anxiety not lifting

I am due to start CBT next week, what are your symtons of anxiety?

Lightheaded ness/ feeling faint, dry mouth, increased heart rate, shaky sometimes, 

anxiety is awful..

Yes it is! I can say that I know how it feels to be ‘paralysed by fear’ I live alone and before the medication started to help I spent one day sitting in my dining room counting the wooden floorboards to try to distract myself it was terrible. I hope you have some good support.

i was on hormone injections for endometriosis which triggered off panic attacks, depression and severe anxiety... my gp kept telling me that it was side effects however it just got worse and worse.. in the end i was hospitalised and saw a psychiatrist who put me onto mirazapine and diazapam... i was hoping the mitazapine would of done something noticeable by now, but im still waiting and taking my diazapam... im going to ask for a different anti depressant.. the anxiety is horrific... i keep thinking if only i never had those daft injections. ive exchanged one set of problems to another.. id much rather have the period pain than the anxiety.. i have support from my family but even when i try to explain about the anxiety they dont understand... i just pray that another tablet will work better... 

It is SO difficult for people to understand the anxiety if they have never experienced it. I don’t blame them. Let your support know what they can do for you that would help you. If it’s a hug you need, or to run a warm bath for you etc I have found that my good friends were only too pleased when I suggested practical things that would help me. I hope you will find what works for you. Take care you WILL come through this. 

Im sorry but ive struggled with anxiety for decades. Ive had a gizillion baths in that time. Anxiety is a life destroying condition and needs more detail that taking a bath

Hi Barbara, How are you feeling now? 

Hi Raj thank you, how kind of you to ask. It’s 12 weeks since I started Mirt, I continue to improve. The anxiety comes in waves but not daily now. I have started weekly therapy and have been able to identify  where fear and anxiety began as a small child. This is going to be VERY beneficial for me , I think. I had one panic attack last week in the supermarket but was able to deal with and it eventually passed! I was so pleased with myself. All the best to you Raj

evening Gretel, What medication do you take now for the depression and anxiety... ? 

Hi Raj, i am not taking anything for depression or anxiety. Im just riding it out. Hope you are feeling some relief soon.

evening James, Im seeing my useless dr on Tuesday  and I am going to ask for a different anti depressant. Im currently on 45 mg of mitazapine since Nov, the only difference I found was that my anxiety starting lifting in the evenings so much that I could do a tesco shop without needing a diazapam.. id go to sleep feeling fine but would return with all the anxiety in the morning.. I think my gaba receptor in my brain is misfiring or something..... i also find that im not sleeping as well with the mirtz anymore

does escitolopram help with the anx? enough to bring it down?

I am not totally pleased with the efficacy of the escitalopram (Lexapro). I had been on it several years ago and did not like the side effects so stopped and returned to lorazepam. But Dr will not prescribe for long term use. I had been on the Mirtazapine 15mg for about a year and I was sleeping well but waking with an uncomfortable level of anxiety that stayed with me for most of the day. Dose was increased to 30mg but really did not help much. Still waking anxious and feeling quite unsettled a good part of the day. So I was willing to go back on the escitalopram hoping that the two meds together would help.

 Many have had great results with escitalopram so it would not hurt to give it a try.  Please keep me posted.

have you tried pregablin for the anxiety?

Known as Lyrica in the US and generic not available until some time this year. Wickedly expensive here $300-$400 per month. Health care and drug cost big issue in the US. Will be one to look at when cost comes down. 

Well Ive been to my doctor, he has lowered my mitazapine to 30mg and introduced Citalopram 10mg.. i am to start taking it in a couple of days. ive read reviews on citalopram and they seem really good but its only when you try a drug do we know if it will work. 

Pregablin is quite cheap in the uk but our doctors dont like prescribing it due to addiction, however psychiatrists will  prescribe it as they know how it is important.

Im seeing my psychiatrist at the end of Feb. 

Hope this works for you. We are now on the same schedule 30mg mirtazapine 10mg escitalopram. Thanks for the news, I would appreciate any follow up information you would care to share.

have you noticed any lessoning yet of anxiety?

Hi Raj, I see You planning to start Citalopram. Please read the comments on this med in this form under Citalopram. I am on 30 mgs and have been for a week to ten days now. That is after I was prescribed 10 for three months and then uppd to 20 for a week and now stable at 30. The reasin for this reply to you is that in a lot of cases Cit takes time to work. Think of months, not days or weeks. Sure you may be one of the lucky ones who magically responds to it in days but just be ready. It is a marvellous medication for anxiety and depression. Please be patient. I am also on 15 mgs of Mirtazapine to sleep and it is working very well in that respect. These two meds were prescribed by my Psychiatrist when I was briefly hospitalized after I past out. I am grateful to my Psychiatrist as he was the one who told me about the Mirtazapine and to increase the dose of Citalopram from 10 to 30. It is night and day for me now . Not 100% yet but better rhan before. I though I would encourage to be patient with the Citalopram and expect it to work. It will!

Hi Kaycee, Im really pleased to hear the positive reports about Citalopram.. And I’m really pleased to hear you are doing well now.. I’m really hoping that I will respond to Citalopram... The anxiety is horrible and just need to see the end of it... My psychiatrist initially put me onto Mitazapine but it wasnt helping the anxiety and now Citalopram has been added... Im really really hoping and praying that I get better...  I’m just going to pop my pills and give it time, my family say that depression didnt come over night so it will not leave overnight.. 

Hi Raj you make a very good point when you wrote ‘depression didn’t come overnight so it won’t go overnight’ when I read that I realised that I had become increasingly low during last year before the depression hit me big

time in November. So thank you

for that. 

I would agree with you, the best thing by far for my anxiety has been the diazepam, but its habit forming so not to be taken long term.  I found mirtazapine a killer Nd still trying to get off it, dropping low slowly.  Citalopram i havent had but ssris dont seem to work for me

it is true, looking back I was also very tired for no reason and being quite negative about things.. not really like me... 

If only we had known what was to come we would of taken steps to prevent it getting worse... 

raj, I have just realized that we are actually talking about two different drugs. I have been discussing my experience with escitalopram aka Lexapro. Whereas you are referring to citalopram aka Celexa. They are similar but not the same. 

To answer your question: yes I have noticed a lessoning of the constant background "noise" of anxiety and my hope is to be a fully functioning rational person in situations where otherwise I would be in an emotional meltdown. Time will tell.

It's a shame that there isn't a drug available with the efficacy of the benzodiazepines without the dependency issues. I was able to get regular scripts for lorazepam for years from my GP and did not consider myself addicted. I stopped when my psychiatrist would not prescribe and switched to the mirtazapine + escitalopram as a substitute. So now I am probably "hooked" on the mirtazapine which in my mind is the same as an addiction. Go figure!

hey james, I think I read that  your tablet is slightly more superior to my tablets.... but james I am very pleased to hear that it is making some difference...

Our GP in England tend to start us off pn Citalopram ( celexa) or Sertraline, however if we see a psychiatrist they tend to use more varied drugs.. 

I’m still surprised that in all the advances in medicine that we are still limited in finding medication specifically for anxiety, we are still bound by either benzo’s or antidepressants.... which may or may not help... Pregablin is another tablet but like the benzos we can build up a tolerance to it... 

From this entire experience the most important lesson is to value our mental health.. We tend to look at physical health but the mental health is just important. 

Yep, once they have caught you it seems you never get out of their hands, moving from one drug to another. Seems never ending.

HI James, How are you getting on with Escitolopram? 

So far so good is all I can say at the moment. How about your experience thus far?

Ive not noticed anything yet.... 

still only taking 10mg though so I probably need alittle more. Im going to ask to reduce the mirtz to 15, i dont find it to be very good for me... 

You may be on a winning formula with your anxiety!! good for you