Does severe anxiety cause random anxious thoughts for no reason?

[LiveAboveIt]

Im having this issue where Im struggling between SSRI withdrawal anxiety and SSRI startup increased anxiety that has pretty much evolved into constant severe anxiety.

So, anyway.. An intense anxious thought will pop in my head and Ill deal with it.. Ill be sitting here watching tv and another random anxious thought will pop into my head for no reason, along with random bursts of anxiety in my chest/stomach.

Are the forceful thoughts normal when you arent even trying to think about the anxiety? Its like it just repeatedly reminds me while Im trying to do something else.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes, this is the nature of intrusive thoughts. They are always more intense & frequent when our overall anxiety levels are higher, something quite a few of us OCD sufferers have noticed...and it's plain to see how anxious the HA people are when they are under more stress and how their catastrophizing is worsened.

[LiveAboveIt]

I just want to thank you for everything, Terry. I dont know how I would have gotten this far without you, man. You are like my anxiety/OCD mentor. Im very new to all of this and it helps having someone that has gone through a lot of this as severely as I am now to explain it to me and help me understand.

I truly appreciate it, I always find comfort in your replies.

[MyNameIsTerry]

You would do the same LAI. We all do on here for each other. There are plenty of really supportive and knowledgeable people on here, I've learnt much myself since I joined and just done plenty of research of my own off the site to fill in gaps. You would have plenty of support, of that I have no doubt.

I knew nothing about anxiety when I went through the worst of it and only had my GP. I would have faired so much better if I had this place and the support groups I went to. So, it's good to able to get that information across to others. Just learning about my OCD took some of the sting out of it as I no longer thought I was losing my mind.

[LiveAboveIt]

Absolutely. I plan to stick around long after I have a handle on my anxiety and other issues. This forum has helped me immensely and I dont know what I would have done without the support from everyone here.

And thats kind of what Im going through right now. All of these new symptoms of anxiety is unlije anything I have ever experienced. I can only attribute a lot of it bad medication reactions, because it feels like my brain and way of thinking has changed.

Atleast I dont feel like Im going insane anymore, Im tolerating the Sertraline much better so far. Im on day 5, is there any likelihood that new side effects will arise past this point?

[Josh1234]

Ask your doctor for Xanax or a benzo to get through the start up symptoms.

[LiveAboveIt]

Ive got .5mg Clonazepam, but I worry about becoming dependent on them to not have anxiety. But the Sertraline should take care of that eventually, right?

[Josh1234]

Yes. It takes a month or two at a high dose of a benzo to become dependent. .5mg a day for a few weeks will not get you addicted.

[LiveAboveIt]

Yes. It takes a month or two at a high dose of a benzo to become dependent. .5mg a day for a few weeks will not get you addicted.

Thanks for the info, Josh. I feel a little better about continuing the benzo until I can get my anxiety in check.

---------- Post added at 19:41 ---------- Previous post was at 19:10 ----------

Does the constant anxious thinking and worrysome thoughts go away when the anxiety does? I feel so disconnected from my own thoughts now that I have experienced intrusive thoughts. I am constantly monitoring my thoughts now and cant seem to stop.

[MyNameIsTerry]

It doesn't take a high dose of a Benzo to become dependant. There are plenty of Diazepam dependant people that can attest to that one, some of whom on here.

Over here Benzo's are normally prescribed for no more than 2 weeks. It's true that there are some GP's who get this wrong and get their patients dependant on them, and even some GP's who then try to cold turkey they off them which is known to be dangerous (see a few threads where this happened sadly). However, being under the care of a psychiatrist is different because they are able to prescribe more specialised treatment and they will make patients dependant on Benzo's if they need to be stabilised first but then they will work on a safe withdrawal for them later.

Personally, if you are not seriously struggling to get on a med, they aren't needed. I think it was appropriate to use them due to the hell of going on the Cit and then coming off it too abruptly (was that because you were due to switch to Sert but then didn't start it, as this may have prolonged the withdrawal?) but if things are improving it's sensible to reconsider whether you need them rather than risk tolerance.

High dose of Clonazepam ONLY raises the risk of tolerance, it isn't a factor for tolerance outside of that. From 4 weeks there is a known % risk of tolerance on any Benzo.

---------- Post added at 06:19 ---------- Previous post was at 06:03 ----------


Does the constant anxious thinking and worrysome thoughts go away when the anxiety does? I feel so disconnected from my own thoughts now that I have experienced intrusive thoughts. I am constantly monitoring my thoughts now and cant seem to stop.

It will certainly decrease, something you have already found. Getting it down on a more consistent basis is a matter of working on recovery and meds will only give you some breathing space, they won't resolve the problems. But you have plenty of time to work on that and this med may help you move forward more easily.