Advice? Finishing Month 4 of Second Time Around

[jennlou83]

I know it seems dumb that I just posted earlier this week on someone's post offering reassurance and now here I am seeking it, but I guess that's how this goes!

Today marks the end of four months of my second time around with Cit. The first time it went well, and I was on them for a couple of years. I was off for about 9 months, and then I started back at the end of July (same dosage--20 mg). The start-up side effects were awful this time. I have finally had a decrease in my anxiety, but not to the point I saw before.

For some reason, this week has been especially tough (although I have had several "blips" over the last few months, once I started noticing some improvement). I'm convinced I'm having heart problems again (although logic & tests run at the doctor's a couple of months ago say otherwise--all bloodwork & EKG were fine). Monday I had a racing/strongly pounding heart all day...I've had more chest pains all week (even my prescribed omeprazole isn't helping like it usually does, which is triggering the heart panic), my appetite has been greatly decreased, I've been sleeping as much as 12 hours/night, hot flashes are popping up again, and the nausea is popping up more frequently (today it was back so strongly that I couldn't even eat dinner).

For those of you with experience with Cit (especially a second round): is this normal? Am I remembering the first time around with rose-colored glasses, so to speak, and forgetting the relapses and persistent side-effects at the start? Or is it probably time to visit my doctor again and see about a dose adjustment or different med?

[Suziewuzie]

It's disheartening when those old familiar symptoms pop up after you've been feeling so well. I think, personally anyway, that as anxious people we'll always have times like this and whereas most people would just ignore them, we are so scared of going back to how we used to feel so we end up spending a lot of time & attention focusing on it. Which of course makes it worse!
I know I definitely still had bad days even as far as 6 months in to the medication & it was hard to believe I wasn't going to fall down that hole again. But looking back I could have dealt with them better, I made myself miserable by focusing on the bad days & forgetting all the good ones I'd had. With time & practise I found ways to relax & manage my anxiety with daily meditation and building relaxation techniques into my day. This time around (this is my second time too) I've been prescribed propanolol for the pounding heart & palpitations, I don't take it every day but it has helped a lot. Is that something you could consider?