Anxiety sufferer and 1st time on meds

[nuttyknitter]

Hi my name is Zoe and 30. Been suffering from anxiety all my adult life and started for no reason. Have 'coped' with it for all this time but finding it hard at the moment. Again no real reason. I feel like I don't want to socialise as that makes it worse so have not been to sewing class or other activities which I normally have no issues attending. I feel tearful and useless and that I'm disappointing my family by not wanting to see them. I've finally got the courage to see my doctor and ended up in floods of tears and he gave me 10mg citalopram and a number to arrange counselling. I will take my first tablet later which fills me with dread and my first counselling is over the phone on 23 February. I feel a small sense of achievement at taking the first step but don't know where I'll end up from here. Hopefully with a bit more 'normality' and able to enjoy the things I love again. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya lanzorj1 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:

[glassgirlw]

Hi, Zoe! I'm 36 and in pretty much the same boat as you. I visited my doc a couple weeks ago, he prescribed me escitalopram but since I'm a huge pharmaphobe I only took one pill and quit. Now I'm trying counseling and CBT therapy. I hope that we can beat this!! It stinks to be going through this. These forums have really been helpful to me.

[nuttyknitter]

Thanks for your support. I had a bit of a sleepless night as I was thinking of what to tell my boss. She was brilliant and has offered supporting most of all to talk whenever I need. I had a panic moment this morning where I felt dizzy, wrenching, clamy n heart racing but it passed after a few minutes. I'm going to carry on with the tablets in the hope that they help and wait for counselling to start

[Shazamataz]

Hi Zoe, welcome and I hope you can find helpful support here.

Try not to be too hard on yourself. Hopefully the meds will do their job along with the therapy. And it sounds like you have a very understanding boss, which is great.

Also, it's encouraging to read that you had the panic symptoms but they passed in a few minutes. Whenever the next 'attack' strikes, you can remind yourself that it will soon pass too.

All the best

[nuttyknitter]

OK so I have now been on my meds for 3 months. I'm still on 10mg and seem to be doing OK. I have completed 7 CBT sessions and it has helped. I hope I can keep what I learned going as it's nice to be able to do things that people without this take for granted. I will keep a diary with my thoughts and feelings as I found this a good other when I don't feel like I can talk about it out loud. I feel like I'm on the beginning of a new journey and it's liberating. I've even helped a guy at work recognise that he is experiencing the same issues and I feel confident enough to share my secret with him. Doctors have advised me to stay on the meds for a year and we will review them to see if I'm ready to come off them. Only then will I feel like I've achieved my goal and given anxiety the boot for good!