Advice needed - My story

Treatment and medication
1

Hi guys,

Finally plucked up the courage to join the forum after reading different threads for months.

I know everyone is different but i was looking to hear your stories around beginning medication and/or did anything else help settle down their anxiety.

About 7 years ago i woke up one day completely out of the the blue with severe anxiety and panic and after about 5 days of suffering i went to my GP and they explained it was anxiety and here’s some antidepresents to make it go away. After about 6 months i made a full recovery, came off and carried on with normal life.

However about 18 months ago the same thing happened- again seemingly out of the blue with no reason, this time i tried to manage it naturally for a few weeks but the anxiety so intense that i again went back to my GP for medication. This time has been much harder and even though CBT and seeing a pyschologist has helped ive mever quite felt my old self and this week again i woke up again and felt like i was back to square one (racing heart, fear, panic etc etc) even though i’m still on my meds.

My immediate reaction again was to call my GP and increase my dosage to 20mg citaloptam through complete panic but i often wonder whether i should try and hold out when i get these extreme flare ups in the hope that theyll pass naturally and whether any of you have done this with success?

Would love to know your stories.

2

hi its a risky unpredictable game unfortunately, you could just hold out and see if things get better on their own, or try other things like diet exercise meditation mindfulness cbt talk therapy life changes and so on, or you could take tablets, trying to find the right med and dosage along with giving enough time for the med to work (which can be weeks or months, assuming the med is even the right one for you).
im thinking hopefully 20mg citalopram and some time for it to work should help u to get back to your old self, and if i was you thats what i would try at this point. there are certainly other options also though, but as u can imagine its hard to say exactly what each person needs as we are all different (So its more a case of keep trying things and dont give up until you find relief, which you will given time). wishing you good luck