if not the drug may not suit you or you may not be okay with that dose. hope this helps and you also start to feel better.

emmas

[Krakers]

Hi upatnight - I've been battling general all day long anxiety now for over 7 months. At one point I was waking with Panic Attacks and that lasted for about a month and was absolutely awful. I know how you feel, and to have to go through the day feeling so on edge is horrid. I used to clock watch all day until I could go to bed and at least get some relief.

Zoloft (Sertraline) was the last SSRI my doc prescribed me. Maybe I'm weak, but I just cannot handle the increased anxiety the meds give me while I go through the incubation period for them to work and resultantly lasted 3 days on them. Same for Paroxetine (Seroxat), Citralopam, and pretty every other SSRI, SRNI, Tricyclic antihystamine, flupnetixol, Buspirone, Trazadone and the rest of the meds I kept coming away with.

I recently changed my doctor - I'd given up on them ever helping me and didn't even want to go to the appointment. My new docs great, the tablets he gave me worked from day 1 (yes they are Benzodiazepines, and do have problems themselves - do a search in the forums for more info), but my anxiety has gone.

I'm back at work, while I was out last night I had a lot of complements that it was good to see me being me again (if that makes sense). I'd go back to your doctor and explain your predicament. Meds often make you worse before they make you better, and any help he could give while making the transition would a blessing.

I'm not suggestiong yo give up on your current meds, it just sounds like you are in a similar situation to where I was. There are complimentary anxiolytic meds the docs could give you to help you over the time taken for Sertraline to work.

Be honest, be frank and above all make sure the doctor knows that its something that you need help with now. Not wait another 2 weeks ans see, but here and now.

Krakers.

[davidthegnome]

Wow, I can really relate to a lot of that. Actually sounds kind of similar to how I was at first.

First thing I want to say is that I've gotten better, the panic attacks have gone way down and the general anxiety is slowly becoming easier to cope with.

However, when I first started out I was kind of a basket case. I could barely eat or sleep, seemed to be scared of just about everything and had three or four panic attacks a day, especially at night before bed or when I dragged myself out of bed in the morning after a night of tossing and turning and panic and very little sleep.

For me, I think it took about six weeks, maybe even as much as eight for the zoloft to really start working. I was started out on 50 for a week then increased to 100 MG. I've been taking zoloft on and off since I was about 13. I've also been taking Lorazepam which is similar to xanax, same class of drug, used for panic attacks.

It has taken me some time to really get better, but I have. They had me on 1 full miligram of lorazepam every four hours at first and I had panic attacks every day. Now I rarely have them at all. It will get better bud, give it time and try the best you can to think positive. I'm able to excercise again and do so every other day or so which has really been a huge help to me.

Also, I'm not sure what your diet is like, but if there's a lot of aspartame in it, try to cut back or remove aspartame from your diet completely. I used to drink diet pepsi every single day and the aspartame from it definitely effected and increased my anxiety, might even be the reason my attacks started back up again.

The zoloft has helped me and I think it will help you too, especially if it's worked in the past. The morning anxiety can be rough, I know as I have it too, but it does get easier. Just take it one day at a time bud, this will pass, things will get better, they did for me, they will for you too.

One thing that may help you is distraction. That is - finding something to focus on, it could be anything, the TV, games, reading, or even chatting on the forum. Finding a focus is a huge help. As for the arm pains, I have those too, pretty often, even numbness, tingling or coldness in my hands. Some times I still get anxious, about stuff, but overall I'm doing much better than before. You'll get better bud, just takes time and therapy and a lot of positive thinking.

I want to second what Krakers said too - be honest with your Doctor about how you're doing, the more they understand the situation the better they can help.

This too shall pass, you will laugh again and smile again and be happy again. Through all suffering there is opportunity for learning and enlightenment. Good luck and God bless you.


Dave

[LadyBug]

Thank you all for your thoughts and advice!

David - thank you so much for the encouragement!! It almost made me cry! It reminded me that i've beaten this before, and I will again! I talked with my dr and counselor yesterday, and they decided that ativan may be a better choice for me than xanaz (alprazolam). I have a question though, did the ativan (lorazapam) alleviate the anxiety completely when you took it? I currently take .5mg and while I can feel it working a little, I still have the nervous feeling in my stomach....i don't know if it just doesn't work for me, or if I need a higher dose.

[davidthegnome]

It didn't totally nail the anxiety bud, but it did help calm me though and slowed down the panic attacks. Started out taking it as needed - then Doc told me to go up to a MG every four hours. Took me a while to get through that. But I cut it down, eventually to half a MG three times a day, then twice... then once... and today is actually my first day without it so far, we'll see how it goes eh?

If you feel it working, chances are it's helping. Should talk to your Doc about it, but if you're feeling like .5 isn't enough then taking the full MG might help more. It's really a matter of how you're feeling, if you're ok on the .5 stick with it - if you feel really anxious or panic then it might be good to go up to the full MG. I had to take two a couple times when I had really bad panic attacks.

Just stick with it, you'll pull through. I've beaten it twice before and am doing it again myself, so will you. Have faith in yourself, you're a strong, brave person and you're gonna be alright.

God bless and good luck,

Dave

[LadyBug]

thanks david! i'm going to try to stick with it through the weekend and see if i feel any better....can't wait for the zoloft to kick in!!!

[LadyBug]

anyone else have good response with zoloft??

[BamBam]

I can also relate to these symptoms. Unfortunately for me, my GP won't prescribe my anything at all, despite me having asked him on three seperate occasions. I can't change my GP as I live in a built up area of London where GP's are already over-subscribed - I had to go on a waiting list just to get this one! He has sent me for blood tests for over-active thyroid and all sorts of nonsense - he just seems to think that it's all in my head and I just need to calm down.