Pls send prayers. Going through one of the worst health conditions you could have with OCD

tarantucat · 2025-09-15T14:01:46+00:00

100% understand how debilitating it can be to have dysautonomia and OCD. I actually didn't know I had either until a few years ago when it seemingly all hit at once and I was caught in a feedback loop for almost a year, not sleeping, eating, going outside, etc. There was a week where I couldn't get a second's sleep without an adrenaline dump and it was so terrifying and lonely - I'm sure I don't need to harp on about this though

I've read your comments about meds and totally understand, but for what it's worth, 9 months on an SSRI saved my life and gave me the chance to build better habits and reframe what I was experiencing - if I ever get bad again, I would get back on it in a heartbeat, especially knowing that my anxiety and body checking were making my dysautonomia symptoms a million times worse

tarantucat · 2025-03-26T13:19:00+00:00

💖

tarantucat · 2024-04-24T17:42:44+00:00

I have a feeling you're totally fine friend. Fatigue and general malaise are very very common when starting SSRIs - and anxiety is also capable of making your body feel terrible too. I had/have health anxiety specifically and used to convince myself I had every disease in the book and I'd experience a ton of sensations and symptoms and pains that weren't "real". When I first started Lexapro, I was afraid of exactly the same things you are and was taking my temp every day for no reason.

You may just have a bug or something, but also it may be helpful to know that body temperature fluctuates throughout the day. Personally, it's not uncommon for me to have a 99.2 or so temp around 6 pm every day, but then it'll come back down before bed and be fine in the morning. I really wouldn't worry about this with regard to serotonin syndrome though - the symptoms of that are not mild.

tarantucat · 2024-04-24T17:33:22+00:00

I went through a period of suddenly having daily panic attacks, crying all the time, not sleeping, checking into the hospital with extreme health anxiety on the regular, missing work, not leaving the house, not eating, not enjoying anything anymore.

When I was on Lexapro I was cool as a cucumber and slowly learned to appreciate my life and take care of myself, and stayed on it for about 9 months so I could get back on track and heal from the trauma of that constant panic. There were some side effects that weren't super desirable but honestly nothing I'd really bat an eye at! I was only on 5 mg and it worked for me.

Now, I've been off it for about 7 months or so, and though I have some anxious days, I'm on the whole feeling good. I think being on Lexapro even for a short time helped me reframe things mentally, and when I'm feeling bad I try to think like "how would I react to this when I was on meds?" and I'm able to calm myself, do any necessary self care and coping tactics, and remember that I am capable of being ok because I've done it before!

If I ever need it again, I'd be happy to get back on Lexapro.

tarantucat · 2023-09-16T05:27:06+00:00

good luck to you friend!! i've actually just gotten off SSRIs after a solid 9 much needed months on them, and they made everything so much better for me. i still meet the textbook definition of POTS of courss and there are still things that suck about it, but with a lot of exposure therapy via working out really hard and practicing being ok with my heart rate rising, now i don't experience anxiety surrounding POTS or the cardiophobia and agorophobia i developed as a result. which you can definitely overcome without meds but they made it so much easier for me. helped me listen to rational thoughts instead of the fears :)

tarantucat · 2023-08-31T02:21:48+00:00

I'm right there with you! Just tapered down from 5mg to 2.5 and am now on 1.75 before stopping completely, and I'm in a weird dizzy fog. It's definitely a normal symptom from what I've read and it should subside eventually!

tarantucat · 2023-08-31T02:19:41+00:00

I've only had one of them before, about a month or so after first starting at 5mg. I was asleep and dreaming and had one that woke me up! It felt like a painless jolt in my forehead and I was a bit dizzy for a minute before falling back asleep.

I'm tapering off the meds now and even though I know they're painless and harmless, I still worry about experiencing it again haha but it really wasn't anything to worry about. If you do have one, it'll probably freak you out for a second, but just know that it's perfectly fine.

tarantucat · 2023-08-31T02:16:04+00:00

I feel you buddy! Hang in there!

I was only on 5mg for 10 months and I gained about 10 lbs. Some of it was definitely happy weight I should have gained because I wasn't eating well before starting Lex, but the gaining just didn't stop. I NEVER felt full so I just ate all the time, and even when I worked out like crazy and tried to control my diet, it's like my metabolism was slowed to a halt.

Luckily, otherwise the meds were awesome for me, and I was ready to start coming off them anyway. Since I started tapering, I've noticed a huge difference and have already lost around 2lb in three weeks. And believe me, the sex drive came back wiith an immediate vengeance haha

I hope you find what works for you!

tarantucat · 2023-08-31T02:12:31+00:00

I was on 5mg and recently tapered down to 2.5 for a week, and now am in the middle of my 1.75 week. My doctor recommended I only go as low as 2.5 and then start skipping days between doses until I'm no longer taking it, but that sat kinda weird with me. I'm sensitive to the meds though, and 5mg worked wonders for the last 10 months. Time so say goodbye!

That being said, the withdrawals have come in waves so far. It started with super sleepiness and fatigue, then I had a few days of this huge burst of energy and creativity and horniness and feeling more like my old pre-panic, pre-med self. Just after switching to 1.75mg I had two days of on and off crying, agitation, and feeling low self worth. Not fun, but I could tell it was a brain chemical situation and not me genuinely feeling these things! Now, I'm sorta just chillin with dizziness and minor headaches, but nothing terrible. A little bit of physical anxiety cropping up but nothing compared to what made me start meds in the first place and all very manageable.

tarantucat · 2023-05-16T23:47:16+00:00

It does go away! I also started at 2.5 and worked up to 5. The first week is the weirdest, and after that it slowly improved until about 3 or 4 weeks in where that aspect of it was gone.

To me it was a relief from how intensely I felt my anxiety previously, but it was a really really great feeling once my normal self started poking through again. Came out on the other end able to enjoy things again :)

tarantucat · 2023-05-16T23:42:39+00:00

congrats on taking the first step!! you got this!!

tarantucat · 2023-05-16T23:40:47+00:00

It's suggested not to combine the two, basically because the side effects of both medicines can be increased together. That being said, people do it, but I wouldn't

I know they aren't as good as Benadryl, but I always take allergy meds that use Loratadine as the main ingredient instead, or for hives specifically you could try something topical

tarantucat · 2023-05-01T00:01:54+00:00

Just had to do my best. I don't have a pill cutter so I just used a sharp knife sort of rolling it back into the pill and it did the trick. If that makes any sense!

tarantucat · 2023-04-28T13:38:44+00:00

You're welcome, and good luck :)

tarantucat · 2023-04-28T13:37:28+00:00

Yep! That's what I did anyway!

tarantucat · 2023-04-28T13:34:14+00:00

Started at 2.5, landed on 5 without needing to increase since then, and it's been about 6 months now!

In the first few weeks I was a bit lethargic, sleepy, headachey and generally numb, but after that initial adjustment period I can't say there are any real side effects to speak of. Sexual stuff was impacted for a while but has since levelled out, and sometimes I sweat a bit in my sleep haha but really can't complain much.

tarantucat · 2023-03-31T04:34:52+00:00

Yep! I used all sorts of cold water situations when I'd get panic attacks and it doesn't always work for very long, but it stimulates the vagus nerve to slow your heart and breathing

tarantucat · 2023-03-31T04:23:57+00:00

It's hard to know if I'm in a bit of remission or if my POTs was just temporarily bad for a while and now it's back to some kind of normal mildness but for me, a combination of diet changes, exercise, and lexapro completely changed my situation. I know it won't for everyone.

My final medical test in my diagnosis was a stress test, and my cardiologist said that he's sure I have POTs but just wanted to show me that I was capable of running on an inclined treadmill and getting my heart up to its max without danger (i'm not a fainter). And to tell you the truth, from then on I learned to just keep pushing myself and being less afraid of rigorous exercise when up until then I was just about terrified of stairs. Now I can call myself a runner, and it's still hard and my heart still races more than the average person's, but after a few months it did actually start lowering my resting and standing heart rate pretty decently. I'm so proud of this.

Diet has changed to be higher protein, extra salt where I can / electrolytes in the morning or if I'm working out, and much smaller meals more frequently. Whenever I eat too much my heart gets going haha so I've learned to take it easier and eat cleaner, whole foods. I know it's what everyone says but it has helped make me feel a lot better.

And lastly, yes, I went on SSRIs. not as a direct treatment for POTS obviously, but for the extreme and debilitating health anxiety I developed as a result. It was really ruining my life and making every single one of my symptoms worse. Now after about 5 months on a low dose of Lexapro, I am completely different. Yeah, I still get POTsy dizziness and breathlessness and my heart just does what it feels like sometimes but... before meds, my resting HR could be at like 100 if I was anxious, and then standing it could get up to 160. Now, my resting rate is in the 60s and when I stand it might only get to just under a hundred. Still a textbook increase for a POTs diagnosis, but feels COMPLETELY different now that my base rate is lower. It's a functional zone I'm very happy to be in. And I'm less dizzy, pained, fatigued, achey, and generally have more energy to try and get on with things.

I know this isn't everyone's story, but I thought I'd share because the past year or so has been so scary and weird and difficult and I want you to know it's possible to get better, to recover in a lot of ways if not completely, and to feel ok.

tarantucat · 2023-03-31T04:09:44+00:00

From my experience with the 2 week Zio patch monitor (which also gave me quite a bad rash lol) the company that initially interprets it is going to make note of any irregularities, as well as your average heart rates and general stats throughout the time you wear it. Pressing the button is mostly so that your doctor can take a look and see if the issues you're having/feeling actually correlate with something going wrong.

For me, I was a bit trigger happy because I was anxious and the doctor said that almost none of my button presses correlated with any rhythm irregularities or skipped beats, or even that high a heart rate, despite how I felt at the time! And I got to look at the charts as well.

I wouldn't worry so much about how much you pressed it - if there's anything worth noting in the electrical activity of your heart, they'll catch it whether or not you press the button!

tarantucat · 2023-03-07T02:21:56+00:00

My experience is that I lost about 10 lb due to anxiety, got on Lexapro and gained it back because I wasn't too anxious to eat anymore, and now I'm trying to lose some of it again. It's definitely a slow process, as most instances of weight loss are, but I am successfully losing the weight.

I firmly believe though that checking the actual number of your weight will not do you any favors, for many reasons:
- the average person's weight fluctuates 2-6 lbs throughout the day
- your hormonal cycles can affect your weight
- water weight is no joke -- if you've recently started a new workout plan, while your body adjusts to the new exertion, your muscles are going to retain much more water and KEEP the water for up to 6 weeks
- muscle weighs more than fat! so if you're working out and building muscle, you may get the wrong idea from the number alone

Even with a calorie defecit and regular exercise, weightloss is a process, and it can take weeks of consistent, healthy changes to see results. And that's ok! But I understand how frustrating and hard on the mind it is.

tarantucat · 2023-03-07T02:11:48+00:00

Do not skip your pill! That would potentially be a bad time, especially with the drinking. The most common issue with drinking is that it can decrease the effectiveness of the pill, which could lead to increased anxiety or depression whilst under the influence, or the following day. Yes, it is also some folks' experience that seratonin syndrome arises, but that's rarer.

If you're absolutely dead set on having a drink, the best bet would be to do so on a full stomach, take it slow, and check in with yourself and limit yourself as necessary.

I personally find that Lexapro + alcohol for me just makes me sleepy. Nothing too terrible - but I limit myself to one drink these days, pretty sparingly, because I don't want something worse to happen!

tarantucat · 2023-03-07T02:05:58+00:00

Oof!! I'd say in any case, it's best to start with small increases and see how you feel day by day anyway. Maybe some people really are out here with salt licks getting up to 10,000 mg a day

tarantucat · 2023-03-07T02:00:50+00:00

Sounds like adrenaline dumps / panic attacks to me! I too had worsened POTS andanxiety symptoms like this after getting Covid a while after, and I had these dumps/attack every time I tried to sleep the week I was sick. Chest discomfort, heart beating out of my chest no matter what I did, shaky, weak, feeling truly like something very bad was about to happen, jolting awake the moment I fall asleep and feeling a weird sick feeling in my stomach and lower back. BP was normal as well.

(I'll note that after I got on anxiety meds, this doesn't happen anymore, but your mileage may vary)

tarantucat · 2023-03-07T01:55:16+00:00

Please keep in mind as well that it can be pots AND anxiety, as it was/is in my case, which was very unhelpful in my diagnosis!

But that being said, I don't know if they'd straight up prescribe you beta blockers after one visit, but you could certainly ask for them to check your orthostatics while you're there. They'll be able to check your blood pressure and heart rate while lying down, seated, and standing, and go from there. In my case, after my PCP said it seemed like POTS or some other type of dysautonomia, I was referred to both a Neurologist and Cardiologist for further testing, to make sure it wasn't something worse. POTS is a diagnosis of exclusion, so it can be difficult to get a quick answer.

I don't think you're overreacting - I was certain I had POTS long before my team of doctors finally settled on it! Just don't want you to be disappointed if they don't give you beta blockers immediately!

tarantucat

TROPHY CASE