Hi, I have suffered with social anxiety for the past 8 years, intense blushing which turned into a fear of it happening in front of people, this turned into a vicious circle of avoiding social events, heart racing, knots in stomach. I tried green tinted creams to counteract the redness when blushing, natural vitamins etc and finally thought enough is enough I went to the doctors and was prescribed 50mg of sertraline I stayed on this for 4 weeks. I was quite lucky and didn't suffer many side effects just extremely tired. After 4 weeks I was increased to 100mg my anxiety went through the roof had bad thoughts and anxious going to work.. one night i went out drinking and the next day was horrendous my anxiety was affected for the next 3 days. Having a drink is OK but getting drunk can cause heightened anxiety.
I am now on week 8 and I feel as though things are starting to get better. I went to a bbq on Friday night and was able to sit around a table with friends socialising and was completely relaxed I was so proud of myself it really boosted my confidence. Everyone hang in there things do get better!I
Good luck and hope this makes people feel slightly better as I was constantly reading other people's stories just to have a bit of hope
Great post! I love hearing the good stories, since not many of them are posted. You should definitely be proud of yourself, and we're just as proud of you! Keep the positivity flowing!
Thanks everyone for the nice replies. Hope your all doing ok! Its nice having someone to talk too who can relate how your feeling etc. Not many of my friends know whats going on with and never have so i like to talk to people via here
Hi miss Sunshine! It was so lovely to hear your success story! Ive got anxiety and depression and I'm hoping I have the same outcome as you but I'm early days on escitalopram and the anxiety is awful as the physical symptoms that I get are a constant reminder but like I say it's lovely to hear about you! It's like you say others don't and can't understand how you feel unless you've experienced this!
I hope you feel more like yourself soon, how long have you been on escitalopram for? I think you have to have the bad days before the good eg heightned anxiety etc but you will soon level out. Since day 1 i have been reading everyone stories on here and its amazing how much hope they fill you with
Thanks Miss sunshine! I was on citalopram before and couldn't level off on that but escitalopram is meant to be better for anxiety! I was on 5mg for a month then upped to 10mg that I've only had for three weeks so hopefully soon it will settle, it's the shakiness I get with it with morning anxiety that I hate the most! Cross fingers it works