To ask those that have been diagnosed with anxiety…..

[MoneybagsIamnot]

Are you on any medication and if so, has it helped? Any horrible/negative side effects?

Sorry, posting in here for traffic more than anything. For years I think I have been struggling with anxiety. I am constantly stressed, worried and anxious. Lately (due to work troubles) this has gotten worse and I nearly always have a churning in my stomach and get heart palpitations.

I over analyse everything and every situation, I worry people dislike me or are in a mood with me all the time (I don’t think they do or are but it is something I worry and am paranoid about every day) I worry about my family and partner dying A LOT. I worry about money, my health…just about everything.

For the past few months I have been having real trouble sleeping…I just CAN’T switch my mind off. I’ve tried so many things herbal teas, herbal tablets, liquid stuff, meditation, not looking at my phone an hour before bed, relaxing music etc. None of it has worked.

I’m wondering whether I am suffering from anxiety and whether going to the Drs and getting some medication may help? It would be reluctant as I really dislike the thought of it, but I am fed up of feeling this way and I really need to start getting some sleep!

I was on Citalopram for six months. It killed my appetite and I lost nearly a stone. It def made me less anxious but I suffered from mood swings - if anything good happened I knew there would be a massive down a few days later.

Went down the therapy route and found a huge trigger from my past which is now being dealt with in therapy. I had no idea that it was causing me so many problems but I'm glad I found out so I can deal with it now.

I never put weight on sertraline.
propopolol Did nothing for me.
Mirtazapine i know for some has caused weight gain, i don't know for sure if it caused mine as i have other health problems.
I have had a problem with ed in the past, but mirtzapine was worth ( if it did) the weight gain for finally get me some sleep.

Kennington does magnesium do something for anxiety? I haven't read that. I take it for muscle spasm.

Op i'm not really one for a lot of herbal things, however i take quiet time or quiet life as it's got valerian root in ( a natural sedative) when i'm feeling particularly anxious.
It's fine to take with antidepressants, unlike st johns wort.

I'm on Propranolol. 70g for severe anxiety.
I don't like tempting fate by saying. I'm a lot calmer now.

Hi I had some cbt a while ago then it reared its ugly head when I was pregnant. We had been travelling and moved cities just before and I left my job just before so I just started worrying about everything. I was given olanzipine while pregnant (low dose) then afterwards sertraline. I guess it calmed me down enough to start thinking clearly again but most of the time I felt a bit out of it and coming off it wasn't nice at all. Then some woman at work started picking on me and it was threatening to come back so I just used techniques I'd learnt. Plus dp bought me a huge self help book. It is a horrible illness though. I hope you feel better soon.

I take an absolute load of stuff and I would be dead without it. I have also had a lot of therapy and am about to start another course. But I am a fairly extreme case (hospitalisations etc) and friends who don't find medication helpful have had good results with mindfulness techniques.

And there are other things to help: I find routine, isolation, classical music and essential oils calming.

Propanolol is a beta blocker so it will help with the physical symptoms but not the mental ones btw.

I had a month of Propranolol, but it disagrees with me. The big difference was a course of CBT. Really helpful.

Beta blockers. I find them really helpful, initially with the physical symptoms and then quickly it became the comfort blanket idea of them being available if needed so I only took them daily for a while and now they are my back up for bad days. No side effects at all (though on a friends advice I didn't take them too soon before bedtime as she had experienced terrible dream/nightmares)

UbiquityTree yes, and it can also be a long wait. After 6 months i gave up and told them to take me off the list.
Thankfully i have a good gp. I do wonder though how some people cope with having to wait for therapy if they haven't been prescribed any medication.
I had beta blockers to begin with but they didn't do a thing for my anxiety.