Having a bad day and need some words of encouragement
Posted , 4 users are following.
I'm having a bad day and I don't know if it the Zoloft, withdrawal from lorazapam or just a bad GAD day. I had a pretty good weekend but yesterday was awful and last night I didn't sleep well. Today is another bad day. Heavy breathing, scared, and tightness in my chest. I've been on 150mg Zoloft for 14 days now.
I'm afraid I'm going to feel awful the rest of my life.
0 likes, 7 replies
Eleven11 PaulMar
Posted
Definitely see your doctor.... especially chest pains!!! I'm so sorry your experiencing this and plz don't assume that this will be how you'll feel for the rest of your life. Never! That won't happen. It is though symptoms of panic attack....but i could be wrong..... check with your doctor. Sometimes zoloft does make symptoms worse at the beginning.
My doc just increased my dose from 50mg to 100mg. She also gave me sleeping pills to take when needed if the higher dose affected my sleep. Day two on 100mg. Feel good. Nothing bad so far.
Even though I'm in a abusive relationship and i get constantly abused emotionally and verbally...belittled...called harsh names... i walk away... he's the reason i developed panic attacks and anxiety..... i hope the tables turn on him someday.
Paul i truly hope you feel much better.... i hope the fear and anxiety go away and life returns to be bright and wonderful for you as it used to be.
Please dont lose faith... dont give up....dont let fear take over.
But by all means, always go to your doc for any changes that are worrying..... xxxx
julie7525 PaulMar
Posted
Hi Paul, Ive been on 150 sertraline for 4/5 weeks now and it took 3 weeks to settle on them. I found this with each dose increase...for 3 weeks, increased anxiety, unsteadiness on feet/dizziness and tightness in chest on and off, heartburn sonetimes, waking through the night too. I am more settled on it now tho i still have some anxiety like before going shopping or meeting a friend /visiting family/ having visitors. I had my sertraline about 45 mins ago and ive got that tightness in chest, gas and burping which only adds to the feeling of discomfort. I suppose usually id be asleep by now, but i always do feel a bit strange in the chest quite soon after taking the sert. Ive had an ecg while on it due to palpitations that i was having even before the sert and all was fine so i generally manage not to panic about the chest discomfort. I think it is a known side effect of sert. Obviously if it worries you get it checked...the less we have to fret about the better. I sometimes wonder like you if i'll ever get back to me without anxiety disorder. I cant see it, i think itll be something that may always be a work in progress BUT 4 months ago I was a wreck, not sleeping, looping panic attacks through the night, thought i was having a nervous breakdown...now, if anything wakes me its the sertraline, not anxiety, i dont get full on panic attacks, moderate anxiety at worst, ive started to work here and there but in a less stressful line of work (i was a teacher, Im now painting/decorating whilst pondering on which direction to take). Things do get better, they may even get back to normal, but my previous 'normal' (stressed/ stuck in a rut) isnt so appealing ... So hopefully we'll end up with a better, happier version of ourselves. Maybe its a kick up the backside to de stress and de junk out lives of the things/tasks/people/ negative thoughts/habits that affect our health and well being. I hope this gives you some encouragement and a reminder that youre not alone in this. Keep us posted :-)
PaulMar julie7525
Posted
Hi Julie - thanks for this. I'm now on 175mg for the last 8 days. 150 was working and the doctor bumped me up again. I think he wants to see me on 200. One thing I noticed is that my depression is completely gone. I was feeling really down for a while and now it's just anxiety. The anxiety is also not as bad as it used to be in the mornings. I think I used to get panic attacks that lasted at least 2 hours. I had a bad one this morning and have been spending the last three hours online, on the forums searching for help. This forum does help me get some relief.
I have my own business which declined quite a bit in 2013/2014 and now any bad news effects me so hard. I wish I could just run away from it all, however on the weekend when I should be more relaxed it was also bad. I hope it's just the Zoloft not kicking yet.
julie7525 PaulMar
Posted
Hi Paul, glad to hear things are improving, I'm sure you will get to the point where it just clicks. I thought i was there on 150 but I've had a bit of chest anxiety in the last few days, maybe a combination of late nights, broken sleep and all the bad news on TV lately...I've not had any job interviews lately so will see how I am when I have to go out of my comfort zone! I may also have to increase but will see how I go in the next week or so. The PA you had today was likely due to the increased anxiety with Zoloft which should settle within the next 2 weeks. Since taking betablockers I don't have the panic attacks. I was also getting palpitations and skipped/extra beats every 3 days, but now every 2-3 weeks, not sure if that's anxiety or hormones (I'm 48). I was waking into panic attacks with heartrate of 113, and my blood pressure which has always been good,shot up. Ive stopped checking it now as it was just adding to my anxiety! Give me a shout if you need an ear, you will get better, it just takes time and a bit of grit to get through the side effects. X
PaulMar julie7525
Posted
Hi Julie,
How are you? I hope you are doing better than me.
Today is day 15 on 175mg Zoloft. Thu, Fri, Sat were pretty good days relatiively speaking. Yesterday was not great as felt a constant anxiety and some deression. This morning I woke up and my depression was full blown with Anxiety in the background. Again I had thoughts of leaving this world and this constant pain. It's 1:30pm and the depression lifted, but my anxiety increased. I'm trying to breath as I'm feeling light headed. I've been reading the forum so I can remember that for some people it does take more than two weeks and that gives me hope. It's so hard to have hope when you feel awful.I have to remind myself it will pass.
julie7525 PaulMar
Posted
Hi Paul, sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner. Hope you are feeling a but better today? Yes it took me 3 weeks for side effects (increased dizziness/ anxiety) to settle every times I increased the dose by 25,_so what you're experiencing,though horrible, is normal. So hopefully you'll be feeling loads better in a few days. I'm still on 150 and for now that seems enough. But I'm having a lot of anxiety today because I stupidly had 2 glasses of wine last night. I don't normally drink and have only has low alcohol wine once when on sert. Never again, I feel dreadful. Lesson learnt! Can't even take a diazepam for fear of being sick! Silly me! Keep us posted on how you are doing and be assured that normality is just around the corner...very soon you will suddenly realise that it has 'clicked', be waking up free from anxiety and started to feel more like your old self. Actually, apart fro. This self induced blip, I've felt better than I did before I started with anxiety disorder!
PaulMar julie7525
Posted
Hi Julie, Hope you're having a better day today. I stopped drinking altogether and I also try to stay away from sweets. I find that sweets effect my anxiety the next day.
Monday was a bad day but Tuesday was pretty good after 1:30pm and yesterday not that bad. My mornings are still bad. I wake up and start getting more and more nervous. Not as bad as I used to be.It feels like I just do it to myself but I also think that my nerves are very sensitive and and I go into panic mode took easily. BTW, I'm reading a book [product name removed by moderator] It's a CBT approach but it's short and gets right to the point on how to help yourself. I've tryig to execcute on her advise and I have been feeling better. It's not an immediate fix but according to her, we can recover completely in anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months.
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