Anxiety / Stress

DomRavioli

Hi OP,

Your GP is following NICE guidelines; beta blockers are usually the first anti-anxiety medication given, so don't hate on them for literally no reason apart from doing their job and following national guidance.

If they aren't working, have you raised this with your GP (remembering that they can take some time to kick in properly, and adjustments to your dosage) as different people respond to different medication. If you haven't then you NEED to go back and see your GP, as you can't just come off them as they affect your blood pressure.

Also you can usually self refer for CBT through IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies). If you could give the name of your local authority I can find out how referrals in your area work, if you like.

You might like to ask your GP for a secondary medication treatment, which may be Imipranine or a tricyclic (Imipranine is the most commonly prescribed one), and have a read of the NICE guidelines which may help you make sense of why your GP has and is prescribing what they are.

I'd cut out alcohol altogether, as it can be a major trigger in a large majority of people, until you can get your anxiety under control.

If you could answer the above I can attempt to guide you in the right direction.

QuackQuackOops

Transformers wrote: »

Thanks for that 'easier said than done' advice. You've cured me!

Excellent. :j

AbbieCadabra

danih wrote: »

I went to my gp a few months ago when my anxiety got to the point where i had constant tension headaches, couldn't sleep, couldn't truly focus on anything, and was becoming frightened for myself.


GP prescribed me citalapram - this is an SSRI prescribed for anxiety and / or depression. I have also councelling - free on NHS, and referred by the GP. Its not CBT, its a more general approach. My plan is to make use of the counselling to understand and sort my head enough to come off the drug, hopefully within a few months.

Its early days for me - the drug is working very well after 8 weeks. I am comfortable with my counseller after 4 weeks. So far so good - this combination is working well for me.

Might be worth a trip to your gp to explore further options for yourself?

good advice ^^^^

very similar to my experience a few years ago now.

it might be worth having a look at hypnotheraphy too, perhaps not now, but some time in the future. i've had sessions this last year & it's finally broken my vicious circle of adrenalin/cortisol/panic/anxiety/depression. counselling & anti depressants were needed in the beginning & have helped me over the years, but i was still struggling to break certain patterns of behaviour. hypnotherapy has been an absolute revelation & has made such a difference to me, i'm hoping this will be the final part to my puzzle

picklekin

I suffer from a great deal of anxiety although its not anniversary based. My GP also got me to try Beta Blockers which I did for a while but I really couldn't tell they were doing anything so I didn't bother... I know they try and start you on a lose dose and work up but this felt like a waste of time to me. I took SSRIs before and I find they work for short periods of time, a couple of months or so and can help you if there are some things you can "fix" before they stop working.
I did CBT a while back and that really helped, you can do some courses on-line now and if they wont refer you I'd consider pushing very hard or if that fails changing GP (there might be several you can see at the same practice without switching).
Now a days I try to drink and eat well, take some exercise and am trying guided meditation and some good old forced positive thinking. Trying to take responsibility for your own feelings is hard work, but can be successful (most of the time!!) I believe.

I hope you find some peace.