Anxiety in sobriety
I am not generally a "thread starter" here, in fact I think it's been well over a year since I started one. I also know there is an anxiety forum here and will probably be spending more time there, but newcomers seems to offer a wealth of all encompassing knowledge.
I am a few months past 2 years sober, and overall things have gone well over that time. I spend a lot of time here, read quite a bit, do daily things to help. The problem that I have that has not gone away is my anxiety. It was REALLY bad towards the end of my drinking, and the first few weeks after I quit, but it really has never gone away. It has definitely improved but It is still a problem. I am starting to realize that it most likely has been here all my life. It manifests itself mostly as health anxiety...sometimes I get very worried that I have some condition or malady which I end up not having, or sometimes as fear when speaking in front of people or driving long distances on my own. Once or twice I cancelled a meeting as I got halfway there and needed to pull over. But for the most part I still function just fine at work and at home, just have this monkey on my back almost every day. I have been checked over for all the physical stuff...BP, heart, ENT/ears, general blood work, etc and all is perfectly normal.
I finally went to see a doctor about it as I was actually feeling off balance and weak-kneed at times when i was very anxious. My GP was not available so I saw another NP and they agreed that most likely I do have some Anxiety and perhaps a bit of Deprssssion and OCD. Their immediate response was to prescribe an SSRI, even with my full disclosure of my alcoholic past. I haven't started yet ( and they know ) but i've also scheduled an appointment with a counseling center tomorrow to get a second opinion and see if there are any possible non-drug therapies that might help.
I guess I'm really just looking to see if anyone else has ever gone that route - therapy vs. drugs for Anxiety/OCD. I am really, really fearful of taking an SSRI as have read countless horror stories of side effects, withdrawals, and so many people saying that they were better off just dealing with the anxiety.
Thanks to all for your help here on SR, it's a fantastic place.