Mental Health Anxiety Disorders MEGA thread

[ocean]

Herbs were the first medicine. I completely have respect for them and their use- I have used herbs for a number of things which have benefited me- one of which was Valerian for Anxiety which helped.....
Eating Organic is a powerful thing. (I won't go into all of my beliefs on the additives and preservatives in foods and their effects on the mind here....I might side track us)
I think all you have done is great!!! Hopefully more people (like myself) will follow suit

 

[S.M.F.G]

Well going thru this thread i'm amazed by the amount of people, and the diversity of this shitty condition.
My shit hit the fan about 5 yrs ago.I was always outgoing as a younger person (12-25yo) carefree no hassles many friends social stuff goin out surfin the lot.
in this period i have also enjoyed lots of diffrent substances starting with weed and progressing to you name it, Ended up working hospitality by 18 (also a single parent) and well by the time i was 25 i burnt out.

Began to get the worst feelings of loseing controll, unexplained headaches, stomach upset and a few other symptoms and then i had my first panic attack. I thought i was having a stroke or something i remember thinking "oh fuck this is it" didnt last more than 5 mins but was scariest thing i had encountered to this day.

Nearly 5 years on now and 3 doctors, ssri's, moai's, anti psycs and benzos also therapy and natural medicines, I'm still in a bit of a hole i'm stuck on 6mg xanax a day, with weed, a light dose of a trycilic anti-depressant as all other anti depressants had failed or given adverse reactions. I struggle in the mornings until ive had my pill, and fight keeping to my schedule. but i get thru the day, Only just, also smoke ciggys to relax and still smoke weed. Want to qiuit that weed but i find its needed these days to get me balanced

My assesment thingee said prognosis is symptoms likley to persist and majour for both depression and anxiety/panic
You know it really sucks being a slave to ones self letalone a pharmacutical company as i am and many others are now.
Gonna start looking into meditation and @ the end of the day if i still cant get to sleep..... its natural remides "mulingu tea" is one of my most used as it is a great sleep agent and relaxes the body. Thats my story I'm glad i found a place to share it

 

[suessmayr]

I have intense panic disorder at the moment. I'm two weeks off opiates and essentially I can barely face another human being, even family. Benzos are out as I abused them previously and the 2 anti-deps I'm on are doing fuck all.

I have a question - DBT seems to teach a sort of resignation or 'acceptance' of panic, whereas CBT seems to teach actively fighting and resisting the panic. I don't understand how these approaches can be reconciled.

Which do people find is more helpful? Accepting anxiety and trying not to judge it? Or railing against it and refusing to let it operate? In my case presently the anxiety only presents in the presence of other people, and this is fucking shit as I'm not at all averse to people or to the world; I want to be out doing the things which I feel I can't.

 

[dcraver877]

^ same here.

 

[ocean]

I have intense panic disorder at the moment. I'm two weeks off opiates and essentially I can barely face another human being, even family. Benzos are out as I abused them previously and the 2 anti-deps I'm on are doing fuck all.

I have a question - DBT seems to teach a sort of resignation or 'acceptance' of panic, whereas CBT seems to teach actively fighting and resisting the panic. I don't understand how these approaches can be reconciled.

Which do people find is more helpful? Accepting anxiety and trying not to judge it? Or railing against it and refusing to let it operate? In my case presently the anxiety only presents in the presence of other people, and this is fucking shit as I'm not at all averse to people or to the world; I want to be out doing the things which I feel I can't.

I find that both work, depends on where I am by day.
I have both Panic Disorder and GAD (as mentioned before) and find that on days that I CAN, accepting my anxiety and trying to view it from outside myself makes it easier to manage- though there are days when I have less control and try to just block it.
I think it was mentioned in this thread (and Legerity knows about this and may have some wise words here) but mindfulness/mindful meditation helps.
I took a mindful meditation class and while it wasn't what I expected, it did give me some great exercises (which I think were mentioned in this thread)- basically being mindful of every moment and doing exercises where you move slowly noting each movement, thought and action seemed to help me slow to the point of being able to have more control over my anxiety.
In my mind, mindfulness is also being aware of every intention and thought BEHIND your emotions.
This really helps me. Trying to pay attention to the whys and hows of my anxiety.
Understanding to root of the issue, and working through those things can be very productive. It isn't instant of course, and takes a lot of time- I still struggle with my anxiety but do feel more control b/c now I am able to see what is behind the anxiety......

No judgment- of both yourself, your actions, thoughts, feelings and those of others is very important.

 

[catching fish]

I'm starting a new job in 2 days, and I'm freaking the fuck out. I hate anxiety. I can't imagine how I'm going to feel when I wake up on Monday morning.

 

[INDK]

I'm 20 years old and Ive recently been diagnosed with GAD. From what Ive read that seems most fitting for the symptoms but it seems like every different doc or psychiatrist i go to will diagnose me with something different. Ive herd it all from OCD to major depression and most recently I was told I suffer from severe ADD and GAD. I didn't even no what a panic attack was until I was put on prozac at the age of 14. All of a sudden I would be overcome with these waves of panic and Id feel like I wasn't myself and Id either loose complete control of what I was doing or curl up into a ball and rock back and forth for what seemed to be hours. I'm now on 15mg of valium a day and it seems to help a great deal, but I have been taking that for almost a year now and I am without a doubt dependent on this substance now. It just sucks. I gotta worry about keeping my anxiety and panic attacks down but then if I take to much of my valium to often I'll run out and go through 2 weeks of living hell that's full of sleeplessness and hallucinations and extreme depression followed by random manic episodes. In my most recent withdrawal experience I had gone 1 week and about 3 days without valium before the symptoms got bad and after that I couldn't even count the days because of lack of sleep and days seeming to blend together. One thing I remember from this experience was being in my room at night with no lights on and I felt like my bed was transported to another dimension with these shadow like people who were telling me to just do it. They were telling me to kill myself. I never want to have to go through anything like that again, but I feel like the medication does help in making me feel what I consider to be normal on a daily basis. Is their any advice from anyone out their who has gone through the same thing or something similar?

 

[zucro]

I suffered for a long time from anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia. The depersonalization was very difficult to deal with. But there are some incredibly helping ways to address it. Please don’t lose hope. Avoiding my fear of depersonalization was exactly what was driving it. My experience was that I had to get my anxiety and panic attacks under control before I could deal with my agoraphobia. I found Cognitive Behavioral Therapy really useful. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy really helped me restructure my thinking where I learned and embraced healthier beliefs. Much of my inspiration to use Cognitive Behavioral TThe first book of his that I read was called Feeling Good written by Dr. David Burns. This was life changing for me. His most recent book on panic attacks, called When Panic Attacks it is quite good too. I have read all of Dr. Burns’ books. His website is: http://www.feelinggood.com
I also read the book written by Lucinda Basset, From Panic to Power. This was very good too. What I found most useful was that Lucinda was a former sufferer of anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia.
Two very helpful things for me were reading about the experiences of other sufferers and their recovery, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for anxiety. In addition to Dr. Burns’ site, this site algy.com, another useful site for panic attacks and agoraphobia:
http://panicattackrecovery.com
This site contains a lot of examples of cognitive behavioral therapy.
I think there is a vast amount of improvement that can happen when people begin to restructure their thinking. That was my experience. Hope this helps. Does anyone have any further sites that they would recommend for panic attacks, specifically using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? I find real life examples the most helpful. Any responses/comments would be appreciated.

 

[badfish45]

I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate my anxiety. It isn't as serious as many or as some suffering from withdrawl or drug use, but boy does it stress me out. Often it gets in the way with some of the people in my life, I sometimes lash when I get stressed and sometimes I freak them out for worrying so much >.< I've learned to handle it by just trying to do something I have fun with and just get outside and be alone or with a good friend. I mainly have it under control, but I'm still working on it

 

[S.M.F.G]

^ thats awesome thing to hear!!! not that you hate ur anxiety but have learned to deal with it without resorting to the pills, That in itself is a good thing, I been finding that alot of whats being said @ therapy atm for me is resinating which is good i just gotta start to really put it into practice and keep it up, coz it does give me that little boost, Then maybe once my lifes straightend out an im moved an bak in a job, i can tackle cutting back on the meds

 

[badfish45]

^ thats awesome thing to hear!!! not that you hate ur anxiety but have learned to deal with it without resorting to the pills, That in itself is a good thing, I been finding that alot of whats being said @ therapy atm for me is resinating which is good i just gotta start to really put it into practice and keep it up, coz it does give me that little boost, Then maybe once my lifes straightend out an im moved an bak in a job, i can tackle cutting back on the meds

That's good to hear, I've never really liked meds. Way too many people abuse ritalin and other drugs like that, so I don't trust it personally =/ Good job with therapy as well, I know that always helped me, especially because I actually liked my therapist It's nice to talk to a person who knows a lot about how to help us, and still carry out a decent conversation with them. And yes, most important put everything you hear into practice. I found that's when I actually started to make progress <-----(huge procrastinator)

 

[S.M.F.G]

^Having the "right" kinda therapist to talk with is key IMO i been thru two b4 i started goin to see this other one and had more progress in one session than in a whole 6 months of fuckin around with someone who didnt get me. That was a huge security for sure, So to Everyone, if ur not happy with ur therapist, try and try again if u have to IMO.

 

[badfish45]

^Having the "right" kinda therapist to talk with is key IMO i been thru two b4 i started goin to see this other one and had more progress in one session than in a whole 6 months of fuckin around with someone who didnt get me. That was a huge security for sure, So to Everyone, if ur not happy with ur therapist, try and try again if u have to IMO.

Well said. I've dealt with some people who it's always hit and miss, and in some cases miss and miss.

 

[derkaderka]

Is there a difference between anxiety and confidence?


My anxiety is so bad I rarely leave the house but when I do 50% of the time nothing happens that makes me anxious... so sometimes I can convince myself nothing will happen and I feel confident and fine about doing things... but like 70% of the time before I leave my house about anything I get anxious and think about "what if this happens...what if that happens...what if I see this person..."

Sometimes I feel like If I had the confidence I could overcome the anxiety but some days I feel like I can't leave the house at all and others and I feel like fuck everyone else and don't care.

When I just think about my life I only see 2 options, A) Be a pussy my whole life and be anxious and miss experiences and opportunities or B) Be the true person I want to be with confidence and push myself everyday.
But when it comes down to it no matter how much self talk I give myself, I always always go back to A and just not do anything.

I feel like If I don't do something fast I will trap myself in a hole...the thing is...I just can't bring myself to do anything Even something simple like try and find a job, I try ....just nowhere near as hard as I should because I doubt myself or something..

 

[Legerity]

I feel like If I don't do something fast I will trap myself in a hole...the thing is...I just can't bring myself to do anything

This belief in itself is enough to keep anxiety going. You can't get yourself to do anything but you feel that if you don't don't then somebody bad will happen.

Being anxious and pushing yourself every single day are not the only options. Sometimes it takes time to work through these things. I experience a lot of anxiety just about every day but I won't call myself a pussy for it.

So be nice to you!

 

[derkaderka]

Well I normally take things slow but I feel like I've gotten too comfortable and now don't take the effort to push myself when I really need to..

What annoys me the most is I know I'm 100% capable of doing this but why would I change my mind about it? I feel like I'm teetering on being super anxious or being completely free of it... If I know that anxiety isn't that bad and I know I am capable of doing things, then why do I still feel anxious? I feel like it's out of my control...but it isn't !!!

Also I've been on many medications and talked to many people about it and I feel like there's nothing more I can tell myself....at this point I feel like it's up to me and I know what I want..no anxiety!!

If I could give you an example to demonstrate what I mean better :

I felt anxious about playing guitar in the street...but after I pushed myself to do it(i had a friend come along with me actually) I was totally fine playing it.... I felt somewhat nervous but I was making eye contact with people and felt comfortable playing(I should also mention that I don't suck xP So I feel confident playing).

With moments like that, how CAN I have anxiety? It's like I know in the back of my head something won't happen...but at the same time I think about what could happen...

Also I've noticed when I'm with a friend I feel fine, but I just can't expect someone to be with me every time I leave the house.... and when I'm alone it just feels much harder

 

[CountCracula]

As a hetero guy, I can really relate to the "I'm such a pussy" comment. Men are often encouraged to be emotionless tyrants (think Donald Trump). This is what pushes me away from therapy, cbt, is the thought that I should "just do it and fuck 'em all." I will never forget going to the hospital having lost feeling in my face and arms and having chest pains, and having a nurse tell me I was just having a panic attack-I couldn't believe those machines that said my breathing, blood pressure and heart rate were totally normal. With Social Anxiety Disorder, it was as if the whole hospital were mocking a silly hypochondriac.

Anywho, good to see this section of fellow anxiety sufferers, many of whom, like myself, have self medicated for myriad reasons.

I have to ask this here, because I never know where to post it. Is there anyone else who has found that smoking pot while using Paxil (paroxetine, the SSRI) daily amplifies the effects of the marijuana to near debilitating (though not necessarily unpleasant) proportions?

 

[derkaderka]

As a hetero guy, I can really relate to the "I'm such a pussy" comment. Men are often encouraged to be emotionless tyrants (think Donald Trump). This is what pushes me away from therapy, cbt, is the thought that I should "just do it and fuck 'em all." I will never forget going to the hospital having lost feeling in my face and arms and having chest pains, and having a nurse tell me I was just having a panic attack-I couldn't believe those machines that said my breathing, blood pressure and heart rate were totally normal. With Social Anxiety Disorder, it was as if the whole hospital were mocking a silly hypochondriac.

Anywho, good to see this section of fellow anxiety sufferers, many of whom, like myself, have self medicated for myriad reasons.

I have to ask this here, because I never know where to post it. Is there anyone else who has found that smoking pot while using Paxil (paroxetine, the SSRI) daily amplifies the effects of the marijuana to near debilitating (though not necessarily unpleasant) proportions?

Yes smoking weed with SSRI will amplify both..... I really really advise you to NOT smoke while on ssris ... I've heard stories of friends literally hallucinating and freaking out.
If it were me I would either take the medication and nothing else or stop and smoke weed

I've had past experiences mixing the 2 and honestly something didn't feel right, but in my opinion it was the SSRI's, not the weed. I still continue to smoke daily and I strongly believe weed helps my anxiety more then an SSRI does.... at least when I'm high I think about my problems and don't feel emotionless

 

[PendulumAM]

I am sick of not being able to be friends with anyone because of my anxiety. All my relationships, platonic and romantic, have ended because I start thinking about how I am such an uninteresting/weird/terrible person and don't understand why anyone can like me, so I stop trusting the friend/boyfriend and think that they actually are annoyed or disgusted with me or are laughing at me behind my back. I am the person no one wants to get stuck with at work, I am the one that hides inside and goes out alone if I need to go out. I just want some friends. I just want to stop being scared of everything. I want to stop having a mini-internal freakout every time I talk to someone and over analyze what I say and think that I said/did something stupid.

 

[Dave]

I can really relate to that. Luckily, the few friends that I have left are really persistent mofos, that see through all the bullshit to the person I am underneath. Took a long time to get here though, and I'm not kidding when I say persistent. I tend to just disappear when I get into an anxiety/depressive spiral, yet I've had people still seek me out even though I've avoided all human contact for weeks on end.

The benefit to them is that now that I'm a bit better, they don't need to look through as much bullshit, and I'm able to repay a fraction of the kindness that they've shown to me. Still, I need to remind myself, pretty well every time that I speak with/hang out with someone, that they actually want to spend time with me. Amazing as that sounds!

Pendulum, I hardly know you, but the benefit of this sort of communication is that it automatically cuts through a lot of the anxiety and shows off a part of the person that often doesn't see the light of day. You are an interesting person, and anyone would be lucky to spend time with you. Don't say weird as though it was a bad thing though: there's no such thing as normal. Anyone who would claim to be that is probably far more messed up than you or I.