Complete breakdown!! Help.
Posted , 3 users are following.
I’m 35 years old, married with 3 children and based in the UK. Suffered with GAD and situation anxiety for my whole life. I was prescribed 20mg of Citalopram from 18 years old and been on them ever since. In general they have worked well and I have managed to hold down a successful career. I left my job 12 months ago and have been a house husband since. 3 weeks ago my wife lost her job which is obviously a serious issue financially. In the first week after I was not eating and drinking beer every evening to excess then getting to sleep around 11PM but waking up at 3AM with terrible anxiety. This went on till the Saturday morning when I woke up again at 3AM and just had a complete breakdown. I was thinking completely irrationally and felt very suicidal. I manage to get to a doctor who prescribe 2mg of Lorazepam to sleep and doubled the dose of Citalopram to 40mg. The Lorazepam has helped with the sleeping but still only getting around 5 hours. I wake up with absolute crippling anxiety unable to even function on a basic level. I have not really noticed much difference with the increased dosage of Citalopram other then the unstable mood and spaced out feeling. It has only been 11 days so I guess I will have to wait and see if it helps. I have not drank alcohol since the Saturday breakdown. I can’t explain how crippling the anxiety is. I literally can not function in this living hell and just want a way to escape with increasing suicidal thoughts. I just don’t know what I can do and understand how I have deteriorated so rapidly. I would appreciate anyone experience or advice on my situation.
Thanks Ryan
0 likes, 3 replies
Emis_Moderator ryanjohnfrancis
Posted
Hi ryanjohnfrancis,
We note from a recent post which you have made to our forum that you may be experiencing thoughts around self-harm. If we have misinterpreted your comments then we apologise for contacting you directly. But if you are having such thoughts then please note that you are not alone in this, and there are people out there that can help.
If you are having these suicidal thoughts then we strongly recommend you speak to someone who may be able to help. The Samaritans offer a safe space where you can talk openly about what you are going through. They can help you explore your options, understand your problems better, or just be there to listen.
Their contact details are on our patient information leaflet here: https://patient.info/health/dealing-with-suicidal-thoughts, which also offers lots of other advice on how you can access the help you may need.
If you are having such thoughts then please do reach out to the team at the Samaritans (or the other people detailed in our leaflet) who will understand what you're going through and will be able to help.
If you are based outside of the UK.
The Samaritans is a UK based charity, but they also have suggestions for how you can access help in other countries.
Please have a look at this page https://www.befrienders.org/directory
Patient
mike24933 ryanjohnfrancis
Posted
There are three issues; the situation anxiety, the loss of income/financial situation, the out of control anxiety spiral which is happening now. All the issues are obviously linked but is it possible to say whether one of these things is the root cause of the distress you are suffering now?
ryanjohnfrancis
Edited
Hi Mike, I would say that the financial side has caused the rapid deterioration and is the root cause. The problem being, in this state I would not be able to get a job which makes it a catch-22 situation. If I could just stop worrying so incessantly and pull myself together things would most likely be ok. I think the jump from 20mg to 40mg has initially been quite a shock and is causing some of the problems too.