Introducing myself....

[Shell217]

Hello, my name is Michele. I am 42. I have suffered from anxiety and panic in varying degrees since I was 16. I was agoraphobic for 4 years and had just started to make great improvements when out of the blue my husband committed suicide in 2011. I found him. Needless to say my life went in to meltdown. I am suffering from PTSD, GAD, panic attacks & depression. I feel like I am so alone in this big scary world and can't see things improving anytime soon. Will leave it there for now. x

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya Shell217 and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way :yesyes:

[Baggs]

Welcome to NMP

[PanicAttackGurl]

HI Michelle and welcome,

I'm sorry to hear what you've been through. Do you have a therapist? Have you read any of the forums yet? They are a great starting place.

[Shell217]

No I don't have a therapist. My Doctor has referred me to counselling recently but said there will be a 6-8 month wait. I can wait, It took me four years to seek help from my GP after my husband died because all I could focus on was the grief. Now that has subsided somewhat I have been left with all sorts of anxiety related issues and severe depression. I started on 20mg of prozac four days ago. No side effects as yet so hoping it will be ok. I'm worried it will worsen my anxiety while it gets in my system and to be honest I don't know how it COULD get much worse. I have started to have a read through the forums and they appear very useful and informative.
xx

[PanicAttackGurl]

The forums are useful, have you tried doing CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) on your own? It help me before I was put on medications last year and seeing my therapist. I think it was one of the best self helps before therapy. There is a link for the books in one of the forums. If you need a friend or support person you can always pm me.

:hugs:

The CBT books is on the forum Panic Attacks. Its the second Sticky note. Hope this helps.

[Shell217]

Thank you so much, I will check that out. I am willing to try anything to try and get some "normality" back in my life.

I appreciate the advice and you taking the time to point me in the direction of useful information xx

[hanshan]

Hi Michele,

If you have suffered from anxiety panic for over 20 years, you will probably need both good medication and therapy. Both of these are useful. Also, both can seem less than helpful at first, but persist and in time you will notice improvements.

[Shell217]

Hello Hanshan,

Thank you for the message. I am on day four of medication and waiting to hear back after a GP referral for counselling. It has taken me a long time to pluck up the courage to take medication because of horrendous adverse effects my husband had on them before he took his own life. Obviously at the time of his death I was looking for answers and I did a lot of research about anti-depressants and some of the stuff I read about them was horrifying.

Anyway, I finally took the first one four days ago and up to now I can't say I feel any side effects. I know it is early days and they could arise but I am trying to take one day at a time and not obsess about every little feeling or sensation I get.

I do want to take positive steps to getting better as too much of my life has been wasted by this already.

Thank you for your post.

[Davit]

Hanshan

There is a definite bell curve to doing CBT and it feels at first like nothing is happening and this is sad because so many people dropout because they feel it doesn't work. Others do okay with the coping skills so don't go any further. Life is hectic, I'll admit but time must be found to do the whole CBT.

[CoraB]

Hello there, I just wanted to say hello :-) I'm new here too. It sounds like you have had an awful time I can only imagine what you must have been through and continue to go through. I am on fluoxetine meds and have been for over 10 years now, i reduced my dose a while back and now it looks like I may have to put it back up. What i would say is that I notice a definite difference on the meds. I had a couple of tries on different ones - some knocked me out completely and others I was just sick every time I took them - however when i found the fluoxetine it did seem to make that difference between me being unable to function on a day to day basis and being able to make some small steps forward and actively seek recovery and access therapy.

[Shell217]

Hello Cora

Thank you for the message. I appreciate the words of support. I am on 20mg of Fluoxetine but I have only been taking it for 5 days! I feel ok up to now but still not sure what to expect! I know I have to give it time to settle down and get in my system so we shall see how it goes! It is very good to know that you find them helpful and allowed you to fucntion.
x