Anxiety medication experiences

[Batterydrained]

I've had anxiety on and off for the last eight years but for the last four it's been mostly on. I'm constantly worried, always overthinking, checking things a lot. Its not just a bit of worry or everyday stress, I can't switch off from the constant overthinking and it's getting completely exhausting. I feel like I'm living half a life.
I've always been against medication, it's scared me tbh and I've tried to sort of muddle through and hoped things would get better but they're not. I'm just looking for peoples experiences on anxiety medication or if there's any alternative therapies people have found helpful. I'm going to ring the doctors today but could be a while before I get in.
I know I can't carry on feeling like this but I feel lost as where to start to make a change.

Yes!!!
I have two schools of thought here that might help (they have helped me)

I took SSRIs for 6 months whilst going through a tough time. I have suffered anxiety on and off for most of my adult life. They really did help, you feel a little worse to begin with but then they completely took my anxiety away. I stayed on the lowest dose and tapered off slowly.

However, the absolute biggest change that has made my anxiety pretty much disappear was getting levels of key vitamins and minerals up to ‘optimum’ level rather than just inside the range of normal.

GP always said my levels were fine but my ferritin (iron) vitamin D and B12 were all literally just inside the range of normal. I got some extra strength iron tablets, took a vitamin D supplement and go to the local pharmacy for a B12 jab once a month at a cost of £30 each time. Since doing this, my anxiety has pretty much disappeared.

SSRIs will increase the amount of serotonin in your body, lack of this neurotransmitter can cause anxiety and/or depression. But in order to synthesise serotonin in the first place, your body needs all the correct ingredients to do so. Iron, Vit D and B12 all play a role (as do other key minerals etc)

In your case, I would ask the GP for medication but also thorough bloods. Take the medication whilst getting your levels where you need to be. And don’t take the GPs word for it that your levels are fine. Check the results yourself. For example, my ferritin was 34 - NHS states above 30 is normal but I read some medical papers on line that it really should be between 75 and 100 for a menstruating female.

Good luck! I feel better than I have felt in 20 years!

That reply is so helpful, thank you so much. Its good to know taking them for just six months made a big difference for you as I was worried about being stuck on taking something longterm which I didn't want. Did you find it hard coming off them? Or have any bad side effects? I'll definitely ask the doctor about doing bloods too (if I ever get through to the surgery!).

I'm pleased to hear you've got over the anxiety, you've made me feel more optimistic that I can change and feel better.

I’ve had anxiety for years and, for me, it’s best when I’m on sertraline. My adhd medication helps lots too with clearing my head but, to actually be able to relax my hyper vigilance, low dose sertraline does the trick. I’ve also done meditation, yoga, massage, swimming, counselling, group work and all kinds of other things which worked temporarily but not consistently no matter how hard I tried!

I've had anxiety for as long as I can remember, way back to childhood. It got particularly bad in my late twenties but in reality I should have saught support much sooner.

Medication has been an absolute lifesaver. I really wouldn't be here now without it. I remember when I first started on them and the best description I gave a friend was "Don't-give-a-shit pills". All those constant "What if's" and "Well what about...." thoughts were just gone.

They gave me interrupted sleep for the first couple of weeks, very vivid dreams and a bit of indigestion, but all those quickly passed.

I really would recommend giving them a try. You realise afterwards it's just absolutely exhausting being so anxious and to have that taken away is lovely.

@Twittable what kind of counselling/ group work did you do? I did this self help thing from the mind charity that was a phone call once a week for about 6 weeks. It helped a bit to understand anxiety more but I felt like it wasn't in depth enough to help long term. It was doing things like a worry tree and grounding techniques.

@FarmGirl78 how long do you think it took for them to start working? My sister takes them long term and she said she thinks they will just give me a bit of breathing space to be able to tackle my anxiety.

I’ve been on fluoxetine for 15 years. It saved my life.

I had some additional anxiety for a couple of weeks when starting but it’s kicked my OCD in to touch and my panic disorder is so much more manageable now. I really recommend the Dare Approach book if you suffer with anxiety. It’s allowed me to get my life together and travel around again without the fear of anxiety.

Sertraline has been an absolute game changer for me. My anxiety was absolutely crippling.
I find I can rationalise things better in my mind, if that makes sense. So things that I would have worried about and panicked about before, I find myself thinking ' well actually, it's not that bad and I can do this' or whatever.
I looked after my mum before we lost her to cancer, and I don't think I'd have coped through that time without them.
I've accepted I'll more than likely be on them long term, and I'm fine with that, if that's what helps me cope and stops that awful feeling, then I'm happy to carry on with them x

I've been on and off then for years depending on what I'm going through. I'd definitely agree with your Sister. You can't start to attempt to fix yourself in you're not in the right head space, and that's what medication is about. Getting your head in a place where you can start to tackle things for the longer term by using CBT or counselling etc.

They had a good effect by 2 weeks, and a full effect by I'd say 4 weeks. Your GP will usually start you on a low dose to give you chance to get used to it, and then increase upwards after 4 weeks ish to a dose which will actually have a decent effect. Although in the midst of anxiety and depression you'll likely feel some effect from that low dose. For me, this time round that low dose is enough but I've been on much higher previously.

You're welcome to message me if you want a chat, but it sounds like your sister has it bang on.

Its not unreasonable to be worried about taking medication, but once you start taking it you realise its often a symptom, and a very common one if you have health anxiety.
It can take time to find the right medication and dose for you. You have to take a bit of a leap of faith, see your GP and give it a go. Don't leave it too long because anxiety is no joke, but you don't have to live with it.

The first time I tried to come off them it was tough. So I went straight back up to my regular dose for a short while and then tapered off again more gradually and I was fine. That was 4 years ago and I haven’t needed them since.
I was really lucky in that I didn’t have any bad side effects when I started on them, just felt tired really. But I managed to move house in that period so it wasn’t too debilitating.

Good luck! You absolutely CAN and WILL get better!

Just to add - I say I haven’t needed them since but that’s not because I haven’t been through anything since then.
I had a rough start to this year - house move, relationship breakdown, health scare, death in the family- all happened within a short space of time and while I was obviously very stressed for a few months, I have found since sorting out all of my blood levels that I can cope with these things better now and I get over them quicker. I still feel stressed sometimes but I do return back to base line pretty quickly now. I don’t think it’s talked about enough, tbh, that not having optimum levels of key vitamins and minerals can affect your mental health so much

I started a SSRI about 6 weeks ago. On low dose initially and increased after 3weeks. I had been anxious for a few years and then got ill and got really depressed and anxious. It is early days and I had a few side effects but it has given me a bit of thought space which is such a relief and means I can interrupt the anxious train of thought. I’m going to start some CBT in a few weeks which I think will also help but it’s like the meds have given me a pause and now I can work on getting better. I was worried they would change me and struggled on for ages but I think they are helping.

Totally this! For over 30 years, I thought I was coping... until I wasn't. Like you, I'd avoided meds but, ultimately, they saved my life.
'Don't give a shit pills' is the perfect name for them... my mind has never been so quiet. Still feels odd some days to not be a functioning buddle of nerves as that was my 'normal' for so long 😂😂 But they really have been life changing.

Like many pp I have suffered with anxiety since childhood. I have had periods of years when I was 100% anxiety-feee and others when I had no life - couldn't eat or sleep, could barely talk or leave the house.

Long-term the best thing for me was CBT, exercise and trying to fill my life with things I like and enjoy.

Short-term for me the best medication was diazepam. Immediate relief, minimal side effects, I could take it when I needed it - one pill today, two in a month's time, nothing again for years etc. It would take away all my very disruptive, severe physical symptoms and I'd be able to think and focus.

GPs have huge restrictions on prescribing drugs like diazepam these days because of the risk of addiction, so they hand out SSRIs like sweeties. I have been on them twice and they do stop the mental noise- eventually. It can take two weeks to notice any improvement. For me the side effects of sertraline are brutal and it makes me emotionally numb. Years after coming off them I still have disordered eating - I get zero sensations of hunger or fullness but have the urge to eat compulsively. Also bear in mind that it can be very very difficult to come off SSRIs and that their effect on serotonin is a theory, it hasn't been proven. They are a depression medication and prescribed for anxiety off label. Ironically studies show that they work for anxiety and OCD but that for most depression sufferers they work no better than placebo and worse than exercise.

I hope you can find what works for you, I have been where you are and believe me you can be anxiety free

I started on low-dose escitalopram about 5 years ago. I use it in combination with the pill (for PMDD). I had no idea that the constantly on edge and stressed feeling I had was anxiety, and that it wasn't normal, until it went. Such a relief.

I also handle it with sport and good eating and sleeping habits. Taking the tablets in combination with this means I am much mentally and physically healthier.

Best of luck, OP

Thanks so much everyone for replying, I've just read them all. I just want a break from the constant over thinking, worry, upset. My mind is always on overdrive thinking worse case scenario and I just want some peace from it all. I'm mentally exhausted. I've got a phone appointment with a mental health nurse on Wednesday so hopefully she will be able to prescribe something. And I'm going to look for a counsellor too.