Catherine84
06-07-14, 18:08
Hi there,
I have been taking Pregabalin now since late Feburary for my severe anxiety (I've been on 450mg daily for about the last month, as smaller doses failed). I have tried two antidepressants (Prozac and Citalopram), both of which had very intolerable side effects. I felt like I was losing my mind and people close to me said how they completely changed my personality. I felt better after stopping the Citalopram, and was fairly stable for a few months, but a succession of stressful events (focused around bereavement and potentially losing my job), I turned to alcohol as a way of coping. With hindsight, this was far from the right thing to do, but I was petrified to try a third antidepressant, with the risk of my anxiety becoming unbearable. Fast forward another few months, and a rehab stay later in order to come off the alcohol, and I was allowed to try Pregabalin, in the hope that it would make my symptoms more bearable where antidepressants had failed.
I have now been nearly 6 months without a drink, and I'm finding that a struggle in itself, without what I suspect are the side effects that this medication is giving me. This time last year, I was a healthy weight of 8 and a half stone (I'm 5ft 3), I'm now heading towards 10 and a half stone. I had thought that quitting drinking would have the opposite effect, as alcohol is full of calories, after all. I'm also suffering from an extremely low mood, and recently self harmed again after a long period last year of not doing this (the first time I self harmed, I was on the Citalopram). I spend a lot of my time crying, feel like there is no escape any more, and as though my life is extremely bleak. I have tried everything to keep myself busy, and I go for walks frequently - I even tried to use this as a way of dragging my mood out of the hole it had sunk into, but nothing seems to be working any more. I have always suffered from low self esteem, and having an overweight BMI for the first time in my life isn't helping matters. I almost wonder what the point is in trying to regulate my diet any more, which is of course a slippery slope and yet another health problem to deal with.
These side effects are nowhere near as bad as the ones I had on the antidepressants. My anxiety has not got significantly worse, yet I feel like it is not significantly better. I just don't know where to turn any more - if I go back to the doctor, I will probably be put on yet another antidepressant, and I really don't want to go down this route. I feel like I have run out of options :(.
I have been taking Pregabalin now since late Feburary for my severe anxiety (I've been on 450mg daily for about the last month, as smaller doses failed). I have tried two antidepressants (Prozac and Citalopram), both of which had very intolerable side effects. I felt like I was losing my mind and people close to me said how they completely changed my personality. I felt better after stopping the Citalopram, and was fairly stable for a few months, but a succession of stressful events (focused around bereavement and potentially losing my job), I turned to alcohol as a way of coping. With hindsight, this was far from the right thing to do, but I was petrified to try a third antidepressant, with the risk of my anxiety becoming unbearable. Fast forward another few months, and a rehab stay later in order to come off the alcohol, and I was allowed to try Pregabalin, in the hope that it would make my symptoms more bearable where antidepressants had failed.
I have now been nearly 6 months without a drink, and I'm finding that a struggle in itself, without what I suspect are the side effects that this medication is giving me. This time last year, I was a healthy weight of 8 and a half stone (I'm 5ft 3), I'm now heading towards 10 and a half stone. I had thought that quitting drinking would have the opposite effect, as alcohol is full of calories, after all. I'm also suffering from an extremely low mood, and recently self harmed again after a long period last year of not doing this (the first time I self harmed, I was on the Citalopram). I spend a lot of my time crying, feel like there is no escape any more, and as though my life is extremely bleak. I have tried everything to keep myself busy, and I go for walks frequently - I even tried to use this as a way of dragging my mood out of the hole it had sunk into, but nothing seems to be working any more. I have always suffered from low self esteem, and having an overweight BMI for the first time in my life isn't helping matters. I almost wonder what the point is in trying to regulate my diet any more, which is of course a slippery slope and yet another health problem to deal with.
These side effects are nowhere near as bad as the ones I had on the antidepressants. My anxiety has not got significantly worse, yet I feel like it is not significantly better. I just don't know where to turn any more - if I go back to the doctor, I will probably be put on yet another antidepressant, and I really don't want to go down this route. I feel like I have run out of options :(.