Finally sought help and wee bit scared!

Hello all

I’m a 27 year old male who has lived with Anxiety, especially social anxiety and low mood/slight depression for as long as I can remember. Recently I started to get the worst panic attacks I’ve ever had and was actually hospitalised which obviously wasn’t good! Before this I had never really sought any professional help and had tried to just learn to live with it. After this bad experience I decided to finally ask my doctor for help.  He really did listen to me and asked a lot of questions about my anxiety. He prescribed me Propranolol at 40mg 3 times a day alongside Citalopram 10mg for the first two weeks and then up to 20mg after that. 

I just started my first dosage today and apart from feeling a wee bit tired and yawning, I feel fine and anxiety free. Just normal if I’m honest which I haven’t felt in a long time! 

Now I know it’s waaaaaay too early to start talking about my experience with these medications but I’m just happy to be on the road to even feeling like a normal happy functioning human again...

I’ve done all the research reading about all the horrible side effects and I’m trying my absolute best to try and stay positive and feel ready to battle through them to get to the light at the end of the tunnel. 

I usually take well to medications and never experience side effects but it seems from what I’ve read that everyone goes through it with Citalopram which worries me a little....

But I just feel like going through another couple of weeks of torture to come out at the end feeling me again will be worth it. 

If anyone else is at the start, I’d love to hear from you. If not, then come back often as I’ll try to post my thoughts and feelings by the day and record my own personal experiences.

Thanks

***Update Day 2***

Woke up early due to a phone call but all in all had a great sleep, however! I started to get an erection that lasted about 2 minutes and was quite uncomfortable and painful. 

I’ve read that if this happens for more than 4 hours then it could be a serious problem. It did die down after a couple minutes though!

Out of all the side effects, that is one I most definitely do NOT want!

Hi Jamie 

Well done for seeking help. I have never really battled anxiety until recently but  now almost 4 weeks into 10mg citalopram. I’ve had lots of various side effects, but none of them have been worse than how I was originally feeling. 

Do you have CBT scheduled at all? This would really help you, I start a anxiety therapy group in the new year which I’m hoping will help me in my recovery. 

Onwards and upwards for us both.