An introduction

[SunnyDay]

Where to start, well, I'm a horse owner, I have a lovely horse and have owned him for three years but I am forever loosing confidence on him, I've never fallen off him and he's not actually particularly naughty, I've ridden for 25 years and have never actually had a bad fall or really bad experience.

So on a whim I went to see my GP and he diagnosed me with a (I think) 'Freeforming Anxiety Disorder' her started me on a course of Citlropam (sp), gave me a prescription for some books and a helpline number to call.

Thinking about it my anxiety does extend much further than the horse riding, but I learn to work round other things in life (my motto is "have a plan, a back up plan, a secondary plan, a tertiary plan and then back it all up again") but I just can't work round the horse riding issue and I love it so much that's what pushed me into seeing my GP, it's an expensive way to be unhappy.

So, where am I? I'm at the stage where I'm waiting for the Citlropam to kick in, which can be 2?3? 6?! weeks?

I know I should ride my horse today so I'm having a really bad day, I feel anxious and tearful and I know he will pick up on it, I walked the dog earlier and that helped me take my mind off it a bit.

So, there we go, that's where I am at the moment just looking for thoughts, advice and support

[diane07]

Hi SunnyDay

A huge warm welcome to nmp.

You'll get loads of advice and support here and make some lovely friends along the way.

Best wishes

[MrRedShirt]

Hello SunnyDay, and welcome. Everyone here is very friendly.

I'm new here too, having joined on Monday. I started taking new medication (duloxetine) then and I am documenting my progress in a separate thread. These medications, like you say, can take a painful amount of time to kick in, so we need to stick with it and hope for the best.

When did you start taking the citalopram?

[SunnyDay]

Thanks everyone
I started taking it on Monday so 5 days in, it's a light at the end of the tunnel though and although I'm having a 'sell the horse' day I keep thinking that it will get better, I know the horse thing sounds trivial but they're the aspect that effect my happiness the most.

[MrRedShirt]

Ah, so we're at the same place, just with different medication. They all act in a similar-ish way though and have roughly the same start up times, so you'll find a lot of people here to compare notes with.

The horse thing doesn't sound trivial at all, we all have passions that keep us going. And having known a few horse-owners in my time I know how much a part of people's lives they can be.

I'm sure you'll be fine, just give yourself time