[ab-dm]

Do you mind me asking what you were like before?

I’ve had generalised anxiety disorder for ~12 years and have kept it manageable using some of the techniques you’ve described (breathing and meditation being the main two) however this year has brought some challenges that has really ramped it up and is now causing major issues that I’m struggling to manage.

My doctor was happy to prescribe some for me, but I’m scared as hell about starting them. Side affects aside, getting off them sounds like it can be a nightmare.

[coffee_beqn]

My anxiety was “manageable” for most of my life but this year it boiled over. I would get something like panic attacks multiple times a day with a racing heart and was constantly distracted by catastrophic thinking the whole day so I knew I couldn’t manage basic life by myself anymore. I’ve been quite happy with SSRIs but I wouldn’t mind going off them once my life and the world settles down.

Basically I felt like I didn’t have the mental energy to fight with just active methods like meditation and needed some passive baseline help from medication

[tapoxi]

Getting off SSRIs varies from person to person. Typically if you're careful to slowly taper down your dose you shouldn't experience any weird side effects.

I can quit cold-turkey from a high dose without issue, but that seems to be rare.