Officially diagnosed today. medication, strange feelings, what?

[candletea19]

I'll try to keep this as short as possible! Long story short, I was in a car accident, suffered anxiety and PTSD-like symptoms, and am now working on treatment with a psychologist as well as my regular doctor.

I was officially diagnosed today. Major Depressive, PTSD, and Anxiety and Panic Disorder. I thought I would feel some sort of relief, or some of of something positive (or at least as positive as possible) about it, but I don't. I feel strange, guilty, sad, and almost like I wish I never heard it. I mean, I know something is going on, I knew before today that what I was experiencing wasn't normal, even just my thoughts. I had been working with my psychologist and doctor before today, and they knew something was going on. But when I heard that official "Your diagnosis is..." talk, I felt sick to my stomach, and it kind of has thrown me into a loop ever since.

Not only that, but I also have an appointment (after already having an appointment discussing it) about prescribing medication. Taking medication makes my anxiety spike so badly, I hate it. My doctor thinks Zoloft (sertaline) would be a good choice to start with. Has anyone had experiences with this?

If I'm being completely honest, I'm actually quite terrified for starting this next (medicated) part of my treatment. I know, if I need it, I need it, and it's what's good for me.. but it still terrifies me.

If anyone has any advice or tips, please share! I would be forever grateful!

 

[CT_Girl]

I tried Zoloft and I didn't feel any different mentally, but it did upset my stomach so I talked to my doctor and was prescribed Paxil instead which I have taken for a few months now, it didn't give me any side effects other than feeling tired at first, and it does help my anxiety. Welcome to these forums!

 

[candletea19]

I tried Zoloft and I didn't feel any different mentally, but it did upset my stomach so I talked to my...

Thank you! I'm hoping not to do too much trial and error to find the right medication for me. I'm hoping for the same luck with this as I do with other medication I have taken (like antibiotics and such). I hardly ever experience any side effects from medication, and the times I have, they have been very minimal. I am worried about it not helping my symptoms :(
If I do end up on Zoloft at first, thank for letting me know about Paxil! If Zoloft doesn't work, at least I know of what worked for at least one person haha.
Luckily I'm tired literally all day every day, so if that is a side effect, at least I'm used to it :P
Thanks so much :)

 

[anthony]

Be super honest, and assertive, with your doctors about medication. Medication is trial and error. If it isn't working within a couple of weeks, tell them. They will try and UP your dosage, which is where assertiveness comes in. Medication doesn't start magically working better or causing less side effects by UPPING the dosage. Tell them to try and another. Its a round robin, trial and error approach, and many doctors don't like being honest about the hit and miss of medications.

If they start prescribing another med to counter a side effect that you never had before, you know you need to really be assertive with them.

Hopefully you get lucky, hopefully you have a commonsense doctor who doesn't just be lazy with finding the right med for your body.

Self help, educate yourself on everything that can help you, try lots of things to see what works for you. Be aggressive and super honest in therapy. The faster you push yourself and help your therapist, help you, the faster you get through the process.

 

[candletea19]

Be super honest, and assertive, with your doctors about medication. Medication is trial and error. If it is...

Thanks for the advice! I'm very lucky in the way that I love both my therapist and my doctor. My doctor is generally straight up, and likes to prescribe medicine as the last resort or if she thinks it's the only option. We had the initial appointment about medication and discussed what kinds there are, their side effects, and how it would work if I started taking them. Then the second one was where we decided and discussed exactly which one I would take and when, and now on Friday I have my appointment to actually get the prescription. (I had strep throat and she wanted me to be finished with the antibiotics and see how I was feeling before prescribing anything)
The only thing that now worries me, is she did mention something you mentioned. She said we'd start off with a low dose, and up it in a few weeks if it wasn't working. Now, she could mean try and up it once and then move onto another medication, because she didn't say anything about the side effects affecting my dosage, really. She seems like she will be 100% open to my input (she often asks me what I think is best, after making sure I understand what's going on. Sometimes she'll say you need to do such and such, but she does often look for my input).
Hoping I don't have to be too assertive though. I'll be the first to admit, I am terrible at it. TERRIBLE. I will if I have to, but I HATE it. My anxiety goes through the roof, I get sick to my stomach, and I often get very forgetful haha.

 

[Abigail7]

Are you working with a psychiatrist to prescribe your meds? If not I highly suggest it as a GP knows only the very basics about psychiatric meds. A GP has less knowledge about what meds may be right for you (beyond antidepressants) and most will refer you out if you want to consider anxiety meds, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, etc.

 

[The Albatross]

Yeah, feeling better seldom happens... but having a name and knowing you're not crazy can help. Agree with Anthony about the meds... though you will receive a variety of responses.

 

[anthony]

She said we'd start off with a low dose, and up it in a few weeks if it wasn't working. Now, she could mean try and up it once and then move onto another medication, because she didn't say anything about the side effects affecting my dosage, really. She seems like she will be 100% open to my input

Don't panic about what I said as being a negative -- focus on the effect upon you. Some medications start at a low dose, then they increase them. The idea of a low dose is to work your body towards tolerance. The problem is that if you begin having significant side effects at the initial low dose, increasing the dose isn't going to make things better. Like I said, its common that doctors then start prescribing medications to treat side effects, which is just ludicrous.

Trial and error will typically find you the right med for your body, without any side effects or ongoing issues. Doctors can be the problem, is all. If your doctor is super open to your input, then that is most of the issue solved.

My GP is very current and centric to todays approach and use of medication -- compared to older doctors who just throw the stuff at you. It really is a generational thing now, and new doctors understand and are being educated to the bullshit of pharmaceuticals, their true uses, effective uses, right time to prescribe them and when not to. Medication is being handled much better by the newer generation of doctors IMO, based on what I'm seeing and experiencing in my own life.

 

[candletea19]

Don't panic about what I said as being a negative -- focus on the effect upon you. Some medications start a...

Yes, I agree, newer doctors seem to be more understanding that everything isn't supposed to be medication thrown at you. My doctor is probably in her 40s or 50s, so not "old", but has been in the business a fair while, so I'm very surprised at her laid-back, medication-last sort of disposition, compared to some of the stories I've heard of other doctors in the area who will try anything to get you medication. Where I live, though, a lot of medications are monitored very strictly by whichever part oversees what doctors do (I forget what it's called right now haha), and my doctor has that sort of stance anyway. I'm really hoping I'm not surprised by her trying to prescribe other medications to try to deal with the side effects. I will definitely stand my ground then. But maybe she won't do that. Fingers crossed, eh? haha.

I really hope I am lucky and find a decent medication for me fairly soon. I'm so tired of feeling like I do every day, and until that kicks in, I won't be able to tackle a lot of what my psychologist wants me to try in order to try and improve my symptoms.