im curently haveing extremly hard to handle my anxiety, iv spent the past 3 days only lying in bed doing nothing. and i can barely eat , i can only eat things that dosent taste much like veggies and fruits and rice.

i am suppose to start Cognitive behavioral therapy this month but as it looks now i wont be able to get to the clinic because of anxiety.
so i aws wondering maybe the best thing is to start some kind of medication to ease my anxiety and then start with my Cognitive behavioral therapy.
so i spent alot of time reading about medication and apparently SSRI sound like the best medication to choose, but all i can find is how great SSRI is and i couldnt find any side effects.

so im wondering have anyone used SSRI as medication agains anxiety?

if so..

did it help against you anxiety? and how fast?
did it have any side effects on you during medication?( if so wich)
did u have any side effects after u stoped medication? (if so wich)

10mg Citalopram daily (supposedly a sub-therapeutic dose) and before that I self medicated with St Johns Wort.

I went on it 2 years ago before I started uni. It was a help, I went from not being able to even think about participating in or attending a seminar, to being able to attend, and just feel really uncomfortable and self conscious participating. So a small improvement at least. They say it takes 2 weks to kick in, but I felt an improvement within 4-5 days.

I did try stopping the citalopram last year and went into a deep depression, so am not sure when I will be able to stop them. Ideally I would have liked to have done that by now.

Hi Syrus

Amongst some other disorders I have GAD. I have been on a lot of medications, more than a handful of SSRI's (I don't know if I should admit that lol well there it is anyway). You said that you read up on the different medications so you know that there is more than SSRI's as an option.
All medications have their own side effects, I mean there are some that are typically common with most of the medications but they aren't all a side effect that's the same to every SSRI. Also just because the side effect is listed does not mean you will get it and every person reacts differently to medication. I could take a medication and get severe headaches and someone else could take the same medication and not experience a side effect at all. I can say that most bothersome side effects will go away, you just have to put up with them for a week-month until they do.

It really is best to talk with your Dr. because any information a person gives you on line is exclusive to them.
It's not going to get rid of your anxiety right away, it will take awhile, usually up to a month before you notice. Also you may end up having to try out different ones to find the one that works for you. You can ask about benzos to deal with on the spot anxiety but that could make you drowsy and a lot of Dr.s don't like giving those out (well here anyway).

I hope that helped a little bit. It sounds like a pain and I'll be honest it is, BUT if you have severe anxiety then finding a med that helps you will make such a difference and it's not a permanent thing unless you want it to be. Of course combined with CBT as well, your on your way to a healthy, happier life.

I know you probably uncovered this in your research, but it wasn't clear in your post, so I'll go ahead and point out that SSRI's (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors) are a diverse class of drugs that are used to treat depression and anxiety. They include drugs like Lexapro, Celexa, Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft.

There are plenty of other drugs that are used to treat anxiety. I get the impression that different ones work better for different people. Ones to possibly avoid: Paxil (has a bad withdrawal), benzodiazepines (also have a bad withdrawal syndrome), and Buspar (not prescribed much anymore because it doesn't usually work).

Personally, I quit cold turkey (I couldn't afford them anymore) and it took me about a year before the symptoms stopped. It was awful.

Currently on Lexapro. I've been on it for four months, but I've already noticed a reduction in anxiety. I'm actually starting to enjoy being in the company of others now. I'm not completely anxiety-free, but I rarely get the physical symptoms of anxiety. One symptom I've noticed is I've been sleeping less.

These drugs affect people in different ways. Really, the only thing you can do is trial-and-error. If you think you need it (which I suspect you do -- your anxiety sounds crippling and could be chemical-related), I think it is a good idea to get on a good SSRI that helps you before starting CBT.

I am not looking to cause any conflict here but I want to put this out there...

I am personally against anything which is rooted in very weak theoretical scientific basis:

http://news.icm.ac.uk/science/study-fin ... ctive/338/

Now I want to point out to you all, "Chemical imbalance" is a theory, a theory which is completely unsupported by scientific evidence and a theory which is totally impossible to measure. Do you know how psychiatrist diagnose patients for chemical imbalance? They listen to you talk for three minutes. It is completely unknown how SSRI's (AD's) "work".

my dad brought me to an emergancy clinic today. and the doctor wanted to put me on zoloft. so im gona start taking them starting tomorrow and see if it helps.

Hope it helps man, best of luck.