Anxiety advice and advice on antidepressants please, thank u

[Jimikey123]

Hello,

I hope I have typed this in the correct place.

I have always been a worrier but it has never been something that has impacted my life before, until I had my second child. 6 weeks after he was born I got horrendous health anxiety’s d ended up in hospital. I struggled to cope and it took me 2 to 3 months to get through this and start to feel better again. Feeling good lasted about 7 months until I seemed to start to obsess again, this time it was after seeing a news story about a women that hurt her children. I started to obsess what I if I did that, etc. Please note, I never ever wanted to hurt my children and I knew I wouldn’t, I just couldn’t help obsessing over it. I sought help and got some therapy which did help and it took about 5 months but gradually I did start to feel better. Then again another 5 months later I started to get anxiety again, this time itwas more panic driven and more worrying about anxiety than anything else, again it had an obsessive nature about it. I hate doing things on my own and I have really lost my confidence. I am a stay at home mother so I manage to look after the children etc but I still struggle day to day. I worry a lot about never feeling normal again and how am I going to have a normal life and be able to go on holidays etc when my anxiety is like this.

Each time I have fell into one of these anxiety episodes it has started with my period. It always seems to begin in the lead up to my period starting. So I am not sure if anyone has any experience of this too? I know I don’t have PMDD or anything as I do not feel better once my period begins. But it seems like I get myself better for a few months and then wham I have a bad period and my anxiety goes again and I am back down with it all again.

I have never taken a antidepressant and I am worried about going down that route. This is purely due to not knowing anyone (that I know of) who takes them or has taken them. My therapist did suggest them previously but I supposed I am scared of them as it is the unknown for me. So if anyone could share their thoughts on this or at least any success they have had that would be amazing.

At the moment I genuinely am struggling with the hope of feeling better. I think because I worry I am going to be like this forever. Bad anxiety for a few months and then good for a while and then bad again.... so on so on.....

If anyone can suggest anything or just offer their own experience that would be so much appreciated. Thank u xx

Practicing mindfulness is a great help. It can take some time to feel it is working, but once it does it can be really helpful.

Also, I am not really keen on anti depressants. I have tried all different kinds over the years and I still struggle, with or without them. So I would much rather do without. However, they can help people completely or even just help to pull people out of the deep end, as they have for me in the past.

What i go for now is more anxiety based medications, that can be used when needed instead of a daily pill that you need to take for a number of weeks for them to even start working.

Propranolol and buspirone are my go to meds for anxiety. But mindfulness is my preferred method, just sometimes anxiety is too strong.

I hope you find a way that works best for you. Its trial and error, but you will get there.

The link to your period would suggest its hormonal so meds would be a good bet. I'd try them for a few months and just stop if you don't like them. If you've only had them a little while they're easy enough to come off.

I've come to terms with the fact that I will never be off my meds as I relapse within a year every time I do. My brain just doesn't produce enough of certain chemicals and that's that.

As an alternative have you tried therapy? CBT is good for intrusive thoughts, I did it for a while but it was more of a band aid for me while waiting for trauma counselling. It helps though and if you're opposed to medication its worth trying first.

If it's rooted in anxiety then Propranolol can be helpful - it slows everything right down. On it's own though (for me at least) it wasn't enough and I had to take a heavy duty tri-cyclic antidepressant (Dothiepin (Dosulepin) - don't think that's recommended now) at the same time, and I really don't advocate that (horrendous side effects) . After having children and sliding into pnd I have found that ad's, particularly Fluoxetine, have really helped keep things vaguely level - it's not without its problems but it's the best balance i've found of symptoms v side effects. The other things that have been suggested - and i'd highly rate both yoga and mindfulness - really work, but you need to first get to a place where you are open to them. Don't discount the hormonal influence - it can be utterly overwhelming, and while i'm now approaching menopause i'm still a slave to it - feel free to message me of I can help - I really relate to your post, and while there may be no easy answers, if my experiences through anxiety and depression can can help, i'd be happy to share them x

I had terrible peri natal depression and anxiety that went on for years.

Long story short. Propranolol was and is great. When I started feeling the irrational thoughts, the panic. Pop one. Calms the body. Slows the heart rate. Gets rid of the fight or flight physical panic and allows you to say in your head. This is silly. It's not real.

I have been on ADs as well.

These drugs help. They are nothing to be scared of.

Choice of debilitating depression and having panic attacks on the street

Vs

Not.

Thank you all for your comments.

It is very helpful to hear other people’s experiences with anxiety and also antidepressants. I will certainly talk to my therapist and GP about these further.

I am also going to see a gynaecologist privately just to see if they have any suggestions re my periods and what my help. I don’t think this is a purely hormonal thing but I cannot be sure and all I do know if each time I have had an anxiety relapse it has been at period time and then it takes me months to recover and feel slightly better.

Thank you all for replying. I wasn’t sure if I would get any replies so really do appreciate it x