Posted by Sarah S on March 18, 2003, at 15:02:11
Hello all, I'm new to this board and I'd like to thank everyone in advance for any replies I may get.
Anyway, I have anxiety/depression and social phobia. My social phobia used to be extreme--I went through middle school and part of high school completely terrified of people, unable to say more than a few sentences to anyone. I would sweat and tremble at the mere thought of having to interact with people, although I desperately wished that I could have friends and a normal life. I hated myself.
At the end of high school and my first year of college, my SP lessened--I guess I just matured or something--but because I didn't get any sort of treatment it never completely went away, and I remained quiet and lonely.
Due to certain circumstances, I was finally forced to get treatment, and with therapy and Wellbutrin and Ativan I've improved a lot. However, I still have a lot of problems--I can talk to people if they come to my dorm room or whatever (even though I'm still really reserved), but I'm completely unable to initiate social contact. It's like there's an evil inner force preventing me from going to other people's dorm rooms or calling them or reaching out to them in any way. As a result I still have not made a lot of friends, which makes me hate myself and believe that I'm socially dysfunctional, unpleasant, doomed to be alone forever, etc. Because of this I have crying spells and sometimes I still cut myself. I've also developed nausea which makes it hard to eat, and I think this is psychological.
Whew. . .sorry for giving so much background. Here's the question: should I just continue with cognitive therapy and my current medications, and hope that things eventually get better? Or should I take a risk and go off Wellbutrin in order to switch to Nardil? I'm afraid that in the period when I'm off Wellbutrin but the Nardil hasn't kicked in yet, that I will get more depressed, and I don't know what I could do about that. I also don't know if Nardil is only for severe SP or if it would help people like me, who are partially recovered from SP but are still not "normal."
So what do you think? Could Nardil be the answer? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
p.s.I already know about the dietary restrictions and the weight gain and that doesn't bother me.
poster:Sarah S
thread:210421
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030314/msgs/210421.html