Anxiety Out of Control Re: Nausea

I've successfully gone up on Lexapro despite the side effects of increased anxiety and insomnia. It's been about a week. Now I have had to start birth control pills to suppress my period because of my PMDD. And I pretty much can't delay them or the period (and PMDD) will start again.

The problem is, I've never used birth control pills because I've always been terrified of possible weight gain. So this is my first time on them, and the nausea is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Antacids do nothing for it. The best thing for it seems to be ginger and saltines. Last night I woke up with such extreme nausea that I almost fainted and had to lie on the cold floor for about 30 minutes before I could get up.

And my pain tolerance is not low, given that I have had pancreatitis from gallbladder stones, which involved an excruciating amount of stomach pain.

I called the nursing line and they want me to take the birth control pills at night, which they think should decrease the nausea. The thing is, it's night now and I am so anxious I cannot calm myself down. Getting to sleep has been horrible for me since my anxiety disorder started about a month and a half ago. I have had panic attacks, anxiety attacks, and general insomnia that have been hard to deal with. Adding one more thing to my plate such as waking up with nausea and being unable to fall back asleep feels like too much to take right now. I just got through the horrible side effects from Lexapro and I am still getting through them to some extent.

I know if I don't take the birth control pills tonight, I will give in to my anxiety and it will make it that much harder to start them in the future. I know that if I do take the pills tonight, I might be so anxious that I would be unable to sleep. My hugest fear is that I would get so anxious that I would have to go back to the hospital, given that I spent about 2-3 (voluntary) days in the hospital in December because my panic attacks were so bad I could not calm myself down. (Basically, I didn't even know what a panic attack was at that point and I didn't have any coping skills to calm myself.) I have made a lot of progress since then but my anxiety level is so high right now nothing seems to work to calm myself.

Ugh. Sorry for ranting. Tonight has just been a bad night.

Av

why don't you try another brand of birth control? there are tons out there, and i know of a lot of people personally that have had bad experiences with the pill. there are many side effects. i was SO nervous about taking mine when i first got them because of all the bad stories i heard. i almost drove myself crazy worrying. but i was fine. it's all about finding the one that works for you. i'd talk to your doc about switching

good luck xx

Thank you all so much for the advice and support. I did manage to take the pill the night I posted and I actually slept alright, but the symptoms have actually been getting worse. SC & tangledspines, I'll think I'll take your advice and switch to another type/brand/dosage of birth control pill.

On day 4 I've had enough. These side effects are just out of control; I've spent the whole day lying in bed with a dizzy spell. This has done nothing for my anxiety, because (of course) being dizzy reminds me of panic attacks.

@SC: You're right about the one more symptom feeling like too much. I've had so many side effects lately with the Lexapro increase that side effects with the birth control pills are just more than I can handle right now. And it does feel good to rant. ;p

@tangled spines: I think you're completely right that I just need to find the right brand/dosage/etc to work for me. I'm glad your experiences with birth control have been better than mine!

@nervymeg: I like the idea of pulling the anxiety into the ball and flushing it down the toilet. I think I'll try that; my therapist keeps telling me to try different things re: imagery. You're completely right that I control me. It seems to be something I forget when I'm in such an anxious state and feel out-of-control.

Av