Hi guys, I wasn't 100 percent sure where to post this on here, hopefully I haven't committed a massive breach of forum protocol. :/
Long story short, I've had mild anxiety and depression issues for at least 10 years now. I've always managed to ignore it until recently when I started a new job and the symptoms have become less mild.
The anxiety is stopping me from doing my job to the level I know I am capable of which is making me feel more depressed/hopeless which is affecting sleep which is then looping back into the anxiety. I am tired all the time.
As a male, I thought taking the initial step of seeking help was going to be the hardest part. Wrong. Had an appointment with my GP yesterday (who I really like and feel comfortable with) and discussed everything that had been going on. He really echoed what I had been thinking in that I seem to have a really good cognitive grasp and awareness of how my anxiety/depression loops are triggered but my problem is I always feel too tired/hopeless to do anything about it. Basically, I need the spark to allow me to start monitoring my own behavior better.
Thus, he gave me a prescription for Cymbalt. One 30mg capsule a day for 30 days, then up to 60mg. I felt pretty hopefully and positive about it all until I got home and started googling about the drug. Now I am terrified for three main reasons...
1. I am scared it will "zombify" me. I read a thread here about someone who felt it robbed them of 5 years of their life. I have already felt numb for the past 10 years, I hoped getting help would help me tofeel "normal" feelings again. Not make me numb.
2. Scared of the side effects. This isn't a huge concern as I realise it goes with the territory of anti-depressants.
3. TERRIFIED of dependence and/or withdrawal. As mentioned earlier my depression/anxiety only really spiked recently when I started a job. I was hoping that any drug related help I got would just be a short term measure to allow me to build some mental tools and confidence in my abilities again. Cymbalt does not sound to me like a drug that is designed for that. If I have to go through 3 weeks of withdrawal when I come off it, I will very likely end up back where I started, if not worse. Could even cost me the job I worked hard through college to get.
Basically, I am not going to take the drug. The cons seem to outweigh the pros. I am going to make another appointment with the GP today to discuss my concerns.
What I am wondering is if anyone here has any suggestion as to other drugs I could potentially mention to my GP as better options. I feel like my depression/anxiety is relatively mild. I can still drag myself out of bed in the morning. Is there a med that people think might be better for my anxiety/depression situation - relatively short term use with reduced chance of dependence/horrible withdrawal symptoms.
Sorry for the long rant, just a bit freaked out right now.
I was on Cymbalta for many years and finally got off it. It has been almost 2 months. Due to some unplanned happenings, I started to develop depression and anxiety after the Cymbalta withdrawals should have been over. My GP just keeps trying to prescribe more anti depressants to me. Finally the anxiety got so bad that he gave me Zoloft and I actually took it for 3 days. The side affects were horrible and the anxiety and depression got even worse.
To sum it up, I don't know if there is any drug out there can really help with these feelings. I know it seems easy to look for a chemical solution to our negative feelings. Hopefully you can come up with something other then drugs to deal with these events. I started looking into herbal remedies for anxiety today. There is a lot of information available online if you are interested.
