New Member saying Hello

[sandra114]

Hi everyone, I can't belive I have only just found this site this week, it's really nice to come on here and find that I am not alone. I am 48, married for 26years to a man who has always been very supportive and helpful. I have suffered from anxiety for over 20 years in varying degrees. I am going through a bit of a rough patch with it at the moment. I have a new GP who seems a lot more sympathetic than my last one, she has suggested I take an antidepressant called Citalopram but I'm not sure about it as I don't think I am depressed and I am quite concerned about the possible side effects. I have always managed to get through the anxiety before without any medication as my GP at the time didnt give you anything anyway. I would appreciate any feedback or advice from anyone. Sorry for the long ramble.

Sandra

[clickaway]

I just want to welcome you to the site Sandra.

That's a pretty common drug and I dare say you'll get plenty of feedback.

I dont take any meds for this - have you ever considered any kind of therapy?

Keep posting and Take Care,



Ray



Don't wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you've got to make yourself.--Alice Walker

[pinkscrumpy]

A warm welcome to you Sandra

I am sure you will find the support you need

love

[^][^]

MANDIE XX

Will I ever escape this?
Will I ever be free?
Wake me up from this nightmare.
Please just give me the key!

[GAD]

<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">Hi everyone, I can't belive I have only just found this site this week, it's really nice to come on here and find that I am not alone. I am 48, married for 26years to a man who has always been very supportive and helpful. I have suffered from anxiety for over 20 years in varying degrees. I am going through a bit of a rough patch with it at the moment. I have a new GP who seems a lot more sympathetic than my last one, she has suggested I take an antidepressant called Citalopram but I'm not sure about it as I don't think I am depressed and I am quite concerned about the possible side effects. I have always managed to get through the anxiety before without any medication as my GP at the time didnt give you anything anyway. I would appreciate any feedback or advice from anyone. Sorry for the long ramble.

Sandra

<div align="right">Originally posted by sandra114 - 16 August 2005 : 19:19:04</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">

[kt]

Hi Sandra and welcome,
its an excellent site and i'm sure you will find really helpful! kt x

Be gentle and you will need no strength, be patient and you will achieve all things.

[Karen]

Hi Sandra

Welcome to the forum.

Medication does help some people but there is no reason you have to take it if you don't want to go this treatment route. Seeing a therapist for CBT would likely be more helpful.

What treatment have you had so far?



Karen



It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.

[pips]

Hi Sandra,

A BIG warm welcome to the site hun.

I hope it helps you.

Take care,

Love PIP'S X X

[removed]

cHi Sandra
Welcome to the site.
I only joined last week after a particularly rough patch, and am finding it very uplifting!
What a co-incidence -my GP prescribed me that antidepressant a couple of weeks back.
I read about all the side effects in the leaflet, then I looked up a website-a forum for people who had taken this particular drug and I decided-not for me, definitely.
I see you say you are happily married, well the incidence of total sexual dysfunction on this drug was something over 70%, so that in itself is pause for thought I would think.
there are lots of other side effects but you may not get any of them.
I haven't got a record of the address of that website, but the concensus seemed to be that they can make you feel worse before you feel better, can cause all sorts of weird hallucinations, depersonalisation, etc etc and are hard to come off of.
Since most anxious people are already terrified of these sort of effects, i dont know why they would be prescribed them.
Obviously they must help some people.
I myself have been taking St Johns Wort for a couple of weeks and am starting to feel much better.
You could always try that first. It is very good for anxiety and depression
you say you have managed to sort out your anxiety by yourself before.
that must have given you good experience, which you could apply this time.
Hope you feel better soon
Janet

[denise84]

hi and welcome to the site!! i have suffered from panic attacks for 3 years and i was given beta blockers called propraponolol, and there was no side effects with them and they worked great, but i cant take them as im now on prozac to beat my baby blues lol. hope you feel good soon and please join us in chat about 8pm!! take care xxxxx pm me anytime xxx

dmcgovern

[seh1980]

Welcome aboard!! :D

"Life is too important to take seriously" Corky Siegal

[vernon]

Hi Sandra, I have been suffering anxiety, panic and al sorts of phobias for many years too, it seems to come and go in spells but I think it’s always there really. This time around I had quite a bad bout, I always used alcohol to help me since I was about 16 but ended up drinking daily and heavy for about 40 years but stopped drink 2 years ago so that’s why my anxiety flew way up I suppose. About 8 months ago I started antidepressants, Cipralex which I think is a new form of Citalopram. I got offered different types before Cipralex but like you I looked them up and didn’t like what I seen. Then new Sarah (Sarah 1968 was saying how good Cipralex was for her so I asked my doctor for them. I was waking really scared and shaking really bad every morning it was like one long nightmare so I tried Cipralex. The bad fear and shaking almost stopped then over the months I started feeling much better and started doing odd jobs around the home and garden which I hadn’t done for so long as I had a lot of health anxiety and was to scared to do anything as I was convinced the exercise would kill me. Even though you read all the bad parts and side effects of these drugs you don’t here much about the 100s of 1000s that they help? When drugs make people feel much better they don’t seem to write about them, as most people only like to complain when things don’t go right? I have known quite a few people on this site take what you have been offered and some have got on quite good on them, but some do start with feeling a little more anxious for the first few weeks. I didn’t have any bad effects really when I started Cipralex but not everyone is the same. Sarah 1968 took them for 12 months and have now stopped taking them and she says she didn’t really have any major problems (but she did cut down real slow before stopping. I don’t really mind taking antidepressants but really try hard to keep clear of tranx, as I know they can cause moor problems and are very addictive if taken to often or to long. Anyway it’s all up to you at the end of the day. Either way I hope you feel better soon, Take care. Vernon

[Ambience]

Welcome to the site sweetie,

Hope we get to chat sometime,

Love Janey xx

"There would be nothing to frighten you if you refused to be afraid." "Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it." Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." "Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared." "Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death" "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear."

[Madwoman]

Hi sandra,

I was prescribed citalopram for my "mid life crisis", I too looked up the side effects on the net and decided it was not for me.

The daft thing is though it was only meant to be for a 3 month period but my doctor put it on repeat prescription so I wouldnt have even had to seen the doctor to get it, needless to say I havent been back to that doctor since.

you'll get loads of support and advice here I know i do

luv Txx

[michelleann]

hi sandra
welcome to the site, ive suffered pa/anxiety for nearly 10 years and wouldnt take any sort of medication personally it scares the s**t out of me and think cbt is the better option.
read all the advice on the site and take some confort that your not alone on this and we are all here for each other:D:D:D
take care
michelle xxx

[Sue K with 5]

Hi sandra


welcome on board this is a great site and you will find lots and lots of support

I have taken citlopram for nearly 3 years now, and I am not depressed either but it does help with the anxiety.

if you have any worries look on the medication site on the forum, it has a lot of positive feedback


please feel free to pm me anytime if you have any worries



Sue

scknight

[Meg]

Sandra

If you are able to cope without meds like last time then thats great and preferable.

Why not ask him for other help instead like CBT which will have a long term benefit and can stop you having further episodes.


Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?

[Piglet]

A big welcome Sandra hope to see you in chat sometime.

Love Piglet:)

"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?" said Piglet.
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.

[trac67]

Hi sandra,
I also take citalopram, but not for depression for anxiety and panic attacks, and they turned my life around, i did get a few side effects when i first started them but after a few weeks it settled down and i felt so much better. I now only take 10mg a day and hope to start to come off them completely soon, but without them i dont think i would be where i am now.
Pm me if you ever want a chat ok
Take care
Trac:D

its "just a thought"

[sueiamnew]

Welcome Sandra.

[sandra114]

Thank you all for your warm welcome, I'm so glad that I've found this site.

Sandra