To ask for your opinion on SSRI/antidepressants for anxiety

[Februaryblooms]

Can I be nosy and ask for your experiences with being on medication for anxiety?

What were you prescribed, did you have any side effects and most importantly did you find that they worked?

I've had beta blockers but they do nothing for the mental health side of it.

HV has recommended asking the GP to perspective something but I'm reluctant as I don't want something that'll make me feel worse.

Tia

Prescribing not perspective**

I'm on citalopram and it has helped a fair bit.

Side affects are meant to be keeping you awake, so I take them in the morning.

I also recommend going tee total too

I'm tee total already so that's ok :)

Approx how long until you felt an improvement @OpportunityKnocks

Sertraline has been pretty good for me. But everyone reacts differently

Escitalopram. Had a few weeks of on-off nausea at the start, but then disappeared. It has been great.

Everyone reacts differently to different medications so it's hard to say but from my own personal perspective:

Sertraline - constantly on the loo and awful stomach pains

Prozac - total mental breakdown and major depressive episode that saw me sobbing on the kitchen floor until DH wrapped me in a blanket and took me to a doctor. They took me straight off it.

Citalopram - very rare side effect of excessive bleeding. Ended up in hospital after a 3 hour long nosebleed and bleeding out of my eyes.

SSRIs are just not suitable for me at all.

I'm now on mirtazapine, had some initial side effects such as weight gain but now it's settled and I'm losing the extra weight I gained. Also some sexual side effects like loss of libido but I prefer that to the alternative of being down a deep black hole. Positives are they really help with sleep which was becoming a huge problem for me and my anxiety and depression are reduced. It's always there in the background but as a gentle murmuring rather than shouty scary blackness.

I've tried a number of antidepressants as I have both depression and anxiety. Citalopram has been the best for me at creating a balance between the two, I currently take citalopram mainly for anxiety and mirtazapine for depression. I don't get any side effects or withdrawals from it which is key for me, some I've been on I've had to take religiously at the same time because even an hour late caused horrendous headaches.

Sertraline works great for me, but not everything suits everybody. You'd need to find something that suits you and the only way to do that is give it a try.

Anti depressants can work, but they dont rid you of the problem. In my experience theres a lot of different things needed.
CBT for the anxiety, plus the anti depressants, exercise and a good diet, then beta blockers all used in conjunction helps me keep things under control.

You get the best results from medication plus talking therapy.
For anxiety, beta blockers (or other appropriate med) will stop your heart pounding, but by themselves they can't address the thinking that made you anxious in the first place. That's why it's best to have both. Talk with your GP about your concerns.

I've self referred for therapy this morning. The pathway I'm going through offers EMRT (I think that's what it's called), CBT, counselling etc. I'll have an assessment to see what best meets my needs and then a plan will be made for the appropriate therapy.

Thank you all for your POV on medication it's helpful:)

Sertraline has been great for sorting out my baseline so I feel a lot more level and has increased my capacity for dealing with general bullsh*t. Made me feel super 'wired' and gaggy in the beginning but that settled down pretty quickly
Not a cure all though and these things work best when taken alongside other self care strategies, talking therapies, mindfulness, whatever works for you (which it sounds like you're exploring). Basically they're not a magic wand, might take a bit of jigging to find the right one and you get out what you put in therapy wise.

Before I would consider taking antidepressants for anxiety, I would do everything possible to pinpoint WHY I have anxiety, if possible.

Are you peri-menopausal? Have your hormone levels been checked? Are you deficient with any vitamins or minerals?

The side effects of medication are nothing to sniff your nose at and can be worse than the original problem.

My anxiety stems from a few things, I've had it long term as a result of abuse but most recently it's compounded because of trauma surrounding my recent birth and I think there may be a degree of PTSD involved. I think in the long run proper therapy will be most beneficial for sure.

Don't think I'm deficient in anything but am having regular blood tests so that could be something I ask my GP to look into aswell

I take Sertraline and love it. It helps me sleep and takes the edge off my anxiety.

Citalopram works for me.

But with anxiety I found therapy on how to manage it / stop it getting out of control worked better than the tablets.

I'm on escitalopram and it works well for me.

Definitely agree with the therapy. My personal opinion is that the role of the meds is to get my anxiety to a level where it is controllable. The role of therapy is to teach me skills that I can use to handle situations where I become anxious.

Everyone will experience some degree of anxiety. The difference between "normal" people and those of us with mental illness is that our anxiety is abnormal and sometimes isn't triggered by anything specific. The goal is to get our anxiety to a normal level and then develop coping skills to sort out the rest.

I include myself in this because I have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

I'm on Escitalopram. It has been great for me, 20mg. I've been on them for a long time. Started at 40mg four years ago after being on different meds before that for a long time. I have reduced to 20mg over time. Tried to go to 10mg last september but my anxiety got worse and my impulse control went out the window so went back to 20mg.

I think SSRI can be excellent for anxiety, especially alongside some form of talking therapy.

You say some of the anxiety stems from abuse, can I just recommend looking into empowerment or confidence boosting workshops once you've finished with other therapy? This is especially helpful, and funnily enough the CBT I have done myself was in a group therapy situation (also v helpful, dont be put off if that's what they offer, helped me realise it wasnt proof I was bad for having these feelings as all the others on my course came across as perfectly capable, in control, wonderful, beautiful women who felt like they out of control too ..it helped me to understand that these feelings dont just happen to crap people ) all of us had crippling low self esteem too.

I've been prescribed quite a few different ones but mirtazapine has had the best effect for me personally.

It also helps with sleep.

All SSRIs take up to eight weeks of continuous use to work effectively.

I've had therapy and support from a specialist nurse too, which was absolutely invaluable.

I tried citalopram and sertraline but they did more harm than good. The main side effect for me was sleep disturbance which made it very difficult for me to function. The only thing that helped my anxiety in the long term was understanding where it came from (through counselling and cbt), mindfulness and cutting out caffeine.

Also on citalopram - have been for three years (with a brief few months where I tried to go without it and it go well lol)

It does help. I'm not anxiety free by any means, but it controls the symptoms and generally keeps my mood stabilised which prevents any mega breakdowns. I have no side effects at all other than having a severe headache in the few hours after I took the first tablet, and a headache if I have forgotten to take them for a few days (which I do not recommend - try not to be as hopeless as me!)

I do think it's better to be on some form of SSRI rather than just betablockers.

Sertraline-had every side effect on the list for about 2 weeks but persevered. They have literally saved my life!

Op, it took 2-3 weeks to kick in noticeably. It's not a big bang, I just realised I wasn't worrying as much.

Work with your doctor on doseage, and don't be afraid to ask for diff meds.

I've also had counselling and cbt. Cbt is great, but hard. I had 121 sessions, but I know people who've had group sessions too