Taking Meds

[pauline]

Hi This is just a general queston really just needed to know people's thoughts on this. If you are working and generally getting on with your life even though you still have anxiety and at times i get it really bad. Though i have not had a full panic attack since last year. When i was taking Citalpram had been on it for 5 weeks and had the worst panic attack i had for a long time. I stopped taking it then. Though i am getting on with life its a half a life as i still stuggle so much with going anywhere which is far from home and at times general anxiety is with me 24/7 but i still go to work etc. So i'm wondering should we be grateful that we are not how we were and accept our lives or try and do everything we can to get back to "Normal" eg how we were before we had anxiety. My councellor has said perhaps i could give Venlafaxine a try and over the years i have tried different tabs but nothing has really helped me. I'm thinking i will give them ago. But it also started me thinking i have come this far mostly without tabs so should i just be happy as i am or take the tabs and hope that i might just get back to the person i was. Sorry this has not quite come over how i am thinking it in my head. I hope you understand what i am trying to say?

Take care
Pauline

[tygwyn]

Hi Pauline

This is obviously a very personal decision, but going by what you are saying I would say you are doing brilliantly without the meds. I too had a nasty reaction to Citalopram which brought on acute anxiety and so I have decided not to go down the meds route. Its not easy but I am determined to make a full recovery however long it may take (although I am still very impatient!). I pretty much have anxiety hanging over my shoulder 24/7 but its worst in the mornings. Sleeping is a bit of an on off affair but I don't let that worry me anymore - if I get sleep great - if not so what, it'll come soon enough! I also plod along with my life (inwardly thinking constantly though!) and have taken up exercise which really does seem to help.

You've probably heard it all before but the less you fear your symptoms the weaker those symptoms will become (as you've obviously already found).

The decision is obviously yours but this is just my opinion.

Good luck with whichever way you decide to go.

Rach xxxx

"True acceptance means 'facing and relaxing' - it is submission" (Claire Weekes)

[Jenny]

Hi Pauline,
I too had a bad reaction to Citalapram. I now take Lustral, but they don't seem to help much. I am going to try and come off them with the help of my GP, who is very understanding and easy to talk to, which is a great help. If you are gettting on ok without mediaction I would carry on the way you are. Best of luck.
Jennyxx

J. Farmer

[sandra114]

Hi Pauline,
I have suffered from Anxiety for over 20years on and off {mainly on}, I have managed without any medication mainly because my GP doesnt give anything out for anxiety except relaxation exercise leaflets. I saw a different GP a few months ago who gave me Citalapram but I decided not to take it after reading all the possible side effects with it. Whether to take medication or not is a very personal thing, I decided it wasnt for me. If you can get through without it then thats great, if you feel it can help you get to where you want to be then thats ok too. I don't know if I have made any sense but good luck with whatever you decide.

Sandra x

[taf]

Meds are such a personal decision...but just to let you know, my next door "neighbor" co-worker had a nasty and unpleasant reaction to efflexor...she forgot to take some doses as she got really busy for a couple days, and said she just felt AWFUL...unreal feeling, crawly skin, very anxious.....She was disappointed, and is considering going off in a measured fashion (i know that one must never just stop something like that, and she did not mean to do so...just missed a day or two, and was surprised at reaction)
Take good care!
Sometimes, as I consider some sort of meds, I remember this analogy...wierd as it may seem to connect it to anxiety, but...works for me....As a child, I had constant sinus infections...lots of antibiotics would quell the symptoms for just a bit and keep them at bay, but off the meds, and pain back with a vengence! Finally, a specialist caught the problem....blockages made it the root problem in that I could never completely heal...The cause was addressed surgically, and no more infections ever...Myanxiety is like that...meds might cover it for a bit, but eventually, if I don't explore and address the cause for my anxiety by thinking thru it and pinpointing a possible cause, I do have a panic. It is unpleasant and scary to face it without knowing that I have a valium in my purse, but I do get through it. I have had to use valium very short term to help, though, at anxious times in my life, and I don't think one should eek through something which a med can help in the short term...but eventually, your body knows when it is ready to go it alone. Trust it. :DHope that helps in some way?

[pauline]

Thank you all so much for your relies.

It was so good to come on today and read them it was just what i needed to hear. You have all really told me how i was feeling really that a tab is not going to be the miricule cure if it was then there would be no need for this site. I suppose i was just hopeing thats all. Yes i still have anxiety and i have had it for about 17 years so it is well ingrained into my mind and that is where the problems lie' i have to now change 17 years of negative thought's. I really do need to keep on telling myself just far i have come. Once again thank you.

Take care

Pauline