Medication & Anxiety

[BballJ]

Hi all,

I just wanted to reach out and ask of people's positive experiences with medication for anxiety & depression - I am not looking for recommendations on medications or names etc as I know this against the forum rules - I just want to see if they have indeed helped people. I just had a trip to my GP as my health anxiety has caused so many issues in my personal life that it has become incontrollable, my GP thinks it will be best if I go on medication as I am already speaking to a psychologist.

I am open to the idea but again just wanted to know did medication help you in your recovery from anxiety and depression?

Thank you in advance

Jay

[Guest_1643]

Hi Jay,

Im a it wary of this post tbh.

Why are you asking for people's positive experience, and not the real experiences ?

Meds sometimes work, sometimes don't, and sometimes, even if they work , they may take a fair while to work.

To put together only glowing and positive experiences of people rheyve helped feels a bit irresponsible.

[Petal22]

Hi BballJ,

In my experience when I was experiencing severe anxiety OCD, antidepressants did help me…. But when I first started taking them my anxiety got worse before it got better.

They can take up to 6 weeks to work.

I believe that if I hadn’t have gone on antidepressants my anxiety would have been too high for me to be able to concentrate on what I needed to learn in therapy so I could master my condition.

The antidepressants helped to bring down my level of anxiety that I was feeling.

Hope this helps 😊

[Petal22]

Just another thing I wanted to ask you BballJ,

I think it’s great you are seeing a psychologist but does your psychologist understand the OCD cycle?

I ask you this because some psychologists don’t understand the full cycle and they don’t understand the things you are doing that are keeping you in your cycle.

Reassurance seeking is part of the OCD cycle……. you need to learn how this is keeping you in your cycle and then you need to learn how to disengage from this behaviour.

If it is OCD, I believe OCD is a specialised area.

You need to be given the correct help so you can learn how to break free of its grips………… this is why it’s very important that you see the correct people to get the correct help.

[Ggrand]

Hello Dear BballJ,

To answer your question...it did help me to help myself to manage a bit easier...it took the edge off my depression and anxiety, but never stopped it...I still can get really bad days or weeks...I think with meds it’s important to speak openly with your professionals to also help give you some good coping strategies....

Medication works differently for each individual, some people it helps, others it doesn’t...

I think that trust and communication is vital with your professionals when starting any mental health medication...

Please continue to reach out to your professionals with as many questions as you have in regards to taking new meds...

My kindest thoughts dear BballJ,

Grandy...

[britishtvfan]

hi BballJ.

i just wanted to say i agree with Sleepy. i am not trying to push you away or invalidate you, but you would be best discussing meds with a professional. just because meds work for some, it doesn't mean it will work for everyone, yourself included. maybe they will, only you know if they will help you, & certain types, etc. if you decide to take them.

just be weary of that, what works for some doesn't work for everybody.

[CMF]

Hi Jay

I've known you on the forums a long time. I think your question is fair & valid. We know medications react differently for different people. We know sometimes we need to try different medd to see what works best for us. I know you are having a really difficult time at the moment & are looking for hope that medications will help. I think it's good that you are interested in positive experiences as I know you're aware of the negatives.

I can't offer much on medications but I hope you find one that works for you so you can enjoy life again.

Cmf

[Guest_1643]

Medication did not help me at all to recover from depression.

Some ppl have negative experiences with ads.

Any discussion of psychotropics would also include the possibility that they would not help

What helps each person is individual.

If ppl want to take medication it is good to ask family, friends, pharmacist, drs and nurses and anyone u trust and get as much info as possible

I think sometimes ppl expect their symptoms to ease dramatically with anti depressants

I felt no different at all

I'm just being honest about my experience, which was that medication didn't help me with overcoming depression.

[blondguy]

Hey Hey Jay :-)....Really good to see you!!

Thankyou for the super helpful post!

Just as per my own experience....I wasted 13 years of my life by refusing to take a small dose of an SSRI

When I started taking the SSRI's

* The quality of my sleep improved

* I was able to retain and succeed in my career...and in my personal life

* The awful anxiety and depression did reduce in severity after a few days

you rock Jay 🙂

Paul

Note: The meds do provide us with a solid foundation on which we can heal more effectively when used in conjunction with ongoing counselling

[geoff]

Hello Jay, haven't seen you for a long time, but good you're back.

Anxiety can come in many different forms and depression can well be attached to this, as it did for me, so it's possible the medication can help with depression first which will then help you with anxiety, but everyone is different.

Perhaps it allows us to balance out our moods to be able to think clearer, then we can rationalise our thoughts, rather than without it, we only think negatively.

If one doesn't work then see your doctor to review the situation.

Best wishes.

Geoff.