This is the first time I'm talking to other people about my recent diagnosis outside of my husband. I recently was diagnosed with anxiety and depression and my doctor put me on effexor (75 mg) which I have been on for about three weeks. I was doing well on it for awhile, but recently have started feeling down again and couldn't sleep past 2 am. I called my doctor and she upped my dosage to 150 mg two days all. While driving yesterday, I broke down crying and today I started having a panic attack right after taking my medication.
Any advice?
Written by
vingrimes
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My advice when discussing medications is two sided. The first thing is to remember that antidepressants don’t actually FIX anything. I compare them to a life preserver. You can swim just fine on your own but imagine how much farther you could and how much easier it would to have one?
Secondly, you know your body best. Not your doctor, your husband, family, friends or anyone on here. Only you know what you’re feeling. All antidepressants have side effects and it can be a hassle to keep trying new ones over and over because you have to give them time to get fully into your system, the side effects to even out and let you make a full analysis, but if they aren’t working or the side effects are worse than the benefits you need to speak up and stand your ground. You’ll find one eventually.
Going back to the first point, is there anything going on in your life that would cause your problems sleeping? Sleep Health is a major component in the severity of depression symptoms.
What was the reason you broke down crying and was there anything that could have triggered the panic attack besides taking the medication?
You’re always welcome to reach out to me directly or post publicly if it helps. Remember that you need to take care of yourself. Plenty of people and websites can teach you about self care. Welcome again, I’ll respond when I can if you like and I wish you all the best 🙂
faulhallan is right, in order to recover you first need to ask yourself how you acquired anxiety and depression. It's usually because you've gone through a long period of worry, overwork, toxic relationships, disappointment, loss, grief and/or stress. That has taken its toll on yourmind and your nerves which have been sensitised by the traumas you've gone through.
First priority is to fix whatever has been giving you a hard time. This may well mean major upheavals and ruthless action by you. But you must now put yourself first, it's your wellbeing that's at stake. There is no problem in the world that cannot be solved by the application of thought.
There are several reasons for depression, sometimes it's simply that we're depressed about feeling anxious. Sometimes it's a symptom of depletion due to nervous exhaustion. Your panic attack is of course a symptom of anxiety usually caused by so much stress your nervous system becomes over sensitised.
So apart from dealing with the reasons for your stress you should address the symptoms of your anxiety and depression. These can trap you in a vicious circle of symptoms causing fear causing more symptoms causing more fear ad infinitum. You can break this self perpetuating circle by accepting the symptoms for the time being instead of fearing them. This stops the process of constantly resensitising your nerves: given a break and a rest they begin to recover.
More easily said than done I know. But if you can frame your mind to reject fear (fear of what exactly?) and replace it by simple acceptance (for the moment) you may well find that the days of your disorder are numbered.
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