Seroxat for anxiety....suddenly turned against me?

[MandyMoOo]

Hi,
I really can't believe I'm here but am grateful that I'm at least able to type this after the horrendous symptoms I've recently been experiencing which I think is due to my wonder drug, Seroxat. I've been on it about 9 years after wasting years of my young life trying to overcome my anxiety disorder via therapy, self help, complementary therapy etc. I had been on seroxat for about a year a few years before which helped my symptoms then but I was a wreck again when they stopped it. So when the Dr offered help for my disabling anxiety I asked for Seroxat as I knew it had worked before where other antidepressants had failed. So since I've been back on seroxat I was able to live my life again. I wasn't high or cut off from my emotions or anything, I still had feelings and my OCD symptoms were still there, just easier to deal with and my panic attacks stopped. I don't regret taking it as this drug helped me feel 'normal' however, the last couple of weeks something odd has happened. I started getting anxiety quite badly in short spells. I'd hoped it would pass but each week I seem to be worse and it's getting very scary. It started with me feeling normal and having odd anxiety spells to now being an anxious, crying wreck most of the time constantly trying to fight off panic attacks....and then sometimes I feel normal again for an evening or something. I feel like I'm going mad, I'm assuming it's panic attacks altho it feels way beyond panic, like everything I know looks weird, I'm looking on the world through someone else's eyes, can't cope with anything, sounds go right through me, severe, out of control anxiety where my legs go, I terrified of everything, my hearing went once, muscle spasms...the list is endless. I haven't heard voices but am terrified that I'm going to during an attack. It's hard to explain but I'm so scared I'm going to go mad and end up in a mental hospital which will freak me out even more cuz I know there are some dangerous pantients in those places who are allowed to mingle with everyone else. I worry about my poor mother having to deal with it etc. Everyday it's like waking up to a nightmare. I tried to lower my dose of the drug but felt worse. Every day is different, I'm just trying to ride it out right now as this kinda thing has happened before (but not for as long or quite as bad) and I stuck with the drug and stabilized again after a couple of weeks and was fine. I feel like I've been put on another drug or something. Surely Seroxat can't just alter their formula without putting a warning on the box? I woke up today having the worst panic attack yet, I couldn';t even focus enough to get on the laptop to write this so I listening to some BINAURAL BEATS which are supposed to reduce anxiety and I believe this is the only reason I'm not still climbing the walls in a disorientated mess. It helped when I listened to these Binaural beats yesterday aswell...the only problem with this is, it can take a good hour of listening before I feel better which I don't have time for before going to work etc. I've been trying all sorts of tricks to help me but they are all very difficult to do in public without feeling like a **** so then I have to try and find a toilet to hide in. I'm really shocked as I've been practising meditation at my local Buddhist centre for years and always thought I could regain control but it feels virtually impossible now as I can hardly remember how to meditate in the middle of an attack and I'm too scared to try. It wasn't easy to meditate even when seroxat was behaving for me but at least it was possible. I'm scared to trust my Dr as know they don't really understand and don't wanna be put in a mental hospital, it would make me worse to leave my cat and be afraid of all the nutters in there. I can't work out why it's suddenly doing this to me, I don't know whether top ride it out now I've got this far )as it feels like anxiety u can experience when getting used to a new drug) or whether to ask to switch to another drug which could make me worse for another 3 weeks while it's getting into my system. I don't have time for this bullshit. Just wanna get back to beign me again. Sorry to moan, I just wondered if it's normal for this drug to suddenly do this even when it's been working so well?
Hope you are all doing ok,
Mandy x

[Scrubmuncher]

Please please please do not just stop using seroxat without proper preparation, advice frommpast users and people around you knowing what you are doing. I also used seroxat for several years. In the early days it seemed to help to a certain extent, but over time it was to ruin me. I began self harming, extreme self harm, I cut my own finger off, I cut my ear lobe off, as well as major slashing across my body, I must have over 500 stitches from self harm. After prolonged efforts to find a solution to why I was doing this I decided to come off seroxat, bad move. I ended up in st georges mental unit, I had no grip of reality at all. Once inside the doctors reduced me instantly knowing the connection seroxat has to self harm. Apparently it was well documented this is a dirty drug, and masses of suicides and self harm had been the result of this, google it and read about the side effects reported.
My advice would be reduce slowly and get off them. Sorry if this is not helping but it is better to know as soon as possible where this drug has driven so many people. Keep to a regular dose, make goal of say 3 months to be off them.
Good luck with it, you will be good as long as you do it gradually.
Xx

[blueangel]

If I were you, I would go back to my GP as soon as possible and report what's happening to you. I think sometimes medication can just stop working so well, which might be what your problem is, and your GP might recommend changing you on to another drug. I agree with the other advice though, don't stop taking them abruptly as it will almost certainly make things worse. Let us know how you get on.

[Angelai]

You must speak to your doctor. As others have said, DO NOT just stop taking it, you will end up so much worse off. There are other drugs, if it takes a few weeks of feeling **** while getting them in your system, surely it's worth it? Please, be honest with your doctor, don't be afraid, and try something else. You WILL get through the change over, and you'll still be sane enough to talk about your experience afterwards.

I have taken seroxat twice in the past - absolutely no way would I ever take it again. I now take sertraline which works great for me.

Please Mandy, call your doctor and get an appointment asap. Good luck hun xxx

[MandyMoOo]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm currently waiting for a referral to a psychiatrist. My GP's advice was basically 'well I think you need to meditate more' lol He knows I practise meditation but obviously misheard me when I told him (through uncontrollable sobs) that it's impossible to meditate in this state. I know This drug mustn't suddenly be stopped but while I'm waiting for the shrink referral, I took half a pill and felt a bit more in control the next day. I did start to feel a familiar withdrawal side affects but this felt better than the out-of-control feeling I had on the full dose. I seriously think this batch of pills is more powerful as it feels like that to me. I thought I was just being paranoid but when I googled it it seems there has been a whistle-blower on GlaxoSmith reporting how they have before mis-labelled paxil (25mg pills labelled as 10mg) and other horror stories which does make me wonder. I know it's hard to prove tho and I'm not strong enough to fight right now but if I get through this, they are gonna get serious beatings from me. They can't mess with people's meds like this.

[angie007]

Hi Mandy,

Im new here, but not new to seroxat and what it does to people who are in tolerance, or wd from it.
I had a very similar experience to the one your having now, and i slow tapered, took me 3 years to get down from just 20mg of that poison, it hasnt been symptom free honey, i wont lie to you, but my GOD, its better than it ever was at high dose, ( my highest dose was 30mg, and i was prescribed for grieving issues), i never ever haed any symptoms of anxiety/panic and all of the other weird crap people get when coming down off.

Obviously, im not telling you you need to come off, THAT WAS THE RIGHT THING FOR ME to do, ID USED THIS DRUG FOR 13 YRS, AND I KNOW NOW, the symptoms i was having were DOWN TO THE WD EFFECTS FROM SEROXAT.
bELIEVE ME, I WAS THE SAME, ANXIOUS, PANIC RIDDEN, JIBBERING SHAKING SHELL OF THE PRE SEROXAT PERSON I USED TO BE, who was the life and soul of the party, bags of confidence, loved to laugh and go out and enjoy myself, in fact i loved life, i really did.

After seroxat??? im now at 1mg, i still get anxiety bordering on panic, still low motivation,still get days where i cry - but ive learnt to try and get a handle on all these symptoms and hope in time, as i get further and further away from this chemical mess, that my brain and body will go back to normal, thanking me for doing it as slowly as is humanely possible.

If you want to talk sweety, im around most of the time, and i do understand those thoughts of being insane and needing locking up- ive had those too honestly, in fact i dont think there is anything i havent experienced with this " wonder drug" wd.

Everything you are going through is perfectly normal for seroxat wd - we have been poisoned, our minds and bodys have been subjected to chemical change, made by the drug, and our minds and bodys have the ability to HEAL!!!!!! but its a slow process.

xxx