snooo
09-02-13, 23:27
Hi all,
I've been lurking here for a while but events have been coming to a head and I thought it best that I finally make a posting.
I have coped with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder since I was a child - I was diagnosed when I was 19 and was on citalopram from then till one and a half years ago, when I came off them.
I was OK when I stopped taking them but since the start of 2012 my OCD started to get bad again - I have thoughts that I will harm people that are close to me, especially at night. It was getting to the point that it was getting in the way of relationships and I thought it best that I go back on citalopram. My GP suggested I go back on at 20mg for a few weeks.
After taking two doses tho I started to feel the most intense anxiety I have ever experienced. I had a panic attack that was followed with several days of feeling restless with OCD thoughts. Thoughts would run through my head that I would run off, or freak out. For the first time I had this feeling like I had "brain fog" - like I couldn't focus or concentrate on things or found it really hard to do so. In one case I went to the supermarket just to buy a meal and I found it hard just picking what I wanted. I also started having palpitations and a constant feeling that something bad was going to happen. Panic attacks have come and gone - usually I've dealt OK with the symptoms, now and again I haven't and I have freaked out. One night I drove to my local hospital thinking I needed immediate help and that I was going mental. I didn't, and nothing bad has happened through all of this - except that I have gradually become more withdrawn, tending to prefer staying in than going out. I feel tense and like there is a weight in my head, and I often feel a little detached and almost dizzy. The lack of clarity is what I find the most scary sometimes. The symptoms - which have lasted several months - scared me so much I stopped taking citalopram after a couple of days.
Anyway - I've been to the GP and seen a psychiatrist. Both have proscribed me different SSRIs. I'm very reluctant to take another one after what happened and I am a little fearful that I have been on them so long that a) they won't be doing me any good and b) they could be making me worse. I'm told that there is a very long waiting list for CBT so meds have been touted to me as the only option. That and reading books.
I am very weary of taking more medication and I wonder if some members can give me some reassurance - I've been proscribed 50mg setraline to be taken daily. I'd also like to hear that my symptoms are anxiety and not something else.
Thanks,
S.
I've been lurking here for a while but events have been coming to a head and I thought it best that I finally make a posting.
I have coped with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder since I was a child - I was diagnosed when I was 19 and was on citalopram from then till one and a half years ago, when I came off them.
I was OK when I stopped taking them but since the start of 2012 my OCD started to get bad again - I have thoughts that I will harm people that are close to me, especially at night. It was getting to the point that it was getting in the way of relationships and I thought it best that I go back on citalopram. My GP suggested I go back on at 20mg for a few weeks.
After taking two doses tho I started to feel the most intense anxiety I have ever experienced. I had a panic attack that was followed with several days of feeling restless with OCD thoughts. Thoughts would run through my head that I would run off, or freak out. For the first time I had this feeling like I had "brain fog" - like I couldn't focus or concentrate on things or found it really hard to do so. In one case I went to the supermarket just to buy a meal and I found it hard just picking what I wanted. I also started having palpitations and a constant feeling that something bad was going to happen. Panic attacks have come and gone - usually I've dealt OK with the symptoms, now and again I haven't and I have freaked out. One night I drove to my local hospital thinking I needed immediate help and that I was going mental. I didn't, and nothing bad has happened through all of this - except that I have gradually become more withdrawn, tending to prefer staying in than going out. I feel tense and like there is a weight in my head, and I often feel a little detached and almost dizzy. The lack of clarity is what I find the most scary sometimes. The symptoms - which have lasted several months - scared me so much I stopped taking citalopram after a couple of days.
Anyway - I've been to the GP and seen a psychiatrist. Both have proscribed me different SSRIs. I'm very reluctant to take another one after what happened and I am a little fearful that I have been on them so long that a) they won't be doing me any good and b) they could be making me worse. I'm told that there is a very long waiting list for CBT so meds have been touted to me as the only option. That and reading books.
I am very weary of taking more medication and I wonder if some members can give me some reassurance - I've been proscribed 50mg setraline to be taken daily. I'd also like to hear that my symptoms are anxiety and not something else.
Thanks,
S.