Anxiety Symptoms

Hi there, I have suffered with anxiety for a lot of years now, have been on antidepressant medication for most of these years. Tapered off these recently and found I felt more human again, it was so good to feel more myself. Antidepressants are effective but the downside to these is they can make you feel quite mechanical and not in touch with reality, whilst suppressing the negative thoughts and feelings of depression/anxiety, they also suppress the good. Hence the reason it was great to get myself down to a low dose. The only problem I had was the return of my anxious symptoms, more so in social situations, and at work especially they can most debilitating. My GP has prescribed me 25mg of Atenolol to deal with the symptoms, which for me are the inability to communicate (stumbling over words, or just not able to have a general conversation mostly at work where I need to be able to talk most, as I am a nurse), and the physical symptom of sweating and fear of sweating in public! (I have developed a phobia to this). My question is will 25mg last me all day, and do I need to take them every day, question's I forgot to ask the GP. I work shifts 5 days a week so would need to take this the 5 days for definite. On waiting list to begin CBT also. :)

Hi and welcome!

I am sorry that you are dealing with returning symptoms...although it looks like you are being proactive in your treatment, and that is good.

We can't really tell you how/when to take your Rx. Beta blockers are medications that affect your cardio and repiratory systems...lowering heart rate and BP...and yes they are helpful for social anxiety, but you need to consult your doctor as to your dosage to be safe. A quick call to him/her will be worth the trouble!

Dakota brings up a good point about therapy...have you been through it or considered it? Many members here have had great results, myself included.

We also have a Resource Guide at the top of the main A/P page. It is full of helpful links and self-help ideas, check it out.:)

Keep posting here with us. We are here to listen, understand and support!

Talk to you soon,

Scaredy Cat

Thank you everyone for your advice it's greatly appreciated. I will just do that, phone my GP and ask about this. I remember when I first took ill about 15 years ago, we never had had internet and it was so much harder to deal with my mental illness. Nowadays we can talk to others and learn so much about our diagnosis and symptoms. Hibee I'm sad to hear you are dealing with so many diagnosis's, you are right, it is best to take one day at a time. Thanks again. :)