Hi
I'm suffering from anxiety disorder and have unfortunately developed a bit for agoraphobia from it. I've had this since February and was on citalopram which went really badly so for the last 12 weeks been on sertraline (50 for 4 weeks and 100 for 8) I've made some big improvements but it's very up and down still. I can have really good days where I don't feel anxious and then days where I wake up having a panic attack or can't make it to the local shop for example. Has anyone had anxiety of this severity and been 'cured' and if so what dose are you taking?
I'm not sure i should go up or if it's not made a significant improvement by now, try something different?
I'm really trying to stay positive and get better. I was a very outgoing social happy person before this happened and I want desperately to feel like myself again.
Hi Hun,
I suffered a lot worse than you I think, I could not for the life of me sleep eat or concentrate what so ever lost 2 stone in weight and had intrusive thoughts.
I got on to 50mg of sertraline and after 5 weeks was able to sleep for at least 3 hours a night , started to eat and be less anxious. Why did you up the dose from 50mg?
It took at least 5 weeks to feel a lot better but still not 100% it took 7 months to feel my self again. And almost 2 years later I'm very well and tapering my meds now, I get the odd bad day but nothing I can't manage. It was the most terrible experience of my life and it has changed me so much for the better and I'll never forget it. This site helped
Me a feat deal made me feel normal and people
Understand. You will get well I absolutely promise you that you will. Pray have faith in god and know your own body ,maybe 40mg was enough for you and now ur on a too high dose?
Well I started on 50 just so I didn't have as bad side effects from it and was always going to go up to 100. The dr said I could go up to 150 but I'm just not sure what the usual dose is for people with agoraphobia or if it's worth it considering Im still suffering with bad anxiety. It's definitely an improvement because I've gone from not being able to leave my house at all to being able to go to certain places on good days. I just thought I'd be having more good days by now.
I know with citalopram the preferred dose is 40mg for panic disorder but I don't know much about sertraline.
It sounds as though from what your saying, staying on the same dose and giving it time worked for you rather than keep going up?
When I was on citalopram the dr kept upping my dose really quickly and it totally backfired with horrific side effects so I'm just really cautious about dose changes.