Anxiety

[Menomoo78]

I have suffered with anxiety for the past twenty years, I've carried on despite it, because you have to, but I know it has affected my life choices, things I have done, not done. I am now in my late 40s and I have decided enough is enough, I am on hrt, the doctor thought that might help the anxiety too, but the anxiety was with me long before the perimenopause! I have tried counselling, hypnotherapy, various supplements but nothing has eased it enough to make a difference. I don't feel depressed, but I do feel this weight on my chest a lot now, and a jitteriness which I hadn't had previously, I am wondering has anyone taken prescribed meds that help anxiety or is it just antidepressants, and if anyone could recommend any? Thank you. Posting in Menopause too.

I take citalopram for anxiety, I have been taking it for around 15 years and it helps enormously!

This…

I'm interested in this too, as I suffer in exactly the same way. Antidepressants just don't seem to tackle chronic anxiety very well, great for depression but not panic, heart racing, mind racing, all consuming anxiety which affects your sleep etc. I'm on propranolol for the physical stuff but what else is there?

What happened in your late twenties? What were you like before that?

I started suffering from horrendous anxiety when I hit menopause. I’ve never been an anxious person but I became an absolute shadow of myself. Went on Sertraline and it really has given me my life back.

Thank you for all your replies, I have made an appointment to see my GP.
In my twenties, i moved away from home for work, and my long term relationship at the time ended

Sertraline has helped a lot of people I know with anxiety.

Just a quick update, my gp today prescribed me sertraline, start on 25mg, then up to 50mg after a week, if anyone can tell me what to expect, and did you gain weight? Thanks 🙏

Personally I have had no side effects with sertraline, but I think most people do have a few in the first few weeks. It is possible sertraline caused me to gain weight as I have put on weight over the years, but to be honest I think it's far more likely that my sedentary lifestyle and love of biscuits did that!

As to how quickly it works, I think it's common to not feel any change in anxiety for a while until the meds kick in. Basically see how it goes, and you can always see your GP if you feel unwell or feel it's not working. Best wishes!

Your anxiety may heighten in the early stages of using it. Sometimes GP’s prescribe a benzodiazepine alongside for a week or two to help with the side effects. 50mg is the starting therapeutic dose, you may need to go higher for it to work. Takes about 6 weeks to work properly.