Search the Community

ADMIN NOTE Also see: How to cope with worry, stress, and anxiety -- and what's the difference? Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms ____________________________________________________________ From: https://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/anxiety-self-help/ see website which includes some self help videos ____________________________________________________________ List of symptoms - more details are provided below: Smothering sensations and Shortness of breath Racing heart, slow heart beat, palpitations Lump in throat & Difficulty swallowing Skin losing colour (blanching) Sweating Shaking or shivering (Visibly or internally) Neck & shoulder pain & numbness in face or head Rapid gastric emptying Sexual Dysfunction Symptoms of urinary tract infection Skin rashes Weakness in arms & tingling in the hands or feet Electric shock feeling anywhere in the body Insomnia Nightmares Fears of going mad or losing control Increased depression & suicidal feelings Aggression Symptoms like 'flu' Distorted vision Disturbed hearing Hormone problems Headaches & feelings of having a tight band around head Sore eyes Agoraphobia Hallucinations Creeping or pins and needles sensations in The skin Hyperactivity Dramatic increase in sexual feelings Pain in the face or jaw that resembles a toothache Derealisation and Depersonalisation Good article Panic & Anxiety disorder www.npadnews.com/anxiety-symptoms.asp Anxiety & Panic Attacks Symptoms It is not important to try and understand the physiology of the human body but it is important to remember that each of the anxiety symptoms you experience can be explained. Do not dwell on what you are feeling, instead, project yourself into more useful subjects, do something constructive, exercise, learn a skill or craft and escape the body trap. The following list of anxiety symptoms includes the most common ones reported by actual anxiety sufferers. Whilst the list is fairly comprehensive, there may be symptoms that you experience that are not listed; this does not mean that you are more ill or suffering from something else, we are all biologically different in many ways and some people simply react differently during anxiety. If you have any symptoms to add to this list, please email them to me with a description of the sensations you experience. .... Smothering sensations and Shortness of breath These sensations are amongst the more distressing anxiety symptoms. Sometimes it feels as if your chest will not expand to accommodate the air your body needs, other times it feels as if someone is pushing a pillow into your face. The one thing to remember should you experience this is that it is only a sensation caused by exaggerated nerve impulses. These symptoms will not and cannot harm you; you will not stop breathing, pass out or suffocate. Racing heart, slow heart beat, palpitations Anxiety releases adrenaline into the blood stream making the heart race and feel as if it is missing beats, (palpitations). This is perfectly natural and will not and cannot harm you in any way. Later I will discuss methods you can use to help stop these feelings. A slow heart beat is also a common feature of anxiety, again it does not mean that your heart will stop beating, it may feel odd and alarming but again do not give it any credibility and it will go away. Chest Pain Caused by muscle tension, chest pains can make you feel very scared. The initial reaction of anyone with anxiety who gets pains in their chest is that they are dying of a heart attack. This is not true. Heart pain is very different to this pain and very often does not start in the chest. Deep breathing and relaxation exercises are a very effective way of diminishing these unpleasant symptoms. If you can get somebody to massage your upper back, shoulders and chest, it will help to relax tired and achy muscles. Lump in throat & Difficulty swallowing Globus Hystericus is the correct term for this symptom. It is caused by the muscles in the throat contracting due to anxiety or stress. Sometimes it feels like you cannot swallow anything and trying to makes it worse. This is another example of a symptom, which will improve if you give it no credibility. It is totally harmless and will not cause you to stop breathing, eating or drinking, it is just very unpleasant. Skin losing colour (blanching) As blood is diverted to the muscles during the 'fight or flight' response, the fine blood vessels in your skin that gives the skin that pink, healthy colour receive reduced blood flow and the skin loses some of its colour. It is not dangerous and will return to normal as the body starts to normalise after an attack. Some people with generalised anxiety can look a little pale most of the time, again this is quite normal and will return to normal. Sweating Sweating is a normal bodily reaction and is designed to reduce the body temperature. As the body heats up sweat is released onto it through sweat glands. As the sweat evaporates it takes heat with it, cooling the body. During periods of anxiety the body is preparing itself for either flight or fight and releases sweat to cool the impending exertions. As the anxiety subsides sweat levels return to normal. Shaking or shivering (Visibly or internally) We all shake or shiver when we are nervous or cold. Shaking is a normal reaction to fear and/or a drop in body temperature. Shaking occurs when the muscles spasmodically contract creating friction between muscles and other body tissues. This friction creates heat which raises body temperature. During anxiety it is quite normal to experience shaking or shivering. It will pass. Neck & shoulder pain & numbness in face or head The blood vessels and nerves, which supply the face and head, originate in the neck and shoulders. Many of these nerves and blood vessels are routed across the head to the face. When the body is under stress these areas of the body are usually the first to become tense. Facial numbness can be very disturbing but is usually nothing to worry about and is usually the result of this tension. Rapid gastric emptying This can be a very unpleasant side effect of both anxiety and tranquilliser use. This condition causes the sufferer to feel full very early on in a meal, sometimes making them feel as if they cannot breathe. Then soon after eating they can experience diarrhea and feel as if their whole digestive system is emptying very quickly indeed. Indigestion, heartburn, constipation and diarrhea During periods of anxiety the body diverts blood from various parts of the body to the muscle tissues in order to supply them with the oxygen needed by them during the flight or fight response. One of the main areas where blood is used most is around the digestive tract. Blood is sent there to absorb nutrients from the food we eat. As blood is diverted away from the stomach during anxiety, the digestion slows and the muscles around the stomach can become knotted. This can cause indigestion, heartburn and diarrhea or constipation. Sexual Dysfunction Impotency, or failure to achieve or maintain an erection, effects many men for many reasons, sometimes there is a physical reason for this but more often than not there is a psychological element. Symptoms of urinary tract infection Medication can have many and some times quite obscure side effects including the symptoms of a urinary tract infections. It is always advisable to get these things checked out by your doctor but even if you do have an infection it can be easily treated. Drinking plenty of water is always advisable to maintain good, general health but even more so when the body is under stress. Skin rashes Skin rashes, spots or dryness are all very common symptoms of anxiety and stress. It is quite common to get an eczema like rash around the nose, cheeks and forehead. They are nothing to worry about and usually disappear when you start to feel better. Weakness in arms & tingling in the hands or feet The flight or fight response is an intense reaction and causes many systems of the body to react. Circulation, blood oxygen and blood carbon dioxide levels change and muscle tension is altered in preparation for action. All of these bodily changes have a profound effect on bodily sensations, feeling week in the extremities, (arms, hands, legs or feet) is one of these sensations. Tingling is usually caused by the pooling of blood carbon dioxide in the limbs, shaking the hands, arms, legs and feet can help increase circulation to these areas. These symptoms are not harmful and will return to normal. Light exercise is very helpful in reversing these sensations. THEY DO NOT MEAN YOU ARE EXPERIENCING A STROKE OR ANY OTHER NEUROLOGICAL CONDITION! Electric shock feeling anywhere in the body The nervous system is a very complex network of electrically charged nerves which are found in every square centimeter of your body, around every organ, muscle and across your skin, the largest organ in the body. Abnormal nerve impulses due to anxiety can cause a vast array of strange sensations; although quite harmless these can be very disturbing. Dry mouth As fluids are diverted for use in other parts of the body during anxiety, the mouth becomes dry. Sip water or suck sweets to lubricate your mouth. In extreme cases your doctor can prescribe a liquid to do this but it is expensive. It cannot harm you and will go away after the anxiety subsides. Insomnia One of the more distressing effects of anxiety, insomnia is the inability to fall asleep or to remain asleep. It is important to regain regular sleep patterns as lack of sleep can lead to disturbing symptoms. Follow this link to The Linden Method cure for insomnia Nightmares Dreams and nightmares tend to mimic what is going on in our daily lives. If we are relaxed and contented we have pleasant dreams and usually do not remember them. If we are disturbed or confused our dreams are more likely to be too. Nightmares are unpleasant but harmless, the more you master good sleep and practice breathing and relaxation exercises the better your dreams will become. Fears of going mad or losing control We all have a fear of going mad or losing control but rest assured you are not going mad. Going mad is not a conscious act; those who are suffering from severe mental illness are unaware of their journey into it. You are not going mad. Confused nervous messages to the brain along tired nerves in a tired body do not constitute madness. Thoughts are an unconscious product of brain activity. If you are anxious, angry, sad or stressed your thoughts are affected, not only by mood, but also by your physical body chemistry. Blood oxygen levels can affect brain activity and the central nervous system, as can many other bodily chemicals like adrenaline, hormones and even vitamins. These un-pleasant thoughts, emotions and totally irrational fears are not harmful to yourself or others. Any thoughts of harming yourself or other people are perceived only. As you body becomes more relaxed and less anxious your thought processes will return to normal. Increased depression & suicidal feelings Depression is a word that is commonly misused to describe a variety of conditions. I hear many people in every day life who say, "I am depressed, I feel terrible, I am so fed up". This is, in most cases, not depression. Depression is a series of chemical imbalances that create a clinical illness that has strong links with anxiety disorders and can be a side effect of them. Anxiety has many features of depression and can mimic it quite strongly. When someone goes to the doctor complaining of feeling run down and fed up, it is all too easy to write a prescription for Prozac, Seroxat or another anti-depressant. I wonder how many people are on anti-depressants who just needed to reassess and restructure their lives. Aggression When you feel tired, ill, fed up and held back by your condition you are bound to feel angry. One of the main causes of true anger is actually sadness. Think back to a situation that has made you feel anger, if you dissect that event you might find that the true reason for feeling so angry was a feeling of sadness. Aggression is a normal reaction to fear also, the fight or flight response prepares us to either run or fight, sometimes to fight may seem to be the best response. Symptoms like 'flu' Influenza causes the body to release anti-bodies into the blood stream to attack the virus. This combination of anti-bodies and infection makes the body feel weak, sweaty and painful. Anxiety can have a similar effect, weakening the muscles, making you clammy and achy. Believe it or not the more you do physically the better this will become. Distorted vision In order to prepare the body for impending danger, adrenaline release causes many physical changes. During the anxiety response the body prepares the eyes to notice any slight movements; it does this by dilating the pupils allowing more light to enter. This is why anxious people become more sensitive to bright light and often wear sunglasses to minimize the eyestrain it causes. Disturbed hearing This is called tinnitus and is usually experienced as whistling or screeching noises in either or both ears. Hormone problems Anxiety can affect various systems of the body, one of which is the endocrine system. This system is responsible for balancing the glands, which secrete hormones in the body. Although these glands secrete the hormones needed by the body, they do not control the levels of these chemicals, this is done by the brain. Disturbed messages in the brain and nervous system can cause slight irregularities in the secretion of these chemicals. When anxiety levels return to normal so will the hormone levels. There are few examples where these hormones cause serious problems and if they do your doctor can correct them. Women may find that their menstrual cycle is temporarily effected and men may find that they have mood swings whilst testosterone levels are affected. Headaches & feelings of having a tight band around head As discussed earlier, tension in the neck and shoulders can cause immense discomfort, migraine and numbness. The feeling of having a tight band around your head is caused by muscular tension in the sheath of muscles covering the skull. Restricted blood vessels and nerves within this tissue can cause very severe symptoms including pain in the eyes, face and teeth. Sore eyes Reduced lubrication in the eyes when body fluids are diverted elsewhere during anxiety causes the eyes to feel sore, dry and painful. Agoraphobia Agoraphobia is a natural response to anxiety and self-preservation. If we feel threatened we tend to retreat to somewhere safe, like a tortoise into its shell. In anxiety it is important to gain control of this response as soon as you feel it developing. Avoidance of situations is not an effective tool in the fight against agoraphobia. Hallucinations Mostly experienced by people in withdrawal, hallucinations can be very frightening indeed if you do not understand what they are and where they come from. Hallucinations are another example of transient symptoms. If you are in withdrawal they will pass, if you are not in withdrawal consult your doctor, as they may be a side effect of the drugs that you have been prescribed. Creeping or pins and needles sensations in The skin The nerve endings in your skin are alive with electrical impulses, these can feel like creeping sensations, pins and needles or tickling, they are the result of confused nerve impulses and cannot harm you. Increased sensitivity to light, sound, touch, and smell All of these sensitivities are to prepare your senses to see, smell, hear and feel more when in impending danger during the fight or flight response. All of these feeling are unusual but not dangerous, they are temporary and will return to normal as your anxiety levels reduce. Hyperactivity Hyperactivity is a way of describing a range of symptoms that cause you to feel as if you need to talk faster and do things faster. It can make you feel confused and irrational and can make you do things that you would not usually do. This is a common feature of anxiety and drug withdrawal and will pass in time. Dramatic increase in sexual feelings As the brain copes with disturbed and confused messages from all around the body, some of the mind's thought processes can become a little distorted or exaggerated. Sexual thoughts and emotions are typically very strong even when in good health, they are what drive the attraction mechanism when we meet people we find attractive and create the sexual feelings we feel for some people. Pain in the face or jaw that resembles a toothache The term 'face ache' comes from this feature of anxiety. Most of this symptom is caused by tension, not only in the face, neck and shoulders, which can refer pain to the jaw and teeth, but also in the jaw itself. Derealisation and Depersonalisation These are both symptoms, which affect the way you experience yourself. Derealisation is the sensation that you and everything around you is not real or dreamy, as if you are seeing everything through a fog or some kind of filter. It has been noticed that people experience both depersonalisation and derealisation during panic. It seems that some people dissociate first which then causes panic and derealisation. poodlebell

HI, i am extremely scared and need help. On march 13th I started a panic disorder. It started with 24h of depersonalisation and then more and more anxiety and panic attacks over 2 or 3 weeks that led me to the ER a couple of nights.. I'm 37, always been anxious but nothing that wasn't manageable without medication. I started losing the ability to eat and sleep. I couldn't enter sleep state and had very anxious obsessions/delirium while in pre-sleep phase, like my brain was going mad with crazy over the roof anxious ideas and fantasies. Every time I would quit trying to sleep i felt better and not too anxious but i was absolutely exhausted and needed to sleep. I started to become very worried and anxious, i lost a lot of weight from not eating or sleeping and couldn't do absolutely nothing because of anxiety. Everything seemed terrifying, wathcing series/movies, reading, social media, showering... nothing could give me relief, everything was painful and terrifying. I'm autistic and pretty isolated. I don't have a family to care for me, few friends who desappear when i'm not good...my pshychologist is nice but not very useful during this kind of extreme situations and has halth problems. I thought it was the end of my life and it made me extremely sad because i'm not a suicidal person, i wasn't even depressed. I was just diagnosed a bunch of stuff that would allow me to ask some financial help from the state but didn't have time to ask because i collapsed in the most unexpected way... My psychiatrist suggested i take seroplex (escitalopram) and alprazolam. I have a massive medical phobia and medicines phobia, never had anti depressants before and never wanted to even try them because i am very sensitive to everything and often have weird/bad reactions to certain substance so i hate trying something new. Plus I have anxiety, so... But i was so affraid to die i said ok. He started me on 1mg and told me to add 1mg every three days (it was the drinkable version) until i reach 10mg. He told me it would take several weeks to do me good and would probably make me feel worst at the begining. But i was already at my worst, like i couldn't imagine getting worst than that really, i was really sure i was dying. After a week and no significative improvement (still wasn't sleeping and suffering as hell every night and most days, my chest hurting from the billion crisis per night every time i tried to sleep...) i went to the psychiatric ward, which was, by the way, my biggest phobia. I stayed there for 2 days, some doctors were nice, but older ones said the dosage my psychatrist recommend was stupid and i needed to change either the dose or my meds. I was at 3mg at this time, they put me on 50mg sertraline and gave me a valium. I had adverse reaction to the valium and was in hell until the day after, i had agitation, was all over the place, feeling extremely agitated and angry and aggressive inside and paranoid and scared and nauseous. i had panic attacks all night and been throwing up in the morning. They told me i wasn't cooperating and didn't trust them and should go back home. I did and had my first night of sleep in so long... I was at 4mg escitalopram. They scared me so much by saying this med is totally ineffective under 10mg that i asked my psychiatrist if i could up the dose faster to get some relief. By this time i was unable to take any benzodiazepine and had bad reaction previously to seresta and valium and now even alprazolam so i stopped taking it. He agreed and told me to add 1mg every day. I started to do that. Was able to sleep one night out of two for a few days, started to eat again... It was still mostly horrible everyday but i started to believe i had hope... My dosage from the begining was 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 (50mg zoloft) 4 5 7 7 8 9 (each number representing one day of treatement) When I reached 9mg i had the most horrendous violent crisis ever, i was feeling enraged like i wanted to destroy everything and couldn't stand any sound or person around, it was so strong and kept going up and up. I hated it and was terrifyed, never felt that before. I had nausea and couldn't eat anymore again... My psychiatrist said ok to going down and try a stabilization at 5mg. As soon as i started getting down i started to feel better, (not good, just less terrible), more eating, sleeping and moments of hope... But after 3 days at 5mg things started to get very bad. No appetite, nausea, insomnia, anxiety more and more and more... and then the violent agitation crisis came back, sentenses and ideas and bits of songs in high speed in my brain, intrusive thoughts (not that it was totally new but it was stronger and horrible), couldn't stand any sound or light or whatever, i felt pure rage and pain... I told my psychiatrist i had been suffering hell for a month and a half and couldn't take it anymore. I was too scared and not the kind of profile to be able to wait for a whole month to get the good effects while living the worst moment of tjei life every second of everyday. I had lost 10kg and was in severe crisis all of the time, had a full meltdown in his cabinet. He said ok you can stop it if you want, it's a low dose and you've only been taking it a month or so. I said i don't thing it's a good idea to do like that when i see how sensitive i am. He suggested i reduce 1mg every three days. The day after that i was so traumatised i couldn't touch the bottle and take my medicine. I skipped a dose. He told me i could take 3mg the next day and not to worry too much. The day i skipped the dose i felt a lot better at first but then i entered a state of exhaustion i never felt and suddenly lost any will to live or fight, i couldn't even move or try to force myself to eat. It was the same the next day but slowly better... The second day at 3mg was an amazing day, never felt better, i was happy, energetic, singing, eating, full of joy and wonder. The next day not so goo but bearable. The first week at 3mg was wonderfull, the first time i was feeling so good with this med, and feeling myself again. I was SO SURPRISED. The doc said maybe it's my comfort dose. I believed so so i decieded to keep it a little to gain strenght and weel being to face going down again, i even was doubting if i should keep it. One day of the second week i drank my med but left a little drop at the end. The next day i had a terrible evening with the same symptomes like the day i skipped a dose but milder. The day after i took good care to drink aaall the 3mg and started to feel better in the evening. But the next day it went all bad again. I thought ok i made a mistake, i'll wait for stabilization again. It got worst everyday. A lot of anxiety and no eating or sleeping and a rage/agitation crisis all day on one of the days and overall pretty bad, with suicidal thoughts more and more presents and negative thougts all the time bullying me saying horrendous things to me in my head... But i was really hoping to get back to the good week and waited while suffering... everyday...crying, having anxiety, nausea all day everyday, weak legs and arms and hands, shaking....amnesia, unable to use my brain correclty. It's my third week at 3mg, i thought it was slightly progressing the past few days even if it's hard to tell because i'm still very bad.. i hate this medicine and i wish i had never taken it. I cant' take benzos. I can't take tercian or any meds that make the QT longer because i already have a sligtly longer QT due to a heart condition and my cardiologist told me not to take several meds that act on the heart... I need to sleep again, it's driving me crazy, i'm losing all hopes. Tonigt was the worst of my life, everytime i was about to fall asleep i had the most horrendous pre-sleep crisis and my chest and heart hurts everytime and the lask of sleep make me crazy. I have no strenght in my limbs, i only feel pain. Yesterday i felt ahedonia for several hours and it freaked me out. I am scared to go to 2mg but my MG and psychiatrist say they think it will be ok if i do. Should I ? What should i do ?? It's true that everytime i went down it felt like a huge relief so i guess my brain hates the medicine, and my anxious self can't stand the idea of taking something so scary and wants it out... But i'mso scared because i feel like i'm going to die... this night i thought maybe i should write goodbye letters to my loved ones. But i love life !! i've just never been that miserable and in pain in my whole life, and i'm such a sentitive person... autism doesn't help at all here... I'm not going back to the psychiatric ward ever. I wanted to get rid of seroplex and maybe try cyamemazine (tercian) at very low doses to try to sleep while starting a therapy (i am poor and i'm on waiting lists for therapy but won't have appointemnts before months) but i can't mix the two (too scared for my heart) and i'm very scared of trying it, like scared to death actually. I bought doxylamine (donormyl) but scared to try it... I'm terrified of all molecules (meds or supplements actually) What should i do ? I know you're no doctors but my doctors don'y know and my psychiatrist is going one month on holidays, plus he won't let me contact him outside of the very few office hours he has at work every week....

Hello, I feel hopeless, I don’t know what to do. In January 2020 I was prescribed lexapro 10 mg for a bad breakup that I was really struggling with. And after I started to heal from that I was feeling pretty good. In November 2022 I decided I didn’t want to be on AD my whole life and I was feeling really good and confident. I tapered randomly, I went from 10mg to 7mg to 5mg to 2.5mg in the span of about 2 months, which I am now aware, was way too fast. So in January of 2023 after being on AD for 2 years, I was off. And I felt good for about 2-3 weeks. Everything in my life was great, I have a good job, a good family, a good boyfriend, and good friends. And then all of a sudden, February 7th I had a horrible horrible panic attack, that came on very sudden. My thoughts were racing, I was crying and almost hyperventilating. These panic attacks get so bad that I throw up. I have a very hard time eating. I restarted my lexapro 10mg immediately. After these initial panics I go through about 2-3 weeks of hell. Horrible thoughts, extreme anxiety, depression, loss in interest in everything, including school and my relationship. These weeks feel almost unbearable, i can barely eat and hold down food because by body is so amped up. I wake up anxious, and very panicked. I was prescribed Ativan 0.5 to help with the panic attacks, and they do help. But I know they are dangerous so I don’t like to take them. The Dr. also prescribed lexapro 20 mg, so now I’m stuck on that… and it is not helping at all, if anything it is making me feel more numb to anything joyful or happy. After these horrible weeks, I have a week where I feel almost a little normal. My thoughts aren’t racing, I can control my mind. And I can eat again. life feels ok for once. I thought it was the end of this disaster… until I had another panic attack on February 28th. Back to awful anxiety, and horrible negative thoughts. Waking up again feeling horrible. Not being able to eat much at all. I am only 20 years only and I would like to get back to my old life. I have lost about 20 pounds and Am continuing to loose weight. I am already pretty skinny, so this is really not good. I keep having these awful waves of crazy depression and anxiety, spiraling thoughts and fear of almost everything. I just want to know that I am not alone, and not crazy. I don’t want to take much more of this. And I don’t know how to fix it. It is destroying my relationship, and it’s making it very difficult to work the job that I have. And I feel like a burden to my family for having to take care of me, in such distressed states. I am taking GABA and L-Theanine to try and help, along with ashwaganda and vitamin D and zinc. But I really don’t know what else to do. I try listening to music or podcasts or watch tv or something to distract me, but they end up making me anxious too. Sleeping is the only time I feel calm, and it is very hard to sleep when I am amped up. I feel like my life is destroyed and I wish I tapered slower.

Hello everyone, I’m a 25 year old male from Texas. My journey started January 2016, when I experienced a panic attack (that appeared to come out of the blue) on my way to visit my sister while I was riding a bus. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and I felt like I was about to pass out. From that day on, I started to have panic attacks that would last all day for several days. I wasn’t sure what was going on so I asked my mom to take me to the doctor. The doctor said I was having panic attacks and also anxiety. He prescribed me a Mexican medication named Adepsique (I live in a border town and decided to go there since health care is way cheaper there than in the US). I took that medication for around 6 months and started to have suicidal ideation and just felt in a low mood most of the time. I attributed those symptoms to the medication and “tapered” off it fairly quick. Once I was fully off it, I started to have unbearable insomnia/anxiety and wasn’t able to sleep for about two days. I felt like I was going crazy so I asked my mom if she could take me to an actual psychiatrist and she obliged. The psychiatrist prescribed me 10 mg of escitalopram and 2.5 mg of olanzapine. I don’t really feel like it helped that much but I felt better on it. I decided I didn’t want to be on medication for the rest of my life so I decided to start tapering it off. I might’ve tapered too quickly off it but I was just anxious to get off those medications. I don’t really remember how long the taper lasted but I was off both medications by the last week of April 2018. I dealt with several withdrawal symptoms such as suicidal thoughts, anxiety, mild motion sickness, insomnia, irritably, aggression and intrusive thoughts. That lasted most of 2018. Around October of that year, I started dealing with IBS-like symptoms such as stomach pain, frequent gas, constant bowel movements and urgent bowel movements. Most of my other withdrawal symptoms have been reduced but I’m still stuck with the IBS issues to this day. Although I’ve been suffering for these last couple of years, I’ve felt like I’ve grown a lot as a person. I have changed my diet to a whole-foods plant based diet, I exercise daily, and do things I wouldn’t have thought I would do when I was younger. Sorry if this post is too long.

Topic title: Effexor I need your help asap I was on effexor 6 years and Gott off for 4 months and was great. Dr gave me prednisone for a chest infection. I couldn’t sleep, had panic attacks, anxiety bad. Doctors put me back on effexor 7 weeks ago. Cut down to 17mg because it’s making me really sick. i need to get off it or it will kill me basically. I’ve lost to much weight. how do I get off now?

I officially stopped antidepressants in January 2022 after being on a multitude of them over the last 12 years. Some of the symptoms once officially stopping are: -dizziness -intrusive and obsessive thoughts- I can’t get bad images or thoughts out of my head -panic attacks -suicidal thoughts -shivering/chills even though it’s not cold -fatigue to the point I can’t keep my eyes open Are these normal withdrawal symptoms and can I overcome them? I’ve been trying so hard to do everything possible to overcome my mental instabilities with therapy, mindfulness, journaling, exercise, etc, but nothing is giving me full relief. After being off of antidepressants for two months and doing research, it says my brain should be back to normal. After reading that apong with the symptoms I was having I felt like I can’t handle living like that so I got on celexa a week in a half ago. After one week I had such bad side effects I’ve decided to quit again. I have had side effects from every antidepressant I’ve been on (Effexor, lexapro, Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa). Although I’m mentally better, I can’t handle the side effects. The doctor doesn’t think there’s probably an antidepressant that would work for me, and that I’ll have side effects no matter what I’m on. Ultimately I don’t want to be on them, but feeling hopeless of whether I can be due to the symptoms. Is my brain truly messed up?

I’m new to this website/forum, but I’ve been researching and finding great information about people getting off their psychiatric medication. I’m 46, and I was 20 years old in college when I experienced my first full blown panic attack (official diagnosis, panic disorder without agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, depression). Looking back (after lots of therapy), I can now understand the stress I was under at that time. But the main point is that I was put on zoloft and lorazepam which, combined with lots of “social drinking” seemed to put a lockdown on the panic attacks (though I would still wake up with some varying degrees of anxiety most mornings). I put my head down and just sort of pushed my way through life, graduating from college with honors, holding a job doing community education / organizing / speaking, shifting gears and going back to school, and then starting my own successful business. Jump to about 4 years ago, 2012 and things just seemed to begin falling apart. The successful company I had created was now failing, a relationship I actually felt invested in was failing, and the hangovers from drinking had become really intense. In short, I ran out of steam. I gave up drinking in the spring of 2014, and that summer decided I was going to get off the damn meds. I did it the “right way,” tapering off the benzos first, and then the SSRI. And though the anxiety would increase while tapering and it was tough, by the end of the summer (early September) I was actually med free! Unfortunately, mid-October the panic attacks returned full force. Again, I can see now that this was a particularly stressful period of my life, but of course I was really disappointed when I decided I just had to get back on the meds (the panic attacks were relentless and excruciating). The problem was that the meds no longer seemed to work like they did before. And now I’m on MORE meds (add in remeron and extra 50 mg of zoloft). I have made some changes, doing lots of therapy, ACA support groups (and looking at childhood issues generally), exercising again regularly, EMDR, meditation, etc. And I want OFF the meds! I know I need to do this slowly, and at this point, I cut the remeron from 15 mg to 7.5 (about 1.5 months ago) and I’ve cut the benzo (now clonazepam) from 2 mg to 1.5 per day (just started that 3 days ago). My thought is to cut the benzos first, then the last of the remeron. I know with the relatively long half-life of the clonazepam, I need to take it slowly. I’m thinking .5 mg every 2 weeks. From the information I've come across, it seems like some taper off even more slowly than that? I'm looking for others to share their experiences with their own clonazepam withdrawal schedules (for panic disorder, preferably). I just don’t know what to do about the SSRI (zoloft). I realize this website is about benzo withdrawal, but I’m hoping to find others with experience on panic disorder and SSRI withdrawal too (as well as benzo withdrawal support). I hope this is OK on this forum? I’ve been “working with the anxiety” (trying to “make friends” with it as they say in the meditation circles). I know I’m less scared of it now, but I'm also not experiencing the full blown panic attacks. My concern is that I would get off everything (including the SSRI/zoloft) and then the panic attacks return, and it takes SO LONG for the SSRI to build up in one’s system. Do I just prepare myself to weather that storm? Will that storm really pass eventually without the meds? After years of trying to make my physiology match the lifestyle I felt I should lead, I’m now accepting the idea that I need to make my lifestyle match my physiology. The panic attacks are just so damn awful when they hit relentlessly all day long, day after day. I’m scared. Is there anyone out there that has had any experience with the meds and panic attacks along the lines that I have had? Are there other resources out there I should know about? Is it really possible that I can live a purposeful (and perhaps at least semi-peaceful) life without meds after 25 years of being on them? Much gratitude . . .

Restabilised after going bk on and sticking on 5mg. Been feeling good for 7 days but after the last 2 days started to have insomnia and panic attacks late at nights.?? Trying to work out why.. is it normal to have set backs? Had a single beer one night? i am trying to cut 10mg pill to 5mgs pretty accurate but anyone got any other ways to to cut small pills? any tips about what’s going on thanks (you can read my whole story on my page) thnaks

Hello everyone. Although I feel like maybe I'm not as bad as many many people here, I would still like to share my story, since I have been through some suffering lately. Hope I don't bother you. Tl;dr: When I reinstated Luvox I started having depression, terrible feelings of hopelessness, dread and doom, no joy in activities or life in general, lack of purpose or meaning in life, and no love for my boyfriend, which troubles me the most. I never had depression before. Wondering if it was the Luvox and starting to taper, but afraid... So it all began when I was 9 years old. I started having severe panic attacks and anxiety out of nowhere. Afraid to die, afraid my parents would die because they were older than "normal" (used to call my mom every 5 minutes to see if she was alive), afraid of death in general. After a while, I was seeing a psychiatrist for children and started taking Clomipramine, don't know the dosage, until I was 12. I don't remember much because it was 13 years ago, but I don't recall any problems with withdrawal. From that point until I was 21, everything was fine. I would ocasionally have shortness of breath and that kind of stuff, but completely manageable. I was always a very good student (my mom told me they had an IQ test or something and they said I was "gifted", but we never explored that so I don't think it's really important), I practised sports, I learned to play the piano, I always had a great social life, very active. Now, in 2013, when I was 21 years old, everything went downhill. I was in a relationship since 2011 and it was not a great one, we would fight a lot, he would always break up with me, changing is mind about loving me on a weekly basis, insulting me, saying nobody would like me if they really knew me, etc. This relationship lasted until 2015, mainly because of my inability to let it go, as I thought I could never be happy again without him. In 2013, I had a huge anxiety and panic attacks crisis. I was also diagnosed with ocd (obsessive thoughts with mental compulsions, have little to none physical ones). Started on Sertraline but rapidly stopped because I couldn't tolerate the dizziness and nausea and it would make me more anxious. They put me on Xanax for 3 months and I tapered it in one month. Spent two horrible days with insomnia and EXTREME anxiety, but after those two days, it all subsided. Two months later (February 2014) I was worse (panic attacks, dp/dr, etc) and was put on Luvox (fluvoxamine - 50mg). It was well tolerated, and it helped me for two years, but I noticed I would still have anxiety and the obsessive, I just wouldn't reach the point of a panic attack. About a year and a half in, I started taking 25mg and everything was ok. Now where it got worse. In April 2016 I started to taper it with the help of my psychiatrist (whom doesn't really talk to me for more than 5 or 10 minutes, doesn't believe Luvox made me gain 33 pounds in under a year, and told me it usually had no bad effects). He told me to start taking it every other day (the 25mg) for a week, then every two days for a week, then every three days, etc. At this point, my previous relationship was over for a year and I was starting a new one. When I was taking it every two days, I started having SEVERE DP/DR and PANIC ATTACKS. I was told to take the 25mg everyday. It didn't work and he told me to raise to 50mg. Well, the panic attacks have stopped but the worse came. Since I was back on 50mg, I started to feel unhappy. I have a great boyfriend now, who really supports me and cares about me, I am studying psychology with very good grades, so everything is fine I guess. But I started to feel disconnected and detached. I feel no joy, no happiness in activities I used to enjoy. I reduced my going out of home very very much, sometimes spending a week without leaving my house and bed. I find no purpose in life, no sense (mybe it is an existential crisis, used to have them but not to this extent). I sometimes feel very frustrated and cry from hopelessness. I don't know what to do. Somedays I don't feel anything at all. On new years I was downtown watching the fireworks and suddenly I felt detached and very nervous and had to go home. My boyfriend came with me and it was ok after a while. But I can't stop feeling sad and with no joy. And the WORST OF ALL, sometimes I don't feel love for my boyfriend I know I love him, I think I do, but I can't feel it. I used to feel love so so so deeply and it is so strange to me. I told this to my psychiatrist and he said it was normal with the antidepressant but there was no problem and I had to keep taking it and he told me I had depression because of the anxiety, ocd and panic attacks. But I feel I just got worse since I reinstated it. I never had depression before and I had this since I was 9... Do you think maybe it is the Luvox? I am thinking of finding another psychiatrist since mine says that withdrawal from antidepressants is not usual and it was my symptoms coming back. But i reinstated it and I just got worse and worse. I sometimes think of suicide, but not in a "I want to do it" kind of way, nor finding relief in it. On the contrary, I feel so hopeless and purposeless that I fear it might come the time that there is no other way and it really scares me, since one of my great fears is dying and ceasing to exist. I want to taper it but I am afraid I am broken already and I have no hope. I don't want to feel the terrible withdrawal symptoms but I can't take this anhedonia anymore. It makes me so, so sad. I also sleep for more than 12 hours a day and sometimes I don't even see the light of day. I just want to feel happy again, but I am afraid I have no hope at that, that I will be depressed forever. What do you think? Sorry for the long post, but I needed to talk to someone that might have experienced the same as I do. Thank you so much, hope you all feeling well on your journey.

On the 18th December, 2016, I took my last Lexapro and within days, I started feeling excessively tired and in January I got very sick with infections and have been really low. A week ago my Lyrica was reduced from 200mg to 100mg due to weight gain. My head is all over the shop at present, OMG.. so low. Having death visions of like me [details removed by moderator] How the hell do I get out of this?? Want to give it a go without the Lexapro (SSRI's) as I have been on them 10 years on and off for GAD and hear very bad reports about Lyrica for weight gain and brain fog...

Hello everyone! I'm PanickedPathfinder (PanickedPat). I came across this wonderful website after discovering Paxil Progress had been foreclosed, but from what I've read and seen thus far, this community is a strong and supportive one, too. I'm excited to share my story and journey away from antidepressant use with other likeminded members! I'll attempt to be brief about why I'm here, just to give fellow members the highlights of my experiences with antidepressants. If you have any other questions for/about me, please feel free to message From the top: About a year and a half ago (summer 2013), I experienced a severe panic attack. I didn't know what it was at the time. I believed I had pushed myself too far physically (I was unloading a bus at work at the time) and proceeded to solidify that false connection in my mind. For the next month, I tried to "take it easy," which of course meant performing hyper-vigilant body/pulse/fever checks in an effort to stave off whatever "it" was from happening again. This backfired. I had more and more attacks at work, still unknowing what my condition was. I was beginning my senior year at college that fall, and decided, after experiencing upwards of 2 or 3 attacks a day a times, to seek out my campus's mental health clinic. With my therapist, I learned (as well as on my own research) that I was definitely a candidate for panic disorder. School pressures mounted (I know now my real "trigger" wasn't exercise or work, but the prospect of ending/transitioning from school) and, after debating for a month, I decided (no lightly) to begin taking an antidepressant. I saw a new doctor, who, during our first 15-minute consultation, prescribed me 25mg of Prozac and tablets of clonazopan. Needless to say, I was immediately red-flagging. I had hoped to talk about the options and risks, but he jumped straight to the medication. After simmering down from his offhand prescription, I owned up to the fact that I wanted something after all. I took Prozac--and had a terrible reaction. My heart rate soared. I made it to his office, where he immediately took me off of it and brought up Zoloft (sertraline) as a "gentler" antidepressant. I started taking it. 25mg became 50mg pretty quickly. Each new dosage brought about 3-4 days of a unmitigated joy--an emotion I have honestly rarely experienced in life (depression and such throughout most of it). The effects always leveled out. I'd continued working through some minor CBT work with my therapist, but these quickly fell to the wayside with my school work. I continued having panic attacks at work and while playing music. There were stretched of time where so many thing triggered my panic (taking a shower, brushing my teeth) that I was genuinely terrified to leave my little apartment complex. All during this time I was researching on my own, and discovering the world of antidepressant side-effects and discontinuation syndromes that likely awaited me once I finished school. (My goal was to finish school and get off the stuff. Hasn't happened yet :/ ). During this time (and still to this day) I kept equating physical exercise with my panic. Although I'd experienced the physical sensations of rapid heartbeat and hyperventaliation earlier (my earlier years of school I was nearly agoraphobic, and sweat buckets doing everyday social things) I found/find it extremely difficult to detach the sensations of exercise with the sensations of panic (higher heart rate, breathing irregularity, etc.). I am currently making this a top priority, and will keep updating on this front. Anyway, my attacks kept coming, school kept coming, I eventually faded from my therapist/group therapy to finally finish school (it's been a 7-year endeavor). I kept the same doctor (something I still regret, as he is still my GP) and was brought up to 75mg. This was when my anhedhonia started. I felt like I was living behind Saran wrap. I saw the world, I knew I was supposed to feel things--but I couldn't. I was a living ghost behind my own eyes. That voided feeling was worse than any panic I had experienced, and I was brave enough, after nearly a month of this, to come down to 50mg, and later 37.5mg. I stayed at 37.5mg upon graduation, and have only recently (last month or two) been at 25mg. I made this 12.5mg drop without any major reactions, but have learned since that weaning lower and lower requires considerable more conscientiousness. I am endeavoring to integrate my music playing/exercise into my recovery and break those false trigger connections I made when I didn't know what was fully happening to me. I also aim to rekindle the secular mindfulness practices I've let slip away again, as they were really very beneficial. Ideally, I want to be off sertraline before my 2-year anniversary of first taking it (October 2015). I was always meant to be a short-term use--to get through school--but I have become steadily more apprehensive about coming off completely (withdrawal stories, etc.). So--where am I at right this second? I'm at 25mg. I'm graduated. I'm willing to work with a community of other people I can relate to for an extended period of time. I'm more knowledgeable about the options and risks I've engaged with during my sertraline experience. I'm still panicky, but less so. Most importantly, I'm ready to be off sertraline and find, in big part through a community like this one, the kindred support, advice, and stories I'll need to find my way off these drugs and reclaim my life without it. Thanks very much for reading my story. I hope to get to know many of you in the coming months, and to share our recovery stories together. My best to one and all PanickedPat

Hello everyone! I used to be a member on paxil progress and was very disheartened to see that it was gone. I'm hear looking for reassurance and/or advice. I quit taking Paxil in July 2013 after a short 10 month usage. Afterwards, I went through about a year of withdrawal lessening all the time. Then it cleared up and for about the last 5 - 6months I've been feeling back to myself. So out of the blue Thursday night I had a panic attack, not full blown because I know how to diffuse them for the most part. It was still really bad though and now I'm having some symptoms that remind me of withdrawal. Dizzy/lightheaded, tightness in jaw, slight anxiety (not near the level during actual withdrawal). So is this withdrawal kicking back up? Or me just having a wave of well....stress? Any ideas? How long should it last? Thanks in advance! Oh, I was brknlgrl on paxilprogress.