New girl

[Lan69]

Hi everyone
Been popping on and off here for a few months reading forums and just recently decided to join
I suffer from GAD, which I think Iv had for years. First started on AD's about 15 years ago ( I'm 45) and managed to not let it affect my daily life. I did have a few major episodes which resulted with me being off work but restarting AD's seemed to get me back on my feet and continue with my life.
Then march this year the anxiety returned with a vengeance which has seen me trying a multitude of meds and I have been hospitalised twice. This truly is a crippling illness which has seen me go from a very social working mam to a worried anxious woman who has been unable to work since march and struggles to even go to the local shop!
Well that's me in a nutshell so hello to all fellow sufferers

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya Lan69 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:

[Jo1970]

Hi there

Just to let you know that you are not alone. I am going through a bad patch too. Always feels like it is the worst and it will never end.

Jo

[helloworld]

Hiya,

Sorry to hear you're having a rough patch.

I would be really interested to hear about your experiences.... I got into a terrible state last xmas with panic attacks, but now have things under control with SSRIs and some lifestyle changes.... My big worry going forward is what happens when I come off drugs or have a stressful event etc.....

I hope you're feeling a little better today...... Guess it's important to remember there will be an end to this phase and a better time on the horizon.....

Best wishes,
Mark

[Lan69]

This nightmare all started in march after surgery. Started becoming really anxious so spoke to my GP and started on citalopram which I had used previously and worked in a matter of weeks. Well this time it was horrendous! Started on 20 mg for 5 weeks and increased to 30mg for a further 5 weeks. I hardly existing couldn't eat ( lost 10kg) couldn't sleep, never left the house only to go to GPs ( needed diazapam for this, hardly left my bed and was even scared to have a bath. One night I couldn't take it anymore and wanted to die, rang crisis team who took me to local mental health unit where I stayed for 2 weeks. Tapered off citalopram and put on mirtazapine 15mg for 1 week then upped to 30 mg. was discharged and was under care of crisis team for about 4 weeks. After 5 weeks of still struggling with anxiety my GP increased to 45 mg. well I managed to struggle on for another 5 weeks when the intrusive thoughts started wanting to harm myself and my pets this time, it was very disturbing so I was readmitted to hospital. I forgot to mention the crisis team psychiatrist came to see me before this and added sertraline (50mg) and put me back under crisis team care. Lasted 4 days on this combo before I was hospitalised.
They reduced my mirtazapine back to 30mg and increased sertraline to 100mg and 5mg x2 diazapam. My anxiety rocketed so they tapered me off the sert and introduced pregablin 3x 50mg and what a difference! This was increased to 3x100mg on my day of discharge.
So now I'm at home still under crisis team care but I now have a cpn. I have been of diazapam for 1 week and off zoplicone since Friday night. I still feel anxious but it's early days. I'm just praying that the pregablin and mirtazipine combo works and I can resume my life get back to work and start living again