Can't watch certain movies!

[[su...]]

Hi everyone I just had something that has been bothering me all morning. I am wondering if this affects some of you as well?? Last night my husband and I watched "Girl with a dragon tattoo". Anyways there are some very graphic violent scenes in this movie which disturbed me and this morning I woke up think about it! I was having quite a hard one getting certain scenes out of my head and they kept popping up! I'm already having problems this week with worse anxiety in the morning since dropping my afternoon dose and also any other time before Paxil or Ativan I could watch movies like this and not have these problems for example "seven" which is also done by this same director who did the movie last night but I have been having problems with obsessive thoughts lately during my withdrawal  and it's very aggravating! I then started feeling panicky about this thought becaus I feel as if I'm going crazy! I also went and saw the movie "the gray" a few months ago and it really bothered me too but not near as bad as this movie last night!

[[su...]]

Was meaning I was having quite a hard time getting the scenes out of my head!

[[Au...]]

Absolutely had this... OCD thoughts about certain movies... would scare myself for weeks... weird thoughts would come in my head, and I would twist it in my mind unintentionally as if it would pertain to MY life, not the movie... I know strange...don't even like talking about it.

 

Would be the same with the news bulletin if it was too graphic or violent, or scary.

 

Another thing that would happen with movies, not the same as the OCD stuff, but still would have to be careful about loud or violent movies... I would get bad adrenaline rushes ...too much stimulation.

 

Try to watch light, fun-loving stuff for now.  At 1 year off, I still have to do this... not all the time, but if I am feeling particularly sensitive or if I am in a wave.

 

 

[[su...]]

Thank you for replying so soon! It is crazy! First off the movie to me was not very good and I wasted my time watching it! I never had problems with obsessive thoughts like this before! That movie had nothing to do with me and it's annoying how it bothered me so much! Lately I will get certain things that bother me and they will repeat over and over in my head most of the morning and then it will slack off and then my brain will seem to calm down! Most of the time it's obsessively worrying about my daughter who's 9 and is perfectly healthy and fine but I will worry about her being I'll or something! There is a virus going around at her school and I keep worrying over and over about her getting it it's nuts! Why do these obsessive thoughts happen?? Ugh! Do you think it's from the morning dose wearing off and it's causing me this heightened anxiety?? Should I try and split it up?? I swear I feel more calm in the afternoons when Im not taking anything.

 

Julie

[[Au...]]

I know I Know!!! These movies have NOTHING to do with me either!

 

I don't know what the mechanism is for the OCD thoughts, but I know it is very common.

 

Maybe someone else will chime in with a better explanantion.  I just wanted to reassure you that these thoughts are common in w/d, and yes, are usually related to anxiety.

 

I don't know about splitting up your dose either, sorry, I'm not much help ...

but if you are already dosing 2-3 times a day as your signature says, I don't think you should be splitting up and already split-up dose.  Ya know what I mean?

 

In w/d, mornings are known to be the worst time of day for alot of people, regardless of dosing, and even when they are completely off the drug... something about cortisol levels in the morning.

 

Let's hope others can chime in here and give better explanations than I am 

[[su...]]

Thank you August! I need to update my signature but I've been taking the .25mg in morning for several months now and haven't ever split that one up. I'm wondering if that bigger dose though is causing rebound anxiety or something? It just seems weird to me that when I take it at say 6 am...then I can go back to sleep for about 2 hours then I start feeling adrenaline rushes as usual and so I have to get up because I absolutely can't go back to sleep then...then about 10 I start having the bad anxiety/obsessive round and round thoughts and then I start worrying about myself like why can't I make this stop! Then it's strange about say noon then it's worn off and my mind is so much more calm! strange!!! So then I don't take anything all afternoon until 5pm when I take the .125 dose. I just don't want to go so fast during my taper and I'm afraid of splitting up my morning dose since I just cut out my afternoon one just last week. I'm sure it takes time to adjust. I'm SOOO very angry I started taking this crap! I had a horrible experience withdrawing off paxil last July and I'm still going through off and on wd issues with that and now this ativan wd on top of all of it.  :'(

[[Ga...]]

Sunny,

Well kids do get sick and I know its upsetting. Nothing will happen to your daughter Im sure she will see a Dr

and get antibiotis, etc and be just fine

Ive never been one for violent movies either and I tend to just watch comedies or good dramas. I cant even watch the News anymore cant take the sorry state in the country right now. Will just upset me.

A strange this is I did watch  movie called Hamburger hill and really liked it, its about Vietnam War!!! But the acting was so good i watched it twice!!

[[me...]]

Hi Sunny,

 

Wierd I was just thinkin bout the same thing the other day, I used to love movies like that and now cant watch two minutes of one. What helps me is every night before bed I have to watch some type of comedy to keep me smiling! Also the anxiety about your daughter I can feel where you are coming from with that, my daughter is 6 yrs. old, she had open heart surgery when she was 6 months old so we are constantly monitering her despite her health being great. The other day she was having low blood sugar and was crying in the car, needless to say that created a huge anxiety attack for me which carried on through the next day. So I really can feel for you. Hope you watch something funny tonight and try to keep a smile on 

[[su...]]

Oh my gosh i would be the same way as you in your situation! Im so glad she's doing well! Yes anything that comes up now with my daughter and I get anxious about carries over into the next day as well! For example just yesterday I took her to dr she was complaining her neck hurt and she had three knots in side of it so I worried and worries and called to get her into sr was told it was swollen lymph node and can be caused by allergies or cold...which she's been fighting off but what do I do? I almost get panic attack thinking the worst! Ugh! I hate absolutely hate when I do that with everything! Lately that's what I've been doing I even do that when I hear bad things about other people or things on the news! It's aggravating! Yes I have been sticking to comedy's and romantic comedies! I watched the new Muppets the other night and it was great! lol! I keep thinking the same line to the song in it over and over...if i'm a man that makes me a muppet of a man a muppet of a man! Lol! If you've never seen it rent it it's worth it. 

[[Bo...]]

I try to avoid television and movies at all cost. They are not healthy for the mind. Especially for anxiety sufferers. unless they are upbeat. Congrats on completing your paxil withdrawal. Im on paxil and not looking forward to the horrific withdrawal coming my way. I know its been rough getting off that stuff!

[[su...]]

Booboo how long have you been taking Paxil? It did help me but I had mo idea it wasn't good to take it for a long time. It makes a lot of changes to your brain and so that's why it's taking me and others such a long time to get through this. I have come a long ways since getting off it in July but I still have good and bad days...it just takes time for the brain to heal. Whenever you do get off of it you have to go really slowly just like this ativan stuff. The website paxilprogress.org is a wonderful support group. They have helped me through so much! I feel now that most of my issues are to do with getting off this Ativan now. I am just trying to stay as ppositive as I can and take one day at a time. It's so hard for me because I'm not a patient person and this is a tiring journey and I can't wait for it to be over!

[[Bo...]]

Hey sunnydayze,

Yes paxil withdrawal is almost as horrible as benzos. It it one of the hardest ssris to taper off of. Paxilprogress sounds like a good website and worth trying to get to. I have been taking paxil since February but it didn't help much at all so now I am taking Remeron. Remeron seems to help with sleep and depression. I heard that ssris like paxil can create neurogenesis in the brain which is a good thing. I agree that staying positive is essential to survival. Negativity only increases the negative symptoms of withdrawal and more. I'm going to be realistic and give it at least a year before I start feeling better again. We need to be very patient. Take care.

[[...]]

Oh man I got very selective about what I'd watch. We watched a movie about guys during WWII climbing the Eiger Face in Austria. It was relentlessly grueling. Sent me right over the edge.

[[su...]]

So I guess all these symptoms are common with a lot of you withdrawling?! Well I went to my dr. today and told him that I cut out my 1/4 dose from the afternoon and it's been over 2 weeks now and I feel worse with anxiety now than I did before! Horrible! He said it sounds like my body has developed a dependence on this ativan. He said to keep pushing forward by a 10% drop each month or whenever I feel comfortable. I asked him if he thought I needed to be on another ssri because of all this unbearable anxiety and ocd thoughts and he said NO! He said I wasn't properly diagnosed in the very beginning 4 years ago to have even been put on Paxil and I should have never been on it for 4 years...he said 6 months to a year at the max for those ssri's. he said to just keep tapering off and said it might take me awhile before I'm off it and then see how I am doing off of all the drugs. I guess I'm thankful he isn't a dr. to throw pills at me but I'm just so miserable sometimes and I keep thinking there is something wrong with me! He said this is wd symptoms and tapering is harder for some people . UGH!  I even woke up at 4 am today and felt like I couldn't breathe! I think it was because I was dreaming about something that caused an anxiety attack in my sleep! I don't know either way it freaked me out. I finally got calmed down and went back to sleep. I'm scared to taper any more. 

[[St...]]

Hi I went and saw Hunger Games tonight.  It is now after 3 am and I just had to get out of bed after trying to go to sleep for the past hour to no advail. 

 

It was my idea to go to that movie, oh how I regret it.  I thought I was in a window and also was healed enough for it.  So wrong.  I got up during the first hour and went out to the lobby for a short while. Then I went back in but sat with my eyes closed for so much of the remainder of time, which was a bit because it was over 2 hours long.

 

So wish I hadn't gone. 

Sally

[[La...]]

I find I cant watch any of the tv shows I liked to watch, criminal minds, CSI, it happened when I started tapering, I guess all the benzos for so many years was doing more tampering down of my mind than I ever realized : and I am guessing I can forget any movie I have wanted to watch , like the hunger games or girl with the dragon tattoo, I will try reading the books when I can as I do not even enjoy reading much any more, damn these pills 

[[su...]]

Still believing I wanted to see Hunger Games too but I won't now because of what you said! Lol! I can't believe how badly these drugs have made me feel getting off of them and how they've changed my mind at this time! Sooo frustrating! I felt like that also when I went to see The Gray a few months ago. That was the start of it because I had to keep my eyes closed through most of that movie and got up a couple times to go to the restroom to get a break from it! Ladygrace I feel for you too because I know exactly how this feels and now I'm wondering if I will even be able to watch the rest of The twighlight saga I did see Breaking Dawn but I really don't think I would be able to watch it again right now! This also just started happening when I started tapering this Ativan! So I guess this is common.  Do any of you seem to also be bothered more by bad news you hear from things that are happening to other people you know?? Evrytime I turn around lately I am hearing horrible news about people I know and my mind will just seem to constantly think about it more than normal! I mean before all the Paxil and Ativan I could hear bad news and not be so troubled by it like I am now! It causes my anxiety to be so much worse.

[Guest [ma...]]

Hi, I was in the same situation. I have a medical background and my fav shows were forensic ones or real life mysteries etc. I had to stop watching all of them. At one point there were certain words that I could not hear because it had the same terrible effect on me as seeing something violent or scary.

 

This has all passed now except I find that I am no longer interested in those shows and seek out funny and lighter shows. Just made me realize that I dont need all the heavy stuff in my life. 

 

HTH for those who are still bothered by sights or sounds on tv, mandala