Frightened to death of taking my anxiety meds.

[shellby163]

Hello i am Shelley.I have been in a state of panic for nearly a year.I have been perscribed 5 different antidepressants and petrified of taking them.How can i get my head around taking them and the side effects.Please help me.x

[MAS_Nurse]

Hi Shellby163,

Welcome to our community. May we suggest that you go back and discuss your medication and treatment with your doctor and or pharmacist, as they are best placed to advise you? I presume that you are not 5 ADs simultaneously, as that could be dangerous.

All medications have side effects even aspirin or paracetamol. The drug companies are legally bound to put down all the potential risk and side effects even if one person in a billion had an adverse reaction. It doesn't mean that you will experience those reactions, there is no one-size-fits-all with meds, and that may be why your doctor has tried different AD's to find the one that suits you. No one can make you take medication, it is your personal choice. We all have to way up the costs, benefits versus risks, and usually when the benefits out way the risks we can take the medication fully informed because we need it. No one can make that decision for you, but you can educate yourself about them by using reliable sources such as your GP, pharmacist, Electronic Medicines Compendium: medicines.org.uk/emc/

It may help you to look at this information on the Mind UK website: mind.org.uk/information-sup...

Antidepressants also work well as an adjunct to other psychological therapies such as talking therapies, so maybe you can ask your doctor to refer for these too.

Take control of your fear by taking control of your situation. You can do this.

In the meantime, do familiarize yourself with our Homepage. Check out our Pinned Posts section where you will find our free mental health guides to download and International Crisis support helplines.

Ok folks do please pop by and welcome this new member.

Best wishes,

MAS Nurse and Moderator

[shellby163 in reply to MAS_Nurse]

Thankyou for your reply.The 5 ADS have been perscribed over a period of 10 mths.The Docs have been good with me but dont understand why i cant bring myself to take them.I guess where i will get to a point when i will take them x

[MAS_Nurse in reply to shellby163]

Hi again,

I wrote this for another member recently and thought you might find it help[ful.

In the UK the use of SSRI (Selective Serontonin Reuptake Inhibitor) antidepressants, is a first-choice antidepressant. According to the UK NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) Guidelines on Depression in Adults and Common Mental Health disorders, in the first instance treatment options for mild to moderate depression is:

NICE Guidelines First-choice antidepressants:

nice.org.uk/advice/ktt8/cha...

“NICE advocates a stepwise approach to managing common mental health disorders. It recommends offering, or referring people for, the least intrusive and most effective intervention first. Therefore, non drug interventions (such as cognitive behavioural therapy [CBT]) should be the mainstay of treatment for many people with depression or GAD, with drugs generally reserved for more severe illness or when symptoms have failed to respond to non drug interventions.”

“If an antidepressant is indicated for an adult with depression, the NICE guideline on depression in adults recommends that it should normally be a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) in generic form. SSRIs are equally effective as other antidepressants and have a favourable risk–benefit ratio...”

“The full guideline on depression in adults concluded that antidepressants have largely equal efficacy and that choice should mainly depend on side effect profile, people's preference and previous experience of treatments, propensity to cause discontinuation symptoms, safety in overdose, interactions and cost. However, a generic SSRI is recommended as first choice because SSRIs have a favourable risk–benefit ratio.”

See also these guides below:

NICE Guidelines: Depression in adults

nice.org.uk/guidance/cg90/i...

NICE Guidelines – Common Mental Health problems:

nice.org.uk/guidance/CG123/...

Hope this helps you to make informed choices about your treatment, that you can discuss with your doctor.

Best wishes,

MAS Nurse and Moderator.