Heightened level of anxiety - 13 days now

@blueVillage7889

Hey Village,

I understand you used to struggle with panic attacks. So it would make sense that you feel familiar with them. I'm sorry to hear to you woke up on December 23rd last year and were feeling anxious. I know it's not a very comfortable feeling. I understand feeling anxious out of nowhere and it lasting for most of the day. I'm sorry to hear that you've had to deal with this for thirteen days now. Most of us people struggle with anxiety. Some know why we have anxiety others don't. I'm glad you were able to go to the doctor and start on a medication that will hopefully help you. I'm glad to hear that your life is good. I understand it's tough dealing with this on a day to day basis. I hope you feel better and this anxiety will eventually go away. But things take time to get better. Yes usually with antidepressants. You have to wait for 4-6-8 weeks for it to start working. This medication could be the right one for you, could not. With medication you have to keep trying until you find the right one for you. I hope you know that you're not alone in this situation and that many of us can relate. 7 cups is always here if you need to talk. I wish only the best for you. Please take care of yourself and your mental health. I hope this message finds you safe and healthy. ❤️

~kindcherry2

@blueVillage7889

Hi there,

Just wanted to let you know that you're definitely not alone. I've been experiencing something that seems very similar to you.

As a background, I struggled with depression/anxiety following a divorce a few years ago (after never having had experienced it prior). That included having a few panic attacks, so I also know what that feels like for me. I did talk therapy and was also on meds (Zoloft) for about a year. I had felt back to my old self and normal for pretty much all of last spring through fall. I eventually tapered off my meds in September. Throughout the winter, I started to experience feeling pretty low again (many factors involved including work issues, loneliness, relationship stuff, weather/seasonal affective disorder), but nothing I couldn't manage.

Then, seemingly out of the blue about two weeks ago, I started waking up with intense anxiety in the morning, and that was pretty constant all day. I wasn't ruminating on or worried about anything in particular, so I'm still not sure what exactly triggered it. But it has been mentally and physically exhausting, and scary not knowing what's going on. I have the physical symptoms of anxiety like tight chest, racing heart rate, and just kind of a weird feeling in my head from the constant agitation/nervous system going wild.

I've been back on my meds and am going through the waiting process as well to have my body/mind get used to them again. I've also taken xanax (alprazolam) just a few times and at small doses (0.5 mg) to give myself a chance to relax and break the cycle a bit, but this is not a long-term solution and I am very aware and wary of the chance of dependence with benzodiazepines, so I try to use other methods as much as possible to deal with the anxiety.

To offer some encouragement, today I finally had a day where I woke up and didn't have the panic feeling and was able to fall back asleep and get some good rest. I had some anxiety after I actually got up, but it has been abating throughout the day and I feel more "normal" than I have in weeks. Just trust the process and know that you're not alone.

Let me know if you want to chat more about this, I'm certainly open to it.