Anxiety

LegacyUser

Hi,

Regular user of boards but will go anon for this post for obvious reasons.

First off, I know this is not a medical board and yes the appointment with the doctor has alredy been made...

I've been having my own private battle with anxiety for about 8 years and I've decided it's all a bit too much to deal with on my own so will be discussing it with my doctor soon. I'm just looking for feedback from anyone who has been in the same situation. I don't want to speak to a councellor about my anxiety as it's my understanding that they try to help you understand why you are anxious and I believe I already know why I suffer from anxiety, I just can't deal with it very well.

I don't necessarily want to have to take medication either but realise that it might be the best option. Does anyone have any encouraging stories?!?!

Santa Claus

I suffered from this years ago and found that Cognotive Behavioural Theraphy was the best thing for me.
A book that I found very useful was "living with fear" by Isaac Marks.

PM me if you've more specific questions

Rantorama

I know someone who suffered form extreme anxiety...they would also become obsessional about a certain thing e.g. looks/health e.t.c.(more than just the normal worries of the average person) that it would build up in their minds until a molehill became a mountain.



I can understand where you are coming from saying you were having 'your own private battle with anxiety'to someone looking on they looked happy enough,but it transpired that inside their head it was a different story altogether.

My friend went to the doc and was prescribed drugs to relax them, xanax I think,although they didn't have any utopian ideal about getting better without any form of medication they were loath to take them.

The doc only gave them a short supply of this as people can become reliant on it.But they were also referred to a physiologist and went to group/cognitive therapy listening to others tell their stories can be more helpful than it sounds.

And learning to be master of your mind not mastered by it.

Also Vitamin B12 was recommended as was omega 3.

Best of luck:)

Ag marbh

I've been suffering with anxiety since I was 17 and am now 21. I spent a year and a half of tablets. I'm able to control my anxiety alot better now and don't fear death or anything like that anymore. Seeing someone about anxiety is very important and the main techniques used aren't about digging up your past to find out what's causing them. Talking to a specialist can teach you methods of dealing with anxiety such as breathing techniques and many other things.

There are a few types of medication prescribed for the disorder. Long term ones are SSRI's which are used to fight depression but also have the ability to cure anxiety as both are related to serotonin. The second type of medication they prescribe is something to take as needed like valium(diazepam), xanax and one or two other tranqs.

8 years of suffering is enough, have no shame in going to the doctor and anxiety is alot more common than you think

RAIN

Iv been suffering with this since i was about nine ..iv just recently went to the doctor to get it sorted , i cant eat much i cant go out to social events without geting sick even if i dont drink booze ..in one instance i had nothing to eat for hours and and took one sip of orange juice and had to go home after omiting for 30 mins..if it wasent for the fact that my girlfriend is one in a million id probably live on my own and make myself believe im happy ANYWAY just wanted to say to anyone in this thead that one thing that REALY helps me (especialy at night ) is reiki if you dont know what it is look it up theres usualy coarses in town and BELIEVE me it works especialy if your a very inverted person anway , and its a good alternative to medication but as my doctor said if your life is falling apart use the medication your doctor will give you a six month coarse its worked for people i know so it mite help you .

ando

I suffer from generalised anxiety, I've tried all the main books on it and I can say the best book by FAR is:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157224223X/104-3817000-3738322?v=glance&n=283155

I think the newest edition is the fourth edition. I'd deffo recommend it, it helped me so much in the past

LegacyUser

Betablockers completely changed my life and freed me from anxiety hell. I didn't want to go down the psych medication route and I'm relieved I didn't have to. BBs merely stop your heart beating at a thousand miles per hour so when that calms down a lot of your other symptoms are alleviated too. Go and have a chat with your doctor and good luck. I wouldn't wish anxiety on anyone.

Villaricos

hey, another anxiety sufferer here.
I understand your point about medication but sometimes just a short course of something (just a few weeks) to help relax you will do. then you can start working on the anxiety. Im starting CBT in a few weeks, Santa Claus would be great if you could pm me telling me bout it? id appreciate it.
Anyway OP, hope ya start to feel better soon, whatever route ya take, theres plenty out there

meepins

Heya, Im curious about peoples experiences with medication for both depression and anxiety. I've suffered depression since mid teens and I let it develop in to something worse by not getting treatment hoping it would go away, 23 now . Badly depressed atm, social anxiety, agoraphobia ( love being outside just anxious around people), haven't worked in a while because I was nervous about a couple of panic attacks I had while at work.
I guess Im unrealistically hoping for a magic pill to make it all better, are the effects immediate and is drowsiness a problem with these meds?

johnnydoe

I'm a long term member of the boards but have also chosen to go anon on this thread...

I've been suffering a 'private battle' also for the past two years. I can empathise with a lot of people here. This is the first time I’ve come out on the subject (aside from telling my wife) I'm a fairly confident person with no problem mixing as a general rule. I've little or no enemies but encountered a situation in work that de-railed my confidence and ability to forget. I hope you'll forgive me for going into detail but I feel it'd even help me to write it down...

There's always a 'grief' exchange in my job – factory setting, and I enjoy it to be honest, I give and take without any problem, but would never intentionally go to dish it out - there's a fine line to bullying. But on this occasion I found an exchange going sour. This particular individual has a bit of a reputation for being totally unreasonable - a grown man into the bargain - into his fifties. Anyway, to cut a long story short, he is the type that shouts and roars abuse around the workplace but when it's retorted becomes totally excessive. Nothing serious happened as a result of our exchange, but he then started shouting ridiculous statements to me in a crowd. It didn’t take a genius to see there was real venom in them. I'm certain I've done nothing wrong; he's just an egotist who feels territorial. I suppose I got the better of him and instead of just leaving it - which I did, he feels the need to re-enforce his standing in the place by hurling abuse - I mean really idiotic stuff - no personal bearing whatsoever – just things like 'alright a**hole' - that kinda thing...

I've always been well capable of dealing with conflict - in a diplomatic way, but it's the classic case of ‘never argue with an idiot’ type situation. Ignoring it didn’t help much, as he’s totally lacking that internal voice of reason ‘maybe it’s time you shut up’. It went on for a few months, and during that time I took a step I never had before – I brought it home – I started becoming really anxious about it – not sleeping, blowing it out of all proportion, running worse case scenarios etc. A thousand exchanges worse that mine happen every day in my job and there was no stigma to me in terms of others, but it really took over my life and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. My wife is a fantastic listener and was really sympathetic to it. The truth is things have been good for a year… To the untrained eye I’m confident, happy etc, but internally it’s still with me – I find it on my mind a lot. I’ve had subsequent dealings with the guy, and things seem to be normal again… But it’s like I’m waiting for it to flare up again.

This behavior totally goes against my personality… I’d like to see myself as strong mentally, and as a general rule I AM! I feel so ashamed that something so trivial has bored into my life, and I feel totally powerless against it. I know time is a great healer, but it’s been a year since radio silence from the guy and I’m still anxious about it.

It’s good to see that other people suffer anxiety and it helped me a bit reading your entries. I realize mine is pathetic in terms of real concern but it feels pretty real to me….

Apologies for the rant – just wanted to get it off my chest.

Darragh29

Check out www.depressiondialogues.ie. An excellent resource for anxiety or depression that is caused by external factors. Also would higly recommend the book co-written by Dr. Michael Corry & Dr. Aine Tubridy, called "Going Mad?". Just reading the book can give you relief and let you know that help is at hand...

RAIN

This is to john doe

Hey man your problem is in no way trivial it mite have awakened somthing in you that you havent seen before , every person is like a stack of cards .. the things that have gotten me down are alot more trivial then that but you gotta realise that the guy who said it isent the problem the problem is you and this will turn into something much bigger if you dont addresss it , i REAAAAALY recomend a book called awakening by anthony de mello realy helped me out its about a tenner in easons it will open your eyes if you give it a go

Velvet Vocals

Hey OP, anxiety is something I have been suffering from since I had my first serious panic attack at 17, I'm 27 now and I do have a pretty good handle on it. Thankfully I was able to manage this without medication ( I did self medicate for a while but that stopped a long time ago, and it only made things worse:rolleyes:)
You need to try practicing self affirmation, giving your self positive vibes as it were, on a daily basis. Also yoga can be a great help and breathing exercises are a must!
I still have the odd panic attack but never as bad as they used to be and I still get very uncomfortable in some situations (like the cinema - I'm not great in the dark:rolleyes: ) and if I have something big coming up like exams or travelling or something I usually find it hard to breath most days for a month or so before but for these times I use breathing exercise along with Bach remedies (Bach are the makers or rescue remedy) white chestnut is a great one, 3 drops in water sipped over the space of an hour or so every day - really good! and rescue remedy is wonderful for when it's all getting way too much.
I would recommend trying this more natural way before trying medication, but do please speak to a GP or some other professional as well.
Hope things go well for you!

Velvet Vocals

Hey just FYI, the most relaxing breathing exercise that I have found is this one

Close the right nostril with your right thumb and inhale through the left nostril. Do this to the count of four seconds.
Immediately close the left nostril with your right ring finger and little finger, and at the same time remove your thumb from the right nostril, and exhale through this nostril. Do this to the count of eight seconds. This completes a half round.
Inhale through the right nostril to the count of four seconds. Close the right nostril with your right thumb and exhale through the left nostril to the count of eight seconds. This completes one full round.
Start by doing three rounds, adding one per week until you are doing seven rounds

This has actually prevented full panic attacks for me, if I feel the begining of one I do this and it pushes it away. It slows everything down, heart rate included and allows you time not to think so you head isn't rushing either. It really is very good.Even when not feeling anxious try it out, its very relaxing.

LegacyUser

can anybody elaborate on self medication? i have a friend who is doing just this and having a hard time, very worried about where its going and how to help him get off this