Just started taking these

[Roman]

Stick in there No Imagination. I had my first semi normal day yesterday after 26 days and I'm ecstatic that things seem to be turning a corner hopefully.

[No Imagination]

I'm on day 8 of these now. Not much fun is it

I've had anxiety for a good 10 years but never tried medication. The last few weeks were pretty bad for me so it was decided it was time to give some medication a try.

Right now I feel as bad or worse than I did a couple of weeks ago. Sleep is all over the place, when I'm able to get some, not much appetite, weird random things happening that never used to happen, lightheadedness. I have health anx as well as General and this is making it all worse because of course you feel ill and you end up worrying about that. On top of that I had or believe I have something wrong with me anyway, which is what prompted the bad week in the first place. My GP says no but I'm not so sure.

What a nightmare this all is

Family are great, which is the one positive thing in all this.

[Panicer]

Hi No Imagination

Well done for sticking with the pills, if you can get to about 30 days I think you should start to notice an improvement, I did but it seems to be up to 12 weeks to get the full effect. I know where you're coming from with the health and General anxiety, as I have the same problem. Any unusual feeling could set me off an a catastrophising what if cycle. However a therapist said to me recently when you get weird body feelings such as a tremor, pain, lightheaded etc and you're feeling anxious at the same time that's simply anxiety, when you get one without anxiety that's just physiology. Something has just stuck with me about that and as soon as as I feel something unusual my anxiety rises but then I immediately say to myself "weird feeling + anxiousness, raised heartbeat, sweating etc = just plain old anxiety, you can safely ignore it and relax again" and it really seems to have started working for me It might be worth giving it a try?

[No Imagination]

Thanks bud. Yeah I know it's not a quick process by any means. It'd just be nice if I could sleep ok for example or if I didn't feel quite as lousy! Ten days ago I thought I was having some kind of breakdown I was so exhausted so I suppose it's unrealistic to expect too much too soon.

[No Imagination]

Managed to get some real sleep which was nice but that was the last of my temazepam sleeping pills so not sure if that will be repeated tonight! Anyone used Nytol at all? I've got some, figured it was worth a try.

[No Imagination]

Not a great day today so far. Got some sleep but only about 4 hours or so. I have pre-existing issues - some kind of vertigo that's there all the time and feels like lightheadedness usually with occasional full dizziness and over the past 6 months numbness in my feet and occasionally hands. I wake up every morning with pins and needles in both feet, as soon as I get out of bed and walk around it goes away. Anyway I think it must be circulation related but my GP won't have it because I'm not old enough (38) and seems to think it's just anxiety but I really don't see how it can be as baffling as anxiety can be sometimes.

Anyway, today I've been pretty lightheaded even for me and I was a couple of days earlier in the week. At the the same time my feet and legs have felt weak and fatigued despite not really doing much. So of course in my mind this is just further evidence that there is actually something wrong with me beyond the anxiety. I know lightheadness is one of the side effects of this but as I already have it it's difficult to distinguish between that and what I already have simply being worse and as it's coinciding with with whatever is happening with my feet and lower legs you start to worry of course.

It doesn't help that I'm taking some propranolol as well at the moment and of course I keep thinking if I have something wrong with my circulation should I be taking a beta blocker. I try and convince myself that all of it is anxiety and side effects of the meds but I just don't believe it. So not only do I feel crappy physically I feel crappy mentally as well. Fed up of this

[panic_down_under]

I have pre-existing issues - some kind of vertigo that's there all the time and feels like lightheadedness usually with occasional full dizziness and over the past 6 months numbness in my feet and occasionally hands. I wake up every morning with pins and needles in both feet, as soon as I get out of bed and walk around it goes away. Anyway I think it must be circulation related but my GP won't have it because I'm not old enough (38) and seems to think it's just anxiety but I really don't see how it can be as baffling as anxiety can be sometimes.

It could be anxiety, the symptoms are not inconsistent, but it could also be low BP, or a nerve issue. Fluoxetine could be making some of the symptoms worse, both by heightening anxiety and as a direct affect.

So not only do I feel crappy physically I feel crappy mentally as well. Fed up of this

Unfortunately, all part of the rich tapestry of life on antidepressants at the beginning. They can be gawd awful medications which *no one in their right minds would take...with only one redeeming feature, when they work they can greatly improve quality of life.

* though apparently some do in the mistaken belief that they will be even better than 'normal.'

[No Imagination]

Yeah it could be anxiety, I just don't feel it is. There's other things as well, legs and arms get tired quickly, legs and arms held in one position start to feel tingly quickly as well so again I just keep coming back to circulation related but the doc and actually another doc both say no. My BP is fine as far as I'm aware although the recent propranolol may lower it of course but last week at the docs it was 110/70 sat down and then 120/80 after I stood up apparently so good I think. I've actually got to go for a nerve conductivity test the week after next so maybe that will uncover something, it'd be nice to get an actual answer for once as opposed to we don't know but it's probably just anxiety. Not that I want anything to be wrong with me of course! Ironically I'm not someone that goes to the docs regularly even with the health anxiety side of things, before the issues with my feet I hadn't been for a few years.

[No Imagination]

Well another lousy day really so far. It's not so much the anxiety side of things for me it's mostly the physical symptoms I have that are bothering me. If I could shift them I'd feel alright to a certain extent I think. But if I could shift them I wouldn't be on this medication at all I suppose as I'd be a lot less anxious than I am. Unfortunately if I can't deal with the physical part of this I don't know if I can deal with the anxiety.

[No Imagination]

Well, two better days really. Yesterday the physical side of things was fine and so was I even managing to get an almost normal night's sleep. Today was ok again, had some tension this afternoon where I felt agitated and I couldn't stop moving my legs for some reason even when sitting still. Nothing too bad though. No idea what to expect tonight as the last two nights have been about one hour sleep two nights ago and then about six or seven hours last night, so completely different. Feeling a bit of agitation again now so maybe the former unfortunately but we'll see.