Mindprison
14-03-17, 00:02
Hello everyone, was hoping some of you with more experience than myself could give me some advice.
I'm 27 and have had Generalized Anxiety Disorder since I was 19. It started mainly with health focused worries but the doctor felt that I overthink most things, so generalized anxiety it is.
I went through a really rough patch for those first 2 years, starting on Citalopram 10mg and working up to 40mg while also being on Propranolol for a very short amount of time to get me through the worst of it (cardiac symptoms were causing me the most distress).
From then until now I had maybe 3 panic attacks, two of them severe and one not so much. While the anxiety never really went away and manifested in very mild to moderate symptoms such as tight chest, breathlessness etc, my biggest problem for 4 years was clinical depression due to bullying at work.
While I quit my job last year for health reasons, the doctor felt that citalopram was no longer helping me and suggested trying something else, Mirtazapine 15mg working up to max dose if required.
I've been on them for about 9 months now and the dose has gone up and down like a yoyo, but more on that later.
My anxiety has reached its peak since last December where my health worries began to completely overwhelm me in daily life. I went straight back to the way I used to be when I first had panic attacks and convinced myself that I had every ailment under the sun.
While i've now come to terms with the fact that my anxiety is causing all my current problems and symptoms, i'm finding it very difficult to keep it under control.
The Mirtazapine isn't helping with anything except maybe for my sleep (which I don't get a lot of anyway due to me jerking awake with rapid heart rate and light flashes due to anxiety). And I got it into my head a couple of months ago that I was going to get serotonin syndrome despite me never having it on all the years I was on anti-depressants. This all happened because the doctor prescribed Buspirone, which I didn't take because I read the leaflet, saw serotonin syndrome and catastrophised.
Even now, my mirtazapine is down to 30mg and there are periods of time where I only take it every second day because my anxiety about medication is so bad. I know it's wrong and will probably cause more problems than it solves...but that's the long and short of my anxiety troubles, it's totally corrupted my thought process.
I'm seeing a psychiatrist, explained all my problems right down to the anxiety from taking medication and the solution was to recommend my doctor prescribe me Pregabalin (telling me firmly not to read the leaflet or side effects).
Since that appointment, i've had two major panic attacks, one of them where I couldn't feel anything from the neck down because my nerves were so shot they went completely numb.
To be quite honest, i'm sick of medication, or rather i'm sick of taking medication that I don't feel is helping the ailment i'm suffering from, crippling anxiety.
I once did CBT for depression and while I probably didn't invest in it as much as I should have, I did find it quite useful.
I suppose i'm just wondering what everyone elses experiences are on Mirtazapine and whether i'd be better off on something else, and also if CBT would be beneficial if i've already had it before for something else.
Stuck in a rut here guys and would whole heartedly appreciate any advice you can give me because I feel like i'm just driving the doctors completely barmy.
Many thanks
I'm 27 and have had Generalized Anxiety Disorder since I was 19. It started mainly with health focused worries but the doctor felt that I overthink most things, so generalized anxiety it is.
I went through a really rough patch for those first 2 years, starting on Citalopram 10mg and working up to 40mg while also being on Propranolol for a very short amount of time to get me through the worst of it (cardiac symptoms were causing me the most distress).
From then until now I had maybe 3 panic attacks, two of them severe and one not so much. While the anxiety never really went away and manifested in very mild to moderate symptoms such as tight chest, breathlessness etc, my biggest problem for 4 years was clinical depression due to bullying at work.
While I quit my job last year for health reasons, the doctor felt that citalopram was no longer helping me and suggested trying something else, Mirtazapine 15mg working up to max dose if required.
I've been on them for about 9 months now and the dose has gone up and down like a yoyo, but more on that later.
My anxiety has reached its peak since last December where my health worries began to completely overwhelm me in daily life. I went straight back to the way I used to be when I first had panic attacks and convinced myself that I had every ailment under the sun.
While i've now come to terms with the fact that my anxiety is causing all my current problems and symptoms, i'm finding it very difficult to keep it under control.
The Mirtazapine isn't helping with anything except maybe for my sleep (which I don't get a lot of anyway due to me jerking awake with rapid heart rate and light flashes due to anxiety). And I got it into my head a couple of months ago that I was going to get serotonin syndrome despite me never having it on all the years I was on anti-depressants. This all happened because the doctor prescribed Buspirone, which I didn't take because I read the leaflet, saw serotonin syndrome and catastrophised.
Even now, my mirtazapine is down to 30mg and there are periods of time where I only take it every second day because my anxiety about medication is so bad. I know it's wrong and will probably cause more problems than it solves...but that's the long and short of my anxiety troubles, it's totally corrupted my thought process.
I'm seeing a psychiatrist, explained all my problems right down to the anxiety from taking medication and the solution was to recommend my doctor prescribe me Pregabalin (telling me firmly not to read the leaflet or side effects).
Since that appointment, i've had two major panic attacks, one of them where I couldn't feel anything from the neck down because my nerves were so shot they went completely numb.
To be quite honest, i'm sick of medication, or rather i'm sick of taking medication that I don't feel is helping the ailment i'm suffering from, crippling anxiety.
I once did CBT for depression and while I probably didn't invest in it as much as I should have, I did find it quite useful.
I suppose i'm just wondering what everyone elses experiences are on Mirtazapine and whether i'd be better off on something else, and also if CBT would be beneficial if i've already had it before for something else.
Stuck in a rut here guys and would whole heartedly appreciate any advice you can give me because I feel like i'm just driving the doctors completely barmy.
Many thanks