Hey everyone!

Hopefully not too preemptive here, but I wanted to give a little update.

I’m now on Week 4 of my 75mg dose and it is working GREAT! I’d been on 50mg for about six months and it worked okay but I had a massive anxiety flare up a month ago, and went straight to 75mg that day.

My initial side effects were manageable:

•Heavily decreased appetite (regained to normal)

•Night sweats (only for a few days, no longer)

•Waking up early (about 1-2weeks of waking at 7/8am on the dot; now back to normal)

•Decreased libido (definitely back to normal!)

After about three weeks, I really noticed a difference. My anxiety wasn’t consuming me, before it was 24/7 constant anxiety or thinking/ruminating about anxiety. Now? I can spend hours without even giving it a glancing thought, and when they do come up, I can diffuse them so easily! I’m hoping 75mg can be my dose long-term but we’ll see.

But what else helped my anxiety?

•BIGGEST ONE: Acceptance. I absolutely cannot stress this enough. Accepting anxiety is the absolute best way to deal with it; I highly recommend nothingworks.weebly.com (this has been my saviour!), alongside The Anxious Truth and Disordered podcasts, as well as their inspiration: Claire Weekes.

•SECOND BIGGEST: Living life as normal! The resources above recommend ‘do what non-anxious you would do’. I went to work, saw friends, played music with my friend, had dates, cooked meals, and exercised. This tells your mind that your are safe and okay (because you are! no matter how hard your anxiety is trying to say that you’re not).

•Maintaining a decent diet, even when feeling no appetite or nausea.

•Vitamins, especially important as the days get shorter and darker (B12, Iron, D3, Magnesium)

•Healthy sleep schedule!

•Therapy!

Thanks all :) even just three weeks ago, I felt utterly hopeless and terrified. I never thought I would feel better, yet here I am!