1 Year on Anxiety Medication

I’ve written about the first six months on anxiety medication but it’s now been over a year so I felt compelled to write an update. With SSRIs it is possible things can change and the medication might end up working differently to how it did earlier on. I am pleased to say, however, that this is not the case!

I started taking my medication in December 2016. I take 50mg of Sertraline, an SSRI, to treat Generalised Anxiety Disorder. Within the first few days of taking the medication I experienced side effects including terrible nausea, fatigue, disorientation and was generally spaced out and zombie-like. Those symptoms disappeared within about five days, thankfully, and I have not experienced any adverse effects since.

Overall, things have been far better for me. Looking back on 2017, it’s been a year where I’ve achieved so much more than I had in previous years. In fact, I actually felt compelled to write a post on my blog expressing my pride in terms of all the progress I’d made in the year. I definitely feel like the medication has helped me to make this progress as it has significantly decreased the anxiety which otherwise limited me.

I got a pretty decent summer job which paid well and provided me with a lot of valuable experiences (which is a pretty big thing for me given the difficulties I’d had finding a job in the past). I now drive to university. It’s about 40 minutes away, so it’s a fairly long drive- it’s huge progress as I was pretty terrified of driving and after passing my test I would avoid driving where possible.

Generally university work has been easier for me than it was when I wasn’t taking the medication. Recently I did have a whole load of deadlines at the same time. I found it incredibly stressful, to the point where I felt physically exhausted, headache-y and nauseous. I suspect the anxiety might have influenced this to an extent, though four 2,500 word essays all due at the same time would cause anyone some serious stress I’m sure, so I’d say the medication is still helping me manage my work. Who knows how much worse it would have been if I hadn’t been taking it?

I’m hoping to stop taking my medication in the summer as I’m apprehensive about the long term consequences. I’m nervous about the withdrawal symptoms but hopefully if it’s gradually reduced it won’t be too unpleasant! I’m also apprehensive as to how I’ll be once off the medication, especially as to whether I go back to facing increased anxiety once I’ve stopped it and what effect this might have on the way I live my life.