I have been struggling with anxiety and depression, intermittently, over the last 2 years, but was able to cope pretty okay, until 2 months ago when it suddenly got much more severe.
So I have been on meds for the last 7 weeks, and it has been so hard. Just the worst 7 weeks of my life. I have felt so low as to feel suicidal, and the anxiety has been riding me hard, to the point where it's a struggle to even leave the house, and I wake every morning with dread in the pit of my stomach 
The waiting for the meds to kick in has been horrible, it just seemed to be taking so long. But, this last week I have finally had several days where I have felt much calmer and brighter inside 
On these better days, I haven't felt anywhere near 100%, probably more like, 70%. And it's a very fragile 70%. But at least it's a start.
But twice this week I have also felt just as anxious and low again, and again today, I just feel like bursting into tears. I've had to cancel meeting up with friends tonight as I just can't face it
If anyone else has been in my place, can they tell me when can I expect to feel consistently better again? Or is this as good as it's going to get
AIBU?
AIBU to just want to feel normal again?
Psion · 14/05/2016 18:06
I get you. I've been struggling with anxiety lately, it's horrible.
Hopefully someone can come and tell us it gets better.
In the midst of it it's difficult to imagine I'll ever feel ok again.
Thanks Philphil. I have never known anxiety like it, it borders of panic at times. Even when it's at a low ebb it still makes me feel very uneasy and manages to suck any pleasure out of everything I do
These have been the very longest 7 weeks of my life, and I just want my normal life back again.
Sorry to hear you're struggling too Eustachian.
It's just so soul destroying isn't it. My CPN said the same as you, that I can't expect a smooth, consistent improvement.
It's just that all the literature says that ADs should be working fully after 6 weeks? So I would have thought after my 7 weeks I would be feeling consistently almost back to normal. Not just several days of feeling a very fragile 70% back to normal
I just broke down in tears, to be honest. And my GP took it from there. I think sometimes only medication can help.
Though it seems to be taking such a long time for them to work consistently for me
psion try thinking of it like this. If you had something like pneumonia and you had the right meds, they would treat the pneumonia but you wouldn't feel 100% straight away. You might feel weak for months, a bit breathless perhaps, and maybe for the rest of your life you might have a bit of a tendency to get a bad chest.
It's the same with anxiety. The meds are working, that's why you've been feeling a bit better, but they don't make you go from feeling 10% to 100% in a few weeks. Feeling a shaky 70% at this early stage is pretty good I'd say! You will have good days and bad days -just like people without anxiety issues have. This doesn't mean you're going right back down to rock bottom again, just that you're still on the road to recovery.
You may find that anxiety is something that you have to tackle on a regular basis. I do. I take a low dose of Sertraline and that helps me to keep it under control and feel pretty ok most of the time. Like secretgirl girl said above, I have had to accept that I'm never going to get rid of my anxiety altogether, but I certainly can live with it now, pretty happily most of the time.
I don't neccessarily think that the meds should have you feeling great by 7 weeks. I'd hope by this point that you'd have noticed some improvement, but getting better can be a slow process. Speak to your gp about upping the dose if you think that would help, but most of all be patient with yourself.
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