bludolphyn
05-18-2007, 02:13 AM
Wow! I never thought that reading a message board could be so helpful!
I was diagnosed in Feb. with Panic Disorder/GAD. My doc referred me to a nurse practitioner specializing in anxiety disorders and I was placed on .5mg Ativan and 20mg Lexapro and started in EMDR treatment. I got up to 40mg Lexapro before I had to stop taking it, as it made me so jittery I could hardly sit still. Now I can't take anything but the Ativan because my pharmacophobia has me paralyzed and freaking out every time I try to start the Effexor XR I was supposed to start 3 weeks ago.
So tonight, as I tried to work up the courage to take my Effexor, I started looking to see if I could find out about how long it would take to start working. I found this board and started reading and I am so glad I did!
I seriously thought (in that anxiety/irrational part of my brain) that I was the only person terrified to take my meds, that I was the only one who freaked out over every little ache and pain, thinking it's cancer or a brain tumor. I thought no one else had the throat swelling/closing symptoms I did and the absolute certainty that they were going to die shortly. I thought no one else felt the terror that something horrible was going to happen, that no one else got wigged out over normal things, like driving.
Reading through many of the posts on this board, I felt like I could have written them, they so closely mirrored what I have experienced. The area I live in has little support for people with anxiety disorders, so this is the first time I've gotten to see other people's experiences with anxiety. At least for the moment, I don't feel crazy or quite so alone. Reading your experiences helped to derail the panic train I was on tonight when I started looking for information. So thanks for sharing your stories and helping me realize my anxiety isn't really so unusual, and reinforcing that it is my anxiety making me irrational and not that darned brain tumor! ;)
I was diagnosed in Feb. with Panic Disorder/GAD. My doc referred me to a nurse practitioner specializing in anxiety disorders and I was placed on .5mg Ativan and 20mg Lexapro and started in EMDR treatment. I got up to 40mg Lexapro before I had to stop taking it, as it made me so jittery I could hardly sit still. Now I can't take anything but the Ativan because my pharmacophobia has me paralyzed and freaking out every time I try to start the Effexor XR I was supposed to start 3 weeks ago.
So tonight, as I tried to work up the courage to take my Effexor, I started looking to see if I could find out about how long it would take to start working. I found this board and started reading and I am so glad I did!
I seriously thought (in that anxiety/irrational part of my brain) that I was the only person terrified to take my meds, that I was the only one who freaked out over every little ache and pain, thinking it's cancer or a brain tumor. I thought no one else had the throat swelling/closing symptoms I did and the absolute certainty that they were going to die shortly. I thought no one else felt the terror that something horrible was going to happen, that no one else got wigged out over normal things, like driving.
Reading through many of the posts on this board, I felt like I could have written them, they so closely mirrored what I have experienced. The area I live in has little support for people with anxiety disorders, so this is the first time I've gotten to see other people's experiences with anxiety. At least for the moment, I don't feel crazy or quite so alone. Reading your experiences helped to derail the panic train I was on tonight when I started looking for information. So thanks for sharing your stories and helping me realize my anxiety isn't really so unusual, and reinforcing that it is my anxiety making me irrational and not that darned brain tumor! ;)