Exercise - yes, lot's of it, as well as dieting.
Yoga/meditation - no. I tried meditation for a bit but gave up, but am looking to start up again.
I'm still on Xanax because as a child I experienced a lot of things over a period of about a decade which traumatized me, and as a result I have flashbacks which leads to panic attacks and insomnia. It was a problem long before my LTC.
It's the reason why I started using ecstasy in the first place.
Furthermore, I've spent up to 8 weeks off of Xanax (or any drugs) on more than one occasion, and my LTC symptoms did not return at all. And the only reason why I went back on again was because of intrusive thoughts and very vivid flashbacks related to when I was a child, which manifested themselves into severe panic attacks and insomnia.
Also, I found out about Xanax's effectiveness for both my LTC symptoms + PTSD-related issues from childhood by pure coincidence.
I'd rather not go into details of what I had to deal with growing up, but it piled on a lot of emotional baggage which will take a lot of time and effort to get rid of.
About 15 years of counseling, guidance, exercise (both cardio and strength training), breathing exercises, and healthy dieting.
About 10 years of supplementing with vitamins (mainly A, C, D, E, B-Complex), minerals (mainly magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc), fish oil, ALA, CoE-Q10.
Roughly a decade of on and off supplementing with 5-HTP, valerian, GABA, chamomile, peppermint, etc.
Approximately 5 years of CBT, Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response Stimulus, Mindfulness, and sessions with a psychologist.
I've also tried hypnosis, spent a couple of month in a rehab center, prayed, and many more things I cannot remember at the moment.
Have you tried going the med route for your LTC? I believe I asked you in the past, but I forgot (short term memory issues).
I waited about 8 months after I got sick from a (what turned out to be a dirty) ecstasy pill, and in that 8 months I did not touch any medications. All I did was exercise (mostly cardio), healthy dieting, breathing exercises, counseling/guidance sessions, and supplementing with vitamins and minerals. All I experienced was temporary improvements in symptoms - nothing long term at all.
Also, during that time, I went and got tested for everything I could think of, and everything came back negative.
So I got really frustrated and desperate, and decided to try medications along with what I was already doing, and thank God it ended up working, because if not I probably would have killed myself.
The results weren't overnight (and I was scared shitless about side effects) - I had to do a trial and error approach, and felt even more sick than before with respect to the SSRI I went on long term (Zoloft), but it worked in the long run.
I'm not gonna argue that SSRIs are completely safe, because they are not. No drug is without risks. And like I said, going on it will - at first - make you feel even worse than before. That's the unfortunate catch which turns so many people off of them. Edit - There's also the issue with possible sexual dysfunction (which thankfully did not affect me), and withdrawal symptoms when stopping (which I was able to ride out - much easier than the LTC).
Even though I feel they helped me, I still don't like SSRIs after all this time. If however you can survive the first few weeks, it will get better.
I had 20 symptoms which affected me severely during my illness. Only a healthy, physically active, stress free, street drug free lifestyle + three Rx medications (Zoloft + Xanax followed by Wellbutrin XL + Xanax) was able to lift me out of the hole I was in, and do away with all those symptoms.
That's not a guarantee that it will work for someone else, but it's at least worth mentioning as an option if anyone's desperate to try it.
