Gotagetthroughthis
18-06-13, 18:24
Hello my fellow anxiety buddies, hope we are all doing well today.
Just looking for some advice and guidance here as I'm really not sure what to do.
I came off Sertraline about 4 months ago after being on it for about 6 months, I was on Citalopram for a couple of months before that but switched to Sertraline as the Citalopram just seemed to be making me worse. So all together I was on Anti depressants for around 8 or 9 months. Sertraline helped me out of a really dark place, where I had non stop anxiety and panic, the likes of which mental and emotional pain I never thought was possible. It got me to where I was more calm and could accept my physical and mental symptoms as anxiety and stopped me thinking I was dying constantly. I was still far from normal though and was anxious a lot of the time but I was a lot better than when this all started. I never felt quite right on Sertraline, my head was always extremely foggy, my memory was so bad it was scary, my hair started to fall out (not sure if that was the meds or stress) along with other side effects. So i decided to come off in the hope I could continue on my recovery without the anti depressants. I weaned off very slowly and took my last pill at the start of February.
Since then I have been pretty much the same, I haven't fully relapsed but I still have quite bad anxiety every day. I have tried to start jobs and failed, given up after a day or 2 on both occasions due the my anxiety. So I just haven't really got anywhere, im stuck doing nothing every day at home and don't seem to be making any improvements, if anything the past few weeks I feel myself gradually getting worse. I have been waiting for CBT for months and had a call today and I will be having an assessment on the phone on the 11th of July, so that's something that I hope will help.
Now to the question, do I go back on to anti depressants? I have been back to the doctors today to discuss how im feeling and said im thinking about going back on medication. I said I would like to try a different Anti depressant from the last 2 I was on. So I have been perscribed Paroxetine/Paxil. Now I just don't know what to do, I don't want to be on meds my whole life as I worry what they do to the brain but I don't feel I am getting anywhere at all at the moment so I may have to start these meds. I'm sure I have read that Paroxetine is notoriously hard to come off so that worries me. Has anyone withdrawn from this med successfully?
Do I wait for CBT and see if that helps before going back on meds or do I go back on meds and then do the CBT aswell to try and hit the anxiety from all angles to try and beat it? I am greatfull I am not in that hellish place I was nearly a year ago when this anxitey/breakdown started but I am still nowhere near normal, I am anxious, depressed, fed up, angry, agitated every day and wouldn't say I have had one day where ive felt normal or good since this all started. I still cant live a normal life or leave the house and do normal things without severe anxiety and random physical symptoms so i do need some help. Just don't know where to go from here, what do I do?
Thank you for reading and any advice or ideas would be great guys. Sorry for the long winded post.
Just looking for some advice and guidance here as I'm really not sure what to do.
I came off Sertraline about 4 months ago after being on it for about 6 months, I was on Citalopram for a couple of months before that but switched to Sertraline as the Citalopram just seemed to be making me worse. So all together I was on Anti depressants for around 8 or 9 months. Sertraline helped me out of a really dark place, where I had non stop anxiety and panic, the likes of which mental and emotional pain I never thought was possible. It got me to where I was more calm and could accept my physical and mental symptoms as anxiety and stopped me thinking I was dying constantly. I was still far from normal though and was anxious a lot of the time but I was a lot better than when this all started. I never felt quite right on Sertraline, my head was always extremely foggy, my memory was so bad it was scary, my hair started to fall out (not sure if that was the meds or stress) along with other side effects. So i decided to come off in the hope I could continue on my recovery without the anti depressants. I weaned off very slowly and took my last pill at the start of February.
Since then I have been pretty much the same, I haven't fully relapsed but I still have quite bad anxiety every day. I have tried to start jobs and failed, given up after a day or 2 on both occasions due the my anxiety. So I just haven't really got anywhere, im stuck doing nothing every day at home and don't seem to be making any improvements, if anything the past few weeks I feel myself gradually getting worse. I have been waiting for CBT for months and had a call today and I will be having an assessment on the phone on the 11th of July, so that's something that I hope will help.
Now to the question, do I go back on to anti depressants? I have been back to the doctors today to discuss how im feeling and said im thinking about going back on medication. I said I would like to try a different Anti depressant from the last 2 I was on. So I have been perscribed Paroxetine/Paxil. Now I just don't know what to do, I don't want to be on meds my whole life as I worry what they do to the brain but I don't feel I am getting anywhere at all at the moment so I may have to start these meds. I'm sure I have read that Paroxetine is notoriously hard to come off so that worries me. Has anyone withdrawn from this med successfully?
Do I wait for CBT and see if that helps before going back on meds or do I go back on meds and then do the CBT aswell to try and hit the anxiety from all angles to try and beat it? I am greatfull I am not in that hellish place I was nearly a year ago when this anxitey/breakdown started but I am still nowhere near normal, I am anxious, depressed, fed up, angry, agitated every day and wouldn't say I have had one day where ive felt normal or good since this all started. I still cant live a normal life or leave the house and do normal things without severe anxiety and random physical symptoms so i do need some help. Just don't know where to go from here, what do I do?
Thank you for reading and any advice or ideas would be great guys. Sorry for the long winded post.