Have any of you experienced.....

[TooMuchToLiveFor]

....starting a SSRI for anxiety/panic and finding that a month in (or other timeline) you are now also dealing with depression, weepiness, and/or agitation?

I started sertraline a little over a month ago (2 weeks at 50, a week at 75, and now two weeks at 100), and although it is slowly starting to help with my acute anxiety and panic attacks.....I can barely get off the couch due to feeling so depressed and unmotivated. Also, way more easily agitated and weepy- not my normal personality at all......

Just curious if anyone can lend any insight........thanks, friends.

[teej]

I'm 7 weeks (or something like that into citalopram).

I do feel differently ... certainly a lot of people have told me I'm much more level - I used to be a person of personality extremes - I very much lived for the rage, the extreme highs the extreme lows but the problem was that didn't really fit in with the expectations upon me, perhaps by society I don't know. The problem was the I couldn't really cope with a world that couldn't cope with me. So I drank.

So now the citalopram seems to be settling the very stormy waters of my personality, I'm finding I'm having to learn to live with a whole new personality almost. That calmness does mean the dizzying highs have been dulled a bit, but at the same time can I go back to the crushing lows yet? Probably not.

Am I agitated - yes - because this is all different. It's a different way of living when I actually have control of this crazy mind of mine. And to be honest it's been so rough the last 2 months I'm kind of waiting for some more crazy stuff to happen. I think that'll pass.

Time will tell. Anyway - it's only a pill. I can always wean off, take stock off life and try again?

[TooMuchToLiveFor]

Interesting way to look at it....thanks, TeeJ.

Also, wondering about the very strong pressure in my head (mainly sinus areas) and pressure/eye strain that I am feeling everyday from about mid-afternoon on. I don't know if it is related to my sertraline, or if it could be Xanax related......I was on .5 4xs a day for about a month, and the last few days I have only needed to take .5 2xs a day. I take those two .5s at about 5am and 11am, and then about mid-afternoon the head pressure and eye strain starts and goes into the night........any feedback on that?

[loreen]

Hello

I thought the depression from ssris was just something that happened to me !!

I have never suffered with depression,and although I know it goes hand in hand with anxiety, I only ever became weepy and down when on citalopram,sertraline and fluoxetine.

For me,a reduction in my anxiety was not a good enough trade in when the low mood was affecting my every day life.

Interestingly,I also suffered with sinus trouble.Sometimes so bad I could not sleep for the pain over my nose . These symptoms disappeared as soon as I came off the meds.

Have you tried pregabalin? This is licensed for anxiety,and I have not had the side effects I had with the ssris. May be worth considering ?

Loreen x

[TooMuchToLiveFor]

Loreen- Thanks for the feedback......VERY interesting about the sinus trouble you had as well as the depression. I am still in the fairly early stages of these meds, so gonna give it a full go to see what "evaporates" over time. It's just so hard to tell what is taking place from what.
May I ask- how long were you on the various SSRIs? Did you have any trouble weaning off?

[loreen]

Hi

I was on citalopram and fluoxetine for around 6 months,and sertraline about 12 weeks (this was because I had the added side effect of diarrhea, which prevented me from going out/functioning as a Mum etc)

I have always tapered over from one ssri to another,so I don't know how easy it would be to wean off them. I did go med free for a while after coming off duloxetine, and that was quite tough,with head zaps and dizzy spells. It has to be done slowly to minimize withdrawal symptoms.

I have had pregabalin for quite some time now,and it usually keeps me stable. However I have just added in mirtazapine, as I am having a very stressful time with family problems.

I hope you progress well and things go well for you

Loreen x