Cipralex

Hi everyone,

So I was at my doctor trying to figure out my health problems and one of those is anxiety which makes my others worse. I am 24. I had an anxiety attack right there in front of him. He finds it weird that I am having these because it usually runs in families but there is none of that anywhere on either side. He thinks my other undetermined illness is causing this.

Anyways I was handling it ok by myself for a while but it has just become too much lately and because he saw it with his very own eyes he suggested 10 mg of cipralex to try to calm me down.

I have been on it for 4 days now and the first 3 were fine just a little dopey and normal anxiety levels but today was crazy. I have had three of the worst anxiety attacks to date and I feel nauseous and really weak and I can't relax and I haven't slept well. Is this normal? I know it takes about 2 weeks to kick in and there is some adjusting but this isn't worth it especially if it doesn't help enough and I have to increase it and go through more weeks of hell. My mom says stop them, my boyfriend (who has been on this for years) says keep going it will be worth it in the end and I can't get ahold of my doctor. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks

Hi,

Thanks hibee for the response. So apparently keeping on it isn't an option as I spent the night in the er due to the worst panic attacks I have ever experienced and they just kept coming in waves and I tried to deal with it at home for an hour and it just wouldn't settle.

They gave me Ativan and that calmed me right down in about 20 minutes and I asked the doc if I should continue and he said no he thinks my body is too sensitive to deal with it so to stop it and go back to my doc and go from there. I mean my anxiety can get bad but it has never come close to sending me to the er or anything. I think I would rather cope with it then go through this again or something similar with another drug. I am so tired and I can't fall asleep that's is how this attack all started. It sucks.

Thanks Scaredy cat.

I just woke up here (1:40pm ontario canada) I feel a little better, had a shower ate something. I still feel on edge and weak but I think that's normal for what I went through. Just have to keep calm and keep distracted and sleep when I need to and hopefully the cipralex leaves my system and let's me return to my 'normal' anxious self haha.

My doctor is 3 hours away from me and he doesn't work Mondays or fridays. This is my gp but I think I will get him to refer me to a p doc when I can get a hold of him next week.it is very hard to find GPs in my area so that's why I use him.

My other health issue is apparently seronegative arthritis and fibromyalgia. The plaquenil takes a while to kick in but after 3 weeks it is starting to help which is a nice relief from my usual pain. Geez at this rate I am going to be a crippled, heaping mess of nerves and pain when I'm 50 or even 40... such is life.

Sorry for the rant there but it helps to get it out and the fibro forum hasn't been very active and there really isn't a fitting forum for my undetermined type of arthritis.

Hi

Have a look into talking therapy such as CBT or Mindfulness Mediation which are both very effective in helping you reduce anxiety. You will find lots of Mindfulness videos on youtube and take a look at www.moodgym.com which is a good free online CBT programme. You may also want to look into Valerian Root which is a herbal medicine that works like Valium.

Hibee