Anxiety Medication

[A_Fish]

Does anyone else feel like they are wasting the health systems time by going back and forth to psychiatrists, psychologists, GPs and other medical professionals, only for them to placate you about your anxiety?

I shake most hours of the day and have frequent panic attacks. Meanwhile, I keep switching between meds because nobody seems to really understand anxiety.

I take medication rarely for emergency relief, only because I don't want to develop a benzo addiction. But meanwhile, doctors are more concerned about me developing a benzo addition than the fact I am destroying my liver to relieve anxiety by drinking alcohol. To me this sounds so stupid.

I am lost and not sure what to do or where to go from here.

[PamelaR]

Hi A Fish and welcome to our community forums

It is sad to hear you feel lost and not sure what to do or where to go. Life does sound a struggle for you.

Anxiety is the pits isn't it? Sorry to hear you haven't had much success with your health professionals to move you on. My psych has been very good in helping me to get to the bottom of my anxiety. This ultimately helped me reduce my reliance on alcohol to get to sleep.

I too have used medication for my anxiety, but only when I was going through the worst of it - i.e. looking at what caused my PTSD in the first place. Haven't had to use medicaiton for years now, and my alcohol use is minimal to non existent now.

But it took a lot of work, a lot of pain, hurt, crying and anger. Unfortunately anxiety just doesn't go away. I've found it's learning to live with it - how to lessen the impact, how to cope when I'm triggered. I have found health professionals very supportive on my estremely difficult journey. They've helped me come out the other side.

When you say you're lost, where is it do you think you want to be? What types of self care have you put in place for yourself?

You're not alone A Fish.

Kind regards

PamelaR

[blondguy]

Hi A Fish

PamelaR has provided excellent advice/support above with her post.

I understand your situation as I used to have chronic anxiety followed by depression for a long time and depending on your doctor (GP/Psychiatrist) the benzo's can be an excellent management tool especially when anxiety interferes with our day to day well being and our ability to function

Can I ask how long you have had these awful panic attacks for? (if thats okay) Do you get these panic attacks in certain situations or do they occur randomly?

Just a note regarding the meds......They are never a fix all....They do though provide us with a solid foundation on which we can heal more effectively with frequent ongoing counseling

Please excuse the questions as they can help me provide you with better quality support 🙂

I hope you can post back when its convenient for you....Comments/Questions are welcome

my kind thoughts

Paul

[geoff]

Hello A Fish, anxiety can affect us all in many different ways, no different than what alcohol can do, except that too much alcohol can make you incoherent and if you drink it frequently then your health is going to suffer, not only your liver, platelets, lowing of the red and white blood cells with the possibility of having a stroke.

Benzo's can be used to help when you stop drinking the alcohol and is widely used in hospitals, some people require them, while others don't, however, if you don't drink, then benzo's maybe needed to help with your anxiety, I've been given them while in hospital.

It's a topic that differs from person to person and on each occasion we are all different.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[A_Fish]

Sorry it has been so long to reply to your posts. They have all been very helpful in different ways.

I think I do suffer from some type of PTSD working for... various companies and departments. I'm not sure if that is what is causing my anxiety. I do have nightmares and flashbacks though when I sleep.

I hate drinking alcohol. It changes me. It is hard to not to when it is so available and every social function has it there. I hate it. It should be banned like tobacco.

As for benzos, I had one tablet in the last month. Yes it helped in the very short term, but then I started having nightmares.

I am now starting to try to do an in-house patient detox with therapy.

I feel so messed up that I need to do that, but I feel like I have no other choice.

Sorry to ramble on. I hope this works, and if so, I can talk about my experiences to help others.

Please everyone, stay strong. I think whatever battle you are fighting you can win. I will speak more about my journey and try to help anyone I can once I am in a good head space.

Fish

xo

[blondguy]

Hey Fish

Thankyou heaps for posting back! You never ramble when you post.

Your experiences are highly valued on the forums as you help other members when you post and good on you!

You are strong for being so proactive with your health and doing the in house detox/therapy....You are not alone there as the results are worthwhile....You will feel the benefit...not to mention the peace of mind too!

There is no expectation to return posts on the forums Fish.....Your well being and recovery is paramount....all other considerations are secondary

Thankyou for the super caring post/advice you wrote to everyone too....You are amazing Fish!

my kindest thoughts for you 🙂

Paul