Anxiety..it’s ruling my life . what are you taking for it?

[Feelingwalkedover]

Every morning I’m awake from 4/5 with awful anxiety.stomach churning,feeling sick ,just wanting to hide away from the world anxiety.
I’ve a lot happening in my life ,but even on days that have nothing awful to fear I still wake up like this.
I’m not answering the phone
And desperately stressed at the thought of people coming to the house.
If you are taking anything ,does it work ,how long did it take to work.
I tried esciyalipran but couldn’t cope with the side effects on top of the anxiety

I’ve been on medication for 20 years ,trying all sorts ,
The last 2. The dr tried made feel so ill ,so he asked if I had any suggestions.
Obviously I didn’t and I’m just struggling badly now .if I could make this big decision,it would clear a bit
But then I spend hours agonising over saying or texting the wrong thing and thinking I’ve annoyed/ upset people

if you are extremely anxious you may be deficient in magnesium, it is difficult to test for deficiency so just assume you are. Dark chocolate is the pleasantest way to increase magnesium levels, avocado, quinoa and nuts are also good. A warm bath containing epsom salts before bed may help your sleep but will slightly dry your skin. Many magnesium supplements cause diarrhoaea so be wary of supplements.

This is not an alternative to medication but will help if you are struggling with medication.

Sertraline made me very tired indeed, I felt doped up for about 10 days and then the fog lifted and I felt normal. Some people get insomnia and feel ‘wired’. It’s just your brain chemistry adjusting and totally worth it.

What do you mean by you've been on medication for 20 years? Different anti anxiety medications?

Unfortunately all meds have side effects and you need to experiment with different dosages and times of day that you take them in order to minimise those effects. Take at night until they get into your system if they're causing daytime sleepiness. Reduce the dose or ask to start off at a lower dose.

You need to find a way of achieving a good enough effect with tolerable side effects. This takes time. You won't find a drug out there that you can just take and feel fine and that's it.

I had a lot on my mind last night and used this at bedtime

I definitely think it helped..I couldn’t listen to it for 8 hours about 30 mins I think
It’s 0-4 hertz which is the frequency of the delta brainwaves for sleep

About 15 years ago I was on betablockers for anxiety they didn't zombie me out and helped with the physical symtoms because it was so long ago I can't remember the brand but they helped me.

I took Sertraline for 7 weeks and it did nothing for me, just heightened my anxiety. I know they take a bit to kick in and it's worse before it gets better but after 7 weeks I had had enough.

I have propanolol for when I'm feeling a bit anxious but currently what is working for me is CBD oil, one coffee a day and (the hardest part) little or no alcohol. I'm the type of person that can't stop at just one glass of wine once I get to the warm stage but my anxiety is always far far worse the day after. So now hoping to restrict to absolute special occasions only, rather than because it's say Tuesday, and I've had a good/bad day at work.

I've also ditched annoying flatmate and cut off friends that add to my anxiety, including my so called 'best' one after coming to the conclusion (for many reasons) that they aren't friends at all, and I'm the 'meh' friend. Means Saturdays can come and go without so much as a text and I am skinter, but I genuinely am happier in myself, my anxiety has reduced a lot, I am concentrating on starting hobbies, making my weekends more productive and seeing new places etc.

It really is the worst thing to have and so misunderstood by a lot of people.

Venaflaxine life saver. Occasionally Xanax, trying to reduce stress, moved to seaside, sleep a lot. Financial stability.

Thanks for all the extra messages.
Sorry to hear so many people all feel the same.
It’s horrid and it can really get in the way of you having a happy life

Fluoxetine (Prozac) 20mg a day. I've gone from a basket case to calm and composed. This is the second time in my life it's made a massive difference.

I take citalopram for my anxiety i have been on it for ages it really works

Oh god I remember that gut wrenching g awful feeling that swooped in on me with about 10 seconds of me waking up in the night. I take sertraline and propranolol.

@cushioncovers weirdly if I ever 'doze' on the couch I wake up with waves of anxiety I can't shift! I hardly ever nap / doze but I HATE it for this reason!

It's something to do with the sleep hormones. I did read about it once which is why anxiety is worse on waking up.

I'm considering posting a more in dept thread myself but I'm really struggling too.

18 months housebound, sick to back teeth of being ill and currently not getting support from Mht.

On mirtazipine which has helped depression but not anxiety so I guess really I'm placemarking to a degree.

In the past meds which have helped but which unfortunately I can no longer take myself for a variety of reasons include

Citalopram
Clomipramine

One I wish I could take long term

Diazepam

Which does take the edge off and doesn't make me particularly woozy or anything, but I do understand why it isn't something anyone can take long term because of the addiction problems.

Anyone know if there's anything similar that doesn't have the dependency side effect?

Pregabalin I didn't want to try as read a fair amount of users reporting it made anxiety worse - last thing I need!

Quetiapine I've been prescribed and am very nervous of taking particularly as I haven't got anyone looking in on me regularly at the moment.

Sertraline. Game changer.

Escitalapram worked but I needed xanax to get over the initial side effects until it kicked in.

Prozac has totally zapped my anxiety. It's changed my life. Also on a low dose (20mg)
Don't suffer OP. Go back to your doctor

I really appreciate all this advice,Thankyou everyone.
I’ve not been on any medication for 10 years ( prescribed but never got past 4 days) prior to that I spent 20 years trying stuff ,being on stuff.
It wiped my memory and ruined my sex life
So I said never again
But this last year I’m just not coping at all and have tried 2 medication from gp ,I just can’t cope with the side effects