medication advice

[Claire09]

Hi

I suffer badly from health anxiety even worse since I was diagnosed with skin cancer 6 months ago. Anyway kept going back to dr with strange symptoms twitches, pins and needles doctor saiys its anxiety as I have been anxious about health for about 10 yrs. He prescribed citrapromal 20mg I took 10mg for first week and then have taken 20mg for nearly two weeks, have had a few days that felt better but then had 2 days felt really wierd like spaced out sick feeling and headache and anxious, if anyone is on these tablets can they tell me how long they took to work and anything else they can recommend as i am desparate. I have young 3 kids so its hard to get a rest especially when I cant sleep at night. Doctor said they should be working now and gave me a prescription for Fluxoitine (dont know how to spell it sorry) but I dont want to have to wait for something to work again as Im nearly into my third week of these tablets. Any advice greatly appreciated. Also Im doing hypnotherepy but dont know if I like it as it makes me anxious when I feel im too relaxed and I want to open my eyes sounds weird I know. Do yous think CBT is better?


Thanks

Claire

[Magpie]

Hi Claire,

Both the medications you mentioned are SSRIs, which usually take about two weeks to kick in. There is quite a lot of info on both of them in the medications board of the forum, looking at previous threads should give you a good idea of what others have to say about them.

As for CBT, most experts seem to agree it's the best treatment for anxiety disorders, but it can be difficult to get - if you feel it would benefit you, I'd be quite firm with your doctor about wanting to be referred but be prepared for a long wait. Also, it takes quite a lot of work, there is homework to do between sessions and I believe it can be quite stressful in the short term. It seems to be worth it though. Unfortunately, for me CBT is of no use; my disorder is genetic and I'm already managing it pretty much the way they would tell me to in CBT (according to the Psychiatrist). But had this not been the case, I'd have fought tooth and nail to get on that waiting list! The results seem to be excellent for many people.