Glad you are feeling better Aaron, thats amazing you are seeing such an improvement in only 6 days as most people dont see any at all until a month. Keep pushing on. Hugs.
No worries Anne, any replies help me greatly. I am hoping with time maybe the 50mg will help more but if not i am willing to go up to 75 or even 100mg. Anything to get me back to myself. Last night I was able to eat more and drink a lot of water, i just hate having to force feed myself, it makes me more sick. This morning waking up again feeling anxious, nauseous but not as much as yesterday and am still not able to get out of bed until almost 11am 
Feeling like I am holding all my anxiety in my throat and chest and cant breathe properly, always feel like i am on the verge of crying. I miss waking up and just being able to start my day no problems, i always wake up and am like "how am i feeling am i ok?" and then BAM it hits me. Sadly my boyfriend isnt being as understanding today, he feels as if i dont care about our relatonship anymore but he doesnt understand its hard for me to concentrate on anything except for my anxiety. Sometimes I feel like I am taking sugar pills but that cant possibly be with how you all have expressed how well you are and plus I've made a lot of small improvements since I started. I will continue to post on here and thank you so much for your care and wonderful words Anne. Hugs.
Thank you so much for your response lattifa. Everything you say here relates to me. I have a lot of people around me saying "why arent you eating" or "Whats wrong" and everytime i hear that it stabs a knife in my chest. I had someone at work comment on my weight loss and it almost broke me i know i have to eat but the thought of food sometimes gives me anxiety because i know i need to eat to live but i am not hungry and it makes me nauseous thinking of force feeding myself, its even lead me to think mayeb i have an eating disorder but then again i realize no this is my anxiety tricking me, i love food, always have and think of myself as being too skinny now and would rather be fat and happy then skinny and miserable. I am able to push myself through work but only because I am acting ok but in the inside it is tearing me up. When I am not at work I am in bed trying to keep myself together. Is there ever going to be a day where I will wake up and actually be ok? not just acting like it till i get home so i can break down crying?
Thank you so much for your response and your journey is wonderful and i am so thankful you are doing better and actually decreasing dosage. I pray every night for better days and for all of you. Hugs.
So my question is should we make ourself get out and go and do things to try and beat the anxiety instead of staying in and waiting for it to be over
I still try and do things little by little weather that's going to a movie , work, my grandparents house I've even made it out to a banquet one night and to see family on Christmas.
It really does help to try and get out and be distracted believe me all I wanna do is ball up and cry all day but in order to beat this we need to keep distracted till the medicine kicks in. How did you carry your days when you were on Paxil?
I went and did everything as a normal just like old times before it pooped out.I am on 150 mg of Zoloft now I am hoping it works and I don't have to go up to 200 mg.i did get out and go to logans for lunch today😊
Pam if you don't mind me asking how bad your anxiety was before Paxil? And how bad it got before it pooped out? I'm glad to see you have an appetite which is something I struggle with and shortness of breath and just feeling drained. I see you were on 100mg and now up to 150mg I hope it helps Pam!!!! That's awesome about lunch!!!! Keep pushing!!!!
*after it pooped out
Hi Taylor,
I like you dont really have an appetite but l am making myself eat meals.. but l have started eating more sweet stuff.. but once my xmas stash finished not going to buy any chocolate.... My mood has lifted and l do feel better but l went to see my doc today and she said difficult to determine if the groggyness was side effect of how my mood was or side effect of the tablets .. so she said to cut the dose and see how l do...
I have a very expensive gym membership so hae virtually dragged myself there and fortunate a dog who moans and sulks if l dont take her out for a walk... Today felt yuk but went to gym and had a swim in the outside pool and although freezing in outside pool did help.
I read a study by a doctor who says outs outsideswimming in cold waters is very good and in a study he has done with a group of patients they all came off anti-depressants... so l am thinking about going that way.....
I have not done much housework but going to give the place a hoover in a minute... and then tomorrow going to try and make it a clean tidy home to bring in the New Year. I hope you start to feel better soon .. excercise is good.. but its just getting yourself to do it...
I was bad before Paxil like I would go to the dr all the time I thought something was happening to me and when it stopped working I started having horrible anxiety/panic attacks to were I was scared to go anywhere scared I wouldn't make it to the hospital or somewhere to get help in time so I just stayed home.i know that sounds crazy as I have just came 15 minutes from home and have sweaty palms and heart racing.I just took a fourth of a Ativan
But the SSRI did make you 100% yourself before right? I'm just questioning antidepressants that they will help or not basically and I wasn't reassurance that they will make me 100% again
Oh yes the Paxil me and my kids would get in the car and go on day trips just us now I can't go anywhere it seems lol
That sounds amazing. I'm just getting home from some errands with my father and was huffing puffing cause idk about you but my anxiety is 24/7 and small things WIPE ME OUT and even when I'm at home "laying relaxing" my body and mind still don't relax
Yes I am the same way and having a 15 year old and a 5 year old it is difficult to be tied down with anxiety
Hi taylor41, I too am on sertaline. I was on it before a few years ago for GAD and it helped me so much. Think I was on 100mg/150mg in the end and because I was feeling better I just come off it, no side effects but not recommend. Anyway September the anxiety has come back to bite me on the bum and it has lead to feeling very low too. I tried different herbal remedies, hypnotherapy but was still waking up with the anxiety and butterflies in my stomach, lost of a stone in weight too and I'm only small. I spoke again to my dr who told me to get back on the meds, I was so scarred to take them this time, I think it was my anxiety playing tricks on me but I started on Monday on 25mg, so far I've had heighten anxiety and a few other side effects but just keep thinking it helped me last time so it's got to hopefully work again for me. My dr once me to up it to 50mg after a week on 25mg so I'm hoping I'll be ok. This is the first time I've wrote on these sites but your right they are a god send when people around you don't really understand what your going through or feeling. I have to try and be strong as I have 2 children and felt terrible I don't do anything with them, just so tired and no energy to do anything but I'm trying to be positive that I can get through it xxx
Thankfully only being 20 years old i do not have the responsibilities of kids but have work and school to which i have missed a lot of. Funny thing is i dont even have specific fears, i dont have social anxiety my anxiety level is pretty much constant and enhances upon waking up, thinking about it a lot and thinking about things i cannot do because of it makes me weepy. Just keep pushing Pam and keep me posted on how the 150mg is doing. My psychiatrist appointment is no until February 7th and I am going to make an appointment with my GP this coming week in the mean time to raise my dose from 50 to either 75 or 100, whatever she reccomends in the mean time. Feel free to message me anytime!
Hello Michelle and welcome to the forum! For the past two months I have been lurking on this site reading everyone elses comments and thought why dont i just make an account and try and connect with others?! It has been amazing. I spend a lot of time on here and try to help others as much as possible as well as recieve encouragement from other myself. I am very happy to hear that sertraline has worked for you in the past! I too also feel terrible for my boyfriend whom (bless his heart) has stuck by me but i have really put a hault on our relationship cause i dont really leave my house. I feel terrible for what i am doing to my family and through this have actually found out who my true friends are. I hope sertraline works for you again and keep us updated on everything!! Hugs.
Taylor, I can't say for you to stay on indefinitely - each person is different and some has it more severe than others - but I read somewhere that if you have several attacks at several diff periods in your life, then you should stay on it indefinitely...maybe at a maintenance dose. You see, after my last attack, I knew I would never get off of it, but 25mg a day is definitely NOT my maintenance dose - I learned it this time during this attack. Now my goal is to get to where 50mg is my maintenance dose, but that seems ways off, and I'd be too scared this time to lower. Right now I am on 150mg a day, and it is my highest dose ever. I scheduled an appt with psychiatrist today for Feb 27 - this is the earliest he could see me. He will only give me med. I called and left voicemail for appt with therapist.
I am really stupid - I may know my triggers in theory, but in practice I am not so good. And each time the onset is similar yet different. I keep forgetting that I have this condition once I get well after awhile.
I still remember my first official attack at the university. It was during my second year and I had to drop the semester and I think I took another one off. So I feel what you are going thru. My heart goes out to you. I had it so awfully bad I nearly collapsed and blacked out cuz I thought so much and was so anxious. I cried buckets and I remember being on a bed with my boyfriend at the time and wanting to swallow all these pills, but my understanding boyfriend said he'd do it with me. So I couldn't do that to him. In this attack that started in Nov, I freaked out my husband when I told him I am too tired to fight this and I just pray to God to take me home peacefully in my sleep. My husband said I scared him and drained him. So I hear ya - this illness is exhausting on your loved ones, too. Worst, while I was going thru one of my worst attacks ever this Nov and Dec I had to go on a vacation overseas with my husband's family and a few of their friends. Really, I didn't think I could even go, but it was planned earlier this year by my brother in law and mostly paid for (flight tix, hotels, tours, etc) and if I didn't go, it would ruin my husband's trip. This was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime, but it was sad that during the trip, all I wanted was to survive the trip and not kill myself and ruin the trip for my husband and his family and friends. Seriously, there were moments on this trip when I was certain I would die in a foreign land (we flew to Tokyo, then took bullet train to Kyoto for 2 nites, then to Nara for 1 nite, then back Tokyo for 3 nites, then flew to Vietnam for 5 nites, then flew to the Philippines, Palawan for 3 nights and then back to Manila for 3 nights - it was so stressful, it was like boot camp vacation, flight delays, always on the go, tours almost every day, and we stayed at 7 diff hotels in about 17 or so days. Now I learned something else. I told myself to not lower med or get stressed around/before any trip.). I even had images of hanging myself in hotel rooms, but miracle of miracles, I made it home, back to the States, and slowly got better. Now I just have to get back to myself. Slowly but surely.
This is is the first time that my husband is going thru this attack with me. We got married about 1 1/2 year ago, so in a way, I guess going thru this will strengthen our relationship - if we can make it thru this, we can make it thru anything!
It's hard for family and friends to understand our illness, but we can still try to communicate how it affects us. Hang in there, stay strong. You. Me. And all afflicted with this. I often get angry at God, why me???, but that's a story for another day.
hi everyone, sertraline has saved me from the depths of depression and anxiety, suicidal negative thinking, incapable of doing anything and not wanting to see, talk, or look at anyone or anything
it took a couple of months to work properly for me, but dont be disheartened by that; some people respond quicker, and even if you dont - waiting a few months but then being met with feeling normal, healthy and well again is a great feeling and well, well worth waiting for
dont feel let down if it turns out that sertraline isn't the right med for you. THERE IS NO RIGHT MED AND THERE IS NO BEST ONE. it's all about trying as many as necessary until you find the one which fits you. the important thing is to get on the path to recovery, and then keep going no matter what. that way, it's only a matter of time before you are well again. depression and anxiety are NOT something u have to be stuck with for life, even if it feels like that when you are trapped in its depths
and finally, keep talking. dont suffer in silence. using forums like this one is also classed as 'talking' believe me. i always feel much better when i get things off my chest. dont hold back, and dont worry, everyone here knows what u are going through so no need to geel embarassed, regardless of male, female, young, old, etc
let's get well. just saying those small few words is the perfect start to recovery.
Thank you so much for your reply, it must have been hard to write this out. I am so glad you found out what works and what does not work for you. I am hoping I can write this right now and vent to you as I just had a very tearful night you can read it or not i just had to type it out. I got my car fixed with my father today and went and got lunch then made plans to go to my grandparents house tonight to watch a movie and I had anxiety built up in me the entire day on the verge of tears then when my boyfriend came over to see me i broke down crying because all i can do once i am home is sit around and think about my anxiety and if i am ever gonna get better. I then went to my father and told him i could not go with him to my grandparents house and he got mad at me (he doesnt really understand what i am going through) which threw me even more into a hole, i ran outside crying and stayed outside on this freezing weather while my boyfriend held me while i was bawling my eyes out. My boyfriend is also on antidepressants for depression so he understands what i am going through to an extent. He says i have to wait for the medicine to "do what it is meant to do" i dont know what he means by that as this is the first time ive ever been on antidepressants. How will i feel once they fully kick in on my theraputic dose? Will i feel like myself? will i ever stop crying? Will there be a day where i dont have to struggle to hold my anxiety in physically and mentally the ENTIRE day just to eventually break down but actually wake up and be calm and happy and act like a normal rational person?!?! I am sorry just venting as my night has been very stressful and sad. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.