Crippling Anxiety

[Tee8301]

Hey everyone this is my first time posting here just looking for support from others who experience what I'm going through. Basically for the past three months I've been dealing with crippling anxiety. I have a vestibular disorder so it flares up at times and I feel dizzy, off balance, lightheaded, and kind of spaced out from everything. When it does flare up my anxiety hits me hard. I basically have a fear of passing out or a bad feeling comes over me and makes me feel like I'm dying. My menstrual cycle has been on this past week so the past three days have been bad with panic attacks. I've been prescribed lexapro but I'm so afraid to take it because of the risk of side effects. Anyone else take lexapro? If so did you have bad side effects and how long did it take to kick in? Also any other techniques you use to combat your anxiety? Thanks for any help guys.

[Anxietygal2]

Hi, I have taken Lexapro, it worked better then any other med I tried for depression. I got off it for awhile but am making an appt asap to get back on it. It does take 2 weeks or more to get into your system. I didnt have any bad side effects as I did with other depression meds.

[MARYRD27]

I also have that fear of trying a new med, but decided it couldn’t be worse than the anxiety. Like you, when I first started having panic attacks I would feel lightheaded and fear I would faint. I discovered later that it was because I was hyperventilating. So take a few deep breaths and that should take care of it. Next, try to figure out what is bringing on the panic. It could be menstrual pain or something that is causing enough discomfort that you are inadvertently either holding your breath or taking quick shallow breaths. When you hyperventilate you get dizzy which can cause a panic attack. And when bad enough, you feel like you may die. You won’t die. It’s just the anxiety.

Some of us have more sensitive nervous systems that detect something (like hyperventilating) and triggers the fight or flight response. Once in awhile I wake up in the middle of the night feeling like my throat is closing. After a few times I realized it was the dry air causing a dry throat that was triggering it. Once you recognize the triggers you will be able to talk yourself down. I recommend to everyone a great book called The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Bourne. Being in tune with your body is key as well as knowing when you are experiencing anxiety vs a real physical illness. Most of the time it will be anxiety. If you can distract yourself and the symptoms abate or disappear, then you know it’s definitely anxiety. Good luck.

[marheart in reply to MARYRD27]

Dr. suggested OTC Biotene to spray in mouth to keep the saliva circulating for 4 hours. Then when I wake up, which is often, spray again if needed.

The dry throat scares me. I wake up having trouble breathing.

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Hi Tee8301

Have you started the meds yet? Wondering how you are getting on. I started Lexapro 8 weeks ago. The first 2 weeks weren’t great (foggy headed, tired and generally a bit out of it) but I stuck with it and I’m now doing really good. No side effects other than it taking a bit of effort to get going in the morning (coffee helps!). I would also stay off alcohol for a couple of weeks as for me Lexapro increased the effects and made me extremely tired. My GAD really has gone. Just not sweating the small stuff and my mood is much more level.

Good luck! 😉