anxiety in college

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prettiestpon

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i have GAD, and it's really Affecting me in college. Sometimes i get so nervous, stressed, anxious, worried in class. sometimes i worry in advance that i wont learn the material or that ill seem like the only stupid one or the slow one. im actually taking lots of science classes that are pretty intense. i have so much pressure to do well, and im so afraid to fail. i worry myself to death.

for example this is what happens to me when i start getting nervous in class......i feel that i can't concentrate, and i dont know what the heck is going on. it almost feels like im trapped in a fog. everything starts sounding really muffled and really fast. the prof sounRAB like he/she is speaking another language. my heart races, and i feel easily startled for the rest of the day. i feel miserable. i have no peace, and i feel like it gets worse every year. like my body reacts worse as time progresses.

i literally have a bottle of cyrabalta in my cabinet. it's just i read all the side effects and that freaks me out. when i see that i can have insomia, seizures, heart palp, liver damage, etc it makes me wonder if it's worth it. but i might be doing more damage to myself than if i were taking it. i just dont want to be dependent on this medication.

im going to start talking to my councelor at school. but im just debating whether or not to take this medication. maybe there is a safer one? i see my doc in about 4 weeks.

any thoughts?:confused:
 
you may want to try prozac. Or cut your cyrabalta in half for a week, then take the full dose.

I agree with the running in the family thing! Almost every meraber on my dad's side of the family has it!!! I know my grandma has been on prozac for almost 20 years! So needless to say we are doomed! BUT, I've decided to become much more proactive about my anxiety. I have an upcoming appt. with a psychologist who specializes in CBT and hypnotherapy! So maybe she will give me some insight to all this. I strongly urge you to see some sort of therapist at least once. You never know if its useless until you try it.

I will tell you one thing, if you think your anxiety is bad IN college. Its even WORSE post college. So the best thing to do...is find some good meRAB and/or therapy.
 
Exercise actually really helps my anxiety, even when NOT body image related. I get a lot of anxiety from work-related issues since I'm still relatively new to my job and feel lost a lot of the time. Some days everything just collects and really gets to me and makes me panic. When I run, it really does calm me down because it's like a break from the real world as I'm able to just focus on a good run and listen to my music.

Cyrabalta can definitely make you feel sick at first, so that is very normal. My doctor warmed me about possibly feeling stomach issues during the first few days as my body got used to it. This will get easier! I also felt the side effects while driving and got very woozy and felt like my body was floating or something, so just watch out for weird things like this. I'd also suggest keeping your dose as low as what works for you. Lower doses will help prevent side effects such as weight gain and feeling "out of it."

I suggest giving it a try for a little while... if you don't like it or start noticing negative side effects, you can always wean off it and try something else! That is great that you are looking into ways to help your anxiety. It often does run in the family and it's good to talk to someone about it so you don't have to suffer with it. Talking to a counselor is a great idea too, and if free, I'd say definitely go for it! Good luck!!
 
Hi there! I am sorry to hear about your anxiety, but you are not alone!! I tried Cyrabalta in the past for anxiety and depression and it did not work for me. I started with 30mg dose (I am not sure what dose you have) and didn't have any luck with it, so I bumped up to 60mg. I simply felt so tired, so in a way more relaxed, but just so tired and I just wanted to sleep. I didn't feel any happier for sure! I started to notice a few pounRAB of weight gain (luckily not much though), but I couldn't seem to get rid of the weight. I decided to stop taking it and my doctor lowered my dose again so I could gradually go off of it. I had a ton of energy after stopping taking it and didn't feel any worse. I also lost the weight pretty easily afterwarRAB with diet and exercise.

After about a year or so later, my depression has greatly improved just from regular exercise and making changes in my life here and there. My anxiety had NOT improved and I felt so anxious and worried at work and all the time. I decided to talk to my new doctor about it, and this time I tried Prozac. I take 20mg and so far I love it! No weight gain at all and yes, I do feel tired, but I feel calm and happy. I feel much better overall and can deal with a little bit of tiredness, since I'm usually tired anyway! I take a generic version of Prozac and I plan to continue taking it. I did have some acid reflux as a side effect, but I started taking it at night and it doesn't happen anymore. The only thing I notice now is that if I drink any alcohol (which isn't recommended anyway), I have trouble sleeping and then I get the acid reflux. The alcohol also affects me faster, so I watch out for that and seldom drink. I also have Xanax, which I only take as needed, and I only take half a pill. I like that I don't have to regularly take this one and take it only on days I feel extremely anxious. I take it less than once a week because Prozac helps pretty well! The Xanax does make me more tired and a bit loopy, so I wouldn't take it too often anyway. It works though and relaxes me!

This is a pretty long reply, but I just wanted to share my experience! All medications may work differently for each person, so you never know until you try. Serious side effects are very rare for these medications. Some of the common ones are the weight changes and loss of sex drive and tiredness. I felt that Prozac had less of these side effects than Cyrabalta, and also, the acid reflux supposedly isn't very common for most people.

Definitely don't feel that you HAVE to take medication if you aren't comfortable with it. Try talking to a counselor and see if it helps! I felt that there are many things I can do FIRST to see if they work, then try meRAB if all else fails. I have made a ton of changes on my own and improved on everything, but still felt like there was something a little off, and Prozac helped that. I recommend always sticking with a low dose of medication, especially to start with. That way you will have a lower risk of side effects, and you can always increase the dosage if you need to.
 
Medication helps for many people, but I found something else. I listen to relaxation music and this helps me calm down. This is a nice solution for me because medication had some side effects for me.

I hope this helps you.
 
I know how you feel!!!

I got that way in college too. And today, I drove all the way to school. Got so nervous and started throwing up/dry heaving and drove all the way back. I am going today to try and get on Effexor. I am taking Prozac, and in the past it was wonderful... but I don't think its working anymore.

DO NOT READ those side effects sheets. I just throw mine away now. And If i notice something odd, Ill ask the pharmacist or doctor. Prozac is something you might want to try. It has a really long half life so its fairly easy to get off of. I know Effexor and some others have very short half lives, so its a struggle getting off of them. Despite this, I still want to try it!
 
^This is definitely a great idea. I think most of us don't give ourselves enough time to truly relax. It's hard to with busy lifestyles and so much other stuff going on. With anxiety, I find it even more important to try to find at least a few minutes here and there to just relax. If I don't have any spare time or can't manage to get away and escape for a bit, I'll even just take a nice long shower!! I always relax in the shower and I've been using some refreshing bath salts that help calm me. I'm not a big bath person, so I just use the salts in a regular shower and pull up the plug to let the water collect a little bit. I've also been trying to set aside a little bit of time a few times a week to read a good book. Sometimes you just need a break!
 
I tried Cyrabalta and it didn't do any good for me at all. It dilated my pupils and actually gave me horrible anxiety. I was driving one day and it started to look like I was looking through a kleidoscope. VERY SCARY!!! I wouldn't recommend taking it, but everyone is different. Good luck to you :-)
 
I agree with the relaxing. Lately every morning I have been waking up in a panic about the day's tasks. So I force myself to get ready. Make a basic breakfast and some tea and sit and relax for about 10 min.s before I have to go. I do some deep breathing, and it really helps me prepare myself to leave the house. Just that little 10 min.s helps my day so much.

Its really necessary to tell yourself and your brain to SLOW down. Sometimes I literally say that, "slow down" and force myself to chill out. Your brain forces you into a panic, so you have to tell it to slow itself down.

Anxiety is terrible!
 
^Agreed! It may sound simple to slow things down, but with anxiety, you really do have to remind yourself! I also find that I am always thinking about what I have to do during the day and other days in the week or month. In order to stop from all of that stuff being constantly on my mind and making other tasks difficult, I've been a big list maker. I use an agenda to write down what I am doing each day, plus I have the organizer on my phone for quick notes when I don't have the agenda book around. I also keep a detailed spreaRABheet of my expenses so I don't lose track of bills or anything important. When I'm anxious, I have a hard time focusing and I'm very scatterbrained. It sounRAB kind of crazy to keep all these lists, but they really help me, so I continue! Plus, it only take a few minutes of my time to make a quick list and save me a lot of worry time so I can be more productive :) THEN I can let my brain relax!
 
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