Stress Center Peer Support

I've been through the program and been on Cymbalta for a year or more now... things have been so great until recently. Over the past few weeks I have been getting really anxious and experiencing all the old body symptoms... palpatations, racing heart, digestive issues, pains in my chest, etc.

Right now it's all I can do to keep myself from going to the doctor. The only thing really upsetting me about it is why did it all come back? I quit taking my birth control pill... could that really make this much of a difference? With the way I'm feeling right now I am struggling to convince myself I'm not having a heart attack.

Any advice?

Sandina

Two things I can think of:

1) We get stressed out over the holidays and that may bring on symtoms--not enough rest, trying to do too much for other people, etc.

2)Call you doctor and talk to his nurse. Ask her if stopping the birth control pill can affect your Cymbalta dosage. I am menopausal, so don't have that issue, but have read many women on this board say that hormonal changes do affect their anxiety symptoms. My sister is on Cymbalta and I know the doctor has changed her dosage at times.

Sandina...Samcat's advice seems good to me. I would just add that personally, I have been through the program several times, (once with a coach), and I have not experienced a "miracle cure". For me, it is an ongoing process, and I have to work at this program consistently, or I find that the old thought patterns and behaviours creep back in, and then it seems that "out of the blue", I feel very anxious and esp. depressed. But it's really not out of the blue at all! I have just not been doing all the things that we are taught to do with this program. I still have the hardest time with negative thoughts...they seem to just BE there all the time. And I get lazy, and don't counteract them. So don't be too hard on yourself, and just keep doing what you know works!