I was introduced to Nietzsche during some of the darkest days of my life. It happened at a time when I was suffering from severe existential depression. I recall so well what happened then. Reading the first few pages of the Genealogy of Morals felt like a prosaic invitation into a secret cult whose initiation rituals demand of me to put a gun against my head – against the values and norms I was taught since my beginning. As much as his ideas, did his prose take me over and under. I felt like a dinghy floating on the open seas. Not knowing where I was heading, I keeled over, I turned and twisted. Nietzsche’s words on the origin of our moral prejudices resounded throughout my personal world. I faced the calmest calms and the heaviest of sea storms. In the end there was nothing inside of me that was left untouched. I felt empty and ready for a new beginning. Ready for a spiritual transformation as I started to realize that the cure for my suffering was always borne deeply inside of me.
What does not kill me… makes me stronger.
Chhay Lin's Philosophy Musings 
I am planning on reading some of Nietzsche’s stuff, I have only seen portions and quotes but can imagine that immersing myself like you did would be far more upsetting. I suffer mini-existential crises all the time, mostly because I have lived in a bit of a bubble for most of my life. Coming from a family who never contemplate life any deeper than “how to survive through it”, I have had to figure everything out for myself and the problem is never finding something to believe in, it is trying not to believe in two things that oppose one another.
You may find Nietzsche valuable as well then. He’s one of the few philosophers who find value in suffering and who encourages you to embrace it. Once embraced, it becomes much easier to deal with it. He believes that suffering is even necessary for anyone who’d like to create himself and become a ‘higher human being’. I’m curious which reading of Nietzsche you’ll pick up. If you don’t mind, let me know!
I certainly will!