Anxiety sufferers here?

I've had plenty of prescriptions since I was a kid. I stopped all of them a few years ago. Since then I've slowly learned I don't need them. Even took one last year to remind myself I hated them. I do hate them all. Everyone is different yes but none helped me. I've had a lot of time on my hands and beautiful weather also and when I'm feeling really terrible I've been riding my bike around in the country enjoying the air scenery and solitude. I breathe through the attacks and peddle my ars off. I always end up back at home feeling good about myself and my issue seems to have been lessened. The body can take care of its own problems and work them out if you let it. Time can heal or time can let it all build up. I'm still working through it and have never had so much to be stressed about. If I let it all get to me I'd explode. Reading about how others on here deal with it will bring you a peace of mind. I've realized my life is by no means the worst one out there. Good luck and please work with what you already have. A mind that wants to get better will. No one had ever pinpointed what I need but help is nice if you look in the right places. Peace.

a reply to: lamplighters

I do and it sucks.

A simple phone call is a problem. Ever tried to say 'Nice to meet you' when you have an anxiety disorder? It comes out as "nice to good weather' or 'how's it are you?'. I've been called everything from awkward to a social retard and I can understand why, but then I can thrust my middle in their face and call them a fludding duckhead.

My tongue and my brain may not be on the same wavelength, but my fingers are fine tuned and said fingers can speak words my mouth could not.

Social anxiety and depression here.

Took prozac for a while and it seemed to help but ended up tapering off so I stopped about a month or two ago.

Can't stand being in any social setting for very long before having to retreat. Prevents me from keeping a job or holding many meaningful relationships. I've come to accept this and am okay being me. Wouldn't change a thing really.

I will have to see what the brand name is. Im working at the moment. Will find out though.

a reply to: lamplighters

my wife was on that it did nothing shes now on paroxatine only started today

a reply to: Hefficide

Those were the 2 that helped me the most. As you already mentioned though, "the baggage". For me it was my shrink and my body. My shrink refused to give me more than .5 milligram Klonopin, and my body became so used to it, it became worthless at that dose.

My best recommendation for anyone suffering from anxiety? Don't drink alcohol! No matter how much of an issue you might have with your doctor, FIND ANOTHER ONE, before you self medicate with booze. It is a temporary fix at best, with MANY dangerous consequences that will hit you hard in the near future!

As someone else already mention, find your trigger points that brings it on, and try to avoid those stressors!

Loved hearing all of the different advice and opinions!

originally posted by: donktheclown
a reply to: lamplighters

Hey guys i suffer from anxiety,

This is something quick you can try as it has worked for me. I feel like adrenaline is the main culprit behind anxiety for me, so when I have a full blown case coming on, I tighten up every muscle I can and just squeeze as hard as possible, for as long as possible. Repeat this as many times as you feel necessary. This uses up the adrenaline and gives it something to do instead of making you feel lousy. Good Luck.

I've got to the point that when I feel an attack coming on I remember previous instances that passed.
They used to be frequent in University but recent years they have all but ceased.
I found that as soon as you remind yourself that its not fatal and will pass then the anxiety starts to wane.
Your suggestion about tensing muscles worked for me plus I found running a great way to use up the adrenaline.

a reply to: lamplighters

Some suggestions come to mind, as a former anxiety sufferer myself. Please do your own research and decide what suits your needs and your profile best:
I did changes in my diet, increased the veggie consumption, avoided sugars as best i could, no sodas and no alcohol.
Magnesium, helps the nervous system, muscles etc.
Zinc, was helpful to me.
5htp, non addictive mood and sleep regulator.
I drank apple cider vinegar, unsulphured, with the mother, 2tbs mixed with warm water, honey to taste, squeezed half lemon, twice daily.
Valerian root and rhodiola, i've read and researched, but not taken myself as i didn't need them.
Most important, exercise daily. I walked an hour a day, as this regulated my digestive system and sleep pattern, but i also did cardio on a stepmaster - this increases heart rate and trains the heart to withstand emotionally charged situations.
I need to say i was prescribed different psychosomatic drugs from my doctor which i did not take, but that was my personal choice. It is a "mind game" - change your routine/perspective, change the outcome.
All the best,
Hugs.

a reply to: lamplighters

I suffer from Anxiety. Have the panic attacks and the obsessive thoughts. I had Paxil, 20 mg did nothing, 40mg made me feel "weird". Almost like I was constantly off balance. I also have 20mg of Buspar for supposed "immediate" relief but it also does nothing. I could try the 30mg of Paxil but I'm tired of spending money when nothing works for me.

Right now I just stay active so I don't dwell on it, but I will keep an eye on this thread as well

a reply to: lamplighters

I like paroxetine (Paxil)- 20mg dose. It takes the edge off significantly. I could easily up the dosage to 40mg but I don't need to so I don't want to mess with it.

It also has a very short half life so the negative side effects that accompany such medications can be relieved from taking a weekend off.

Sometimes your brain needs help. For some therapy works (didn't for me) but others needs medication.

I feel for you. Take care of it before it gets worse, don't put up with it. Or people's judgement of getting help. They can F-Off because they'll never understand.

a reply to: zedy63

Ya mirtazapine is crazy. i was being kind when i said it made her nuts. She was in full blown psychosis. I was accused of living a double life. I was either a cop or in hells angles. I made my own pay stubs on the computer and sent them to the house every 2 weeks.
There was constantly someone "breaking into" our house and hiding things on her to make her seem crazy.
she thought she was being watched through the tv. I was plotting to kill her in a car accident and her mother and father where in on it....

It really messed her up. I finnaly got her admitted into the hospital and after a few days found that the mirtazapine was the reason behind it all.
Whats even more crazy is hat it lasted for 2 months and she doesnt remember any of it

Mitazapine is in the same class as Venlafaxine, Bupropion, Lorazepam, Promethazine, and, Ondansetron. It is used for severe depression, which I also have. Citolopram is an SSRI. Mirtazapine is not. The lamictal is also used for bipolar, PTSD, and some forms of seizures. Probably why it helps with the tremors. The SSRIs did not work for me, made me not feel anything, or terrible violent mood swings. Every body is different. Getting the right one is trial and error it seems. I don't have any odd side effects from the mirtazapine. It helps me sleep when not severly agitated, and it increased my appetite. I lost like 50 Lbs when I was at my worst, so that side effect helped tremendously. But like I said in my first post, counceling has helped the most. Talking and ranting is great! Having to take no drugs is my goal. May never happen, but it is something to strive for.

Go to a naturopath. Deficiencies of zinc, vitamins b & d and of magnesium can all worsen anxiety.

I only get anxiety in the winter...prolly SAD... and vitamin b & d bring me out of it.

I've heard very good reports on Kava-Kava - on top of the natural dietary stuff many of you rightly espouse. Of course not for a severely depressed person, neither for a liver patient. But my severely depressed stepmom could use it in Hawaii instead of all her meds she took for decades like Lithium. Plus she could give up drinking as a result. And smiled a lot.

It's a perfectly legal Polynesian herb grown in Hawaii.

Also, when you take medicinal mushrooms like real Ganoderma Lucidum, it may eliminate certain sources of anxiety such as a bad candida or an acidic overbalance. Some folks feel a boost of power right away if that's where your imbalance lies.
Meditation helped me in many ways, particularly Hindu mantras and total relax as well as Tibetan Tsa Lung breathing (Bon school). It's a type of very easy chakra breathing you can learn from YouTube videos.

NLP suggestions in "ericksonian hypnotherapy" work wonders, carefully and individually given out, as carefully as a homeopath chooses between thousands of remedies.

Sometimes a good homeopath can help you with odd things - I was calmed from life-threatening anxiety for a whole year by drinking drops of a Korsakoff-solution of homeopathic lead metal (Plumbum), then mercury compounds like cinnabar - homeopathy produces the opposite effects than these poisons do on the allopathic scale.

One more point - if you accidentally overdose on caffeine, a bit of nutmeg or mace can help. Be very careful though because larger amounts are actually poisonous as well as hallucinogenic. But a sprig of mace chewn after a strong coffee or a couple of dashes of nutmeg powder in your coffee cup are OK. (Except if you are a serious liver patient.)

originally posted by: Look2theSacredHeart
Go to a naturopath. Deficiencies of zinc, vitamins b & d and of magnesium can all worsen anxiety.

I only get anxiety in the winter...prolly SAD... and vitamin b & d bring me out of it.

wait what is this you are saying?
so a multi vitamin supplement may help?

also, i am in the UK so sadly a lot of the medicines people have said in this thread i do not recognise
maybe there is a UK equivelant of them?

a reply to: lamplighters

While I am not a doctor, I do have several years of experience with Citalopram. In fact I am currently holding a bottle of 20 mg Citalopram in my hand ( pulled it out of my medication drawer to check the dosage I was taking ).

That dose was 20 mg once per day, in the morning. As I recall this was considered a very light dose - which makes sense as I have a long history of having adverse reactions to SSRI's and SSNRI's. Citalopram, in fact, being the only one I managed to take beyond a couple of weeks - ever.

Reiterating that this is not a professional opinion at all and absolutely should not be construed as medical advice, if it were me, I would not change dosage without consulting with my doctor first. These medications can take days or weeks to reach therapeutic levels, so changing dosages is usually a very slow process. In my experience the process is that a doctor would bump the dose up ( or down ) a bit, wait for a month, and then make another minor adjustment if necessary and wait another month... And so on.

The problem is that anything that can take weeks to reach a certain blood level also implies that the levels go back down slowly as well. If a toxic level is reached, as far as I know, there is no way to rapidly bring that chemical level back down. Not too many years ago I had to spend nearly a week in the hospital due to a severe reaction to Cymbalta. That reaction took about 10 days of dosage to occur and about half as long before the chemical had left my blood stream.

Also in my experience, almost all anxiety medications, particularly antidepressants and antipsychotics ( A couple are indicated for anxiety ), cause me to have a general "meh" feeling. They make me feel like I'm both tired and suffering from the flu. Appetite is also often effected. Seroquel, for example, caused me to eat ravenously and left me always feeling as though I was starving. I gained about 50-60 pounds in just a couple of months.

Sorry I have not read everyone's responses before replying. A friend of mine had really bad anxiety and was diagnosed by hair test that she should not consume dairy or citrus. After ceasing these things her anxiety attacks went away.
Anyway now I will read the rest of the reply.
Good brain waves to all if those who suffer from anxiety.

I have suffered anxiety and depression on and off through my life. I'm an obsessive worrier and when there are a lot of stressful things in my life too close together then I get panicky feelings alternating with depression. In the distant past I have used prescription anti-anxiety and anti-depressants but now I just try to heal myself. I know that even though the feelings are difficult and painful to live with, they will pass eventually.

Some of this will be repeats of what others have said but here goes:

1. Lay off the doom porn for a while, try to stay positive
2. Take magnesium and vitamin b & C & D
3. When feeling down or panicky remind yourself "this too shall pass"
4. Exercise regularly even when you don't feel like it
5. Reduce your caffeine by half
6. Don't sit around and dwell on dark thoughts- stay busy
7. Ask for help from your dreams

For number 7 I will give some more explanation. I had a stressful summer this year and for a few months have been feeling a lot of anxiety. After getting into bed I ask for a dream regarding how I can help myself. In my dream that night, a woman I know found out something bad that a wealthy man did and he was trying to kill her to keep her quiet. I was trying to help her hide. From this dream I took the message "stop focusing on yourself...find someone with worse problems than yours and try to help them."
It is allergy season in my county. I work with the public and I see a lot of people miserable with their allergy symptoms, including myself. I am taking allergy meds but I also asked for a dream about what more I could do to help myself. I had a dream that I was cleaning and vacuuming around my house. Of course...the house is full of pollen, dust and cat dander and I need to do a better job of cleaning it up so that I am not inhaling it when I am at home. So just 2 illustrations about how asking for helpful dreams can deliver for you.

Just know that others are sending positive thoughts for your speedy recovery.

Sal


a reply to: lamplighters

its my third day of being on 40mg and i feel a LOT better

but i heard 40mg is the maximum to take?
im confused about citolopram anyone taking it?