New member, anxiety relapse

[chiliphil1]

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum. I was previously on a different forum but it has had a drastic reduction in activity so I am joining this community. I thank you all for the opportunity to be here.

I'll start from the top. Back in 2011 I had my first real encounter with anxiety. I was working a very stressful job that made me miserable and one day I had a sudden chest pain, that pain brought on severe anxiety and panic attacks. I spent months dealing with constant fear and worry, I had health anxiety daily, I was constantly thinking that I was having a heart attack, stroke, cancer, etc. If it existed I believed that I had it at some point. I was finally able to get out of that cycle with the help of a doctor who gave me Pristiq and propanolol. That combo seemed to "fix" me from day one.

I then spent the next few years doing ok. I came off of the medication within about 6 months and things were ok. I certainly had anxiety from time to time but never the life consuming type that I had dealt with previously. I had my issues off and on but for the most part I considered it normal and a non issue.

A few months back I received a letter that I was being audited by the IRS and it sent me into an immediate panic, panic like I have not felt in years. The first thought that popped into my head was that I was going to prison for something. I hadn't done anything and there was no reason to be worried like that but it just happened. I spent the next month or so gathering documents and doing what I needed to do for them and then it was over. No harm no foul, just a paperwork error that has now been corrected. I am done with that completely but, the panic and worry that it caused has put me back into a cycle of anxiety. it has become a phobia and I think about it all the time. I have worried about it so much that I have now begun to worry that I will worry. I have fallen into the cycle of fearing the fear.

I have seen my doctor a few times and I've been bouncing from med to med, I started on lexapro which seemed to improve my mood but made the anxiety a little worse, then I went to an SNRI that I can't remember the name of. That one made everything worse, then the doctor put me on abilify which only made my mood worse. It seemed to bring me down and make me lose interest in everything. I spoke with the doctor again and as of today I am back on lexapro I will just have to deal with the side effects until hopefully they subside.

I just wanted to make an introduction and say hello to everyone and say again, thank you for having this place. Sorry about the long post.

 

[Akenn]

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum. I was previously on a different forum but it has had a drastic reduction in activity so I am joining this community. I thank you all for the opportunity to be here.

I'll start from the top. Back in 2011 I had my first real encounter with anxiety. I was working a very stressful job that made me miserable and one day I had a sudden chest pain, that pain brought on severe anxiety and panic attacks. I spent months dealing with constant fear and worry, I had health anxiety daily, I was constantly thinking that I was having a heart attack, stroke, cancer, etc. If it existed I believed that I had it at some point. I was finally able to get out of that cycle with the help of a doctor who gave me Pristiq and propanolol. That combo seemed to "fix" me from day one.

I then spent the next few years doing ok. I came off of the medication within about 6 months and things were ok. I certainly had anxiety from time to time but never the life consuming type that I had dealt with previously. I had my issues off and on but for the most part I considered it normal and a non issue.

A few months back I received a letter that I was being audited by the IRS and it sent me into an immediate panic, panic like I have not felt in years. The first thought that popped into my head was that I was going to prison for something. I hadn't done anything and there was no reason to be worried like that but it just happened. I spent the next month or so gathering documents and doing what I needed to do for them and then it was over. No harm no foul, just a paperwork error that has now been corrected. I am done with that completely but, the panic and worry that it caused has put me back into a cycle of anxiety. it has become a phobia and I think about it all the time. I have worried about it so much that I have now begun to worry that I will worry. I have fallen into the cycle of fearing the fear.

I have seen my doctor a few times and I've been bouncing from med to med, I started on lexapro which seemed to improve my mood but made the anxiety a little worse, then I went to an SNRI that I can't remember the name of. That one made everything worse, then the doctor put me on abilify which only made my mood worse. It seemed to bring me down and make me lose interest in everything. I spoke with the doctor again and as of today I am back on lexapro I will just have to deal with the side effects until hopefully they subside.

I just wanted to make an introduction and say hello to everyone and say again, thank you for having this place. Sorry about the long post.

Sounds too familiar. I had health scare and now every ache and pain means I have something different. I also worry about worrying and making things worse. I'm not on any anxiety meds. They prescribed lexapro but I have been struggling to take it. I think I should try but I have a different excuse daily why I cant. I'm too worried about the side effects. I have side effects from blood pressure medication I am on. I have been miserable and have appointment Friday to change or stay off of it. It has given me low blood pressure for 2 days and I'm down to 1/4 tablet. Welcome this forum had helped me. What kind of side effects on lexapro and how many mg if you dont mind me asking. Thank you

 

[chiliphil1]

Sounds too familiar. I had health scare and now every ache and pain means I have something different. I also worry about worrying and making things worse. I'm not on any anxiety meds. They prescribed lexapro but I have been struggling to take it. I think I should try but I have a different excuse daily why I cant. I'm too worried about the side effects. I have side effects from blood pressure medication I am on. I have been miserable and have appointment Friday to change or stay off of it. It has given me low blood pressure for 2 days and I'm down to 1/4 tablet. Welcome this forum had helped me. What kind of side effects on lexapro and how many mg if you dont mind me asking. Thank you

10mg dose. The main side effects were a headache and a little bit of nausea. The reason I stopped it the first time was because it seemed to make the anxiety worse after a few days. However this time I’m going to give it enough time to work, I believe that I stopped too soon last time because overall I did feel much better with it.

 

[Akenn]

10mg dose. The main side effects were a headache and a little bit of nausea. The reason I stopped it the first time was because it seemed to make the anxiety worse after a few days. However this time I’m going to give it enough time to work, I believe that I stopped too soon last time because overall I did feel much better with it.

Thank you. I know everyone has said its helpful I'm just too scared of getting more side effects. Which is bad headaches, muscle pain, dizziness, and a lot of nausea. I probably wouldn't even notice of it was the lexapro since I already have them. I'm glad you are feeling better.

 

[chiliphil1]

Thank you. I know everyone has said its helpful I'm just too scared of getting more side effects. Which is bad headaches, muscle pain, dizziness, and a lot of nausea. I probably wouldn't even notice of it was the lexapro since I already have them. I'm glad you are feeling better.

Thank you and I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Akenn]

Thank you and I wish you the best of luck.

Hi there how is it going on Lexapro. I decided to start mine only 2.5mg to start. I had tingling in my fingers and flush feeling that eventually went away. Woke up today with a lot of nausea. It's only been 2 doses. The nausea isnt new due to other medication I was taking but noticed it was more intense than before. Just wondering what is your experience so far. Thank you

 

[chiliphil1]

Hi there how is it going on Lexapro. I decided to start mine only 2.5mg to start. I had tingling in my fingers and flush feeling that eventually went away. Woke up today with a lot of nausea. It's only been 2 doses. The nausea isnt new due to other medication I was taking but noticed it was more intense than before. Just wondering what is your experience so far. Thank you

Hey, glad to hear that you are getting some treatment. I am on day 6 of the Lexapro and so far, so good. I have noticed that my anxiety level is higher than normal, I have read that this is a normal start up side effect which should go away within a week or two. I did have some nausea but it seems to have gone away. I have noticed a big decrease in my obsessive thinking and fear. I feel more anxious but it's more like drinking a lot of coffee anxious rather than scared of something anxious, it's different. I'm hoping that over the next few days I will have a reduction in that and if that happens I think that I'll be doing very well.

 

[Akenn]

Hey, glad to hear that you are getting some treatment. I am on day 6 of the Lexapro and so far, so good. I have noticed that my anxiety level is higher than normal, I have read that this is a normal start up side effect which should go away within a week or two. I did have some nausea but it seems to have gone away. I have noticed a big decrease in my obsessive thinking and fear. I feel more anxious but it's more like drinking a lot of coffee anxious rather than scared of something anxious, it's different. I'm hoping that over the next few days I will have a reduction in that and if that happens I think that I'll be doing very well.

My nausea is very bad and I dont know if I can deal with it. The tingling in my fingers is really scaring me. Its progressively gotten worse with nausea. Before on other medication I just feel nausea now I'm gagging and cant stop. I don't know if I should stop it. I know going backwards but I don't know if I can do this.

 

[chiliphil1]

My nausea is very bad and I dont know if I can deal with it. The tingling in my fingers is really scaring me. Its progressively gotten worse with nausea. Before on other medication I just feel nausea now I'm gagging and cant stop. I don't know if I should stop it. I know going backwards but I don't know if I can do this.

I can understand. The nausea was horrible at first. The good news is that it only lasted about 2 days. After that it pretty much disappeared. The best advice I can give is to check with your doctor. I would say to just stick with it, at least a week but if it’s too much, it’s too much. Speak with the doc and see what they think.

 

[Akenn]

I can understand. The nausea was horrible at first. The good news is that it only lasted about 2 days. After that it pretty much disappeared. The best advice I can give is to check with your doctor. I would say to just stick with it, at least a week but if it’s too much, it’s too much. Speak with the doc and see what they think.

The tingling in fingers is really freaking me out. Did you experience any of this or feeling flushed ? Please. Thank you

 

[chiliphil1]

The tingling in fingers is really freaking me out. Did you experience any of this or feeling flushed ? Please. Thank you

To be honest, no. Years ago I took buspar and it made my lips tingle. I know that the increased anxiety from starting lexapro could be causing the flushing and tingling. I would mention it to the doctor but don’t panic. Could just be extra muscle tension in your back putting pressure on the nerves which go to your hands as well.

 

[Akenn]

To be honest, no. Years ago I took buspar and it made my lips tingle. I know that the increased anxiety from starting lexapro could be causing the flushing and tingling. I would mention it to the doctor but don’t panic. Could just be extra muscle tension in your back putting pressure on the nerves which go to your hands as well.

Thank you for reply. I dont want to give up as you said sometimes it goes away in a couple of days. I'm just worried about increasing dose...did the nausea come back or did you just do full dose to begin with?

 

[Cameron12345]

Hello, WELCOME! I just want you to know you’re not alone. Lately I’ve been experiencing really bad and constant anxiety for about 4 weeks now. It comes in waves so some days I deal better than others. I’m on Zoloft 50mg and I kept going off and on for a few months and it was making me feel worse because I wasn’t consistent with it. About 3 days ago I went to the hospital because I thought I was having a heart attack because I felt nauseous, dizzy and chest hurt and my tongue went comepletely numb. They checked everything and said it sounds like anxiety. I’m still anxious about it. About a year ago I have a bad period of time about 3 months of hardly sleeping because of my health anxiety. I beat it with a therapist and then like I said recently I went to the hospital and it’s back.

 

[Akenn]

Hello, WELCOME! I just want you to know you’re not alone. Lately I’ve been experiencing really bad and constant anxiety for about 4 weeks now. It comes in waves so some days I deal better than others. I’m on Zoloft 50mg and I kept going off and on for a few months and it was making me feel worse because I wasn’t consistent with it. About 3 days ago I went to the hospital because I thought I was having a heart attack because I felt nauseous, dizzy and chest hurt and my tongue went comepletely numb. They checked everything and said it sounds like anxiety. I’m still anxious about it. About a year ago I have a bad period of time about 3 months of hardly sleeping because of my health anxiety. I beat it with a therapist and then like I said recently I went to the hospital and it’s back.

Thank you for reply. It's only been 2 days on it on very small dose and the nausea is so bad. I took a zofran to help with nausea and it barely touched the nausea at all. This usually works and I dont use it unless nausea is bad. My husband said I either stop the lexapro or commit to go through side effects. I don't know I'm very conflicted. I have thought about therapy. It seems to help many. I was in ER 3 days ago. I had stayed out 28days which was a record. They are probably tired of seeing me as the ER doctor knows me by name. My health anxiety is pretty bad. It happened after a heart scare I had in July which I was hospitalized. Now I wish I had never gone to ER that day which before I rarely ever went. Now it's just out of control. They give me looks and I feel uncomfortable but it doesn't keep me from going.

 

[chiliphil1]

Thank you for reply. I dont want to give up as you said sometimes it goes away in a couple of days. I'm just worried about increasing dose...did the nausea come back or did you just do full dose to begin with?

I went with the full dose. Given my weight and everything it’s where I need to be. Depending on how I’m doing in a few weeks I may go up again, that’s to be seen. Personally I think that taking so little is causing you issue, you have to have a certain amount of the medication to help you, otherwise you may just get side effects and no benefits. That could be what’s going on.

 

[Akenn]

I went with the full dose. Given my weight and everything it’s where I need to be. Depending on how I’m doing in a few weeks I may go up again, that’s to be seen. Personally I think that taking so little is causing you issue, you have to have a certain amount of the medication to help you, otherwise you may just get side effects and no benefits. That could be what’s going on.

After staying most of the night in bathroom vomiting. I decided not to take it anymore. You may be right but that's what my doctor said to do so I would not get bad side effects. Well it was really bad. This morning still feel somewhat nauseous but not as bad as yesterday. Hopefully that means medication effects are going away. Thank you