Overcoming Agoraphobia

Tonight was the 7th night of taking a quarter of a sertraline tablet; I have one more quarter left and then it's up to half a tablet - 25mg. I'm anxious about the increase. I've been extremely anxious the last week although I doubt I'm even taking enough of the sertraline for that to be the cause. I've hardly left my bedroom, hardly eating and feeling dizzy and off balance quite a lot. Surprisingly though, my sleeping has been great - I've been sleeping between 8 & 10 hours a night - very unlike me! On Tuesday I had the doctors so I had to leave the house for that. It was horrible. I had a long wait in the waiting room, it was absolutely boiling and I thought I was going to faint. I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for it. The doctor was great with me though and I left with a prescription for diazepam (valium).

I never in a million years thought I would ever touch valium for my anxiety; it was a route I just didn't want to go down but due to the anxiety I've been experiencing this week I had to take it to stop me losing it completely. I only take 2mg but I'm allowed to take 4mg 3 times a day. So I'm not relying on it too heavily and I haven't taken any in the last 2 days. I was terrified of meds like valium and I've surprised myself with taking it. I still have stupid 'what if?...' thoughts when I take it though but it's getting easier and I like the relief it brings. I imagine that I'll need it for every increase of the sertraline though. Even if the meds don't make me anxious - I know that I will - it's nice knowing that I have something that will take it away within 20 minutes.