My anxiety/depression journey so far.....

Out of the blue in March of this year I started with anxiety and depression. My GP suggested 50mg Sertraline, I took this for 5 weeks and the side effects were horrendous. My anxiety was heightened, racing/dark thoughts, no appetite I lost 9kgs and thought I was going crazy, I was also prescribed Propranolol. I spoke to my GP and asked to come off them, I was told to just stop them, OMG the withdrawal symptoms kicked in, I was shaking, my heart was racing and I definitely thought this time I'm losing my mind. I was then put on 20mg Fluoxetine, which I took for a few days and these made me numb and more flat than before!! I then spoke to another GP in my practice and just sobbed my heart out, she reassured me I wasn't going crazy and that I would get better, she suggested 10mg Citalopram to begin with. The side effects were headaches and nausea which disappeared after a couple of weeks, however my appetite came back and my sleep improved. I did start to feel better but not 100%, I had a review with my GP every 2 weeks, after 12 weeks he suggested upping to 15mg, I didnt get any side effects and again improved but not 100%, but stuck with it for 3 weeks, then upped to 20mg, after about 7 weeks I started to see the light come through and felt more like myself and engaging with life again, it's been 9 weeks now and my anxiety and low mood have improved tremendously, I wake up with no anxiety and look forward to my day, which is something I never thought I would do again!! It's been one hell of a journey over the last 7 months and I'm not naive enough to realise I'm not out of the woods yet, but this is reassure you all it does get better, but we all recover at our own pace. Please keep pushing through and use this forum, as well as self help books to realise you are not alone on this journey. It's been a godsend to me when I felt lost and now I'm hoping to help others D x

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