Reassurance - escitralopram
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hi all - just looking for some reassurance and advice. I have been taking 15g of escitralopram since January. I have been gradually feeling much better and have managed to return to work on reduced hours and start to feel like im getting my life back. Then easter weekend my brother tried to take bis life. Since then my anxiety has sky rocketed again and for rhe first time in weeks i woke up and felt like i was having a panic attack this morning. Im so scared that I will end up back at square one. Are these blips normal?
0 likes, 7 replies
Guest lucy36741
Posted
Hi dear! It is normal, maybe you should adjust your dosage. I feel more balanced on meds, but if I don't work on something therapeutically, it still can affect me a lot. What happened to you is a big thing and no wonder you reacted to it.
You know, during years I found Somatic Experiencing and EMDR super helpful and life changing. EMDR helps to process difficult memories, beliefs, and generally those areas where you feel "stuck"; SE will help you restore your nervous system's inner ability to self-regulate and balance itself. Thanks to SE I learnt techniques that I use now daily, also with my clients (I'm a breathworker) when I start feeling overwhelmed with emotions and I can't say enough good things about it .
If you have panic attacks, it should help a lot to look for feelings of safety and grounding, and really feel the sensations they produce in your body - it can be some relaxation, expansion, gentle tingling, for example. It will help your brain "take them in" and in time you will find it easier to come back to balance. Check one of Peter Levine's book to learn more if you like.
gina01020 Guest
Posted
Hi Nama,
i am currently does EMDR but havent heard of SE.. could you explain what it is as it sounds interesting....the EMDR is helping a lot but id like to be able to reinforce it with other methods.
lucy36741 Guest
Posted
Hi Nama what is EmDR? Ive never heard of it before? Do i need to go to a professional to try or is it something i can try online? thanks
Guest lucy36741
Posted
Hey Lucy!
EMDR is a kind of therapy where you stimulate your brain - usually by following therapist's fingers with your eyes - so it reprocesses difficult memories and negative beliefs. The way I understand it, is that we have natural mechanism that helps us process our experiences so we learn from them and use them for our own growth and adjustment. But sometimes this processing fails (for different reasons) and we get stuck with a kind of negative adaptation (eg. avoiding people because we perceive them as hostile - it can be a belief deriving from childhood that still holds a grip on us even though we are adults now and it is limiting our functioning).
This method sounds and looks weird (there is a hypothesis that this kind of reprocessing is exactly what happens during REM sleep phase though), but its positive effects are actually well proven by science. Brain scans show that during reprocessing "stuck" memories get integrated in a wider net of information.
I think it's also first choice method of treatment for veterans and rape victims in the US.
I used this method, as well as a few of my friends, and it helped me solve some deep stuff i was carrying for years. It's awesome, pretty quick, and definitely worth a try, but with a good therapist who has a good understanding of it, will help you go through the process without re-traumatising, and who will teach you some self-soothing/grounding techniques that you can use by yourself at home. You can find videos to do it online by yourself, but I really really don't recommend it, at least as long as you don't understand how it works and how to make yourself feel really safe.
This method was created and researched by Francine Shapiro, so you can also look for one her books.
gina01020 lucy36741
Posted
Hi Lucy,
i too find i am a bit up and down on Lexapro..
I think that you have just had a traumatic experience and so it will take a while to balance back out again... hopefully, the Lexapro will help you to heal quickly as i find it helps me deal with my problems quicker than when im off it.
You will need to be kind to yourself and try and take time to just relax and do something enjoyable to help the process i think..
regards,
gina
lucy36741 gina01020
Posted
Hi Gina
thanks for this - just having a rough couple of days. ive had a panic attack today and its so hard ro stay positive and think this is just a blip in recovery rather than going backwards
keith66296 lucy36741
Posted
What I have found is that the medication drastically reduces anxiety for me but doesn't make it go away altogether. We wouldn't be human in my opinion if this was the case. Prior to taking the medication, if I encountered a very stressful situation and would be completely debilitated.
The medication has been a wonder drug for me. I am going through another highly stressful situation and I can feel the anxiety but it doesn't rage inside me the way it did before. I can actually do things now whereas before, I could barely leave the house.
I had to increase my dose a few times to get a good response
I laugh a lot more and overall life is wayyyyy more enjoyable than it was.
Good luck to you