AF causes anxiety/ heart drugs cause Insomnia? Vicious circle so they put you on Anti depressants

[Luludean]

AF/ subsequent natural anxiety/ insomnia due to meds/ GP resort to putting too many people on anti depressants ,which send you loopy.? Way forward?

[Mejulie69]

My personal experience is this.... Diazepam cut through my anxiety but made me heavily depressed. Paroxetine fixed my depression in 2 months. I think the dose is important - I started on 20mg and struggled with unpleasant serotonin head rushes. So I reduced it to 10 and then 5mg daily and found it was enough. Took me 2 weeks to wean myself off with 2.5mg daily. Zero withdrawal. Total success for me.

[CaroleF]

It sounds as if the anxiety you (understandably) experience because of AF is the root cause of what sounds like a vicious circle in which you are currently trapped. I wonder if it might help if the anxiety issues were tackled by Mindfulness or a talking therapy. I don't have experience of these myself but I know people on this Forum have found this helpful and I feel sure someone with relevant experience will respond. In the meantime you might try searching the Forum (Search box top right) using 'Mindfulness' and reading the posts about that.

[CDreamer]

And antidepressants can trigger Arrythmia - vicious circle best not to get into in my opinion! (See Dr Gupta’s recent video on long QT syndrome).

Mindfulness, meditation or any other type of relaxation exercise and good mind discipline CBT for worry thoughts.

[rosyG]

I think it wise to find out as much as possible about your AF so you don't feel as anxious and are more in control. For example, I found my Potassium level was low on the three visits to A and E and increased Potassium rich food in my diet and, on the advice of a cardiologist, asked my GP for Magnesium supplement to balance the increased Potassium. Since doing that, I have only had one episode of AF in the last 3 years.

Also bin the caffeine, alcohol, processed foods and try for a healthy weight if not already there. You will make a difference!!

[Hidden]

Within HealthUnlocked there are various forums for anxiety, depression etc, like this one (Anxiety & Depression Support) that has over 10,000 members...

healthunlocked.com/anxiety-...

Or there are loads of others that might be hepful maybe!

Koll