roxyman

In the morning it feels like it is just waiting on me waking up to pounce. It often subsides during the day and into the evening. However this latest theme has been there all day these past few days. I have been on clomipramine again for the past three weeks and I'm hoping it's going to kick in soon, it worked for me for many years but I can't recall how long it took to work. Up to 6-12 weeks according to the data sheet. Really struggling.

Just to add I've read that relaxation might be a form of avoidance. As I'm not getting any therapy, I feel, rightly or wrongly, it's all I can do while waiting for the medication to kick in.

I identify so much with your daily experience StrugglingAgain. I foolishly listened to a new GP who encouraged me to reduce my clomipramine dosage and eventually stopped altogether a few months ago. Big mistake! Around Christmas time the obsessing started up again, moving from one theme to another over the weeks since. I started on the medication again two weeks ago which has helped reduce the anxiety a bit but am still struggling badly. My days seem to go much like yours. The obsession is there waiting for me in the morning, I dread waking up and when I do I feel I can't face another day of it. The thing that helps reduce the distress is when I perform some relaxation exercise which usually calms me down and most days by evening I am more relaxed and feeling that the worst might be over. However then it all begins again next morning. Like you hell is something I fear having been raised in a biblical fundamentalist environment. I thought I had overcome that until this latest round of obsessing. I'm 65 now and had been taking clomipramine since I was 41, I so wish I hadn't listened to that doctor. Now I'm hoping it's not much longer until it kicks in, it seems to be taking longer than before but that might be my bad memory. As usual my latest obsession, which I won't go into, seems like the worst ever and insurmountable and my own fault. I'm just clinging to the fact that I've felt like this before and it has eventually passed. All the best StrugglingAgain, I hope you find relief soon.