Antidepressants for Anxiety

[DassaJassa]

Hello all

I've been suffering daily anxiety for in excess of 4 months, on a daily basis i experience chest pains, tightness, random pains, pressure headaches, feel like I'm suffercating, fear of dying and various other symptoms.  I've considered antidepressants before but are fearful of the side effects or the intial weeks of treatment.

I'm interested in hearing peoples stories on their experiences with antidepressants, primarily on how it made them feel, whether it reduced symptoms or any general experiences or feedback 

Thank you for time 🙂

[DassaJassa]

Also duration of treatment and how you felt afterwards would also assist

[Sophie_M]

Hi DassaJassa, you might find it helpful to look through some of the threads in our Treatments forum to answer these questions, we have quite a lot of discussions in there on this topic.

[Ace6913]

Hi there 😄 and welcome

ive to just gone on 4 months with Dailey anxiety and the horrible symptoms that go with it 😩 I feel you . I've done 3 months of cognitive therapy which did help at the start it's very informative on our illness and gives you great strategies I was doing well for a couple of weeks then my anxiety peaked I would just have the that dreadful fear in the pit of my stomach that something is seriously wrong and convince myself I have all these horrible diseases I was doing this Dailey I'd go to bed thinking I don't know if I can do it all again tomorrow I was just utterly exhausted and desperate I went back to my gp and finally referred me to a physiatrist who has been helping me a lot and has also prescribed me sertraline as I'm pregnant so it's the best one for me it really has calmed me down and gives me a breather that I can actually gain some rational thinking I've been on it just on 3 weeks now without any bad side effects . I still have moments of anxiety or that dread come back but it more comes and goes now instead of sticking around 24/7 . I hope I've shed alittle light for you 😃 always here for a chat .

[DassaJassa]

I really appreciate you letting me know of your experience. It even helps just knowing other people struggle with the same problems, Thanks heaps 🙂

[DassaJassa]

Just got back from the GP
He prescribed a tricyclic antidepressants.
I didn't even think they still pushed these medications considering the newer AD meds.
I'm so over waiting for this to get better on it's own. I'm going for it

[BballJ]

Hi DassaJassa,

I also have suffered from various anxiety symptoms most of my adult life, many of what you described above. I only started anti depressants this year, I am not a fan of taking medication so I started and stopped pretty quickly, but most of the feedback I read was they help many people, to be honest, I think they started helping whilst I was on them but as I said I stopped pretty quickly so may not of got the full effect. Most of my treatment came through counselling and learning to deal with anxiety and working out the root of the problem to understand it better.

Have you looked into counselling and CBT as Ace6913 mentioned above?

My best for you,

Jay

[DassaJassa]

Hi Jay

I'm currently receiving counselling. I feel better when I have sessions, it lasts a few days then I'm often back to square one. I've currently had 6 sessions. My main problem is the random symptoms that come on randomly, they change in they're constantly changing, once I get over one, something else comes on later. It's soul crushing

[White_Rose]

Dear DassaJassa

Hello and welcome. You were talking about the tricyclic group of antidepressants. I have been taking SSRIs for many years. It feels as though I have tried all of them but probably not. Not many good outcomes and unable to tolerate therapeutic doses. My GP changed my AD to one from the tricyclic group and it has been great. Like many people I am not happy taking medications for anything so I was wary of trying yet another drug. Started off slowly and gradually built up to my present level. As I understand it these drugs have a more broad application than SSRI. Anyway these meds have been a life saver for me. I feel so much better, get through bad patches more easily (it's never totally easy) and feel I am becoming what I once was.

They do not make me feel drowsy or stop my ability to think. For the price of one tablet a day I can live with taking meds. So if these are working for you, stay with them. Sometimes the older drugs are more useful. I have met several people who take these and find they work well. drugs are not there to cure you, they are there to manage your symptoms in the background while you work on ways of managing your anxiety. Don't be afraid of them. They can save you much pain and let you be yourself while you get back to full health.

Mary

[BballJ]

Hi DassaJassa,

That tells me that you haven't got to the exact cause of your anxiety, I may be wrong but once I got the nitty gritty of my anxiety with my counsellor, that's when I started to feel better, my anxiety was so bad, I couldn't even stay at home by myself when my wife went out, I had anxiety attacks, and had to be around other people to distract myself, this was my anxiety at its peak. I have since learned to deal with it through counselling, I still haven't resolved the issues either but I know how to tackle them which gives me some peace.

These symptoms you get, I know you say they are random, but do they randomly appear at night, or when you wake up? or are they random all times of the day.... Mine used to be different times of the evening.

My best,

Jay