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Chronic Anxiety
I have had anxiety since I was 17. I am now 35 years old and it is only getting worse. Aside from a very traumatic event in 2007, no other major event has occurred in my life to contribute to my anxiety. I am on Paxil CR 25 mg due to the event. I was hoping that the Paxil in general would help with my anxiety/depression. It has helped with the thoughts associated with the event, but for the past 10 days or so, I have felt emotionless, dull, loss of interest in just about everything and can definitely see how can I easily slip into more severe thoughts. "Severe" thoughts have never been part of my life, such as hurting myself, but I can see how easily that can happen with the way I have been feeling. I have been known to have trouble sleeping as my thoughts are racing once my head hits the pillow and have had difficult falling asleep this past week. This chronic/anxiety, social/anxiety has made me so miserable, it has kept me from contacting friends, partaking in events and has stunted my career path.
I feel anxious all the time, it is the "norm" for me. It is affecting my job performance. I can't even speak to someone without feeling extreme anxiety. My thoughts get all jumbled up and find myself focusing so much on the words coming out of my mouth rather than the thoughts. Hence, I lose track of my thoughts, have difficulty piecing together a sentence into an intelligable form. I stumble over words even mispronounce them! The speech is so broken, I honestly think people think there is something wrong with me. In turn, I end up feeling really stupid. I am so frustrated because I know better. I know deep down I am an intelligent person, but the anxiety is so debilitating I can't even function. I get the same way when I talk to my family! I am starting to think and feel like there is something mentally wrong with me, about whether I have dementia. Brain conditions/diseases do not run in my family.
My questions are: (1) I have been taking Paxil since Sept. 2007. Is the Paxil responsible for the dullness, loss of interest, I have been feeling this past week?
(2) Can anxiety be so crippling, so debilitating that the thought process is affected in turn affecting speech? I am concerned about early onset of brain degenerative diseases/conditions.
(3) Is there hope for me to get over this crippling chonic & social anxiety?
Sincerely, irisflor
I feel anxious all the time, it is the "norm" for me. It is affecting my job performance. I can't even speak to someone without feeling extreme anxiety. My thoughts get all jumbled up and find myself focusing so much on the words coming out of my mouth rather than the thoughts. Hence, I lose track of my thoughts, have difficulty piecing together a sentence into an intelligable form. I stumble over words even mispronounce them! The speech is so broken, I honestly think people think there is something wrong with me. In turn, I end up feeling really stupid. I am so frustrated because I know better. I know deep down I am an intelligent person, but the anxiety is so debilitating I can't even function. I get the same way when I talk to my family! I am starting to think and feel like there is something mentally wrong with me, about whether I have dementia. Brain conditions/diseases do not run in my family.
My questions are: (1) I have been taking Paxil since Sept. 2007. Is the Paxil responsible for the dullness, loss of interest, I have been feeling this past week?
(2) Can anxiety be so crippling, so debilitating that the thought process is affected in turn affecting speech? I am concerned about early onset of brain degenerative diseases/conditions.
(3) Is there hope for me to get over this crippling chonic & social anxiety?
Sincerely, irisflor
Hi,
I feel for you. I was on paxil and it really did nothing to lessen my anxiety. It did dull my emotions extremely and cause me not to feel almost anything, except, of course, anxiety. I personally tried a lot of the antidepressants and paxil did help with depression, but none of them worked for me for anxiety or panic. Yes, speech can be affected. I am not a stutterer, but I can come close if I have to talk in front of a bunch of people I don't know. Yes, there is also hope. Many people have gotten over their anxiety. I have had this anxiety forever, but there were periods in my life (lots of years) where it went away either entirely or put in a rare appearance. Have you tried a counselor specializing in anxiety? Also meditation is good.
I feel for you. I was on paxil and it really did nothing to lessen my anxiety. It did dull my emotions extremely and cause me not to feel almost anything, except, of course, anxiety. I personally tried a lot of the antidepressants and paxil did help with depression, but none of them worked for me for anxiety or panic. Yes, speech can be affected. I am not a stutterer, but I can come close if I have to talk in front of a bunch of people I don't know. Yes, there is also hope. Many people have gotten over their anxiety. I have had this anxiety forever, but there were periods in my life (lots of years) where it went away either entirely or put in a rare appearance. Have you tried a counselor specializing in anxiety? Also meditation is good.
Fuzzy has it.
Here is what you will probably end up doing, so you might as well get an early start:
You'll need a workup to rule out all the "it could be this, it could be that" possibilities. Tests, tests, tests.
You'll benefit by working with a psychiatist who can both review meds now taken, prescribe others and get you started on therapy.
Usually, it is a combination of the meds and therapy that do the job. The meds help you stay focused and cope with sensations, thoughts, feelings, etc. The therapy helps you get to the root causes which are behind everything.
Your situation in particular is all TOO familiar. But I regard myself as now all done with panic and anxiety, after many, many years. The therapy can take time and is often difficult, but walking around panic free is not so bad, either.
Also, please join this community, get involved with people. It helps -and is easy to do: -just click the Join Link -enter some profile information about yourself -even a picture if you care to- and anything you think would help us get to know you faster and better, and you can change this material whenever you like. You will also be accessible to receive private messages when other members click the name you've given yourself -sort of a "push to talk" feature. After you've done that, spend some time just using various features of the forum. For example, to see all the posts or responses that someone has made, just click their handle, go to their profile, click Posts, and read to your heart's content. You may also enter search terms -including member names- in the search box at the upper right of your screen and the system will retrun everything matching the term(s) you entered. This INCLUDES a drug database that will give you both user posts about drugs as well as the medical information about the drug. A great way to get quick answers about therapeutic effect, side effects, interactions, etc.
One of the profile categories is your mood, which you may change anytime you like.
Along the right side of your screen is a section of Recent Activity, which not only alerts you to new posts, but new ANYTHING, including journal entries and mood. This is a way to telegraph the community at large without actually creating a separate post. Thus, if you see a friend's mood has changed while you are working on a response or post, it can alert you to send them a private message to learn more or simply let them know you're thinking of them. Likewise, if you are going to be "out," you could enter something like "off line for the night" as your mood, and people would know you're away from the forum for awhile.
"My Medhelp" is where you'll find all the features you can deploy: messaging, lists of friends, photos, etc.
At upper-right you'll also see Health Pages -a section of reference material built up by the members themselves. It is a work in progress and all are free to contribute to it.
If you do this kind of exploring and experimenting right away, you'll be up-to-speed quickly. If you see the message you are reading now as part of a direct response I (or anyone) has made to one of your posts, it was probably copied and pasted from this journal. I hate form letters and auto-responses as much as anyone -but I also hate forgetting to tell people what they need to know, so this is my safety-net. Consider it as part of your "Welcome" kit. So -please join and try things out.
You might also want to read my entries for the "Right Click Trick" and "When in Haste, Use Copy 'n Paste" for some other convenient time-savers.
We're glad you are here!
Here is what you will probably end up doing, so you might as well get an early start:
You'll need a workup to rule out all the "it could be this, it could be that" possibilities. Tests, tests, tests.
You'll benefit by working with a psychiatist who can both review meds now taken, prescribe others and get you started on therapy.
Usually, it is a combination of the meds and therapy that do the job. The meds help you stay focused and cope with sensations, thoughts, feelings, etc. The therapy helps you get to the root causes which are behind everything.
Your situation in particular is all TOO familiar. But I regard myself as now all done with panic and anxiety, after many, many years. The therapy can take time and is often difficult, but walking around panic free is not so bad, either.
Also, please join this community, get involved with people. It helps -and is easy to do: -just click the Join Link -enter some profile information about yourself -even a picture if you care to- and anything you think would help us get to know you faster and better, and you can change this material whenever you like. You will also be accessible to receive private messages when other members click the name you've given yourself -sort of a "push to talk" feature. After you've done that, spend some time just using various features of the forum. For example, to see all the posts or responses that someone has made, just click their handle, go to their profile, click Posts, and read to your heart's content. You may also enter search terms -including member names- in the search box at the upper right of your screen and the system will retrun everything matching the term(s) you entered. This INCLUDES a drug database that will give you both user posts about drugs as well as the medical information about the drug. A great way to get quick answers about therapeutic effect, side effects, interactions, etc.
One of the profile categories is your mood, which you may change anytime you like.
Along the right side of your screen is a section of Recent Activity, which not only alerts you to new posts, but new ANYTHING, including journal entries and mood. This is a way to telegraph the community at large without actually creating a separate post. Thus, if you see a friend's mood has changed while you are working on a response or post, it can alert you to send them a private message to learn more or simply let them know you're thinking of them. Likewise, if you are going to be "out," you could enter something like "off line for the night" as your mood, and people would know you're away from the forum for awhile.
"My Medhelp" is where you'll find all the features you can deploy: messaging, lists of friends, photos, etc.
At upper-right you'll also see Health Pages -a section of reference material built up by the members themselves. It is a work in progress and all are free to contribute to it.
If you do this kind of exploring and experimenting right away, you'll be up-to-speed quickly. If you see the message you are reading now as part of a direct response I (or anyone) has made to one of your posts, it was probably copied and pasted from this journal. I hate form letters and auto-responses as much as anyone -but I also hate forgetting to tell people what they need to know, so this is my safety-net. Consider it as part of your "Welcome" kit. So -please join and try things out.
You might also want to read my entries for the "Right Click Trick" and "When in Haste, Use Copy 'n Paste" for some other convenient time-savers.
We're glad you are here!
Hi iris,
Yes, to all three. I think you need to talk with your dr. as to the feeling's you are having right now. I know that antidepressents can cause a kind of dull like feeling. It's like you want to break out but just cant. Like a governer on the brain.
As far a anxiety causing speech problems? Yes, I get the same way , It's like Ok the thought's there I gotta hurry up and get it out before I lose it, and then it come's out all screwed up, Ya get the stutter going and Yea, it's real impressive. I know.
And finally, Yes, there is hope, I had to first accept myself as this is the way I am for now but I'm working on me. Don't be so hard on yourself. If you think people are laughing at you, laugh with them. There is nothing mental about you. Your just focusing to much on you. Dont take ownership of that. Dementia at 35?? Nawww. Your Ok, really!!!
Have you been able to talk with a therapist about any of this??
I hope you join us iris, stay in touch.
Yes, to all three. I think you need to talk with your dr. as to the feeling's you are having right now. I know that antidepressents can cause a kind of dull like feeling. It's like you want to break out but just cant. Like a governer on the brain.
As far a anxiety causing speech problems? Yes, I get the same way , It's like Ok the thought's there I gotta hurry up and get it out before I lose it, and then it come's out all screwed up, Ya get the stutter going and Yea, it's real impressive. I know.
And finally, Yes, there is hope, I had to first accept myself as this is the way I am for now but I'm working on me. Don't be so hard on yourself. If you think people are laughing at you, laugh with them. There is nothing mental about you. Your just focusing to much on you. Dont take ownership of that. Dementia at 35?? Nawww. Your Ok, really!!!
Have you been able to talk with a therapist about any of this??
I hope you join us iris, stay in touch.
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