Anxiety since RA - medication?

[Sapphire1701]

hi,

since been diagnosed a year ago my anxiety and mental health have declined hugely alongside the physical parts of RA and medication (I’m on MTX 15mg)

I also have a history of trauma and ptsd type symptoms, and am peri menopausal.. so i don’t think there’s one specific cause for the anxiety probably a combination and exacerbation.. I also am a single mum, struggling to work enough financially… so stress is constantly high.

Does anyone have any positive experiences with medication for anxiety? My dr wants me to try Sertraline, or fluoxetine, but I have tried in the past and never last on them long.

I am having counselling too, but feel maybe it’s time to try medication. I’m just worried about feeling worse before I feel better, and things like weight gain / insomnia

If anyone has sone positive experiences of what helped with anxiety I’d really appreciate to hear

thank you x

[Munro76]

Hi,

Sorry to hear you are not feeling great, your are not alone. I started amgevita in April and it has been amazing for my RA But sadly, my mental health has been terrible since. I thought that things would be fine once the pain went away.

It all started to go a bit awry with all the steroids I was on. They made me quite up and down and I was having bad panic attacks which snowballed into a panic disorder. It's been horrendous. For me, it's been worse than any pain caused by RA.

I am seeing a Councillor at the moment which has helped. We are trying to piece my life back together by working on the basics- eating well, drinking plenty fluids, trying to establish a good bedtime routine, exercise, etc etc.

When the RA was bad, my body was in survival mode and that was the main focus. But since the amgevita has been working, I've been left to pick up the pieces. I think that this is probably a big part of the process. Trying to find that winning combination to feel good mentally and get your life back together.

Remember that you won't always feel this way. Things might seem bad at the moment, but you can get better, and will. Keep talking about it. I spoke to the doctor about sertraline and I know its there if I feel things don't improve for me.

I really hope things pick up for you.

[Angjoplin]

Hi

I am a lot like you. I have anxiety from RA, past trauma, the stress of working full time with a chronic condition, responsibility for others etc. About 18 months ago I really wasn't coping and I had to contact the GP. They put me on propranolol which is a take as you need drug. I take one at night, which really helps me sleep, and I take 1 during the day if I need it. It's made a huge difference. I didn't realise until a nurse said to me, 'you don't need that constant voice in your head all the time'. I've not had counselling, I'm too scared of the consequences, so the drugs have made a great difference to me.

[cyberbarn]

When you feel anxious do you notice that your heart rate rises? Sometimes we get things the wrong way round and think that the anxiety is causing the heart rate or blood pressure to rise, but sometimes it is the heart rate or blood pressure that rises and we interpret those inner bodily feelings as anxiety.

I had a friend who was struggling with anxiety, but she couldn't figure out why really, she had a good and healthy life. Her friends were urging her to leave her husband.

Then a GP realised she had high blood pressure, but her on medication and all the anxiety melted away. And reader, she is still married to the same man 20 years later!

[Durrell]

Wow Saphire you have a lot on your plate to deal with daily. I think we all feel or go through anxiety etc at some point. Especially the bombshell of the drugs as they all seem so scary at the very start, but over time we get to except them in the knowledge we realize we do need them. I hated them so much initially, the shock of drug dependency I guess, although I did take as instructed but it didn’t come easy to me. However I’m 12 yrs on now & i’m a lot more excepting of them as I understand RA far better now & if untreated the implications to our health in general. Maybe you could call the Nras number & find out if there is a local group in your area you could chat with to help ease your concerns. Take care of yourself, being a single mum is an almighty task in itself without all the added issues of RA 🌸 your doing a fantastic job 🌸

[Garnacha]

Hi Sapphire1701 I found myself struggling with anxiety & feeling like crying for no apparent reason, diagnosed in 2020 with psoriatic arthritis & been on a medley of medication, etoricoxib, hydroxychloroquine, then methotrexate & metoject, lefluminode but said to consultant I couldn't stand the side effects anymore of metoject so it was replaced with sulfasalazine.

I also developed pins & needles in my feet & legs & my blood pressure was on the up, I'd read that lefluminode can cause this & as neither the consultant or gp were bothered I just stopped leflunimode.

Since then my blood pressure has still increased & eventually went for a med review & told them how worried I am, again did a week of blood pressure readings & the drs rang me to start Amlodipine, still kept rising so ramipril was added, still rising so an additional dose of ramipril added.

I was also referred for counselling & she's been really helpful, I started on 50mg sertraline which was upped to 100mg, however I'm still struggling a bit but have an appointment tomorrow so not sure if it'll be increased again.

I'm still struggling with anxiety & simple things get me in a tiz, oh & the blood pressure is still staying high 😔 so back taking readings.

Whilst I hate taking more tablets I also hate feeling awful, hope you feel better soon, take care x

[Jimminey]

I had had problems with anxiety and depression before, but in 2015 I became anxious for no apparent reason. After seeing my GP a few times it was discovered that I had a high rheumatoid factor but nothing could be done about that until RA presented. The awful anxiety continued and 2 years later RA did present and I was started on sulfasalazine. After 3 months the RA swelling mainly went and so too did the anxiety.

A psychiatrist and RA doctor, Edward Bullmore, has written on a possible direct connection between autoimmune antibodies and anxiety and depression in his book The Inflamed Mindamazon.co.uk/Inflamed-Mind-....

From my experience I think there is substance in this approach, although I may have been just lucky and I was having sessions with a psychologist at the same time.

But perhaps finding a drug that works well on the RA might also reduce the anxiety?

[Sapphire1701]

thank you for all your replies.. sometimes just writing stuff down helps. I feel so alone with all this.. and yes I have a lot to cope with in life - we’re also moving due to my change in finances, so that adds to stress too.

I have always suffered mentally with periods of depression and quite bad anxiety; but it definitely got worse these last 12 months. Whether it’s the actual disease or the underlying worry of managing idk. I think the anxiety has hormone links too.

I have very little active inflammation now - though still pain and stiffness, but I think we kind’ve get used to that over time. It’s the mental stuff, the fatigue, the constant overwhelm and worry.. that’s the hard part. And the lack of understanding from others who don’t get it, or can’t see it…

Thank you for sharing and reading my post x

[Bobbobby in reply to Sapphire1701]

Hello Sapphire. I feel for you. It’s not easy and the stress is a lot. I have days where I cry and feel lost too

Try and focus on the good things. On my bad days I try and push on for my kids. Perhaps look into seeing a mental health counselor and getting medication if needed.

[Chockyuk]

Hello Sapphire

I’m so sorry you’re feeling like this, it also happened to me. I won’t go into the boring reasons, but I think I definitely began feeling anxious around the time of the menopause (which was 15 years ago for me). I was chatting to a work colleague the other day as well who is just coming into the menopause and is suffering from extreme anxiety - there is definitely a link there with the fluctuating hormones.

The fact you’ve also been diagnosed with RA and a single mum doesn’t help either, as you have an awful lot on your plate to deal with.

I took Sertraline for a good while, I had been resisting it for a long time, but ended up in such a state, I was also very depressed. I think it took a few months to kick in, but it did certainly help ‘take the edge off’. I’m not saying I didn’t have days when I was down or felt anxious because I did. I was on 100mg per day, but had to lower it to 50mg because along with the Mthx it elevated my liver function tests.

I was originally prescribed something else for anxiety, I can’t remember the name now, but I think it might have been Escitalopram. That was awful, gave me terrible headaches and nausea.

The downside of Sertraline was I did actually gain weight (which added to the depression 😂) but it did the job to tide me over the worst bits. I’m off it now, but I still feel terribly anxious at times and still get my ‘dark days’.

You say counselling didn’t help? I did quite a bit, through the NHS and my employer also organised something for me. I did find that quite therapeutic. I was also diagnosed with PTSD - mine was after being in an abusive/coercive controlled marriage.

I hope you find something to ease your anxiety, I think it did help me, but it wasn’t something I wanted for the long term. But if things get unbearable again, I wouldn’t hesitate to start them again.

Take care 💕💕

[Ryka]

Hi Sapphire,

So Sorry to hear that.

I went through a phase of anxiety, panic, cant fill my lungs with air, cant sleep, inefficient at work, the feeling that "everything was too much", exhaustion etc.

My GP focussed on two things:

1. medication

2. nutrition

Medication: I got oxazepam 10 mg, evrynight before bed. This is an anti-anxiety medication which really helped me. Once I started sleeping well, my days were more managable. I took this for about 6 weeks, i think. I was given sulpirides 25mg in the morning. Noticed a huge improvement after about 3 days. took this for about 3 months, i think.

Nutrition: GP checked my blood for vitamins and deficiencies. I had a severe Vitamin B-12 and Vit-D deficiency. So, he gave me high dosage vitamins for that.

Told me to: a.) eat more fish or take fish oil capsules everyday. b)eat more good-fats (milk, real butter, greekyoghurt, cheese, bone broth). c)take vitamin C supplements and d)Magnesium supplements.

The combination of nutrition and medication really helped. I continue with all of the supplements even today. Even getting some of the nutritional things in would be very helpful.

Wish youthe very best. Peri-menopuse+ RA is quite the nightmare. Dont let anyone tell you that its all in your head. Women's problems are so ill-understood that we end up getting gaslit most of the time.