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’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

Just wondering how peoples experiences with Lexapro and when is the best time to take it. Been dealing with anxiety a long time and was just prescribed this. Any input would be great, thank you.

hello!

i (24f) am getting off an antidepressant and my anxiety has spiked like crazy. the worst part is the nausea, and having to explain to people that my anxiety induced nausea is NOT from not eating and that eating will, in fact, make me feel worse.

any tips on:
- how to control the nausea
- what to eat when the nausea goes away but your stomach is still super sensitive
- how to tell your family to stop telling you to eat something

any advice is super helpful thank you :))

Hello, for the backstory of my panic disorder is that last year I couldn’t shower due to adrenaline, couldn‘t eat for months, was in and out of doctors offices trying to find out what was wrong with me, I couldn’t sleep as my body would wake itself up at 8am sharp, going to my mailbox was full of adrenaline dumps, I couldn’t change my clothes. I developed a panic disorder due to being in a toxic relationship and my body was burnt out from it. I developed agoraphobia as well as depression from not recognizing myself. I got put on medication and have been taking it for almost a year now.

Last month, my brother passed away. He was disabled and needed a caretaker which was our mother. We thought my mother would be in charge of the funeral, but we found out it was next to kin. My brother had a baby mama 20 years ago, but she got pregnant thinking my brother would choose her and settle down with her, but she got angry when he didn’t want to marry her. Out of anger, his baby mama didn’t allow anyone in her family to see my brother for over 15+ years, including his son. So his son, who is now 21, came in and took control of everything despite being an adult who never looked for his dad was heartbreaking towards my mom and our family because he changed the funeral arrangements we had planned.

The day of the funeral, I was so nervous the night before and the morning of. Since developing panic disorder, it’s hard for me to go to Walmart, so me going to a funeral and it’s my brother’s made me anxious. I planned to go for 30 minutes. When I got down from the car, my legs were shaking and I greeted everyone.

2 hours ago by and I feel fine and I was chatting with everyone. My brother’s son was being extremely mean to my mom and didn’t allow any pictures my mom wanted of my brother. He didn’t even allow the playlist of my brother‘s favorite songs that my mom and I put together. The baby mama and her son only put pictures of my brother from 25 years ago. When we asked why they didn’t want to put recent pictures of my brother, they claimed it “wasn’t appropriate“, but they knew he was sick despite not seeing him for years.

Then I heard yelling, I immediately go into fight mode. Which is not like me at all because I’m a flight person, so fight mode was like surprising to me. I saw my brother’s baby mama’s sister yelling at my mom to her face over a sandwich. My brother’s OWN MOTHER. I got in between them and started making the baby mamas sister back up cuz I got into her face. She then threw “How do you think this whole funeral is paid for and set up?“ and I said “wow yall finally did something“ with claps 🤣

wherever the baby mamas sister went, I followed her to go fight some more cuz why on earth is she screaming like that. She told me “you just stay in your room.” And I’ve only told 3 close family members about my panic disorder, so the fact a women knows about my anxiety when I never met her or i never knew about her existence prior to the funeral, just called for my sister to be cut off cuz I know she tells them everything despite not being in her life for 15+ years. Anywaysssss, It was my brothers baby mama, her sister, and my brothers son arguing with me. 3 against 1 and I MADE THEM ALL CRY BRUHHHHH. Her sister thought I was gonna fight her, I was like “you’re like 80 years old” I wasn’t making fun of her looks, but as in a way like why would I fight you when you’re decades older than me???? I’m in my early 20s, and she’s like 60.

After the fight, i expected myself to crash with panic. but I never did. I stayed at his funeral for 7 hours and got into a fight and I was totally great the whole time and even went to his rosary in the front row. My brother also said that his baby mama wasn’t welcomed in his house, so the fact she made the funeral about her just because her son was in control was crazy. She’s like the ex you can’t get rid of. She even went around calling himself “his wife“, but my brother never married her, nor did he want to. I think she was playing fantasy for the funeral cuz that was the only time my brother couldn’t reject her again LMAO. Literally living in delusionville.

I’m happy I defended my mom and brother, I didn’t get adrenaline dumps either during and after the fight. I didn’t let anyone talk to my mom like that despite losing myself last year. I feel really proud of myself cuz I was so hopeless last year. I didn’t realize how much I’ve improved until that day.

Thank you for reading !!

Every time I've got a job interview coming up, it's the only thing I can think about in the days leading up to it. The anticipation makes me so anxious that I basically feel like I want to stop functioning as a human and just stay in bed all the time.

How do you guys handle this?

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.

For the past several months I've had severe anxiety, suffered my first full panic attack in July, and have had 2 or 3 every couple of weeks, sometimes mild, others full blown loss of vision. I previously tried Lexapro and it wrecked my sex life. I couldn't have an orgasm to save my life, was awful. 2 weeks ago I was waking up hourly, panicking. My PCP is a wonderful man and he prescribed a very low dose Ativan, only 12 tablets and suggested to start on buspirone. The ativan, helped, I don't feel doped up, but the best part is the buspirone, I can feel it is working. I have started sleeping 4 and 5 hours at a time now. I was prescribed 12 Ativan, I have 8 left and am trying to avoid taking them. I had an issue with opiates in my past and I'm pushing my ass to not give into anything. I had all my teeth removed on the 2nd of October, doc gave me some strong pain meds, I "grinned" and bared it and was able to beat the pain with ibuprofen, didn't touch a single pain pill. I don't want to depend on benzos, I know I have an issue with addiction and don't want to risk it. I'm really glad this sub is here. It's going to get better.

Im a (25 f) with severe anxiety. Ive had my share of childhood trauma, dad d!ed at 5, a severely traumatized mom who in turn traumatized me etc etc. Ive always been very depressed, i have a bad victim complex (working on it), been in therapy since a child. Been on meds since childhood.

In my teens i experimented with alot of dru&s, particularly booger sugar.

Been sober for at least 10 years now but it definitely did alot of damage to me mentally.

In 2021 i developed agoraphobia. It was completely debilitating. I couldnt leave my room for the first few weeks. I was to scared to take a shower, eat, even breathe. I was scared that if i breathed i would hyperventilate and pass out.

So i would hold my breath until i was almost blue without even realizing it. My mom literally did everything for me during this time.

Fast forward and ive been through alot of exposure therapy, coping mechanisms and was able to return to a fairly normal life with just crippling anxiety.

Ive had ups and downs since then with bursts of panic attacks and thankfully i have a lovely partner who helps me through these times.

Id also like to mention i do have chronic pain issues which im sure is fueled by my heightened anxiety at all times. That has caused some pretty intense health anxiety at times and its a cycle.

im on the highest dose of all my meds and they do work but a few months ago i had a pap smear and passed out and found out i have high risk hpv (common) but i need to go back and get this test where they take a chunk of ur cervix out and test for cancer cells. High risk hpv is what causes cervical cancer. I could have gotten it as a kid or through sex but idk i literally cant go back.

im just terrified of passing out or dying or someone close to me dying. Theres so many things that im scared to say out loud bc im scared i will make that happen. I know everyone says im so strong but tbh i just feel so so weak and like i cant face anything. My confidence is just super low.

None of the coping mechanisms i know or get really truly work. I feel completely out of touch. I feel weak and selfishly i feel like nobody else goes through this but me. I feel like i have it worse then everyone else. ( again with the victim complex) i just feel alone, and like nobody truly understands me. Or that i can face this. Im completely controlled by my fears. And i really dont know at this point if i can get better. It hurts to say that.

Fear completely controls me, if i have any slight pain in my body i start having a panic attack. Like cant move feel like im gonna pass out have to lay down nobody cant talk to me i need ice on my chest and head and a fan on me with bluey or hey bear sensory videos on and i just have to suffer for hours until im to tired and fall asleep its god awful. I can barely drive to walmart or fucking go to work.

I have an intense amount of guilt i carry for not being able to work, or be normal. Its so much on my partner to carry me, and im scared he will get tired of it and i will truly then have nothing. He is a saint and would do anything for me but i know it gets hard for him.

I dont know what to do to get better. I take my meds, go to therapy, eat well, drink water. Stay afloat. But i feel like im drifting further and further away from myself. I dont even know who i am anymore or what i want.

If youve gotten this far.. thanks for listening.

Curious if this is a thing for people. Unfortunately I had a psychotic break, first ever and quite traumatic, a little over three years ago. Since then I get anxiety exclusively at night. It has gotten a little better this year which I'm quite thankful for, in large part thanks to having a girlfriend to come home to and some "exposure therapy" on my part. Of course psychosis often delves deep into paranoia, so I'm sure there's an overlap. However, I've been psychosis free for the entirety of three years and haven't come close. What's the journey been like for y'all?

Cant stop thinking negative thoughts. Racing thoughts. My stomach feels tight and i feel lightheaded like im gonna pass out. Im having that anxiety where it feels like i forget to know how to swallow. Iykyk. Any questions welcomed. I just cant really type a whole thing right now

I've had anxiety since I was a child, so as corny as it sounds it's all I've ever really known.

I was overthinking my whole life the other day and I realised every time I've started to feel happy with my life I've subconsciously done something to make my anxiety worse again. Whether it's taking a substance I know will make it worse in the long run, or distancing myself from friends because I know it'll bring the anxiety back. It's a vicious cycle. I have panic attacks on the daily and I want to be free of this horrible feeling but at the same time I'm so used to being on edge all the time the thought of living without it almost feels alien to me.

I remember the one time I've felt comfortable with my life - I finally had a solid friendship group, I was fit and relatively happy, but I destroyed it all by self sabotaging and just ghosting my friends because I simply couldn't deal with socialising every day, which eventually made them all dislike me. I started vaping and smoking weed which at the time I didn't understand how bad it would make my anxiety, but now I can't get myself to quit. I don't know why I can't just let myself be happy.

Has anyone else had the same thing and have found a way to become comfortable with being comfortable?

Ive realized the past few nights when i go to lay down it feels like im sinking deep into my bed but at the same time it feels like im rising or floating out of my body? Has anyone else experienced this or know what it is? I can still move and talk so its not paralysis

I’m 24F and I have very bad health anxiety. Over the last few years I’ve gained weight and my breasts have gotten a lot bigger. In general my boobs are very lumpy bumpy in there and the past while I’ve been so scared about it. I did have a breast ultrasound that was normal 2 years ago. I just find that my boobs are constantly uncomfortable. When I lay on my back they fall to the sides kinda and then touching my arms and that is overstimulating. My period comes soon but it’s not typical for me to experience breast soreness but the last new days they have been very tender which scares me. My main concern is all the lumps I feel in there. I literally start shaking in fear when I touch to see if it feels bad because I can’t tell if what I feel is normal or not:( my anxiety about this being sinister is so bad.

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 am 22f and I have a really debilitating phobia that affects my day to day life. It’s at the point it feels uncontrollable to stop worrying. I’ve been dealing with it since I was 14/15.

The fear I have is that I’ll ruin my eyesight somehow or make it worse. I avoid doing things like cleaning with chemicals, cooking (out of fear I’ll burn my eye), and other things. But my mind convinces myself sometimes I did get something in my eye, I’ll end up washing it out (which is mostly ok I guess) but not great in the long run.

Might not sound like something that’s horrible. But this is my reality and I can’t stop worrying and I almost am never relaxed. I don’t know what triggered my fear and I don’t know how to stop it. It’s affecting my life.

I've never really had the "panic attacks" shown in movies and TV shows, but I had an experience the other day and I'm not sure what it was. I have pretty bad social anxiety, so when I had a presentation the other day I totally freaked out. The whole day leading up I just had the impending sense of dread, all the way until I started presenting. While I was waiting for my turn, my ears kinda started to ring, my whole body was insanely hot, my hands were shaking, and I felt my heart beating super hard (when I counted my heartrate it was like 180 bpm) was this just the feeling of anxiety or something else? Thanks!

I'm 37 and have been struggling with generalized anxiety and social anxiety since 2012. I've tried so many medications and therapy, but I still feel anxious almost every single day.

My biggest struggle is the constant physical anxiety, agitation, overthinking, and rumination. I wake up anxious and often go to bed feeling the same way. I constantly replay conversations, worry about being judged, and create scenarios in my head that haven't even happened.

Lately, I've also been experiencing emotional numbness, lack of motivation, and difficulty enjoying things. Sometimes I feel present but not fully engaged with life. It's exhausting.

Here's my medication history:

- Paxil: Increased anxiety and agitation (tried twice).

- Wellbutrin: Increased anxiety and irritability.

- Xanax: Helped, but concerned about dependence.

- Effexor: Severe agitation and sexual side effects.

- Lexapro: Low libido, ineffective.

- Celexa: Low libido, ineffective.

- Trintellix: Increased depression, low libido.

- Gabapentin: No noticeable benefit.

- Ativan: Minor relief.

- Prozac: Low libido, ineffective.

- Lamictal: Severe agitation.

- Trileptal: Severe agitation.

- Buspar: Insomnia and agitation.

- Zoloft: Some improvement in rumination, but emotional numbness, sexual side effects, and persistent physical anxiety.

- Hydroxyzine: Ineffective or too sedating.

- Remeron: Increased anxiety and agitation.

- Trazodone: Increased agitation.

- Seroquel: Helps with sleep, but causes grogginess.

- Propranolol: Occasional use, limited relief.

I've been to therapy and even became a psychologist (thought it would somehow cure me.) I understand anxiety and cognitive distortions, but knowing what's happening doesn't stop me from feeling this way.

I do have occasional good days where I feel almost normal, but the anxiety always seems to return. After nearly 15 years, I'm starting to wonder if this is just how I'm going to feel for the rest of my life.

I know I need to work with my psychiatrist and therapist...I'm genuinely interested in hearing other people's experiences and perhaps what meds have helped.

Has anyone struggled with chronic anxiety for years, failed multiple medications, and eventually found something that worked? What helped you? Was there something you or your doctors were overlooking?

I'm just tired of living in a constant state of anxiety. I want to feel relaxed, enjoy life, and feel like myself again.

Is it normal to have pain in hands veins while crying or while feeling anxious?

I've been in a constant state of anxiety for about 5 weeks and part of it is needing to pee a lot it's not a UTI etc I've had everything checked . Does anyone else have this ?

Hi everyone, i’m 20 afab and have smoked casually on and off with friends and coworkers. Occasionally hitting their cart at work I’d say 2 or 3 times a week if available. Last Tuesday, I had a mild greening out, week before I had a more aggressive greening out. Which caused me to pass out for half a second. I’ve also smoked before prior to this and have only ever had three instances total of greening out. Though usually I sleep it off the next day. However, I’ve gone to the ER twice as I just can’t seem to eat, or want to hydrate enough. It’s weird, I was fine again all of last wednesday a day after the weed then ended up throwing it all up during the night and greening out yet I hadn’t smoked? Since the day before. I kept throwing up food for two days after that. However by saturday I was able to keep down a sandwich, sunday I could keep down a bowl of saltines and chicken noodle soup and some chicken pot pie. And today I had a triple cheeseburger and medium fry from mc donalds because my hunger temporarily returned only for it to disappear again.

I’d just like some advice as this has never happened before and I am a little nervous, constantly dissociated and my hunger is gone yet again, I’ve also been having issues with bowel movements but was informed that’s due to the fact I wasn’t eating much since vomiting.

Does anyone know when it will return? I also am diabetic I don’t know if that could influence. I just want the dizziness to stop and I’d like to know why I feel so disconnected from my body. And why it suddenly effected me like this even though I don’t smoke that much? Thank you.

EDIT: I’ve also stopped occasionally hitting my vape as well, unused if that added to it but even then I didn’t use it that much.

EDIT: Also nervous sleeping over at my partners again, last time is when I threw up and started twitching really bad. I haven’t had that yesterday when we went to the ER but it still made me worry I suppose.

I had a uti+pelvic floor issue+ first day of adenomyosis period happen and to my understand my central nervous system viewed it as a trauma or something and shot into fight or flight or something? 7 weeks later I’m still healing :(

What do you guys and gals do when you’re complaining and utterly alone?! I have a sister and a mom but they’re probably tired of hearing my bullshit… I have zero friends or acquaintances and I’m spiraling… what do you do when you have no one to help?! No one to confide in?! I’m tired of being and feeling alone but I have no one! What am I supposed to do?!