Have suffered from bad bouts of anxiety/depression for many years....... looking back on it, even had Health Anxiety through my teens though didn't realise thats what it was! Anyway, to cut a long story short...... well shorter anyway!!...been on various antidepressants virtually nonstop for the last 20 years and although I've had a number of relapses/blips, just about kept sane!! These days, I seem to go through a bad blip every 6-8 months which seems to clear all of a sudden after a few weeks..... during the bad spell, I feel so ill just don't know what to do with myself I feel so anxious and depressed. Usually seems to be triggered off by stress or would you believe it, going on holiday!! Anyway, as you probably guessed, going through a really bad patch at the moment...... always worst first thing in the morning..... and I'm having real trouble convincing myself I'll ever get better. Saw my gp on Monday who reckoned I had a big advantage over everyone else he sees as at least I know I'll get better! I'm sure it is true as I must have had absolutely loads of "blips" over the years and everytime feels like the end of the world. I've been on 40mg paroxetine and propanalol but he's now increasing the paroxetine to 60mg and given me a short dose of tamazipam to help me sleep a bit better for a couple of weeks....... got to see him again in 6 weeks to review. I've been taking the increased dose for a few days but not sure its a good idea....... reading the instructions, 60mg is the absolute max dose if you've got ocd which I've haven't got...... depression/anxiety is 40mg I think. . A few years back, the same gp doubled my dosulepin dose to 320mg....... turned out should never be on that dose unless in hospital...... after a few weeks started having fits as a result and ended up in hospital a couple of times and they gave me a brain scan thinking I had epilepsy!! Sorry if rambling here!!............ anyway,switched to Paroxetine 20mg and ticked along ok for couple of years...... hit a bad spell.... increased to 40mg....... ok for while with a few blips but now going through bad patch again which stated a couple of weeks ago out of the blue. Was on fluoxetine for several years..... 20mg....... which I did quite well on..... then had a bad spell and went back on the dosulepin as I knew it had been effective in the past. Couple of years back, another gp in the practice put me on Citalopram and never felt so ill though to be fair, only gave it a week as felt so ill...... then went on the paroxetine which helped.
My wife is really encouraging and says hang on in there....... keep on the 40mg and you'll soon be feeling better..... you always do. I've started going out cycling and doing some fast exercise which usually helps, bought some Omega 3 fish oil so will give that a go as well.
Reading all this, looks like I'm a right mess but to be honest, for about 90% of the time, I'm ok...... its just when I get the dreaded "blips" .
Although my gp has made a mistake in the past, he has the most experience of all the gp's in the practice and has got me through many a bad patch in the past and I don't really think switching gp's is really going to make much difference. He has referred me in the past to the local mental health unit and they were the ones that originally put me on the paroxetine........ I saw them about 4 weeks ago and was feeling absolutely fine so they discharged me and put me back under my gp which I was ok with at the time........ wish they hadn't now!
Anyway, sorry to ramble on and on ..... I just hope I'll be feeling better soon. In the past, it has suddenly started clearing and after a couple of days, back to full power..... just want it to happen now.
Anyway, does anyone else take such a high dose of paroxetine .and has it helped?...... I don't wan't to go on a really high dose which does nothing and then can't get down from very easily