kategavin
04-10-08, 21:43
Hi there I am a newbie, I have to say it feels quite refreshing to find so many people in the same situation as me.
I have suffered from general anxiety disorder (GAD) for the last ten years and have always managed my anxiety myself after learning everything I could about it and also doing Cognative behavoral therapy.
Although to a degree I have learnt to manage it the final straw came when I went abroad for the first time in ten years. Although only for two days it was the most uncomfortable, paralysing, stressful thing I have done in a long time. Thats when I decided I had had enough, yes I was managing my anxiety but why should I?! I was sick of 'worrying about worrying' everytime I planned to do something and I was sick of just 'managing', I wanted my life back, I had wasted 10 years of it!
I made the desision to try medication, something I had steered away from in the past, I was scared but the need to get better was stronger. My doctor started me on citalopram just over 2 weeks ago. The side affects were pretty nasty at first but were starting to level out even though i was having a few pretty low points. The doctor then decided to up my dose to 20mg having begun on 10mg. I feel like I'm back to square one with the side effects and am really struggling to sleep and feel more anxious than I did on the 10mg.
I suppose what i'm after is some reassurance that I am not on my own and that these side effects will get better. Not many people have mentioned about the lack of sleep, I wake up loads of times in the night with butterflies then I cant get back to sleep.
Sorry for the long message but I promise any future ones will be shorter.
Kate.
I have suffered from general anxiety disorder (GAD) for the last ten years and have always managed my anxiety myself after learning everything I could about it and also doing Cognative behavoral therapy.
Although to a degree I have learnt to manage it the final straw came when I went abroad for the first time in ten years. Although only for two days it was the most uncomfortable, paralysing, stressful thing I have done in a long time. Thats when I decided I had had enough, yes I was managing my anxiety but why should I?! I was sick of 'worrying about worrying' everytime I planned to do something and I was sick of just 'managing', I wanted my life back, I had wasted 10 years of it!
I made the desision to try medication, something I had steered away from in the past, I was scared but the need to get better was stronger. My doctor started me on citalopram just over 2 weeks ago. The side affects were pretty nasty at first but were starting to level out even though i was having a few pretty low points. The doctor then decided to up my dose to 20mg having begun on 10mg. I feel like I'm back to square one with the side effects and am really struggling to sleep and feel more anxious than I did on the 10mg.
I suppose what i'm after is some reassurance that I am not on my own and that these side effects will get better. Not many people have mentioned about the lack of sleep, I wake up loads of times in the night with butterflies then I cant get back to sleep.
Sorry for the long message but I promise any future ones will be shorter.
Kate.