Anxiety flare up

[lelebe]

Hi,

About 5 years ago i had my first panic attacks i seeked therapy and slowly improved but i could never shake my phobias.

Recently my family has had a couple of stressful months and the anxiety has flared back up again. I know anxiety is so individual but has anyone with panic disorder found relief from anti depressants? Or is there any other therapy anyone has found useful?

[blondguy]

Hello Lelebe

Thanks for the good question Lelebe.

I understand with how awful anxiety/panic attacks can be. I have had them for years especially from my first mega attacks when I was 23.

Heavy family stress can spike our anxiety for sure.

You are spot on that anxiety varies on an individual basis. My anxiety used to effect my quality of life on a daily basis. I made a huge mistake (in my situation) and thought I could 'self heal' and only had occasional therapy without anti depressants.

I wasted 13 years being 'anti meds' until the anxiety started to make driving difficult and scary. At 36 I had two great GP's kick me very hard and wrote me a script for AD's. In my situation the bad anxiety reduced by approx 80% in 5 days...seriously.

I took the AD's every day even though I was anti meds. They were never a fix all but they gave me a solid platform on which I could heal using all the coping techniques that are available.

I kept my career, gained more peace of mind and had a lot of my life back 🙂

Great to have you on the forums Lelebe

It would be great if you could stick around. The forums are a judgement free zone too. No one will judge you here

my kindest thoughts

Paul

[lelebe]

Hi Paul

Thanks so much for replying to my post. Its so nice to hear some positive feedback regarding antidepressants. If my anxiety could reduce i would be so happy.

Recently my anxiety has impacted me daily and its exhausting because I'm constantly worried about something.

Unfortunately i have the view that i can heal using natural medicine and therapy but i honestly don't think that alone is cutting it anymore.

I am worried about side effects from AD's as i don't want to have to deal with my anxiety getting worse but that may never happen i guess. I would love to feel happiness and excitement about my life again.

I will stick around because i find the support so reassuring.

Thanks again

[BballJ]

Hi lelebe,

blondguy (Paul) has given some great advice so please do take it on. I just wanted to echo some of his comments and offer my support to you.

I have suffered from anxiety for many years and had the occasional panic attack, I found help through a psychologist, I never got to the point of medication, much like blondguy (Paul) I was anti-meds and didn't want them even though the GP prescribed them for me. I was lucky enough where the psychologist and these forums to be honest helped me a lot with dealing with my anxiety. I am not saying my way is the correct way, many people have used meds to get better and I have no issue with it at all and do not disregard them because as blondguy (Paul) said above, it can give you a solid platform to build off and learn coping techniques and how to live with anxiety and it is 100% possible to live a happy life with anxiety.

I did CBT therapy with my psychologist which helped get to the roots of where my anxiety started from and was given coping techniques. So I can only speak from experience but that really helped me.

My best for you,

Jay

[solabear]

Hi lelebe,

I've had panic attacks in my life and anti depressants helped me. I've never actually had a panic attack while on AD, only when I was off the meds.

I hope this was helpful to you, this is just my experience.

Take care

[lelebe]

Thank you all for your very kind words they have helped me a lot.

Today i made an appointment with my doctor for a mental health plan so I'll try medication combined with therapy and see how i go.

Thanks again i don't know if i would have made the appointment so soon if i hadn't been on this forum ☺

[BballJ]

Hi lelebe,

That is great news, please feel free to keep us updated with your progress.

My best,

Jay

[blondguy]

Hi Lelebe

Thanks for posting back

BballJ/Jay is spot on...This is great news!

Its a actually a huge step towards recovery. Good on you

my kind thoughts

Paul

[solabear]

How are you going Lelebe? I hope everything ok with you. How did you go with the doctor's appointment?

Love to hear from you.

xx Sola

[lelebe]

Hi Solabear,

My appointment is this Thursday. I'm quite anxious about it and keep changing my mind about medication but that's only because I am anxious about possible medication side effects and not being able to work. I know it sounds silly but its stressing me out.

Thanks so much for checking in on me