My anxiety and depression started at the age of 18. I was 2 years into my degree course at Uni . I had managed to cope with the workload ok in the first year, but by second year I began to get very nervous – kept thinking I’d faint in the lecture hall. I just felt so uptight all the time. A train journey to college, normal social interaction , walking around the city – the noise, the bustle just had me so stressed up.
I had to take part of that year out of Uni. I saw my GP – was prescribed the “old style” anti-depressants which completely floored me – I couldn’t function. Then, Prozac had just come on the market and I was prescribed it. It really helped me . I managed to finish the degree, I went in to religious life for 18months but was totally burnt out mentally and physically by the time I left. This was a period of my life when i had agoraphobia for 12 weeks or so. The day I got to the corner shop for the newspaper was wonderful. Slowly I manage to get back to work. I took Prozac for at least 17 years – and obviously near the end of that time it wasn’t working for me. By this time I was married with a youngish son and had qualified as a nurse. My wife and I supported each other well, (we still do daily) – as she had a couple of breakdowns after the children were born. I’m on Mirtazapine now (have been so for last 5 or so years). I nurse adults with learning disabilities for the last 10 or so years which is a gr8 job, I still have occasional bad spells, but I’m in my forties now, with 4 kids and doing ok.
