Has anyone recovered from severe anxiety? I need some help.

[TheNervyNelly]

I’m in real need of some positive stories or advice to help me.
Im suffering from really bad anxiety at the moment and can’t see an end to it.
We have some financial difficulties as a family and need to move away from our current area. I’m petrified of things going wrong in the future and can’t see any positives in the move. This is having a huge knock on effect on my relationship. My partner has been very supportive but I’ve really pushed them to the limit with constantly worrying and changing our plans at the last minute.
I just feel a constant pit in my stomach. I barely sleep. I can’t concentrate.
I was signed off from work for six weeks but felt that I had to go back. I’ve just completed a phased return but I know I wasn’t really ready. But if I go off again I’m worried my pay will stop which will just compound my financial problems.
I was prescribed some antidepressants but I’m scared to take them and have been so busy with things that I’m worried about the side effects being manageable.
Does anyone ever truly beat anxiety or is it something you just learn to live with/manage? Do the antidepressants work and how long did it take to feel less anxious? I’m worried that I was told it might make me MORE anxious to start with and I really can’t cope with that. I would just go to pieces.
I feel no hope at the moment and feel I’m letting my kids down and missing their best moments if childhood. Has anyone beaten this in the past and can give me some optimism?

You might need something like Fluoxetine or Sertraline. I had crushing, awful anxiety about 6 years ago and Fluoxetine pulled me out the other side. You can feel worse before better, though.
How old are you? Anxiety can be a horrible symptom of peri menopause.

I found sertraline helpful but yes the anxiety did increase for the first two weeks before I started to feel better. Fortunately I was signed off work for those two weeks. Most of my really bad anxiety has related to starting new jobs and once I've made the decision to give up the job things have improved. I hope you start to feel better soon.

I was prescribed Sertraline in the past but it made me feel terrible. I have now been prescribed escitalopram. Anyone have any experience? I’m thinking of starting on an even lower dose than prescribed. But very scared of becoming reliant.

Hi OP,

First of all, I’m sorry that you’re feeling like this. I suffer with anxiety myself and have had periods where is has been so bad I can’t see a way out but then I do come out of it. Keep talking to your partner, explain what you’re worried about. If they’re are as supportive as you say they are, they will be a good sounding board for your worries. The difficulty when you’re in the grip of an anxious episode is that it’s hard to see the woods for the trees, I’ve been there. But it doesn’t last forever. What are your coping strategies at the moment? Can you write down your worries/anxious thoughts?

You’ve talked about anti depressants, I take Citalopram 20mg and started on 10mg back in 2018. It literally changed me for the better overnight. And then the same when I upped them earlier this year. However, that is my experience and I know it’s not the same everyone.

Take it one day at a time. It will be ok.
All the best, and keep talking
xx

Overnight?? Did you have side effects?
My coping strategies at the moment include propranolol and distraction (word puzzles on my phone) but im aware this isn’t a long term strategy! Nor is it really working.

Hello!
Yes, I had bouts of horrible anxiety in my 20s (to the point of projectile vomiting and muscle spasms) and milder periods of anxiety/agoraphobia in my early 30s. I'm 41 now.
Have you tried going for a swim? I found it eased the tension in my body and offered relief for a period... Other exercise might also help, but I think the way deep water supports your weight is really helpful and calming.
A calm breathing app to assist breathing exercises is really good too, following the breathing exercises helps with panic.
Do you have any hobbies? It can be hard to concentrate on reading or TV but I found audiobooks + drawing or audiobooks + walking really good for helping with the endless rumination.
Hot tea for a sore tummy 🙂
Long term, being able to recognise the physical and mental... processes/patterns around anxiety and understanding what was happening to my brain and body really helped me.

Citalopram worked for me. It wasn't overnight, but after a few weeks I suddenly realised I felt clear headed and rational again, I was no longer catastrophising every scenario. I had zero negative side effects Sending strength and wishing you all the best as you get through this difficult season, remember that's all this is and while it's awful now, it's a short period in your life

No side effects for me and I started to feel better overnight. Looking back I sometimes that it was because I was so anxious I couldn’t have gotten any worse so it was almost a placebo affect. But Citalopram has genuinely helped me with my anxiety. X

Also @TheNervyNelly do you have health anxiety at all? I was given some valium at one point but was too scared to take it because side effects. I think I also was too scared to take my beta blockers 🤦 i didn't realise this was a form of health anxiety at the time, but I was also paranoid about my heart/breathing and thinking I couldn't breathe properly. Yes, as a very fit woman in my early-mid 20s. anxiety is such a bitch!

Fluoxetine combined with pregabalin works well for me. I’ve had a rough time similar to yours this year, i have thought i might explode with anxiety due to stressful circumstances and the pregabalin in particularly has worked immensely and made me be able to function.

good luck i really hope you feel a bit better soon

For those that have taken the antidepressants. How would you describe the ultimate effect? Do you feel happy/joy? Or is it more like the edge has been dulled on the worst thoughts? Or do you genuinely feel like your old self? In desperate to feel normal again.

I take propranolol because I don’t feel anxious all the time just in certain situations and it works for me as it stops my body feeling the tension and stops me spiralling because the physical doesn’t trigger the mental panic.

Im on fluoxetine. I’ve also done CBT and use the techniques to help.
I am still me. I find little things don’t make me spiral into anxiety. I still laugh and feel joy. I’m a better wife and parent on it.
I hope you find what works for you OP.

Firstly, I am so sorry that you are experiencing such severe anxiety - I’ve been there too in my early 20s. I am now in my 60s and like you had a fear of taking antidepressants. I read (and still sometimes re-read) Dr Claire Weeks books - ‘self help for your nerves’ is the first one - there are other later ones. There are also cds of hers, one of which are the recordings of (I think) a radio series as well as interviews on Pebble Mill at One, a programme in the 80s/90s. There is a Dr Claire Weeks website but you may be able to get the books from the library. I still experience some level of anxiety but only very occasionally, There is also a very good book called Why Panic by sue Breton. Another option is cbt with an accredited counsellor but you would probably need to access this privately. Also have a look at the Living Life to the Full website where you can access free self help tools. It may not seem like it now but as others have said you will get through this and come out the other side.

Propranolol used to work well for me in the past for social anxiety but in recent months it seems to have stopped having any effect on my physical symptoms. I take 40mg. 10 used to work for me! I guess my body has got used to it.

Yes I beat it. I developed an anxiety disorder following a bad experience. I suffered for many years before deciding I didn’t want to feel this way anymore and I gradually dug myself out of that state. It wasn’t easy and I did it without any outside help or medication. I found that it worsened during my pregnancies and after giving birth and am aware it may appear again during peri and menopause.

Hi i was prescribed escitalopram and I am still on it after 1 year. Had others in the past like sertraline but this has been the best for me personally.

Not as many side effects as sertraline but it does not work like an instant cure. I was also prescribed propanalol and the doctor explained the escitalopram will be a long term help for the " behind the scenes" part of the anxiety and the propanalol was for the instant physical symptoms.

I started on 5mg escitalopram and now on 15 which is best for me at the current time. I may reduce in the future but the dr is happy. I took propanalol nearly every day for the first month supervised by the doctor and some days up to 3 x 40mg. I found this gave my body a chance for the physical symptoms to calm down to take the pressure of my brain trying to regulate my breathing and heart rate and sweats. Then i could start to address the mental health side of my symptoms.

I have not needed the propanalol for over 7 months now and I am more stable and so much less issues with anxiety. I was physically exhausted in the first 3 months but in a good physical and mental state now.

Hope this helps

Also I was peri menopausal and brain fog and anxiety was also a symptom and my HRT has been a god send.

Sertraline and time. Took me a few years to get completely out of it but I’ve been very well, content, normal anxiety levels about 3 years now.

I had Venlafaxine. It stopped the anxiety almost immediately. It enabled me to function relatively normally. I was so bad that even getting up and dressed was difficult and leaving the house was impossible.

The main source of the anxiety is gone now, but I do struggle still with decision paralysis and I get overwhelmed easily, but life is much better than before.

The mess dull the reaction which enable you to deal with the cause.

@unsync It’s the dealing with the cause thing that worries me. My anxiety is really about the future and about the fear of regretting my choice of next step in life. So I delay making any choice at all. I have the worst decision paralysis you could imagine. I will literally force a choice down the last possible second and, if it doesn’t have to be made, I won’t.
Silly examples but I will stare at a menu right up until the waiter is stood next to me. Or I won’t spend my one audible credit because I can’t bear the thought of regretting my book choice. It’s exhausting but I can’t snap out of that mindset.
Dud the meds help with that?

As an aside, I stopped using Audible years ago, but you used to be able to return audio books you didn’t like and swap for a different one without losing your credit, don’t know if still possible…… Anyway, Escitalopram is the only SSRI which works for me, so hopefully you will have a positive result from taking it.

@TheNervyNelly What is causing the decision paralysis? If that's the root cause, that's where you need to start. The meds may give you the breathing space to do that. Is it neurological or psychological? Are you ND or did something happen to cause the paralysis?

@unsync I don’t know. I’ve just more recently really struggled with decisions. I just find that I will need to research anything to death. I’ll find pros and cons but as soon as I pick one option my brain will flick a switch and find all the reasons to pick the other one as if it’s impossible to see any positives of the chosen option. Then if I change my mind, my brain will do the opposite. Aboulomania I think it’s called.

I was prescribed a tiny dose of escitalopram (2.5mg) when I was going though a horrible work situation. It worked well for me, helped me get life into perspective annd manage my anxiety. I was on it ten years in total. I would say my anxiety returned but not crippling, and I’ve come to the conclusion that learning to live with it and manage it is better than medication in the long run. It did give me a breather though.

Conversely, DD was prescribed high doses of Seroxat and after that sertraline. When she came off them (gradually over several years) she was made so ill by withdrawal that she nearly didn’t survive. I firmly believe that GPs are too quick to reach for the prescription pad and over-prescribe without monitoring how patients cope with ADs.

My advice, based on hard experience, is start with a low dose, give that time to work, and aim to come off them gradually within a year.