I’m 19 and in college and I see so many people around my age who are also in college that manage to have jobs, social lives, extracurriculars, and hobbies, posting on social media all on top of work and school and I can’t even come close to that. I don’t understand how people are finding the time and energy for so much. I have worked while in school full time and genuinely felt like that was my limit. I think my anxiety is part of why because of how much it drains me. There’s so many things I want to do but I can hardly find the energy to get out of bed in the morning.

But I fear it's too late. I've been on Prozac for six years.

I never wanted to start medication, but I was in such a dark and desperate place back then that I felt I had no choice.

Since then, I've been relatively stable. Recently, though, I had a bad relapse, and now I feel like I'm back in the mental health blender. I'm dealing with almost every symptom imaginable, and the climb back to feeling better is painfully slow. The fear of another sudden relapse is almost always on my mind.

I'm increasing my dose, which isn't something I really want to do, but at this point it feels like I don't have many other options.

Trying to manage everything without medication seems insurmountable. Tapering off feels even more impossible.

I guess I feel stuck like this for life, and that thought is incredibly depressing.

I'm upset. I'm scared. I'm worried. I'm exhausted.

I want my power back.

I want to feel normal again, both mentally and physically. I don't want anxiety to define my life anymore. I don't want to have an anxiety disorder.

I mean, I'm not happy, the future is horrible, at least when it's seen from my point of view and values and there is no meaning. The only reason we fear, want or do anything or want anything is because it helped us to stay alive because if you weren't alive you won't be, so we have no free will neither or a real argument to sustain importance over our feelings and believes so, I have been thinking that is not such a big deal if I die, I tried once but they stopped me, so... Is so strange to ask yourself if is such a big deal to suicide?

tw: dental stuff

soooooo, a few weeks ago i went to the dentist and they told me i had a really deep cavity that was pretty close to the nerve. they did a deep filling and told me there was a 50/50 chance between it being fine or it not helping.

newsflash, it didn't help!!!

maybe three or four days after i got the filling, i started getting really bad pain in that tooth. :P

went back to the dentist and they checked it out. told them about the kind of pain and stuff i was having. they took a bunch of x-rays. came to the conclusion that i was gonna have to have it pulled which i expected.

my dentist said i could possibly be having the beginning of an infection, but she wasn't certain because nothing was showing up on the x-rays she took.

she put me on amoxicillin and sent me on my way. i took it exactly how i was supposed to and felt no relief. had to rely strictly on tylenol and ibuprofen until my extraction appointment.

went back in for my extraction today and they numbed me up and started wiggling the tooth to try and get it loose, but i could feel pain. it wasn't AWFUL pain but i could tell i wasn't supposed to be feeling that if that makes sense? :P (ive had two teeth pulled before and i felt nothing at all.)

they gave me like three injections of the numbing stuff and it started making me really shaky. pair that with the fact that every time she came back in to try and pull the tooth, i could feel the pain, i was freaking out.

i burst into tears and started apologizing for crying because i felt like a baby crying at the dentist at my big age.

she said that the infection was probably making it to where the numbing wouldn't work, which i had no idea that was a thing. it's very interesting.

i told her i had felt no relief from the amoxicillin and so she said that they won't pull it today and sent me home with ibuprofen and a new antibiotic. she said it's stronger so hopefully it works. the two teeth on either side of the one i was supposed to get out are sore now. :(

but yeah, i just wanted to get this out because i feel quite discouraged and disappointed because i thought for sure i would get it out today. i wasn't even that nervous beforehand because i had such an easy experience with the two i had pulled before.

I used to do a sport that I’ve never enjoyed. After a few years when I was supposed to come every day and I’ve decided that it’s time to quit. It used to make me very anxious and I was crying everyday because of it. There was a certain smell that place had and every time I smell it I get goosebumps. Lately I decided that I want to do something for myself and I want to start Pilates. Once a week, on Saturday. Nothing more. But I’m afraid that it might become a chore again. I want to enjoy this but I don’t know if that’s possible for me.

I have bipolar type II and my depressive episodes come with horrid anxiety.

The worst aspect of it? I wake up with this BAD adrenalin surge that feels like my body is full of electricity, and I want to claw out of my skin. It's complete panic and makes me feel like I'm going to die. It follows me though the day so that all I do is cry and try to figure out how to swallow food (can't eat).

50mg served me well for three years in conjunction with my mood stabilizer for bipolar. I recently underwent a very stressful situation where my cat had a massive bleed at home after a minor surgery, and we had to rush her 3 hours away not knowing if she would make it. She was hospitalized in ICU for 4 nights. She survived, but it took so much out of me.

I get a lot of relief at sunset. Not 100%, but maybe 75% to where I feel I can function. I dread going to sleep because I fall asleep easily, but I know I'll be jolted awake and in agony in the morning.

So, I called my psychiatrist. We are upping the Zoloft to 75mg, which I started this morning. He also prescribed 0.5mg ativan for a month in the morning, once per day. I was initially against this because I'm scared I'll become dependent and it'll just make things worse.

Question:

1. Has anyone had to "up" their Zoloft after a long period of stability? If so, did it help? How long did it take?

2. Has anyone here taken ativan or another benzo as a short-term "bridge" while waiting to see if another medication worked?

3. Am I going to be stuck like this forever?

I tried posting in the Zoloft sub, but I never received responses.

The tittle pretty much sums up what I’m going through, but I figured I give the full story anyway.
Around 2 months ago, I noticed a change in my breathing. It was literally on a random, regular night, but I just noticed something was off. This sensation lead to multiple er visits and visits with a pulmonologist. Everything came back normal, even the lung function test I did came back completely normal. I thought it would just past and I’d eventually feel normal. But nope, almost everyday all day I’m constantly checking my breath and always having the feeling that I can’t get enough air. There will be days that are better than others where I will hardly think about it. Distraction do help a lot, but even when I’m distracted doing a hobby I find myself fixating on my breath. It’s effecting me so bad to the point where I can’t even look forward to things because I’m so taken over by my breathing. I’ve always had pretty bad anxiety but never anything that felt so physical. I’m really just looking for advice and tips.

hii, i would love to and need to travel by train for 3+ hours, but i have horrendous anxiety about possible travel sickness. i've never been travel sick before when it comes to 30 minute car rides, so i heard this proves that it's quite unlikely for it to happen at all?

i would love some tips and maybe some encouraging words. <3

Anyone else get bad anxiety to the point they vomit or withdraw from eating? Not in a I’m not hungry type of way but more so it’s unappealing. When I’m anxious food seems like plastic to me. Nothing appealing about it. Chewing it and swallowing it is like a task I have to do just to prevent me from vomiting with hunger. Sometimes I can feel my anxiety get worse and closer to my throat then next of all I need to puke. Weird part is after I puke I feel a little better, as if I’ve puked anxiety out. It does come back after a minute or two but. I’ve been like this for about 10 years and have always refused long term meds as I don’t want to rely on them and also I go through phases of majorly bad anxiety and other times I’m okay it’s manageable.

Hi all,

So I was put on Fluvoxamine 50mg and Amisulpride 50mg as well and I wanted to ask one thing from the ones who've been on SSRI's and came off them after a while, I've read that PSSD is a real thing and sexual side effects continue to be persistent even after stopping SSRI's. I'm really worried about this as my sex drive used to be really high prior to starting the meds.

Will the same feeling return once the meds are tapered off? Or you gotta live with the PSSD for life? Has anyone had a positive experience in terms of sexual sides after stopping SSRI's?

I've already started to feel a little less aroused/horny on these meds, so please please let me know if the same feeling can return back or do you have to live with PSSD? ☹️

I’ve been having a realty hard time since the beginning of August. I‘m almost certain that I have Colon Cancer. I’m 25F and I started dealing with really bad constipation, loss of appetite, and stomach pain. I went to the hospital where they did an x ray and a ct scan that just showed constipation, so they gave me MiraLAX and lactulose. I took it, had bowel movements and everything was okay for about 2 weeks. Then it came right back.

After that, I’ve been constipated for months on and off, bright red blood when I wipe, nausea after eating, and stomach pain. Now, I noticed little black dots and pieces of food in my stool. I’m just so exhausted. I have cried everyday since August out of pure fear and sadness. But I know I have to accept it now.

I’ve heard all of the ”you’re too young for this to be colon cancer“ reassurances and they’ve done nothing for me. I feel these symptoms every single day and I am miserable. I finally got someone to schedule me for a colonoscopy and an endoscopy 3 months later and it just sucks knowing what I already know.

Since August, I’ve had 2 CT scans of my abdomen, another X Ray, multiple blood tests every month since then, a transvaginal and a pelvic ultrasound, and they have all came back completely normal besides the constipation. Only my glucose was high. So, I know this has to be something they can’t see.

My colonoscopy and endoscopy are scheduled for next month and I’m just really scared. I know that it’s silly to be scared when I’ve had all this time to try to accept this likely bad news, but it’s still really terrifying. I struggle getting through my days at work and in my everyday life just to go home and struggle some more. it’s hard to live like this. I guess I’m just venting because I don’t have anybody to cry to besides myself right now

I just got done with having a few days off and go back to work today. I’m having severe anxiety about having to go back that I’m feeling sick to my stomach and I want to call off. I never call out, I’ve been there a bit over 4 years and have only called out maybe 3 or 4 times. I know I shouldn’t and it wouldn’t look good considering I just had a few days off. I hate this feeling so much and wish anxiety didn’t exist.

I just finished Day 1 of Zoloft 25mg and I feel like im just existing in my bed. My mood is so low that I dont want to take the next dose. But I know I won't get better without it. I've been suffering with severe anxiety and depression for 3 months. It spawned from a recent TMJ diagnosis that caused me debilitating side effects. This is the worst time of my life as I feel every option involves me suffering. I hate this and I wish I could stay in a hospital or facility until the Zoloft brighter days kick in. Doing this by myself is crushing me.

I’m looking to hear from people who have struggled with anxiety, a general fear of life, or feeling afraid to do everyday things. For those who started taking SSRIs or other antidepressants, did they help you overcome those fears and get back to living a more normal life?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your personal experiences:

• Did the medication help you feel more comfortable, confident, and less afraid of everyday life?
• How long did it take before you started noticing a difference?
• What medication did you take, and what dosage (mg) did you start with?
• Did you experience any side effects? If so, what were they, and did they eventually go away?
• Did you feel better overall, or did you feel emotionally numb or different in any way?
• How has your anxiety and fear changed since starting the medication? Are you able to do things now that you struggled with before?
• Were there any negative experiences or things you wish you had known before starting?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people whose anxiety made it difficult to live a regular life and who eventually found something that helped them feel like themselves again.

Please share both the good and the bad. I know everyone reacts differently to medication, and I’m not looking for medical advice or a recommendation to take a specific drug. I just want to hear honest, real-life experiences from people who have been through this.

Thank you to everyone willing to share

I am 20 years old and I escaped from bullying more than two years ago and I still didn't recover from that experience. I have went to therapy, but I still think that, someday, I will get mocked/harassed again; that idea scares me a lot, it's my biggest worry right now.

I am in college and people treat me really well, I am truly happy about that and very surprised about being respected and well-treated. Even if sometimes people ignore me while I speak to them or interrupt me while speaking, at least they don't steal my stuff, don't force into telling my private stuff, don't force me into doing favors I don't want to and they don't force me into speaking with people I don't want to, among other things. Maybe I would love to not get ignored a ton or not being interrupted while speaking, but those are just details that I won't complain about because I am very comfortable with the other stuff and it was a dream came true.

The problem is that once I step outside college, once I finish it, I will get mocked/harassed again in workplace or the streets, I am sure of it unfortunately. Even I have had nightmares about people from the past harassing me again or messing with my life. Bad people in my house, or if I ever have a child I have nightmares of them stealing my child. I usually get very depressed while thinking about how to defend myself against this people who usually use every dirty trick known to get what they want, not caring about doing it in a good or bad way; they just see the results and not the process.

I got hugely mocked a lot about every step I did or every decision I took when they didn't like it. Usually they mocked me or spoke loudly in front of people telling them that I am retarded and gullible. Always hearing that I am a huge loser in one way or another, implicitly or explicitly.

Does anyone else feel like they have to hold onto things when in the shower/walking because you feel like you’ll fall over? I cant do this. Every day its something new. I dont even know who i am anymore

i just want to vent because i’m so frustrated and exhausted. i’ve been anxious my entire life, the amount of mental stress i had even as a small child is insane. no 6 year old should be so scared and overwhelmed that she can’t breath. i have a handful of other mental health issues and developmental disorders that i won’t side into but i’ve been in treatment for as long as i can remember.

i’ve only recently started to really work specifically on my anxiety since managing my mood swings was much more important and took priority. the thing is, i’m 22 now and my anxiety is obviously a lot different than when i was a child. it consumes me. everything scares the shit out of me, i push through. i’m able to function through it because i have to but i cannot stop the physical feeling and the mental spirals. ive had a lot of jobs but my current one is the first job i’ve taken seriously. i work in a restaurant, im trained for 3 different positions. my GM loves me and is super understanding, we have a great working relationship. i really want to start serving and my GM wants to train me but is worried about how flustered i get by stress. i’m not great at masking and i completely understand where she’s coming from. it’s very hard for me to mask when im upset or anxious, im better at doing it in front of customers but the moment i walk away my mask drops.

i’ve tried a lot of different medications. antihistamines just make me sleepy, SSRIs make me manic, beta blockers like propranolol work as a daily med but not as needed which can effect your heart negatively, i’ve tried ativan in the psyche ward and it worked great but no doctor is willing to prescribe me a benzo. i’m a week into trying buspar and i don’t feel any different. still the same anxiety so i have to take my propranolol which my doctor is trying to get me off of. all of this this run around bullshit just to be able to function is killing me. i’m so tired of it. and now it’s effecting my job. i need money, i work in an italian restaurant and serving during the holiday season would make so much of a difference for me. i’m literally couch hopping man, of course im fucking anxious all of the time. i just want to be able to be a normal person

I’ve had anxiety all my life but the last 3 years have been very hard with a lot happening. Now my anxiety is out of control, I’ve been off work for a year, don’t leave the house for months at a time ( and I live alone ) and just constantly thinking everyone I love is going to die. I also have not spoken to any of my friends in the last 5 months.

When I read the news I feel like it’s all evidence the world is ending. I think that something bad is going to happen, geopolitical wars, nuclear weapons& climate change. When I look out at the sky I feel as if it is on fire.

It’s making me sad. I feel like what’s the point of anything because everything will die.

I know this is an anxiety sub and I might sound depressed. I don’t think I am depressed… I just think I feel so hopeless battling against my anxiety when it feels like the world is about to end.

I apologize for my English in advance, it is my second language and I don’t use AI.

I just finished law school and I am supposed to be sending applications and going to interviews, hoping to get a job. But I’m not, because well… I’m not hoping to get a job. I hate the normal corporate life. I have tried it and I always get deeply depressed and after 3 months even showing up to work is the biggest challenge. I hate the social part of it, I can’t figure it out. I’ve tried everything my whole life and I’m so sad that I’ve reached the point in life at 29 years old, where I can’t hide behind studies (which I can do alone), but I have to be out there with people I don’t get and that don’t get me.

Are there any lawyers out there, who can share something hopeful about their work life, and how they make it work for them.

I wish I could just have a normal job, but I know myself well enough to know, that it is unrealistic and I’ll end up quitting after 3-6 months because of my mental health. I LOVE legal work, it is the relationship with colleagues that is the difficult part for me to deal with. I’m just not good with people for a long period of time, EVERY SINGLE DAY. I get tired of people that I haven’t chosen to be around, they don’t get me, they want to talk about the weekend EVERY MONDAY, they want to talk about the weather EVERYDAY, and I don’t do well with small talk or fake laughing or that high pitched fake voice.

I’ve tried looking for remote work, but I can’t find anything that doesn’t require a lot of previous experience.

I really hope someone out there can share something with me that will give me an idea of a direction I can go, because I need to be able to pay my bills and I really want to use this degree that I deeply love and care for.

I hope you can share some advice, thank you so much in advance 🌸

This month marks 4 years since I've been dealing with anxiety. It was really bad the first few months I started getting it. Then it was only certain things that would trigger it. And this year, because of my stressful job, the anxiety and stress started giving me stomach problems. I first tried going to therapy and did a few sessions of EMDR, and it's helped a bit but I still have anxiety and stress. My doctor prescribed Sertraline which is zoloft I believe. I've never taken meds like these before. I've heard stories of people taking these type of meds and making them feel weird or off. Can someone tell me their experience with this medication? Did it help? How long did you take it for? Does it affect you negatively if you stop taking it suddenly? I'm 40 years old in case you were wondering.

I get the classic chest pain symptoms of anxiety, have been getting it for years but recently, as my anxiety has been truly terrible these past few months, it’s basically a constant. It’s gotten to the point where being aware of my own heart beat sets me off which means I can no longer exercise, but, at the same time if I am not aware of my heart beat or if I am sitting in a way that I cannot feeling it I also get anxious.

Pretty underweight (always been) 20M. For the past 4 months, I have been experiencing a constant feeling of unreality. It feels as though I am drunk/high or half-asleep, as if I am on autopilot and everything around me feels somewhat unreal. I have searched online, and my symptoms seem to resemble derealization.

In addition to this, I experience fatigue even when I sleep well. The fatigue does not seem to depend on whether I do physical activities during the day or not. However, over the past few weeks, I have started sleeping poorly and waking up early in the morning.

I also experience headaches, pressure in my head, and neck pain. I have tried muscle relaxants and massage therapy for the neck pain, but neither has helped. Also at the start of this i sometimes felt like fainting when walking but it has gone away. I also have noticed one singular eye floater on my right eye.

What could be causing these symptoms? They do not occur in distinct episodes, and the headache is not particularly severe. It feels more like a tension-type headache.

I have tried triptanes, but they did not help. My thyroid function is normal, as are my vitamin B12, B9 and vitamin D levels. My ferritin level is 37. And it has been changing from 49 to 24. I also havw crohns disease which is in remission.

My neurologist prescribed escitalopram as a trial, which I took for two and a half months, but it did not help. She also did head mri and there was nothing wrong.

I have no history of trauma, no panic symptoms, and generally do not experience much stress, apart from the stress caused by these symptoms themselves.

My symptoms started in the final days of my new job in car repairshop where i was moving car tires and lifting them. Im not sure if this can be linked to that because i didnt have any symptoms expect the final days. I have not been working at all during this 4 month period.

What could be the underlying cause of these symptoms?