Hello all. I'm just here to vent and tell my story in hopes of getting some advice, sharing of similar stories and symptoms or just support. Let me share with you a hopefully brief history of my anxiety and depression.
I was diagnosed back in 2011 with anxiety and depression after numerous I guess what you'd call panic attacks. I felt like I couldn't breath, heart racing, sweating, insomnia, and swallowing issues. I also started to experience some cognitive issues with memory, concentration and focusing. It got pretty bad to the point I went into the mental hospital and was put on disability. I was given Paxil in the hospital and it is what I took for around 2 months after being discharged. I stopped taking it because I felt like a zombie.
I was having more issues with my cognitive functioning and the depression and anxiety were increasing so I went back to my doctor who over a 2 month period tried me on numerous different antidepressants which I only took for a very short time. In fact most of them only a few days before I quit due to the side effects I was getting.
Jump ahead to August of 2012 my doctor tried me on Zoloft. The medication actually really helped me out of the hole I was in. I returned to work and had a reduction in the cognitive impairments I had been experiencing. Then I did something really stupid. I stopped taking the medication because I felt I was recovered.
I was ok for around 4 months off the Zoloft and crashed! My doctor again put me back on Zoloft and I did take it for around 6 weeks and stopped again because I felt no different. I didn't take medication for over a year and a half. I basically did it all myself. I was still having cognitive impairments, but actually pushed through it and returned to work and even started evening classes at the college. I was doing ok...I mean at least I was out and functioning and living again.
In November of last year one day at work I started having symptoms of an anxiety attack out of the blue. From there it's increased to now I'm having severe memory, concentration, and focusing problems. I've also started having a lot of new cognitive issues such as loss of verbal memory, problems when I read ( sometimes I don't know what a word is when in looking at it) spelling problems, can't follow simple tv or movie plots, confused and very disorganized thinking.
These are all very new and scary feelings. I really don't know what to do. My doctor wants me to go back on Zoloft. Has anyone here had these same issues with symptoms? Do any of you feel that medication has truly helped you or hurt you? Any advice, comments, and suggestions are welcomed!