Are you PG - then you should not be on anxiety meds especially an AD

I thought it was only dangerous in the third trimester. ?

Almost all the research on psychiatric drugs has been on STRUCTURAL TERATOGENESIS which is if the baby is born "Looking" normal. For years we thought mothers drinking alcohol had no effect on the fetus. Once long term studies were conducted we realized fetal alcohol syndrome affected these children for life.

Now that we know that AD's can cause heart conditions in adults there is research going on with pregnancy. These are powerful brain and biologically altering drugs that we know can have long term effects on fully formed adults. This is the case with all psychiatric drugs - It took us years to recognize this and that all the funded research on pregnancy and prescription drugs are being funded by the drug companies leaves great questions.

Once a new anxiety cycle erupts, I think it is very important to take 3-4 days and do absolutely nothing and stay in bed. It is like hitting the "reset" button, so you can start over again. But anything longer than that and it just becomes avoidance, and that is the worst possible thing you can do.

I have been where you are, and I just made myself get out of bed every day, get dressed and put one foot in front of the other no matter how bad I felt. Even if I felt engulfed by terror, I didn't let it stop me. I was afraid of going crazy, passing out, panicking, etc. But I just accepted all those possibilities and never looked back. That his what you have to do.l

I know its incredibly hard, but with anxiety there are only 2 choices. Either you stand up to it and live your life despite it, or you become a victim and decide its much easier to just give up and hide.

I am assuming that you are pregnant? If so, I agree with mystic. I would never in a million years take any kind of anxiety/depression med unless I was suicidal. I see those commercials on TV all the time from the law firms asking if you took such and such med and now your baby has birth defects, then call their office.... that's enough to make me say no. That tells me that at one time their doctor told them a medicine was safe to take while pregnant, and then it turned out they were wrong.

There are not many things I can really say to you that would be of any use or would be calming.

When anxiety gets to that level, it is something.

I have had times where I had to sleep through my anxiety and just lay there to make it not so overwhelming.

I am glad that you have taken a step toward getting better by posting here.

I have to warn you that at first the anxiety can increase when you are working with tools to bring your anxiety under control. If your anxiety is already at a high level, I would take it a little slower. Otherwise, you will want to quit because it will be too painful.

Thanks everyone for the info. And tips.

I agree with Lilygirl and Mystic, you shouldn't be taking anything at all while pregnant! Unless you absolutely 100% have to. Your anxiety can be spiking because of all the hormonal changes going on right now in your body. Also, what Lilygirl said about just getting out and pushing yourself, is the best advice I can give you. Sometimes it is really very hard for me to get up and get out of the house my anxiety gets so bad. But I push myself to get up and get dressed and put my makeup on and go. I always seem more willing to do something when I get dressed and put my makeup on. I feel better about myself. Good luck and you are in the right place for talking to people!