Losing hope

Don't lose hope you maybe need just a dosage up or a switch for another medication.

Hi there, I am at 6 weeks today on 50mg and while week 4 I started to see some improvement; I’ve dipped a bit again in week 5, but is been a rollercoaster with good and bad days (I’ve  been off work for a month, and I go back soon— so maybe this is causing me big anxiety because the holidays were a bit of a positive, carefree distraction for me). I used to be on 75 and was down to 50 which worked well, but I feel like I may need to also go up to 75 again to pull me out of this relapse ( I went down to 25mg over the summer and crashed in November with relapse). I’ve heard 50mg is a pretty low dose, so maybe we just need more. My worst fear is that this anxiety is never going to go away and I’ll never go back to being the happy person I was for years! Sigh. We just gotta have hope that anxiety is treatable— and somehow, whether through a stronger dose or new meds, we’ll have our lives back again. 

Hi thanks for the replies. I am pretty sure I need to up the dose maybe to 75 but dreading doing it as the side effects will start again so I hear from many people on here and don't know if I can go thru that again . I do have some better days but are few and I run a busy plumbers merchants so time off is hard due to current short staff problems and there is no place to hide

Don't worry. Maybe you should consult your doctor once. That would help you. And on the other side, medications take time to work. So, till then try to stay happy and engage yourself in frolic activities as much as possible!!!

Please consult with your dr. After 8 weeks with no change it's time to increase. As you said, you'll have to deal with the side effects again, but this is nothing to the possible long term benefits. 

Hello John,

It is frustrating trying to find out where your therapeutic level will be, it can be very time consuming unfortunately. But If you’ve given each increase the 4-6wks and your feeling little to no improvements, then an increase to the next stage is definitely needed. Just try not to rush threw the increases if you can manage it (meaning jumping doses every 2wks etc) as youll end up keeping yourself in a constant state of side effects while your serotonin levels are trying to settle and level out.

And if the side effects are getting tough, you can always ask the doctor to prescribe diazepam to help you threw. They do help in the earlier stages. 

Hope this helps & good luck, youll get there soon 🌹