Need some urgent advice or help. Suffering with extremely bad anxiety and depression since last September. Long story short was on sertraline for 6 years but was having very bad sexual side effects so decided to come off it. Was taken off too quickly and got very bad anxiety and panic attacks which leaded to depression returning also. Sertraline was reintroduced at lower dose with mirtazapine added. No improvement. Was weaned off sertraline with venlafaxine introduced. Currently 17 days on 150mg venlafaxine as well as 45mg mirtazapine. First few days felt worse on 150mg but then I actually noticed an improvement for about a week. Anxiety significantly reduced, more energy, waking up earlier in the mornings and mood was starting to improve. But the last few days since Tuesday I have been getting worse. Really bad anxiety, no appetite and just want to die. Increasing suicidal thoughts also but they are more intrusive thoughts than urges. But still horrible. I don’t know what to do I know I’m just over 2 weeks on the 150mg of venlafaxine and may need longer time on it but I’m so confused as was starting to feel better and now I’m back to the way I was. I’m due an appointment with psychiatrist next Thursday week but I’m debating on whether to ring tomorrow and get appointment for this Thursday. If anybody could offer me any advice I would be so grateful. Feeling on edge everyday is just terrible. I’m hoping somebody out there has been in the same situation as me. Thank you so much for reading. 24 year old male here if it matters
Many years ago I had terrible anxiety and intrusive thoughts. I remember searching for information on OCD which is very much part of the problem. You have the thought, then feel intense anxiety and then are compelled to counteract it but then the thoughts creep back.
You can totally recover from this but you’ll need to research OCD and look for apps that help. What I also use to do is write down all my anxieties in a long check list and then look at them a week later to see if any had come true, none of them did and on reflection some of them were ridiculous!!
I also read that from a study by researchers at Penn State University.
They found that:
85% of what people worried about never happened.
Of the 15% that did happen, about 79% of people reported that they either handled it better than expected or learned something valuable from it.
Hope this helps because this really helped cure me, just put all your energies into learning about this condition. You can and will get better.
Update for anyone that is interested or for anyone that could advise. Had appointment with psychiatrist on 2nd of July and explained how things were not improving and getting worse. Also, I see a different psychiatrist every time which doesn’t help as they are just reading the previous doctors notes. Anyways, for some reason he decided to reduce the mirtazapine from 45mg to 30mg, and increase the venlafaxine from 150mg to 187.5mg. This did not help and led me nearly ringing an ambulance as I was getting panic attacks which I hadn’t really got since withdrawing from sertraline. Had appointment with psychiatrist last Thursday (6th July) of course it was a different doctor that I never met before and he increased the mirtazapine back to 45mg from 30mg, but decreased my venlafaxine from 187.5mg back to 150mg. The same dosage I was already on when I came to this website first looking for help! My mood and anxiety has been getting worse since that and I believe I am experiencing withdrawal from decreasing the venlafaxine. Dizziness, fatigue, restlessness, anxiety, depression, some suicidal thoughts creeping in. The doctor did tell me to try 150mg for a week and if I don’t feel improvement to increase back to the 187.5. He said as it worked for a week before this he said it should work. I decided to increase this morning back to the 187.5mg venlafaxine. Have had bad anxiety all day and dizziness and just feel terrible in general. Got a prescription of Xanax off the gp to help with anxiety and panic attacks. I’m just so lost right now. I don’t know what to do. It’s been nearly 1 year since I decided to come off sertraline due to sexual side effects. I’m regretting coming off them as I have been in hell ever since. I’m thinking is venlafaxine the right drug for me? Surely I should be feeling some relief on 187.5mg. I’m debating on whether to try go back on the sertraline and see will that help with my anxiety and depression. And if I have sexual side effects to just live with it. It’s hard when you are a 24 year old male and to not have a sex drive. I feel so sorry for my partner I feel so guilty and that I’m just a burden on her. All I want is to feel relief. I was originally put on sertraline for depression. I never suffered with anxiety or panic attacks. But since coming off the sertraline around this time last year, all I have is anxiety. If anyone could advise me I would be so so grateful. I’m at my wits end