Hi everyone, I'm new on here and need some advice/reassurance. I have always had anxiety and depression and 8 years ago had the most awful anxiety ever following a health scare. I was put on Citalopram which was gradually increased to 40mg and up until April 2019 my anxiety and depression were under control. Then another health scare (my boyfriend's this time not mine) sent me into full scale unbearable anxiety. My doctor left me on the Citalopram but also added 75mg Venlafaxine and a very low dose of Diazepam. I initially picked up fairly quickly (within days) and managed to go back to work and come off the diaz no problems. However I still wasn't fully right and my doctor upped the Venlafaxine to 150mg in a bid to kick the last of the anxiety. I was okay for about 10 days then all hell broke loose and the anxiety was horrendous. The doctor put me back to 75mg Venlafaxine and put me on 5mg diaz twice a day and sure enough after decreasing the Venlafaxine I returned to where I'd been before, however having taken a second period of time off work (which I hated anyway) I couldn't face returning and have now been signed off since last August. After this my doctor seemed to lose interest in helping me but I continued being 'not right' ( most of the time able to do my hobbies etc but not well enough to work or plan ahead) and after a bit of a meltdown in November I changed doctors and managed to find one who specializes in mental health. She was brilliant and said she thought the Venlafaxine wasn't agreeing with me and the Citalopram had possibly lost some effectiveness over the years. She therefore took me off both and started me on 50mg Sertraline for a week then upped it to 100mg. For about 3 weeks I felt good and thought my ordeal was coming to an end......and then just before Christmas it all went wrong again.......awful anxiety once again. The doctor took me off the Sertraline and has put me back on Citalopram 20mg for the moment, but I'm a week in on that now, the anxiety is terrifying and I'm not seeing any sign of it lifting. My doctor consulted a Psychiatrist before putting me back on Citalopram and said there is no reason why it wouldn't work again, but I'm petrified that it won't. I'm almost always frightened out of my mind, feeling sick with dread, losing weight and constantly asking my boyfriend if I will ever be okay again. I don't know what I'm expecting from this post really, I just don't know where else to turn. PS. Although I've been on the Diaz for a while now the dr and Psychiatrist have both assured me that it's a low dose and that once I'm better on anti-depressants they can get me off it no problems.
Hi Christine,
Really sorry to hear about all your struggles. It sounds like your doctor has been changing your medications quickly. Most medications take at least 4 to 6 weeks to start working and longer to feel the full benefits.
If you restart a medication that you used to take, most people say that it takes the same amount of time to take effect as it did the first time around.
I was on Venlafaxine 75mg for about 10 years and it worked well but started to lose it’s effect. Some psychiatrists think that medications do not stop working but if you look online it is a recognised phenomenon called “tachyphylaxis” or more commonly “poop out”.
I am now on Sertraline 100mg about 6 weeks, slight improvement but not fully better yet.
Hope you feel well soon,
Ed
I suffer mental health problems and medication is only part of the answer, maybe 30%. You have to learn endurance and to be patient in tribulation. These are spiritual laws in the same way as perseverance and not giving up is. God will see to it if you ask him. Mental problems are problems in the soul/ spirit ie fear, will, feelings and emotions - we are spiritual beings as we were intended to be so you need to meet spiritual attacks withe spiritual defence, medication and the weakness of your own human nature at best can give you an existence but all mankind needs God and his sovereign authority who is sovereign over all our suffering
Hi Ed,
Thank you for reading my lengthy post. It’s good to know that others have re-started the medication and it’s known to work again, even if it does take just as long.
I have been switched around on things a lot and sometimes wonder if my brain just doesn’t know what’s going on anymore.
Interestingly my doctor admitted that medications can become less effective over time but said that as I’ve had a few weeks break from it I may find that it works better for me this time. I think I’m just panicking that I haven’t seen improvements yet even though it’s probably too soon to expect any.
If only there were a way of knowing which medications/dosages suit different people - it would reduce so much suffering.
It sounds like Sertraline is working well for you which is great, strange how what works for one can be almost poison for another.
Christine
I have a similiar story of years and years of this. I am finally in a good place.
For me, I am on a “cocktail” of meds but the real klencher that brought me
out of the darkness was a last ditch effort, to try an antipsychotic. If you think
about it, anxiety IS very much psychotic. I obsess over my fears. So, we tried
a low dose of Latuda (lurasadone). I felt a bit better and we kept upping it
until I finally felt relief I hadn’t felt in years. I was on the max dose for several
years and we have gradually been lowering the dose (from 225mg down to 40mg).
I have been maintaining at 40mgs for the past year.
Please, know that everybody is different-totally! I had been treatment resistant
to the panic and depression for so long and to finally have something help
me felt like a miracle. It took a Psychiatrist, willing to think outside of the
traditional box and apply a new concept to my anxiety. He has done this before
with other patients but it was my first time.
Labeling my panic as psychotic behavior has changed my life. I in no way mean
to diminish the enormity of true psychosis for patients, but for me, this was
groundbreaking. If you think about it, it does become obsessive thoughts of fear
to the point that it just isn’t real-just like the definition of psychosis.
There have been rare times that I have run out and had trouble replacing it, and I don’t
know if it were in my head or real, but I I would go downhill quite fast. Thank God,
recovery was quick within two days of getting it back.
I really feel for you. Anxiety and Panic are debilitating. I wish more people understood
the toll it takes on our lives and it is not a matter of “thinking differently” or just “get up
and get out”. I wish that’s all it took. I am glad to hear you have found a Dr. that you
are happy with and will work with you. That is a big help.
Hang in there. Sometimes we just have to be a guinea pig with meds and keep trying,
to find one that works, because everybody responds differently to meds.
I wish you peace in your journey.
Linda
Thank you Linda,
Yes I’m hanging on in there just waiting for the Citalopram to start working again. It did a great job for me for years and once I came off it and tried Sertraline which didn’t work it became obvious that Citalopram had still been doing a lot!
Just want it to get working again because as you say it’s awful being like this.
Christine
Hi, I read your post and you wrote that you have been taking Latuda. I have tried Latuda for 5 weeks at 20 mg. It helped me on the first day. I still have anxiety.
I have been taking Cymbalta for 8 months, but I have not back to normal, so my doctor add Latuda.
How much did you start the Latuda to go up 225 mg? Latuda is a brand name, very expensive, my doctor gave me samples.
hi christine i am on citalopram for the second time. i was on it for a 4 and a half years and it worked really well but its been a different experience this time. The side effects were worse and its taking a lot longer to work for me - i am 3 months in. i was only on 20 last time but have just gone up to 30. i am better than i was but no way in remission yet. this may not be the case for you but lots of people on here do say that it takes longer the second time so dont get too down if it takes a while
Hi there, I read your post and as someone who has become dependant on benzodiazepines I would say be careful. It took me two years to wean off Clonazepam. I had to gradually wean off with diazepam and it still took two years. the pills GAVE me anxiety. They work at first but as your body gets used to them they make you worse. I became afraid of everything.
I tried antidepressants for my anxiety but they made me so anxious that I couldn’t deal with them.
I am now on NOTHING and better off, but my nervous system is still healing after a year. My sleep has finally returned to normal.
If you wean off the diazepam do it SLOWLY. Weaning abruptly is dangerous. You can google Ashton’s manual for an idea of at what rate you should go.
You also need to go slow if you wean off the antidepressants. And don’t wean two things at once.
Hi Tamsin,
Thanks for taking the time to read my post.
I guess these things work differently on everyone. I can’t say I’ve felt any side effects this time but then again the anxiety has been so bad that maybe I have and just not noticed.
Interestingly my dr said that often after a break from the drug it can work quicker and better second time round. Here’s hoping.
Christine
Hi Shalene,
Thanks for replying to my post.
I too am very wary of the diazepam (probably driven my dr up the wall worrying about it), but fortunately she specializes in this field and has reassured me that when I am settled on a good anti-depressant she will taper me off slowly, she said she does this all the time with patients on much higher doses, so I’m lucky in that respect that she has a lot of experience with these things.
She is the one good thing to come my way throughout this awful episode, my previous dr just left me to suffer!
CHRISTINE