please help things are gettin worse :(

[tinauk29]

ok found out i was having panic attacks stopped taking citalopram because of the side effects being sick only took one going back doctors tmoz, i have no energy at all wanting to lie in bed all day never had an attack in my house but today i did i was falling asleep then my body shook i woke with a shock the felt disinterested then had pins and needles in my legs and my legs felt weak thought i was going to die then i had a beer and i was ok? cant understand this ?? also get pains under my left boob im thinking im working myself into these attacks as my partner thinks i am i hate my life right now please help :( tina x

[tinauk29]

dis oriented it was not disinterested

[Tyke]

Hi Tina

It all sounds like anxiety to me. It's a shame you had to stop taking the Citalopram as this might have helped over time (these SSRIs all take a few weeks to kick in usually), but maybe your doctor could give you something else. Alcohol is a depressant, which is why a beer would make you feel better temporarily. Chest pain is also a common anxiety symptom. I had this and took Propranolol (beta-blocker) which helped a lot. Good luck at the doctors.

Tyke

[tinauk29]

hey tyke i was given 40mg beta blockers today one morn one might and in 2 weeks increase to one in the middle of the day i took my first tab today which scared me much because i was thinking im going to have all this mad side effects happen to me but i was fine and i have had one feeling of going into an attack but not had one yet so im hoping this is good ive relied on alcohol a long time now so i need help getting of this to its the only thing that helps me sleep i only drink at night, i still cant sleep during the day as i think ill get the shakes whilst falling to sleep during the day but hey new day today n things look good so far :) thanks for advice x

[Mike1066]

I used to drink alcohol to fall asleep (or rather pass-out) when I was first diagnosed with depression/anxiety a few years ago. Very effective, but I know now that it was just making my problems worse. After a particularly heavy drinking session, the next day I had an attack so bad, I couldn't talk anything but gibberish for about an hour, which scared me into stopping.

Since I became teetotal (4 years now :yesyes:), I have had only a few panic attacks in my home, and when I do have one they are not even close to being as bad as they were when I was drinking.

[Tyke]

Congratulations on managing four years without the drink Mike. I haven't had a drop since I started the medication, but I do miss a cool beer in the evenings! Still, I would much rather have good health though.

[KayleighJane]

thankyou mike and tyke for the drinking/not drinking advice. and very many congratulations to you mike for doing 4 years its a great achievement :)

since having anxiety i noticed that i was starting to drink more than i normally would, not saying i would get out of bed and start drinking but in the evenings after all day of feeling anxious and panicky all i wanted to do was relax so had a couple of extra beers or something like that, i know that people do have huge alcohol problems but the reason i got so annoyed was because i knew i was drinking for the wrong reasons and was also having quite bad thoughts about jumping in front of trains and stuff.

i told my mum what had been going on and she said no wonder i had been feeling bad mixing lots of alcohol with the beta blockers and anti depressants, very bad idea. funnily enough i didnt even think of that. now i know that drinking alot whilst on this medication is dangerous, the dr said it was ok now and again to have the odd beer or glass of wine but i realise now i was taking it to far and won't be doing it again,

sorry for rambling lol

kayleigh x