HI Ladies.I have always been a worrier this i dont deny but i have got such acute anxiety it feels like i will explode with its intensity and i cant speak when its bad.I have been thinking of going on a CBT pROGRAMME just wondering if this will help me as i feel its all hormonal related but now its getting to me in my social life where yesterday i couldnt even go into the dvd shop for my son....I could easily be agrophobic because of this anxiety and i was always very confident but i push myself to work etc to keep going but its very embarrassing in public.what should i do i dont tke any meds as i want it to go on its own...i have a great home life etc but my hub works away loads for weeks and i feel very isolated and not wanting to go to the gym or anywhere out of fear...I have stopped going to church cos of these surges etc Help

he just won( the devil)
take back your life and kick him to the curb!!!

I know what you mean, about not wanting to go anywhere. I'm struggling with this myself and right now I'm hoping I can gather the 'courage' to get dressed and go to church. It's really been pretty around here lately and yesterday I stayed in and missed another nice day.
I can't be like this, I have family members depending on me, to hold it together. I was always the glue.
Senecaguns

Thanks this is just what i needed to hear from someone else. I am going out in one hour hes not going to beat me down how ever hard it gets.Many Thanks.My dad is a retired minister and even though i know the devils attacking me i didnt feel strong enough to win this battle but after your words im ready to fight again.God Bless you...

count me in this group... I had a horrible day yesterday and layed on couch all day. I feel bad when daughter wants to go out to the store and I freak out at the stores lately and I have to make up an excuse like I had a horrible back ache. It scares me to think this is it. This is how my life is gonna be.
I hope we get the help we need...

Thanks this is just what i needed to hear from someone else. I am going out in one hour hes not going to beat me down how ever hard it gets.Many Thanks.My dad is a retired minister and even though i know the devils attacking me i didnt feel strong enough to win this battle but after your words im ready to fight again.God Bless you...

I am sorry you are feeling so bad but there really is help out there if you want to pursue it. I have gotten to the point you are talking about twice in the last six years. Additionally I couldn't sleep AT ALL for 2-3 weeks and that made matters worse. I visited with our family doctor and he gave me Xanax and Lexapro and this is how it worked for me -

-the first night I took .5 Xanax and I slept all night for the first time in 3 weeks (both times)
-I took the Xanax twice a day for about a week
- I took 10 mg lexapro for 6 months and then weaned off with no problems
- once the Lexapro was in my system - about two weeks into treatment- I did not need the xanax anymore - I did NOT want to become dependent on it.

The Xanax stopped my adrenaline rush COLD! I was in a constant state of raised adrenaline - no surges. For the first 4-5 days I improved by going from constant to the surges - up and down - and then as the days went on the surges became less frequent and then after 7-8 days totally disappeared.

Both times I have weaned off the Lexapro after six months. Find a doctor who will listen to you and see what help is there for you . All meds work differently for different people and you need to be under close supervision until you see how treatment affects you. Anti-depressents are really meant to be used short term for most people to get thru hard things - they worked that way for me and I would do it again - you don't have to live this way!!!

Celexa helped me enormously with anxiety. Gave me my life back! I was really hesitant to go back on SSRIs, wanted to fix everything with hormones, exercise, diet etc, but ultimately the anxiety got so bad I had to do it - and it's been WONDERFUL. What a relief.

I know anxiety can be horrible and crippling to our lives, When i had it i told myself its not gonna put me down and even with bad anxiety i went out to town and crowded places to prove that i can make it through it and i did. And beleive me it does make you feel good to know you can do it. hugs Terry

Thankyou for all your understanding and help.I m due to go doctors next week so i will see what he offers.....Thanks so much

Help! I'm 45 and new to all this. I haven't yet been told I'm peripausal but.... My periods are coming closer together and changing. I am having such bad anxiety and panic attachs, I think I'm losing my mind. My pulse rate has been from 84-105! My sister and my closest friends have all had hystroectomies or went into premature abrupt menopause, so I don't have anyone to compare symptoms with. Is it normal to feel alwful all the time? This all started in June with dizzy spells. It has gone down hill since. I ended up in the ER twice, I really thought I was dying! How do you cope with all the mental issues of this? I really can live like this, and I'm having a hard time understanding how this has happened to me SO quickly. I was fine prior to June. Now I feel like I'm 80 years old. I'm crying as I am writing this because the last three months have been pure hell. I am going to see my doctor again today and I need help explaining to him what it is I'm going through. I think he thinks I'm a hypocondriac. I just want to feel normal again.

My dear Friend
A very warm welcome to the Forum.Lots of great ladies here ready to share information and best of all listen.
First you are not a hypocondriac so please take that out of your thoughts now.What you are describing are the symptoms common to Menopause and yes sometimes it feels so bad you just want to cry.It feels hopeless but the good news is that it does get better with the proper help/
I went into Premature Menopause and went on HRT.It really did help.This may not be the way you wish to go but there are many options that will help you feel better.
Anxiety feeds on itself and as no-one seems to be listening it gets even worse.
I hope that your visit to the Doctor is good and if he demeans you or the way you feel find someone else and never give up till you get the help.,you deserve.Your life should hold quality and meaning.
Remember to write down all your symptoms and feelings so you do not forget anything.
Wishing you well
And please keep us informed
God Bless
Elizabeth

Thank you so much. The doctor wants me to go on an antidepresent, which I have tried a few times before, unsuccessfully. I have asked to stay on Lorazepam untill I see my GYN later this month. I don't believe he thinks this is all hormone related. I was a confident, very strong person that could handle anything life gave me. I have to believe that only a hormone imbalance could do this to me. I feel I need to discuss this with my GYN and run whatever tests are necessary before I can make a descion as how best to handle this. In the mean time I need to be proactive. I have already completely decaffinated myself (which has helped). I'm trying to meditate again, and exercise. Again thank you for your words of encouragement.
Pam

Just curious, how long have you been on Celexa and how long before you started to feel better. I started Celexa about six weeks ago and although I think I feel better, I still am feeling anxious. I started at 5 mgs and went up 5 mgs every week until I got to the regular dose of 20 mgs, and have only been on the 20 mgs for about 2 weeks. So I'm not sure if I am not feeling the full effects of it because I started at such a low dose or if maybe this isn't the AD for me.

I've been on it a month. I started at 20 mg and am still on that dose, and started feeling better within 2-3 days. I always have responded quickly to SSRIs - I've been on them several times since my late 20s but was doing fine off of them until my late 40s. I've been helped by BHRT (Vivelle Dot and Prometrium, sometimes testosterone cream) quite a lot with peri symptoms but ultimately the anxiety became really terrible and increasing the hormones/adjusting the dose wasn't helping. I was getting panic attacks and was miserable a lot of the time with anxiety, which is about 90% better now. I actually feel happy, positive and unworried most of the time now, which is amazing. Highways still make me nervous because at this point it's turned into kind of a phobia I guess ... I'm working with self-hypnosis on that.

Most people take a little longer to respond than I do, and many people need a higher dose. My doc said 40 mg is a more typical dose when it's prescribed for anxiety. I think if you're not responding by 4 weeks on 20 mg you should probably check in with your doctor and see about increasing the dose or trying another med. Good luck, I hope you get some relief soon!

Thanks, I'm supposed to go back, but not until the first of the year. I'll give it a couple more weeks and if it's not any better, maybe I'll call him and see if it needs to be upped. I agree that the peri definately brings on more of the anxiety. I've dealt with anxiety in the past, but it was only really bad when I went through puberty. Now that I am approaching menopause, it's rearing it's ugly head again.

Thanks again for getting back, I appreciate the response.

Hi Peripamelak,
I went exactly to the place where you are now, anxiety, anxiety and growing anxiety. It was so hard to understand and I could not control how badly I felt and the crying would not stop. It started in May and let me tell you, you have come to the right place on PS. This site was a life saver for me. You are not a hypochondriac. Unfortunately, peri has many bad faces. I am feeling much better today even though I have bad and good days but I don't feel as bad as I did few weeks ago. For me it was AD and Clonopin that are helping me so far. I hope your visit at the doctor's was fruitful. You will see reading many posts on this site that many of us share the same feelings and symptoms and will offer different ways of finding relief from hormonal treatment to psychotherapy to supplements to natural treatments or a combination of few.
WElcome to PS.
take care, you are not alone
Mrs Buff

Mrs. Buff,

mind if i ask what AD you are taking? I have anxiety so terrible bad every single day that I can barely function. I am currently on clonopin every day, but it really isn't working all that well anymore. I have an appt to see a psych and I just know he will want me to take an AD. Problem is, is that I have already tried Paxil, Lexapro and Remeron and they landed me in the emergency room .... just horrible, horrible increased anxiety. I am looking for an AD that doesn't cause anxiety, insomnia or sweats. Any ideas???

Thanks

Terri , I'm just going to butt in here, sorry....I also had very bad reactions to both Lexapro and Zoloft, but I think the problem was that it was my GP that prescribed it for me. I started at the regular dosage and I am VERY sensitive to meds. When I finally saw a psychiatrist he told me to start at a much lower dose and to go up slowly. This way there is a much better chance of your body NOT reacting so severly to it. There is also the anti-anxiety meds (benzos) to help with the added anxiety that the AD brings during the initial weeks.

hello TerriC,
I think that Jones may have given you the right explanation but I will tell you what I am doing. I started with the clonopin because of anxiety and it is a tranquilizer so it helps you as well to sleep so you take it at night. Then my doctor added the AD one week later, I had tried in the past Celexa and fluoxetine and did not like the side effects that it gave me so she put me on Effexor (also called novo-venlafaxine), the first two weeks : one dose of 37.5 mg and now I am on 70 mg. However, you need to take them in the morning as it can cause insomnia and clonopin at night (that is what I was told). I am trying now to wean off the clonopin as it is very addictive but I find that clonopin was also very useful for the muscles twiches that I had been having. This anxiety is a terrible thing to be thit with. I hope you will feeling better really soon.
Hope it was helpful.
take care
Mrs Buff

p.s TerriC,
Effexor is also given to help with hot flashes. I don't have that many to start with so I could not tell you if it really works. I have about 3 or 4 per week at most.

thanks for the advice ladies, i appreciated it so much. has anyone tried buspar for anxiety?

I tried Buspar years ago and from what I can remember it did seem to help. When I saw the psychiatrist for the new AD and I asked him about Buspar, because it was the only one that didn't cause any side effects, he kind of laughed. He said Buspar is kind of a joke in the medical community and that although it doesn't have any side effects, it really doesn't help. I don't know, maybe it was mind over matter in my case, but I swear I think it worked for me.