Mental illness worries

[superjonboy]

Hi.

I've not been on the Health Anxiety board for a while.
My problems are generally around a fear of mental illness. Schizophrenia or the mania of bipolar e.t.c

I don't think I've ever been psychotic, but there are things I've done in the past that could be highlighted as maic or hypomanic - I had a bad gambling/spending problem. I took out loans and had credit cards and ended up in about £17k worth of debt. Its paid off now but I still get urges. My wife said if I ever go into the bookies again that will be it for us, so I've kept away.

I've recently been changed from 40mg Citalopram to 50mg Sertraline. I'm on my 12th day of the sertraline now and I keep really worrying that it will make me manic or psychotic. The medication was prescribed by the consultant psychiatrist and she gave me a 45 minute appointment so my rational thought is that if there was any hint of anything other than anxiety/depression she would have addressed it. I expressed my worries of psychosis and she said it didnt look like it was going in that direction.

Last night I really thought I was becomig psychotic. I felt so weird. I really don't know how to get over this fear. I see it as only a maatter f time before I become bipolar or psychotic.

John

[suzy-sue]

Its quite normal to feel strange or worry about these things ..especially when you start on new meds and come off another .Both will cause extra anxiety until they get adjusted and leave your body..You didnt say if you cut down and came off the Cit before the Sert ..So i expect you just switched ? Either way it will take about 3 weeks to get into your system and vice versa ,,By the 6th week most of the side effects will be gone and you will feel much more in control and feeling better .I f you were showing signs of Bi polar this would have been apparent the same goes for Psychosis .Its just your anxiety feeding of your darkest fears at the moment ..I felt the same when I first started on Mirtazapine and citalopram ..I thought I was losing my mind ....I didnt ..But some would disagree lol ...TAKE CARE YOU WILL BE FINE ....DO try to distract these thoughts when they happen ,,It will all settle down in time ...Sue x

[london]

you would know if you had that and your doctor would for sure jon

[Maj]

Hello John,
I think most of us worry about being seriously mentally ill when suffering from anxiety. I myself used to be terrified of suffering with schizophrenia - it seems to come part and parcel with anxiety! The thing is though that we'd have progressed into that illness anyway without a second thought. You don't sound remotely like that!! The strange feeling you had last night could have been a side effect of your meds with some anxiety and panic added. You are not mad, you are anxious. We can get a bit obsessive about getting more ill and hopefully the sertraline will help with that. I think it is a particularly good med for obsessive thoughts. It helped me so much. Please try not to worry about this because there's no indication that you are anything other than anxious!!
Myra x

[Worrier]

John,

Just as a point of interest, you do not become bipolar, you are born with it. It is not something that just develops because of medication.

Like I have said before, I really sypathise with your situation but I think you have to learn to accept that the meds will help and not "cause" some other condition. You are burdoning yourself unnecessarily with all this worry. I know because I have been there, done that. Ask yourself, does worrying about it change the outcome - of course the answer is NO. So in that vain, try to relax, accept where you at, and that you are on the road to recovery and move past this. You sound so positive when you talk about your plans for the future in chat, so keep a grip on that and stay focussed.

Take care
Natalie x

[superjonboy]

Thanks all of you.

I just want this to be over. I don't mean to worry it just happens.

John x