How my anxiety began

[UrsaDee]

I first had anxiety & panic attacks after I had a difficult operation, I was treated with Citalopram which helped me to get back to feeling "normal" after a while I was able to stop taking the Citalopram, then in 2010 I began to become anxious & feeling tense & panicky, I was put on Citalopram 10mg & if I remember this seemed to work relativity quickly, since then I was fine, then at the beginning of September I wasn't too well, I had a few health problems including heart failure, I had to ask my doctors surgery for a home visit, unfortunately my usual GP wasn't on call that day & the doctor who came out to see me thought I was depressed, I tried to explain to her I didn't feel depressed, unwell yes, but definitely not depressed, but the doctor persuaded me to try an antidepressant called Sertraline, she prescribed 50mg, I was told to stop taking the Citalopram & begin taking the Sertraline, I took the Sertraline until the 28th September, I had been fine until taking the Sertraline, it has made me anxious & so tense / uneasy, I spoke to another doctor & I explained how the Sertraline was making me feel & she agreed with me to stop the Sertraline & wait a few days to start back on the Citalopram 10mg, which I started to take again on the 5th October, I took the 10mg & after a couple of weeks I felt a bit like my old self but that was short lived, on the 22nd October I was back to feeling anxious, it hit me very hard, I reached a point where I was so anxious & tense I could hardly move, I felt rigid, I rang my doctors & spoke to the GP who'd prescribed the Sertraline for me, I explained to her how I was feeling, she suggested I up the Citalopram from 10mg to 20mg, Since the 22nd October I've been taking the 20mg, the 10th November I had a good day, again I felt like my self, but the next day I was back to being anxious, I managed to get into the doctors surgery & see another doctor, she prescribed some Temazepam 10mg for me to take that evening, I managed to get through the night & I went back to the doctors the next day, I saw a different doctor, she spoke to me about the recent events & she said there is usually a "crescendo" of the anxiety & after a few days the medication begins to take affect, so I have carried on living in hope the medication would soon "kick in", then just before the weekend I began to feel more like my "old self", I was still a bit tense but it wasn't too bad, the feeling like myself lasted 4 days, then yesterday the 2nd December the feeling of anxiety & being shaky came back, my muscles are tense it hurts, as of today the 3rd of December, I have been taking 20mg of Citalopram for 6 weeks. There has been a couple of occasions when I felt I was turning the corner & that the Citalopram was beginning to work but after a couple of days the anxiety & the other symptoms came back, as I mentioned before the last "reprieve" lasted 4 days, I really thought I was heading in the right direction, but with the anxiety coming back I'm feeling is this medication going to work? How long should I give it before seeing my GP again, I read the patient information leaflet that comes with the Citalopram, it said it could take several weeks for the Citalopram to take effect. I'd be grateful if you could offer any advice please.

Thank you for your time. Kind regards. Ursula Darker.

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Hello

I am sorry your post went unanswered and I know it has been 2 years since you posted but we are trying to make this Community more active and supporting again so if you ever look on would be nice to hear how you are doing now if you would like to talk

Take Care x