Anxiety

[Ephemera]

Did said doc have a nice smiley Paxil mug on his desk courtesy of Smithkline as he wrote your prescription?

Is this a serious question?
If you had asthma and had to take drugs (inhalers) to control it would you say the same? What about blood pressure pills or people who have to take tablets to control Diverticulitis? Just because Depression and Anxiety is in the mind doesn't mean it lacks validity. (I'm fully aware that depression and anxiety is just as much a physical change within the brain as a mental one).

People really need to be more understanding of mental illness and less flippant towards people who suffer from it. Doctors will do their best to help anyone suffering from said problems so to suggest that they are in the pockets of major Pharma companies is careless and stupid.

 

[cu3ed]

Did said doc have a nice smiley Paxil mug on his desk courtesy of Smithkline as he wrote your prescription?

Your an utter idiot.
By the way my dad has been a Pharmacist for over 55 years, so know the ins and outs very well.

 

[Ephemera]

Why then people in this thread who have seen their doc and offered the hobsons choice of pharma drugs - antidepressants, benzos or CBT are still not cured?

Get of your butts and solve the problem yourselves. Not rocket science

You show a complete lack of understanding with regards to depression and anxiety. To suggest to someone "get of your butts and solve the problem yourselves" shows immense ignorance of the subject at hand. The understanding of the human brain is still in it's infancy so to suggest it's simple to fix mental illness is ridiculous. I can only hope your biased view against doctors and 'Pharma drugs' does not persuade people that their doctor cannot help them.

 

[EyepodI]

Your an utter idiot.
By the way my dad has been a Pharmacist for over 55 years, so know the ins and outs very well.

Cool... so he should know about all the kick backs the docs and pharmacists get for prescribing toxic chemicals as supposed cures. I often wonder how the human race survived until we had the likes of your dad to save us

 

[Castiel]

Why then people in this thread who have seen their doc and offered the hobsons choice of pharma drugs - antidepressants, benzos or CBT are still not cured?

Get of your butts and solve the problem yourselves. Not rocket science

Clearly you do not understand what Anxiety Disorder or Depression is or how it manifests in different people. It isn't as simple as getting a cure, I for one did not use any anti-depressants, I used a mixture of CBT and changing the way in which I approached the triggers, all prescribed and taken on advice from my GP, without whom I may well have never been diagnosed and would still be suffering in silence with little idea of how to deal with the changes that I was going through mentally.

My GP advised against using anti-depressants or medication, advising that we should try other non-medicated regimes instead....for me it worked, for others medication works, for others something else.

You say you are giving helpful advice when in fact you are offering the opposite and simply reinforcing my initial response to your post.

 

[EyepodI]

You show a complete lack of understanding with regards to depression and anxiety. To suggest to someone "get of your butts and solve the problem yourselves" shows immense ignorance of the subject at hand. The understanding of the human brain is still in it's infancy so to suggest it's simple to fix mental illness is ridiculous. I can only hope your biased view against doctors and 'Pharma drugs' does not persuade people that their doctor cannot help them.

By the sounds of it they don't seemed to have helped you.

Maybe time to think outside of the box?

Iam not knocking all docs but big pharma is the second biggest money spinner in the world after oil. They don't want to cure you as it will destroy their revenue stream. Business is business. Ever read the contra indications on your meds?

 

[Ephemera]

By the sounds of it they don't seemed to have helped you.

Maybe time to think outside of the box?

Iam not knocking all docs but big pharma is the second biggest money spinner in the world after oil. They don't want to cure you as it will destroy their revenue stream. Business is business. Ever read the contra indications on your meds?

Wow! Your ignorance knows no bounds. I think I'm done with any rational discussion with you, unless you can remove your obvious biased views.

For what it's worth I was on medication (Fluoxetine 20mg) for 10 months before I realised it didn't work for me. Since September 2010 I've been clear of any drugs so you're statement is clearly nonsense.

 

[Energize]

Medications like pregabalin, baclofen, tiagabine and diazepam can be very effective for anxiety and work very quickly, I would definitely say they are worth considering given their lack of cross-tolerance and excellent side effect profiles.

Does anyone else get the falling sudden jolting?

You mean hypnic jerks? Often they are brought on by stress or anxiety, but everyone experience them from time to time.

There is no cure for anxiety.

Nardil / phenelzine is supposed to be effective but only private psychiatrists will prescribe it in the UK apparently. SSRIs / citalopram do very little.

That's not true, even some GP's will prescribe phenelzine.

 

[CliffyBiro]

I 'suffer' from anxiety and bouts of depression. It's nothing I can't handle, but it can and does affect things from time to time and can be hard to deal with at the time.

 

[Mutt]

Medications like pregabalin, baclofen, tiagabine and diazepam can be very effective for anxiety and work very quickly, I would definitely say they are worth considering given their lack of cross-tolerance and excellent side effect profiles.

I must look in to those medications. For years I self-prescribed with booze but thankfully I was able to curtail that before it turned in to an addiction.

I had an anxiety attack on a plane in New York just prior to take-off. I told one of the air stewardesses that I couldn't catch my breath and that I might have to leave the plane for a moment. Within a minute the airport medics were there lying me down across the chairs, asking me all kinds of questions about my health (which, with hindsight is a good thing). I'm quite reserved so all this attention was very embarrassing. To cut a long story short, I was advised to leave the plane and try flying out the next day, which I did. A work colleague left the plane with me and we booked a hotel room each. Apart from a few hours sleep we spent the rest of the time drinking. The drinking carried on until I got on the plane the next day. I fell asleep just after take-off and was woken up just as we were about to land.

For a good few years after that I was convinced the only way to get through or prevent the anxiety attacks was to have a fair few drinks first. Turns out I was wrong! Drinking creates more problems than it solves.

These days I try not to put myself in triggering situations but that's no way to live. That's why I'd like to try some of the medications suggested here.

 

[Energize]

Alcohol is about the worst drug to self medicate with, highly toxic and causes intoxication, the effects of anxiolytic medications are much more subtle and often you can't tell you've taken anything, but the anxiety melts away to peaceful tranquility in minutes. I don't recommend anyone try self medicating, unfortunately it often results from a lack of adequate treatment or reluctant of doctors to prescribe medications which have abuse potential or are not licensed for that indication. Certainly things like research chemicals, cannabis and alcohol are best avoided.

 

[cu3ed]

Drink and anxiety are pretty much polar opposites as well, as you can usually find when the booze wears off you get a come down effect from it, and anxiety can spike around that time.

 

[cu3ed]

Cool... so he should know about all the kick backs the docs and pharmacists get for prescribing toxic chemicals as supposed cures. I often wonder how the human race survived until we had the likes of your dad to save us

Seeing as you don't know your history in the slightest or anything about what your talking about, and it's hard to answer.
The only answer is, people then really did not cope well at all, they or where simply locked away.
Ps, seeing as you have terms of thinking out of the box, and seemingly know of better ways to treat this. Please write the thesis up for us, as clearly you know of something the entire medical profession has been missing.

 

[Mutt]

Because I didn't have the knowledge to address the anxiety attacks in the proper way I fell back on the old philosophy of getting blotto to blank out any problems. In truth I wasn't even thinking that. I could only think of what my work colleagues would say about me when I returned home. I'm more clued up now but my mind still contemplates a crafty few pints down the pub if I have to be somewhere which would previously stress me out.

 

[kitch9]

Does anyone else get the falling sudden jolting?

Only in the early stages of sleep sometimes... Anxiety attacks suck as they mimic a heart attack, especially the first time they hit without warning.

I had to call an ambulance when one hit for the first time, and they treated it like heart issues at first which obviously makes the problem worse!

 

[magick]

Does anyone else here suffer from this?

I got told by my a GP a couple of years ago I suffer from chronic anxiety. At the time I was about to do my driving test or something, I can't remember exactly what but it was something you could expect to be anxious about.

Anyway I was losing my appetite and couldn't sleep and just being constantly on edge all the time. I managed to deal with it and stopped getting nervous about lots of things but recently I've become really aware of it again and a few times a day now I'll just get really anxious, feel really sick and it'll take 10 minutes or so for it to pass.

I've been thinking about seeing someone for it for a while now and then last night I went on a date and nearly almost ruined it because I just got too anxious. I'm not scared of this girl or anything it wasn't the first time I've seen her but we went to a restaurant that was way too posh and it just put me on edge.

For the most part you wouldn't be able to tell as I normally can cover it pretty well but lately it's just feeling like it's getting much more frequent even if it's not that long and I'd really like to deal with it.

I know it's all psychological and as soon as I get past it everything is fine again. When I was in China I went somewhere that would normally make a lot of people nervous (it was like some job itnerview thing where I was the guest of honour at this massive meal, I couldn't speak Mandarin and no one there could speak English much) but the situation was so strange that I was fine.

Anyway I used that for ages in my mind as like what's happening is nowhere near as ridiculous as that and I coped with that. That worked really well for ages but it was too long ago now and it's really not working for me.

Does anyone have any idea how to deal with something like that? I was thinking CBT but my flatmate said she goes and it isn't for that.

Try deep rhythmic breathing, maintain for as long as possible during the day. Trust me this works. Forget drugs and medication.

By Rythmic I mean you breath the same amount in and the same amount out through your nose and use your abodoman as opposed to your chest.

Here's a good video to check

check this book as well

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Daoist-Nei-Gong-Philosophical-Change/dp/1848190654

 

[pitchfork]

I suffer from attacks of anxiety, sometimes it's what makes me so good at what I do though. Drives me to prepare as much as possible, less socialisation during those periods so more work done.

Been on all these drugs before for anxiety and depression, none of them did anything good, always found it a waste of time talking to someone (telling me what I already know). So I kind of go hermit mode for a while, take that hit of hellish panic and being on edge, and not being able to really interact on any meaningful level. Then I'm fine for a few months after, tend to find excercise helps as well.

 

[kayomani]

Taking a B vitamin complex is the best thing I have tried for anxiety, no fix but it certainly makes quite a difference.

 

[Adsta]

I had problems with anxiety attacks too. My main prob was that I would sweat lots on my forehead (even if it was not remotely warm) which made me felt worse and rather damm annoying. It took a while for my GP to put it down to anxiety issues. As this only occurred on jam packed buses where I felt uncomfortable. Well just in general if I felt uncomfortable in any situation. It was annoying but didn’t really happen that much so didn't think much of it.

I have since moved to Brussels and noticed it getting a lot worse. So I went to see a doctor (I would just like to say now Belgium's medical care is much better than the UK in my opinion ) She said it was anxiety problems and its most likely happening more because of such a big lifestyle change. She sat there and told me breathing techniques to basically cool myself down, this might sound stupid but it really helps. I also got given a prescription of Alprazolam which are kind of emergency pills to take. If I really start feeling that anxiety coming on, it’s kind of hard to explain the feeling but anyways. I take one of the Alprazolam and after about 5 mins (along with breathing techniques) I feel completely fine.

Overall I'm generally happier. That said I have also been going through a major change of things. I'm eating healthier, exercising 5 days a week. I'm dropping quite a bit of weight which I'm happy about and my social life in Brussels is becoming much better.

Anxiety is a royal pain but I seem to have much much better control over mine now

 

[Gun9]

Google 5hpt this will make everyone of you feel better.

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-suppl...veIngredientId=794&activeIngredientName=5-HTP