Please help - this is unbearable!!

[MollieM]

Hi there. I am new to this forum - I hope some of you can offer me some advice ASAP.

My blood pressure has been going up for the last couple of years. It has been at a treatable level now 145/105 for quite a few months. But I have some anxiety so my doctor thought she'd start me on an SSRI plus some lifestyle changes to see if I can calm down and hence get my BP down. The problem is, as some of you probably know, the fear of high BP, my heart, the fear of the tablets.........well, they've all combined so that I am now in a constant state of panic.

Every time I try to take the escitalopram ssri I think I have a symptom like racing heart or palpations or some sort of little thing that I blow up out of all proportion. I am trying to force myself through it as they should end up helping but the next night I take the tablet the fear has reached even greater proportions!

With my blood pressure already being high I am at my wits end. I have cut the tablets in half and am trying to take it slowly but I keep thinking I am going to have a stroke or heart attack. Is this possible? I am 35 with a family history of high BP but they have all lived to a reasonable age.

How long can the body withstand such an onslaught?

I have some diazepam left over from last year and want to try taking one of those each evening until I calm down about these tablets. Does anyone know if it's ok to combine these two. There seem to be people taking both that I have read about but the info sheet says there may be some issue with them both together.

Please help! Anyone else gone through anything like this?

[Piglet]

Hi ya Mollie,

Have you said all this to your doctor as I am sure they would be able to totally reassure you.

I haven't had this combination of tablets so can't speak from direct experience but I did have Prozac and diazapam and nothing happened to me.

Also could you ring the NHS direct line to ask for their opinion if you didn't want to go back to the doctors (I am just going to ask a friend about another number of an advice line especially for medication advice- have just e-mailed him and will get back to you soon).

Meanwhile about the bp thing - somehow you want to get your focus off that if you can. My mum has had high blood pressure for 30 odd years and taken medication for it and is still here with no other related problems. Even if you do have high bp it can be sorted with medication so no need to worry about it unduly. Its mainly a problem in people who dont know they have it really so they dont know take tablets to bring it down.

Also what about trying yoga as a natural way of bringing it down???

Pm me if I dont get back to you with that number in the next 48 hours as I think you would find it useful. I may do a post about it as I didn't realise it exsisited until just a little while ago.

Piglet x:D

"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?" said Piglet.
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.

[MollieM]

Hi Piglet and thanks for the reply. I think you could tell I was pretty desperate!

I know that I need to stop worrying about my BP. I am not on treatment for it yet so I think that is why I am so stressed about it. I am not sure whether these last few days of extreme panic will be having an effect. I appreciate that once I'm on treatment (soon I hope!) then it will be ok.

Firstly, I am frightened of tablets and side effects.

Secondly I have M.E. and any stress however small makes me worse.....and I am now pretty much bedbound with all this stress!! I would normally avoid the stress and give up but now I am so bad I have decided to try to keep going and see if I can come out the other side as some people with CFS are helped by AD's. However, if they don't work then I will be up sh** creek as it were.

Lastly, I focus on my BP too much now..........

So, all in all I am in a situation that it's hard to remove myself from which is why I am so anxious.

But thanks for the advice and getting back to me. It was a relief to hear from someone finally.

Mollie

[Piglet]

Hun there are quite a number of people on here with ME so I know if you were to post a thread about the extra load this puts on you, then you would certainly get responses.

It is hard to get our mind off health issues (I can have this problem myself too so I know where you are coming from). The only way is to keep occupied with something else (again easier said than done) however even if you only manage this for moments at a time, those moments build up to minutes and so on and so on.

Also I believe that a persons bp has to be high over a period of time before it becomes harmful - which makes sense really as if you think how much it fluctuates hour to hour etc!!!!

My doctor knows how ridiculous I get at the surgery and what this does to my bp that we dont pay much attention to it there. As I am on the pill it has to be taken a few times a year so they let me borrow one of the surgery moniters and now I have my own (the novelty soon wore off [:I]).

Do you think yours has a touch of the white coat syndrome about it????

Try to cross each bridge as you come to it mate,

1. Firstly a few days of high anxiety will not be affecting you long term.

2. Keep trying with the tabs (hopefully I will get an answer about that phone line for you later - I am sure its for some famous hosp in London who have a dept for this advice)

3. Obviously your doctor is thinking the bp is related to your anxiety hence suggestin the ssri's - which is kinda comforting.

Hopefully by getting reassurance you will realise you are in a bit of a self perpetuating circle and this can be broken at anytime by refusing to allow yourself to worry.

Love Piglet :)

"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?" said Piglet.
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.

[KatiePie]

Hi Mollie

I was a bit like this when I first had to take Sertraline about five years ago now. A friend had to come over and hold my hand as I panicked about taking the first one. I am sure you will feel fine (I didn't notice anything apart from a metallic taste in my mouth and constant thirst) and I felt better within a couple of days. It really helped to remove me from the futile spiralling thoughts situation I was in.

I don't know if you are currently working but I took a couple of weeks off work and went home to stay with my mum. (I was about 28 at the time but I guess that's what mum's are there for! I realised I was being far too hard on myself and needed to give myself a break and let someone help me out :-)

Lots of luck

KatiePie

[Keitharcher]

Hi Mollie

I can see that you are in a blind panic about things, well first thing to do is calm down and face the problems logically. The BP, is not abnormally high, the doc seems to be controlling them with tablets, the thing about these tablets is that they do more than control your BP, they also protect your heart, thats the idea of them. The main worry about high BP is stroke, yours is no where high enough to cause a stroke. Where is this info coming from you may well ask, well i have been on BP tablets for about 5 years, I take ramaprill. A change of life style is the key, loose weight, stop worrying stop backing yourself into corners, start njoying life, as piglet says, try yoga its a good method of acheving inner calm and peace. I have followed a lot of this advice myself, the upshot is as well as being cured of my depression and anxiety, the doc has reduced my BP dosage. Hope this helps

Keith

[Meg]

Mollie

Your body is not having an onslaught - its perfectly ok. If your doctor was worried he would have you on BP meds right away. Its normal for our BP's to peak whilst attending doctors surgeries.

Maybe you will be referred for a 24 hr trace of your Bp which will be much more meaningful than the odd reading but meanwhile you have the opportunity to sort it with lifestyle changes.

Do take the SSRI and wean yourself up to the therapeutic dose if that feels better and yes it is ok to take the odd valium too.

Yoga, exercise, meditation, diet changes are all very helpful.




Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

proactiveness, positivity, persistence, perseverance and practice = progress

[MollieM]

Thanks Guys. I managed to get through yesterday by trying to accept what is happening and although I felt really ill and spaced out the anxiety was under control. I took another small dose of the ssri but with a valium tablet and by the time I went to bed I had calmed down enough to at least get some sleep.

However, it's going to take me ages to build up to a decent dose the way I'm going so I am going to go and see my doctor on Monday and have a good chat. Hopefully that will put things in perspective and she will have some helpful advice.

But cheers for taking the time to reply to me. I really really needed to talk!!!

Mollie

[brenda]

Molly if ever you need advice about medication you can always phone your local chemist and ask to speak to the pharmacist.
They will tell you what medications can be taken together and you can discuss any worrying symptoms as well
I've done this quite a lot and they are very helpful

Hope that helps. I know what you feel like as I am the same.
My hubby had ME so I know what that is like for you as well
Pam x

[Phill2]

Its quite acceptable to combine diazepam with SSRIs. Most drs prescribe diazepam when starting SSRIs to get over the initial side effects
Phill

Don't believe everything you think.