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Please I Need Help re. Medication and Severe Anxiety

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Caroline71441
Caroline71441

Dear All - I have been off work for many months with severe anxiety and depression. It is getting worse - well the anxiety is. For example I am finding it almost impossible to get off to sleep, wake frequently and early often in panic. The present terrifies me, socialising scares me, going out scares me, i feel like something awful might happen all the time - I constantly feel under threat - but really 'I' am because I am not who i was and am finding it more and more difficult to cope (I live alone too which is scary in this condition). My biggest fear is not getting better or getting worse. I am terrified of the medications out there for mental health problems. I know they can cause initial very bad side effects sometimes lasting and problems coming off seem horrendous. I am caught in that if I don't take anything I might continue to get worse but if I do take something I could still get a lot worse and have horric agitation/sickness/insomnia/nightmares etc.

I want to add that I am extremely sensitive to medication and a little effects me a lot. I could not cope with more agitation/anxiety and have a senstiive stomach. My mental health team worker was saying he would be discharging me now I am having CBT - it is too early. I do not have a specific psychiatrist assigned to me either. I am at my wits end, the days are torture - I spend hours on the internet trying to find the magic medication side effective and side effect free which does not exist. What med should I try what can I do about this - here is no real support my mental health team worker seems impatient with me - I am also terrified that if i don;t get better they will put me in hospital (section me). Also I realise antidepressants are not the magic bullett and there are a lot of problems. I could not cope with possible initial suicidal feelings. Please help/advise - I feel so alone, desparate and scared.....

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36 Replies

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  • smc89344
    smc89344 Caroline71441

    Posted

    Hi Caroline....I'm so sorry you too are going through this. However is relieving to know we're not alone or going crazy. I too am off work...have been for 3 months bc of the severity of mine. I too am hypersensitive to everything going on and medications. Do you have an exact trigger(s) to ur anxiety?
    • Caroline71441
      Caroline71441 smc89344

      Posted

      Hi Sandi

      No triggers - it is constant at the moment really am feeling so mentally and physically uncomfortable it is unbearable. It is really scary actually as I could not stand this going on my longer I'm not sure who I should approach about it my gp won't know what to do and will just say medication will help when it is likely to make it worse especially at the beginning. Also mediction for depression tends not to be so good for hpyer senstiive people with anxiety or so the research says...Are you on any mdes Sandi?? How do you cope and do you have triggers?

    • smc89344
      smc89344 Caroline71441

      Posted

      Yes I completely understand and can relate. No I am not on meds anymore although my doctor says I need to be. I'm hesitant to go back on them. Was on antidepressants for over 13 years which I feel has caused more damage. I just take clonazepam when I need too for temporary relief.

      I posted my story in phobia which also posted under anxiety. Or look up my name and you can see it. Read it if you can. Too much to write again. Lol

    • tonia_2003
      tonia_2003 smc89344

      Posted

      Sandi, do you have constant anxiety or just off and on? Do you have a lot of heart palpitations?
    • smc89344
      smc89344 tonia_2003

      Posted

      Tonia I am always anxious....it varies in degrees...when it's low I don't even consider it anxious anymore. It's become out of control. Yes I get heart palpitations. ...severe nausea....I get hot and cold flashes....sweaty palslms, feet and underarms...I find cold air and cold water on my face or running my hands under help....it's like flu like symptoms.
    • tonia_2003
      tonia_2003 smc89344

      Posted

      Yes you do sound like me. When my heart palpitations get bad most of the time I feel like lm coming down with the flu or just getting sick. It makes you feel run down and tired. I'm like that right now.
    • smc89344
      smc89344 tonia_2003

      Posted

      Geez. I'm sorry. I'm like that at least once a day...if not more. I hate it....it's preventing us from living normal lives...
  • elaine75237
    elaine75237 Caroline71441

    Posted

    Hi all, so sorry everyone is feeling so rotten. I get the medication phobia as I had a bad reaction from one and my anxiety spiked to a level where I thought I was going to be taken away. I have tried through my lifetime about 8 different medications some years ago for depression and more recently for anxiety. I am also super sensitive to medicine and have had reactions from painkillers for my back not just for dep/anx. I'm afraid I have had it with the above, I need to take tablets for my thyroid and it takes all my strength to take them daily. I know lots of people can take things with no or little side effects and that's great for them. 2 of my friends are on Citalopram and swear by it, I've tried that it's just not for me. I've also tried Mirtrazipine but had s/e from that too. I go to therapy and that has actually helped, although I was on the waiting list for nearly 7 months which was horrendous. With anyone really struggling just now, don't give up hope it will get better. Go back to your GP say exactly how you feel. My GP wrote twice to the mental health team, don't think it really made a difference but I knew he was listening to me and trying to help.  Stay strong everyone. The very best of luck. cheesygrin
    • Caroline71441
      Caroline71441 elaine75237

      Posted

      Hello Elaine  which medication caused such a reaction? and what was the reaction? Was there one that suited you best  - trouble is we are all different. I tried one which was horrible now I am terrified of trying anything else but know I should - have just been prescribed another so will give it a go. I am feeling so anxous and jittery at the moment I would be hyper aware of any side effect and could not cope with the initial insomnia at all. My GP's are fed up with me they don't know what to do to help and they are not sympathetic to the side effects i experience. As I have this mental health condition I think they believe a lot of what I experience is in mhy mind. This causes me to loose confidence in myself as it is terrible when you are not taken seriously - so debiitating and frightening. I am going for CBT but feel in such a bad place anxiety wise (particulary now the spring is here it seems to have made things so much worse recently) that I cannot control my anxious thoughts. For example I woke up in the early hours and of course you start thinking, my thoughts turned to the future (or lack of it), what I have to sort out, how I feel I cannot do so or how difficult it will be, how different I used to be and how great things used to be before this started (I am older and an illness and the antibiotics triggered all this off), finance worries and how long will this go on, what if it does not get better, I then go onto the absolutte fear of medciation, will it be forced on me, what if it makes my much worse or even psychotic (they are mind altering after all) and I am prescrived even more stuff or am taken away. These are overwhelming and breathing techniques etc just do not work. all the best to you x
  • elaine75237
    elaine75237 Caroline71441

    Posted

    Hi Caroline the worst side effects I had were from Fluoxetine, it made my anxiety so bad I couldn't sleep, couldn't eat was pacing the floor, pulling my hair it just goes on and on. As soon as I stopped taking them, I did feel better. At one point I was going to A&E as I thought I was having a heart attack or stroke. I took them for just over 4 1/2 weeks but that was enough for me. You are right we are all different and I know Fluoxetine works for so many people, but as someone else has said it seems to be a stimulant for some and totally exacerbates the anxiety. I don't take any medications now as even though I have tried others I'm just waiting for the side effects to kick in, it just doesn't work for me, I don't want to be reliant on them. I do go to therapy and that has helped. It is hard work in the way that you are telling all your inner thoughts and that can be scary, but my therapist is great. It really helps me to talk. I'm sorry your Dr has not been understanding. My GP has been really good but he does suggest medication alot and I just don't want to go there. I really thought I was going off my head and it's not worth it to me to try anything else as I don't know how I will feel and there is no way I'm going back to feeling the way I did it's just not an option. I would say therapy does work for alot of people sometimes on it's own and sometimes alongside medication. I did say to my Dr I don't want to feel as if I'm being dismissed and it's just anxiety symptoms. He was really good and explained he understands I actually feel this way. Go back to your GP tell them exactly how you feel. I really hope the CBT really works for you, you have to stick at it. Just want to add I also had some clinical hypnotherapy and that helped me to relax a bit. Stay strong you will get there. I totally understand how you feel. I cling on to any little positive and try not to focus on the negative, I know often that's easier said than done though. The very best of luck.cheesygrin
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