How long did your heightened Anxiety last & suicidal thoughts?

[loops81]

My b/f has been on his Anti depressants 2 weeks this Saturday.

His anxiety has increased alot.

How long did anyone else's anxiety increase? He wants me to reassure him that it will calm down.

Also the suicidal thoughts are still there, he had them this morning for a couple of hours, he finds this really distressing, well so do I.

He finds they come on mostly if he has been asleep and also if he does something, like go for a walk :shrug:

Any replies will be greatly appreciated xx

[Elen]

Hi I am 4 weeks today. I did not really have an anxiety problem but found that I developed one in the first few weeks.

Last weekend was my worse for feeling so down and yes having sucidal thoughts.

I was begining to despair of anything working.

Today I am sitting congratulating myself on having an ok day yesterday and yet another one today.

I know that there will be other low days on the way but it is nice to have even a brief respite.

I hope that the same happens for your b/f soon.

Elen

[suzy-sue]

Hi loops .It should start to get better very gradually around the 3 week mark .We all react differently but the 3-4 week period is common .I used to have bad panic attacks every time I woke up ,even when I nodded off for a couple of mins .Things will improve .Just take one day at a time .Sometimes just getting through the next hour ,is what get s you thru it when it gets bad T/c .Luv Sue xx:hugs:

[loops81]

he is really bad today. keeps saying he can't cope, 2. weeks today he has been taking the ad x

[Tyke]

Hi Loops

I got very down waiting for the ads to kick in. I convinced myself they weren't going to work as all I got was damn side effects for the first four weeks. at about five weeks there was a big improvement. The side effects largely cleared up, the anxiety lessened and the mood improved, much to my surprise! I then became able to do things that I hadn't been able to do since the depression started.

Two weeks in is still early days - unfortunately they often take longer to work. If he is feeling unable to cope he should go back to the doctor. It might be that he needs emergency counselling or an anti-anxiety medication in the short term as well. Things do get better, but getting over this time until something starts working is tough and you need all the help you can get.

Tyke

[loops81]

thank you for that, I just read it to him, he is very impatient which I suppose is understandable x

[elainey70]

Hi Loops,

My heart goes out to you and your boyfriend, i have to be honest it took me a good few weeks before i started to fell less anxious but i still had the intrusive thoughts of suicide for a long period of time, i still get them now but when you are less anxious you start to see them for what they are, just thoughts. I know you will have heard this a hundred times, but he will get better, but it does take time. Is your boyfriend still in hospital?

[loops81]

hi Elainey, no he was discharged on Thursday, I don't think he should be home, he is struggling with the anxiety so much this evening x

[elainey70]

Hi Loops.

I


when i was discharged i was still very unwell, my anxiety was through the roof and i was on 30mg plus a diazapam a day. It really does get better it just takes time and unfortunately there are many hurdles along the way. My psych put me on an anti psychotic which was a massive help in my recovery. I know you probably thin k he has been discharged too soon, but the ward is a false environment and it can become to easy to get used to. I promise he will get better, give the meds time to work and in the mean time just be there for. If you ever need to talk just PM me any time, Take care. xx

[loops81]

Thanks so much Elaine.

He is having really long periods of suicidal thoughts this evening too, he has been through so much, this has been going on now since Feb.

This is the 3rd a/d to try, so hope this one suits him. I would say he doesn't seem as bad as the first two.

He is already on an anti phsychotic, Olanzapine 5mg.

I think if the pacing would stop, he would be a lot calmer, it must be so awful for him :weep:

[loops81]

He is having another bad day, suicidal thoughts and really high anxiety again :(

[loops81]

Update

Anxiety still very high, having some intrusive thoughts about harming me which has scared him! this anxiety again?

He also said last night he doesn't feel like himself?

xx

[Elen]

Loops81 The only advise that I can give you is to keep re-assuring him that this is all perfectly normal and he will start to feel better.

It is hard not to be impatient, I know I am the world's worst, but he has to try and stick it out in the short term.

Not feeling like himself is also perfectly normal.

All the best.

[loops81]

Thank you Elen

It is the thoughts that are upsetting him so much, I am just assuming they are because the anxiety is so high at the moment. I wonder when he will start feeling some benefits of the tablets?
x

[Tyke]

Hi Loops

It is very hard not to be impatient, I certainly was! I worried constantly about feeling so low and what would I do as the tablets weren't working. I obsessively read the write ups about my drug on NMP and various other websites trying to get a clue as to when I would feel better. I'm not sure it always helped as I would find people who improved after a couple of weeks and I would add to my anxieties thinking I'm well past that point so there's no hope for me. Then I would feel a little better when I found someone who had improved after a much longer period. The postings and reassurance from other NMP members helped a lot. In a nutshell, I often never expected to get better, but I DID, negative thinking is all part of the depression and it is treatable, but you don't always feel it is at the time.

This is all very tough for both of you. Hang on in there and keep in contact with his doctor. Maybe there is something else the doc could give him to help short term until the anti-depressants kick in? (I took Propranolol - a beta blocker. It doesn't alter what goes on in your head, but it does help lessen physical anxiety symptoms).

Tyke

[Tyke]

By the way, I did get much better after five weeks, which I understand is not uncommon. I felt absolutely nothing after four weeks. My GP said the drug I was on (Sertraline) starts to reach its peak after around six weeks. Hopefully this will give you some idea of possible time scales.

Tyke