Anxiety making my brain slow?

[Bobo Daggit]

Hi everyone, so about a year ago I fell into a really awful bout of depression, went through months of trying different medications, seeing a therapist, trying really hard to just stay afloat. More recently, after a short hospital visit, I went to a treatment program a few states over. I started a new medication which seems to be helping with depression (Pristiq), but lately have found that underneath the depression there seems to be a pretty significant anxious streak. I had never really thought of myself as an anxious person, just depressed, so it's been surprising, not to mention a little discouraging, to unearth what seems like yet another piece to the never-ending puzzle of my mental fuckery. I've started trying somatic experiencing and am also trying to be more mindful and take time to meditate so I'm hoping that helps. My question is, does anybody else ever feel like their anxiety has just worn down their brain? Over the past few weeks I've been feeling pretty slow and sluggish mentally, sometimes struggling to find words even. It's pretty infuriating and kind of scary to be honest. I freak out worrying that maybe my brain is broken now and this is how I'm going to live my life, fumbling to make conversations and getting wrapped up in weird loops of thinking when I should be concentrating elsewhere.
Thanks!

[snoringdog]

Hello Ben,

Yes, anxiety & rumination are exhausting! Anxiety sometimes makes my hands shake a bit, and definitely causes physical symptoms. Not all mental, and it does burn energy...

And anxiety and depression most often go together. ....
(Look to the future - produces anxiety. Look to the past - can produce depression)

As far as being sluggish - Check with your doctor or pharmacist. These drugs are powerful substances, and not always finely tuned. Easy to forget that!

Maybe you could make a few daily notes on changes or things you notice about yourself, especially when changing or starting meds.

Wishing you well!

[Bobo Daggit]

Thanks snoringdog! I will definitely check into it with my doctor.

[snoringdog]

When I started Prozac I definitely felt spaced out at first.

Later noticed that I was emotionally numbed. Didn't feel like crying as much anymore, but didn't feel much of anything else either.....

Adjusted to dosage down, and that problem diminished.

[brownblob]

I agree with SnoringDog I'd suspect the med first. I can relate to the part about not realizing you had anxiety. The depression was so bad, that I just focused on that and didn't realize there were other parts to what was going on. I never realized I had it and quite honestly never even understood what anxiety was. It was just in recent years that I read up on it and realized of course I have it.

[Bobo Daggit]

Yeah I've definitely wondered if it is the meds. I've had some experience with a couple like abilify that absolutely felt like it was slowing me down. I've been trying to go a little easier on myself personally, trying to recognize that the past nine months since the start of this serious depressive cycle has been exhausting. I can absolutely relate to the numb sensation, both from depression and medications. I took lithium for a number of months when there was some concern about me having a bipolar condition and having suicidal thoughts every day and that did a great job of just taking a big old dump on top of my emotional capacity. Most days I just felt flat and lifeless and if I did express emotion it was in short, short bursts. Now I feel more adjusted and balanced for sure, and emotions feel at least somewhat more "real" to me again.
Brownblob it's so wild how that works! I was talking with my somatic therapist last week about the cycle of anxiety and depression and she was telling me how for some of us the depression comes as a response to stress/anxious responses/trauma. It started making more sense after that since what I think she was saying is that if your mind perceives a threat through stress or trauma or anxiety, one natural response in addition to fight/flight is to "freeze", effectively shutting down operations til the threat passes.

[randomletter_uckface]

Me too, buddy.
I have a hard time thinking, writing sentences, coming up with the right words etc..
Don't know if it's the anxiety or my anxiety medication that does it tho.

I was planning on going to school but in this state I can barely peel potatoes.

The only good thing about it is the knowledge that the brain is plastic and ever changing, if it can be broken it can also recover somewhat.

[rivergirl]

Hi Bobo,

I've been taking Pristiq daily for about two years. I've never had any side effects that I was aware of, but medication side effects are so specific to each person. It can also take quite a while to adjust to a new medication, so I hope you'll find that some of your symptoms will ease with time. I agree with snoringdog that it might be a good idea to keep track of your symptoms and discuss with professionals if you have the chance.

Do you find the somatic therapy helpful? I hope so, and also that increasing your time doing meditation provides some relief. I haven't found any downside to meditation and yoga, especially in treating the physical symptoms of anxiety.

Take care,

rg

[RobotWithHumanHair]

My anxiety results in horrendous exhaustion and fatigue (mental and physical) until the anxiety itself passes, so I could understand that happening with you. While it could be the medication, the Pristiq hasn't affected me specifically like that (I got switched to generic Pristiq/desvenlafaxine a few months back and it's been significantly better for my body than Effexor/venlafaxine was). Of course, everyone's body chemistry is different, so your mileage may vary.

Now, in my case, I've been prescribed Xanax/alprazolam on an as-needed basis to help with my anxiety, but any time I take it, it knocks me out every worse than the anxiety fatigue does. Not great when I'm at work. I figured out a weird trick last week to combat that, however. On my lunch breaks at work, I often try and go for a run (a benefit of having a shower at work). If I've been anxious all day, I'll take an alprazolam right before my run. The adrenaline from the run keeps my energy up and the meds lower my anxiety response. If only I had a method to boost my adrenaline all day like that.