Any help would be appreciated

[_AnxiousMess_]

Hi all

i am 8 months without meds and have gotten over the withdrawals with a whole lot of hard work and effort.

but now I am feeling like I am just living to cope... not getting any better just putting out spotfires everywhere by listening to anti anxiety talk downs meditating Reiki yoga etc etc.

can anyone please point me in a direction of something that is going to enable me to live not just exist in between attacks.

open to any techniques practitioners anything just not more medication- thanks

[White_Rose]

Dear Anxious

Hello and welcome to Beyond Blue. This is a good place to talk about anything you wish. It's safe and anonymous.

The question of medication. Can I ask a few questions please? Who prescribed your meds and did the same person help you to wean off them? There is a huge difference between taking yourself off meds to going off under medical supervision. How long were you taking the meds?

Activities such a meditation and yoga are very helpful in helping you control you thoughts and teach you ways of coping. I have no experience of yoga but I meditate daily and find it helps me to keep centred, to reach the core of myself. Of course there are times when this does not work well and times when I stop meditating, usually for an unknown reason.

It has been my experience that constant anxiety, like depression, has a cause and until you discover that cause it seems we will always be playing catch-up. We need to understand what triggers our anxieties and learn how to manage them and become more resilient. So more questions. Have you ever spoken with a counsellor or psychologist? If yes, how did it go? I am trying to find out what your background is in order to avoid repeating things you have already done.

Talking to a counsellor of some sort is very common and can help you understand yourself, half the battle. The other half is working on yourself and building a stable base to work from. I will make this a brief response and hope you can give me more details soon. Love to hear from you again.

Mary

[BballJ]

Hi *AnxiousMess*,

Firstly, welcome to the forums.

Mary had some great advice above but I think the way everyone deals with anxiety and the associated attacks vary person by person, there is a person on here (Mark I think from memory) who is big on mindfulness, something that has taken a while to understand from what he has told me, but has worked big for him and something I am hoping to learn as well to manage my anxiety.

As Mary said above, have you spoken to a counsellor/psychologist or only ever been on meds?

Another way is getting more involved in the forums, this is just advice from personal experience, getting involved and helping people has helped me heaps and everyone on here is super supportive and always happy to talk so I encourage you to get involved and give advice where you can as well as that also helps.

My best for you,

Jay

[geoff]

hello AnxiousMess, if it was your intention to stop taking the medication or the advice from your doctor then it does take hard work and some suffering which you will have to go through, however to be medication free might have been your aim, simply because you may not have wanted your friends/family to know that you needed them, or alternatively there were too many side affects.
Whether either of these are true it doesn't really matter because now you are drug free, however it comes back to how you are feeling now, but you feel as though there isn't much in life to give you any happiness.
Sometimes going to yoga may stimulate you, but you have to decide whether or not you want to go, or whether you don't feel like going, so then yoga isn't going to help you, as your mind set is telling you don't go, I'm too tired, so this is always going to be a problem.
I'm interested in why you wanted to be drug free, because what's lacking is the stimulation you need to get motivated as there doesn't seem to be any oomph, maybe your doctor could check your blood for signs of thyroid, or perhaps by taking vit B could help.
When you listen to anti-anxiety tapes you have to be willing to accept what is being said, because as soon as you block out what is being said then they won't help you. Geoff.

[_AnxiousMess_]

Hi White Rose

Thanks for your reply

medication was prescribed by a GP and I was naughty and came off unsupervised because I was just a hollow emotionless shell... which currently is sounding very appealing because I have too many feelings.

havent ever been to a therapist or psychologist I am looking into my options with these currently

just sick of fearing the next attack and crying

tha is again for your words of wisdom

[_AnxiousMess_]

Hi Jay

thanks for your kind words and support.

i have not been to any practitioner apart from a GP as I didn't know where to start.

i don't have a dr I go to regularly as the one I went to for years retired and I haven't found another

thinking that my next step is to seek the support of a psychologist or someone alike to find some better strategies to deal with life

thabka again

[_AnxiousMess_]

Hi Geoff

thanks for taking the time to reply... I love your dog I have 2 jack Russell's 😀

I decided to become medication free because I was a mindless drone on the meds and it wasn't until my husband pointed it out that I realised. He never liked the shell of a person I became on the medication

the upsides of the meds is they kept the constant anxiety and the waiting for the next attack at bay but after 8 months meds free I am beginning to feel like myself (in between the crying sleeping and stressing out)

i am very good at talking myself out of doing things that are beneficial for me by taking the easy way out and just going to bed... sleep is where my brain stops for a while and I can reset

not in a good place both physically and emotionally... just trying to fine my way out

[White_Rose]

Hello Anxious

Good to hear from you. Not sure which is worse, fearing the event of a panic attack or actually having one. Both are quite horrid. May I ask, have you talked with your GP about going off the meds? I hated taking medication. For me it meant I was useless and could not function on my own. That it was in some way shameful to take ADs. A lot of that came from my husband who considered no one should take medication. I used to get hay fever very badly and tried all sorts of tablets to control it. The pills made me sleepy/hyper alert/stuffed up nose, in short they did not work well. Then my GP put me on to a nasal spray which worked well.

Not the most exciting story, but even then my husband thought I was wrong to use the spray. All you have to do, he said, is to stop sneezing. Isn't that rather the point, if I could stop sneezing I would. Even though I had left my husband when I became depressed, the ideas he had still operated on me because he made it clear how stupid I was. So I started managing depression with a huge disadvantage, ashamed of taking pills.

This attitude is quite common, taking medication for depression or anxiety is somehow wrong. What ADs do for me is help me think more clearly, lose a great deal of anxiety because any event it seemed had me questioning myself, reading things into a situation that did not exist, crying, and generally becoming overwhelmed by my emotional malfunction.

I took many variations of one type of ADs and in reality, although some were better than others, none of them worked on me as they were designed to work. And I had some bad side effects. So my GP changed the type of AD and it was amazing. Not the whole battle by any means but so much relief. Only side effect is a dry mouth and I can manage that.

I go on about medication because it seems to help people manage and deal with mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. These pills are not a cure, but they make it easier to get back on your feet and start travelling your road to becoming well. It's a bit like training for a race with a broken leg. Yes you can grit your teeth and run but all the effort is essentially wasted because you are unable to run with a broken leg.

Your GP is in the best position to help you find a therapist to help you. Cost is important and does affect what you can and cannot do, so you need good advice. Consider meds again. Were there any unpleasant side effects? I hope you will continue this conversation.

Mary

[_AnxiousMess_]

Hi Mary

thanks for the reply

i don't really have a go that I go to regularly think I mentioned in another reply that mine retired and I havnt found another I am comfortable with.

the meds I've tried just end up me being an emotionless hollow shell of a being the only upside really was little to no anxiety attacks.

i need to find a go that I can talk to get a mental health action plan and not just be given medication and sent on my way because I have taken those particular AD before.

Now to deal with the anxious thoughts of Monday back at work and make it through the day without losing my mind.

i really wish that I could manage this all better not just try and cope day by day

[monkey_magic]

Hi anxious mess I know the feelings u r describing. I also took myself off meds CA's I felt like u did.I believe any exercise can help. But being the way we r we avoid avoid avoid....I sometimes drive to the gym,sit in my car contemplate going in then drive somewhere else. I sometimes take medication to relax but it's hard to come by. Poor us ,we need to get a grip lol. I understand the crying part...we need lots of money to just go travelling. No money/work/ ppl pressures just holidays,if only.....I've cried millions of tears....