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Original poster

Anxiety...help

104 replies

PlantASeedWatchItGrow · 13/03/2013 12:31

Im suffering really badly with anxiety and panic attacks....saw doctor on Monday he gave me se tablets to take if the panic attacks get to much but they are addictive so can't take everyday. I don't want to take one incase I have a bad reaction or get addicted.

I just want to feel better again.....I can't cope with the never ending anxiety building inside me.

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Original poster
PlantASeedWatchItGrow · 13/03/2013 12:32

Nothing has changed from this time two weeks ago, why is this happening? Will I ever feel better without medication?

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Original poster
PlantASeedWatchItGrow · 13/03/2013 12:36

Anyone? Sad

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Lucyellensmum95 · 13/03/2013 12:38

So sorry you are feeling like this - i am in the middle of anxiety hell too so i know how you feel. What medication has the doctor given you, you need soemthing long term, why hasn't he done this?

TooYappy · 13/03/2013 12:39

Hi there, what is the medication has the doctor gave you and why are you so reluctant to take them?

Original poster
PlantASeedWatchItGrow · 13/03/2013 12:50

I think it's called citolapram 2mg, but it's in the car so I can't be sure. I didn't think I wanted anything long term, just something to help me if I felt really desperate in the middle of the night or something. Last night/evening I felt nearly normal and was happy then today it has built up more and more Sad

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Original poster
PlantASeedWatchItGrow · 13/03/2013 12:52

I know that I will be ok in the end, I've had this before and got through without medication then but it's the long journey ahead I'm scared of Sad
I know I'll have good days followed by bad days and slowly the bad days will get further and further apart but at the moment I just want it all to end an go away Sad

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Original poster
PlantASeedWatchItGrow · 13/03/2013 12:54

He told me they are not everyday tablets just one offs and they can be addictive. Also I'm taking st johns wart and it says not to mix them Sad

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EMUZ · 13/03/2013 13:00

Ok this might be long but here goes
I started with anxiety and panic attacks. They got bad. Nobody realised how bad until I rang my mum and said I would rather drive into a wall than have another one
I went to my GP and started on 10mg citalopram, I didn't want to take them. Eventually I did but it still wasn't brilliant. So I went back, got a referral for cognitive behavioural therapy and a prescription for 10mg propranolol to take 3 x a day.
I'm now still on citalopram (v low dose) and down to 1 x a day propranolol
Things that helped:
Having people that were close to me that knew, I could ring them and say "talk to me" and mum used to talk me through my panic (usually in the supermarket!)
There's a website called no more panic. The symptoms thing is helpful, it explains why you get each symptom and reassured me I wasn't having a heart attack/dying
Saying to myself when it started "oh hello panic" to acknowledge it, but then carry on with whatever I was doing
Distraction - anything! Cooking, baking, exercise, a funny film, a good book, a puzzle, listing things alphabetically in my head (colours, places)

It's a horrible, horrible feeling, I know Thanks and if you want to talk just PM me. I'm 3 years on now from when it was at its worst

citalobrain · 13/03/2013 13:02

Hi Plantaseed, sorry you're feeling so bad at the moment. There's nothing worse than anxiety :(

Were you give citalopram 20 mg?

If you were, you definitely shouldn't be taking them 'as and when' as they won't work and could possibly make you feel worse!

You should be taking them every day to get the benefits.

I'm stunned your GP prescribed them to you like this. Unless there's a whole other regime to taking them I didn't know about. (I'm not disbelieving you by the way, just surprised about the way they were prescribed to you!).

I'm on citalopram but you do have to take them consistently for them to help. I was also prescribed betablocks to help with physical, anxiety symptoms. They were prescribed to me more like you described - to take when things got particularly bad but not necessarily regularly.

I'd definitely go back to your GP (or better still ask to see another doc) and carefully go through their instructions to you.

Best of luck and I hope you feel better soon. The pills can/will help if they're taken the right way.

Take care xx

citalobrain · 13/03/2013 13:03

p.s. as far as I know they're not addictive (citalopram). I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure that's the case.

Take care x

MechanicalTheatre · 13/03/2013 13:05

Did the dr tell you to take them as and when? You should be taking them every day at a regular time. Also, while they are addictive, they're not addictive in the way that stuff like valium is. More like when you come off them, you need to drop the dose slightly every day.

Please go back to your GP.

I can sympathise, I am in the middle of anxiety hell too atm.

Lucyellensmum95 · 13/03/2013 13:10

You doctor is mad - citalopram takes at least two weeks to work and will do nothing for you at that dose - please go back to your doctors and ask for another dr.

Original poster
PlantASeedWatchItGrow · 13/03/2013 13:11

Thank you for talking to me, it's helped a little already.

Everyone around me knows but I just feel so desperate and helpless. We run our own business and I can't even face working, but at the same time if I don't do it it will all just build up for me for another day anyway Sad

One of the reasons why I didn't want to take medication everyday is because I heard that it numbs emotion so whilst it will help with the anxiety I won't feel really 'happy' either. I really don't want that, feeling happy is what I'm aiming for, I don't want to feel 'zombie' like at all. Sad

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MechanicalTheatre · 13/03/2013 13:12

I am on anti depressants and I don't feel like a zombie. You have to find the right one for you.

Original poster
PlantASeedWatchItGrow · 13/03/2013 13:13

I might be wrong about what they are then? I didn't really look and have left them in the car. I will try to face going out and looking in a minute. He definitely said take them if it gets bad like a 'chill pill' but I can't rely on them everyday so I will need to go back if it's bad in two weeks.

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Original poster
PlantASeedWatchItGrow · 13/03/2013 13:13

Really mechanical? Which ones are you on? Do you just feel 'normal'?

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Original poster
PlantASeedWatchItGrow · 13/03/2013 13:14

I've just tried to call my doctors but they are closed untill tomorrow...cue more anxiety.

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EMUZ · 13/03/2013 13:15

I don't have any side effects off citalopram. And yes you have to take them consistently for them to work. I feel ok, I get happy, I get sad

Original poster
PlantASeedWatchItGrow · 13/03/2013 13:16

I don't understand why I can feel normal one day/moment then BAM feel like a shivering wreck the next. When I feel normal I think 'oh it wasn't that bad, just breath through if it happens aain' then when it hits I just can't see past it at all Sad

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Original poster
PlantASeedWatchItGrow · 13/03/2013 13:17

How will I get through the next two weeks until they work though? And I can't see the doctors until tomorrow.

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MechanicalTheatre · 13/03/2013 13:17

WTAF? Are you sure they're citalopram? You need to see a different GP if that's the case. That's not how you take them.

I'm on sertraline, but I've been on more or less everything over the years. Do I feel normal? TBH, I've had mental health problems my whole life, so would struggle to really tell you what "normal" is. I feel ok and most days I can get out of bed and face the day. I feel sad sometimes, happy other times. That's good enough for me.

EMUZ · 13/03/2013 13:17

It just comes out of nowhere doesn't it? I remember having one on the motorway on Christmas Day 2 years ago! I felt like a right idiot after but I pulled on to the hard shoulder, rang my cousin and was ok after a few minutes

Corygal · 13/03/2013 13:18

I take Seroxat for it, it's brilliant. I feel normal - no side effects.

Don't worry, ADs are the most prescribed pills on the planet, they are very safe.

citalobrain · 13/03/2013 13:19

PlantaSeed I'm on citalopram and it does help to take the edge of the anxiety. I'm pretty sure you would have been prescribed 20 mg if it was citalopram he prescribed you, but whatever the dose, the way he's told you take them is very wrong!

It may be if it's not citalopram, it's something like propranolol like EMUZ mentioned.

Either way you've been left anxious and worried, on top of feeling anxious and worried.

I'd hang in there until the surgery opens and then book an appointment with another doctor (are you sure the surgery doesn't open this afternoon?).

EMUZ · 13/03/2013 13:20

If you feel you need to, I would ask the doctor for something "immediate" like propranolol
You can do it, you made it through yesterday, and you can make it through today. Sometimes that's all you have to see it as is making it through an hour, and then another one

I forgot to say, nights were worse for me I used to panic I couldn't see properly. Ended up with a plug in tiny night light and it was v reassuring

When is your panic worse, do you know what's started it or what triggers it?