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No Energy...Lots of Anxiety...What should I do?

I've managed to get outside the past couple of afternoons to get a bit of sun and do a little in the garden, which is more than what I was doing. The only troubles are that I generally don't seem to have much energy until towards late-afternoon. Plus i'm drinking a bit more alcohol again lately in late afternoon/night. This probably wont help my meds to work. 8)
 
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Ive been really low and lethargic too recently. I've bought magnesium and serotonin supplements. Also been gardening and eating well. I'll let you know how I go and if it works.
 
Cut the Seroquel down to strictly 25 mg for 1 week, then 12.5 mg for another week, and then go off. It depletes anyone of energy, and isn't a "good" drug by any means. As for the Zoloft, I'd advise cutting the dose down to 150 mg for now. I'd think that alone would make you feel better. Try taking melatonin for sleep even if it doesn't seem effective, just like 3 mg. Take lots of showers and baths, and throw in a cold shower every now and then. It is good for energy and the body aches. Magnesium is good, too, for sleep, body ahces, anxiety. Try to "take it easy", go slow if you need to, do more if you want. Alcohol use is fine, as long as it isn't excessive, in fact for the body aches in particular I would suggest a drink or two, only when quite bad. Use ibuprofen/naproxen/aspirin as well for the aches. Perhaps try yoga, very good for stress and tension. Just a few ideas, here, but really get off that Seroquel. If all of this is employed, the anxiety should fade, though it could be rather slowly, and a sense of well-being should be restored.
 
^ Thanks for all the help m8! You've really got me thinking about cutting the seroquel now, and I think I might. I have had 25mg nightly for pretty much the past week so I'll update on how it goes cutting it down by half first. I actually did mention to someone the other day that I was questioning the seroquel, and had actually heard and read some negative stuff about it. I've been a bit too worried to get off it in case it affects my mood, but luckily it is pretty much the lowest dose I could be on, and mood wise I probably don't have much to lose at the moment anyway.

I have a doctors appointment in about 3 weeks time. Wonder how he will react to asking about a different medication? Spose it will be all good if I go about it the right way. I used to be great at that lol.

I've been taking the magnesium for a few days now. I'll try cutting the seroquel next, then think about the sertraline again a bit later on. Thanks again!

Hardcoreprawn said:
Ive been really low and lethargic too recently. I've bought magnesium and serotonin supplements. Also been gardening and eating well. I'll let you know how I go and if it works.
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Hey, good luck and let me know how ya go darl! May I ask which serotonin supplements you purchased?
 
Try some breathing techniques. Google pranayama for more info. It's helped me with anxiety and general mood.
 
Well, after 2-3 weeks off Diazepam, this afternoon I managed to acquire a prescription off my doc 8) Despite using my afternoon to acquire 14 2mg valium pills, I now feel a lot better ... for now 8)
 
^Good, just 12.5 mg? What's the deal with the Valium? You now have 14 2mg tabs?
 
^ Yeah just ignore the valium bit 8) But nah I took 16mg diazepam (about half late in the arvo and the other half later at night). I slept quite good like usual (due to the diazepam), although it did take me longer to get to sleep. Will be interested to see how my energy feels in a little while since cutting back to 12.5mg seroquel.
 
I know from experience that this isn't usually a long term fix, but it's just amazing the difference in me having 28mg diazepam over 3 days. My anxiety levels have dropped dramatically, energy levels have increased heaps, appetite has gone back up near how it should be, depression has slightly decreased, etc. This is why I wish doctors would prescribe anti-anxiety meds to people with anxiety disorders who really need it more often. As opposed to just chucking them on whatever anti-depressant and anti-psychotic meds go close to helping them (like with myself). I know in myself 110% that the root of all my mental illness is caused by anxiety, and just know that my doctor will cut me off diazepam all together sometime soon.
 
^ Yeah if I can manage to keep myself on a low steady dose it would be great I reckon. That is if the doctor let me stay on it, which I doubt. But I could never let myself go back to 100-150mg diazepam daily again. 8(

Have spent some time on the exercise bike and lifting some weights today :)
 
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fivelinefury said:
^ Yup, I tapered off it for a while. Was addicted and abused it day and night for about 5 years 8(
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With that much use, you're likely experiencing PAWS - this thread may be helpful as well as further researching ways to manage the PAWS symptoms.

If you have persistent anxiety, you need to find a more sustainable way to manage it as well as address the root cause. Pharmaceutical interventions really only help in the short term and especially with benzodiazepines, likely will make your situation considerably worse in the long term.

Personally I'm a huge proponent of CBT for managing anxiety but there are other options out there as well. Your best bet is to work with a trained mental health care professional who can guide your progress here but if that's unaffordable or otherwise difficult/impossible to pursue, just picking up some CBT workbooks, reading websites, etc. can be very beneficial.

FF had some excellent advice as well - starting and maintaining healthy routines with diet, exercise and sleep hygiene alone will go a long way.
 
^ Hey, thanks for the link, I shall have a read later on. Yeah at least I know I have always had anxiety problems since from a very young age, so that way i've always known that I haven't brought it all on myself from drug abuse. But I know I haven't made my mental health any better for the long term, as you mentioned above. I have actually done a few sessions of CBT probably about 4-5 months ago now. I can see how it can be of great help to people, but at the time CBT all seemed too self explanatory information for me. But I have thought of trying it again one day, since I was using much more meds 4-5 months ago. I think if I need to remain on benzos and other meds for a period of time, I just want to find a proper balance and use a lot more other methods like mentioned above, which I never really used to. Thanks for the advice !
 
You can't receive the benefits of CBT in a few sessions so I wouldn't use your past experience whatsoever to inform future treatment decisions.

CBT works BECAUSE it's so simple or self-explanatory. The fact that you've had anxiety for so long is actually evidence that you have brought it on yourself (not intentionally of course) through reinforcing the thought processes over and over again that produce your anxiety. You begin to expect such and inadvertently feed into it. The way you break this pattern is through perpetual effort to change your thought processes by first recognizing the problematic aspects of what you tell yourself and changing your beliefs and expectations. It seems too simple but in fact it does require a lot of work. In turn, the payoff of substantially mitigating your anxiety without requiring medication that can have tremendously detrimental effects down the road is beyond worth it.
 
^ Haha, hey welcome to Bluelight existentialcrisis! Always great to see new posters!

Thanks for you help Cane2theLeft and for everyone elses help and support and ideas. Very much appreciated.

I am slowly starting to increase the amount of exercises such as sit ups (my back gets sore if I do too much, but it does it good stretching it also, and I want my abs back again! lol). Have started some dumbbell weight exercises again too. Currently something like 6.5 or 7.5kgs per weight I think. 15 sit ups and 30 arm weights done twice this afternoon :) Looking forward to gradually increasing.
 
I've been taking GABA daily for a few months and I have found that it really does help my anxiety. Doesn't help with the whole energy thing BUT not having the anxiety quite as much is pretty nice. Although I have found that if you use MDMA at all, there might be some sort of tolerance issue if you use GABA, but still not sure about that. But yeah, GABA is working great for me. If I don't take it for like 3 - 4 days, I notice myself getting a lot more anxious, nervous, etc.
 
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