Do antidepressants help with anxiety

Hey there @Anon40F

Firstly - welcome to the Forums! We are so glad to have you here!

It sounds like you have had a lot happening for you which can exacerbate that sense of anxiety. It's awesome to see that you are still loving your life and those around you in the midst of it all.

The best person to ask about medications for anxiety is your GP - there are lots of different types of medications available depending on your symptoms and they can help you find one that works best for you.

While I am not medically trained and what I say is purely based on my own experience: Medication has helped me manage anxiety for some years now, alongside some psych support too.

SANE has some information about antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication here if you are interested.

It might be worth booking in with your GP for a chat to talk about what you're experiencing and explore your options.

Hope this can be helpful for you! Others here may be able to chime in with their own wisdom and experience, too! 🤗

Thank you @Peregrinefalcon I have checked out the link you have sent me. I tick a few of the boxes for depression too, which was eye opening. I thought the fact I didn't think about wanting to not be here meant I was not depressed.
I will call my GP's office tomorrow to book in and see him.

Hello @Anon40F

I was pleased to see that you received a response and some help.

I think from your response that you might now be or perhaps even were before, aware that depression and anxiety are very different symptoms of the mind.

They are both treated differently even though they can be present at the same time.

Post concussion symptoms however add another component to the mix though.

I have the above plus remnants of post concussion symptoms.

These need to be assessed and monitored by a concussion doctor as well.

A gp can help with short term depression and or anxiety and for ongoing symptoms with referrals to specialists for depression and or anxiety.

The post concussion symptoms are very different to those of mental illness and must be monitored by specialists in a brain clinic or concussion clinic initially.

The length of concussion symptoms and obviously intensity is important.

My post concussion symptoms still appear randomly after six months and mine was considered a mild acquired brain injury.

They are not always consistent.

I am still under review and have been told that I am doing very well.

My post concussion has been affected by my mental illness symptoms.

You might now understand where I am going with this.

GP's have basic training across a broad range of medical conditions.

It is always best to have a good rapport with a gp who knows when to refer you on to a specialist qualified in certain areas especially in relation to the brain.

I found people have not been patient with me and have tried to tell me what I am trying to say when I am struggling.

This has only exasperated my symptoms.

I hope that you are still under a review with a concussion specialist.

good luck

Sophia

Hi and welcome, @Anon40F 🙂

I'm sorry you have severe anxiety, as well as long Covid and post concussion syndrome 😞

We aren't allowed to recommend medications, but I think I can tell you that my antidepressant covers my anxiety and OCD too.

A handy forum tip is to type @ if you want to tag someone.

I hope you find the forums supportive.

Hello and welcome @Anon40F

With my husband's MI he had found that just being on anti depressants did not help his anxiety

So the special has put him on anti anxiety medications as well

So bring it up with you GP and letting you know you are not alone my friend

Read to he fine print in box for side effects the dr doest tell you.

I ended up with an embolism on my lung ,I wasn't getting air. I was coughing up saliva cup fills everything night for five or six years yet dr s told me allergy hay fever.

I did my own research to what applied to me.i came off them never aprobem. Again. It took a breast screen to find the scaring from years of damage.

Good Evening @Sarah102 ,

Great to see you around on the forums. It been very interesting reading your posts.

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See you around!

tyme

Not medical advice... But if you look at the clinical practice guidelines for anxiety, antidepressants are the first line medication... And my sense was that they were better at treating anxiety than they were depression (they're not very effective as antidepressants). Specific class of antidepressants of course which I presume I can't mention here, but just google the clinical practice guidelines GAD and you'll see them there.

Interestingly, it's the same class of antidepressant I feed to my cat to stop him piddling on the couch... It's an effective anxiolytic in cats, who I don't think respond to the placebo effect lol