I'm sure there are some ladies here dealing with anxiety as well as depression. Just wondering what you do to cope with the panic attacks, the constant racing thoughts, the idea that nothing will ever get better, that worst-case scenario is always what will happen. I hate taking meds They gave me zoloft and ativan, ativan calms me waaaay too much with just half the dose I was prescribed. And the zoloft is in the same family as paxil, which I had huge problems with.
I am hoping to find some natural alternatives.
It is getting worse though...I dont want to leave the house anymore. I have had three pieces of clothing that need to be returned to the mall, for about 2 weeks now I have been avoiding going back because I dont want to deal with all the people and returning things is horrible for me But I cant hold on to clothes that are brand new and too big either!!
I need to buy groceries but have just been making do with what we have so I dont have to go to the grocery store I am going to Atlanta in 5 days and that is the ONLY place I want to go. I have to get a valid drivers license too, or I cant go. I have to take the driving test though, and I am very nervous about it, so I have put it off until the last possible moment. I may end up having to pay 2x as much to get a state id instead.
I cant go on like this much longer, otherwise I will only get worse
Katrina
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Hang in there. I know it's hard dealing with everything. I know how you feel and have lately been trying to go au natural as well. I recently discontinued Paxil which helped so much with my racing thoughts and social anxiety, which I think was more generalized mostly about work and leaving the house. I know how you feel and how sometimes looking at the "negative" side seems more logical...cause why would you want to get your hopes up anyway, right? The only thing that has helped me is coming on here and typing my thoughts and feelings as well as learning breathing and relaxation methods...mostly yoga. I can't say it has solved all my "issues" but enough that I have been able to function "normally" without freaking out. I still sometimes wake up at night and dewell like there's no tomorrow...but atleast give it a try. Good Luck !
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Hi, I suffered from anxiety in graduate school (panic attacks, not wanting to leave my apartment, bursting into tears whenever I had to go to school or think about school, hyperventilating, having a constant "ticker-tape" in my head telling me I was stupid, etc.), but no more. The reason I no longer have it is because I did Cognitive Behavioral Therapy my second year of graduate school. This kind of therapy is anxiety-specific (though they do work with depression caused by anxiety). It is very well researched (with controlled studies in academic and medical journals) and has a specific step program and they can tell you how many people are helped by each step and to what amount. It helps about the same % of people that are helped by drugs and has the advantage that it keeps on working even after you stop the therapy (whereas drugs often have to keep being taken).
It is therapy of a finite duration as well, I think 8 weeks total (it may vary, and I responded so well to the first few steps that they graduated me early). The idea behind it is to stop the physical response to the anxiety so that you rational mind can take over. The first step is to practice your breathing-- you have to learn to breathe deeply and associate that breathing with relaxing (so it has to be shown to you by a professional and you actually have to practice it outside of therapy sessions). The second session is on muscle relaxation techniques (which made me fall asleep). The third session was about writing lists (dividing a paper in half lengthwise) of what you think is going to go wrong and how terrible it is, and then writing on the other half something more realistic and less fatalistic (like even if I flunk out of the program, which I'm probably not really going to do, I can still live a happy life and be a productive person-- I keep my first list on our refrigerator still to remind me), and so on. There are also techniques about how to stop the tickertape/racing thoughts (just say "Stop" forcefully, and if that doesn't work, use a rubber band on the wrist and snap it to stop the negative thoughts).
I really really really recommend this kind of therapy for anxiety. It got me through my 2nd year of grad school (with A's!) and without it I would not have passed my general exams. And now I'm one of the most relaxed people I know-- going on the job market I just did not get anxious at all, even when my friends were going crazy. It's because every time my heart starts racing, my body starts the breathing techniques automatically and calms me down.
There are a couple self-help books that describe this therapy, but going in to an actual therapist trained in the technique is still the best option. One is called Mind over Mood, and another is called Taking control of your moods and your life: the Thoughts and Feelings Workbook. These do a good job of describing the techniques and helped me some (they were recommended by the therapist to go through while waiting for my first appointment).
The place where I did my anxiety therapy had a sliding payment scale based on our income. It was also covered by BC/BS, and had an option for free treatment if you agreed to be a subject in research studies.
There are a bunch of anxiety clinics using behavioral cognitive therapy in the country, so I really strongly urge you to try it. I can't emphasize how much it completely changed my life. I went from not being able to control my emotions at all (it's scary!) to being one of the most calm people I know.
Good luck with everything! I had to work really hard to escape my anxiety, but I did, and you can too!
I chew gum. At work that is. I know it is really simple but it works for me when I get mild anxiety or am feeling stressed. For times when I have very bad anxiety I take a Xanex and on days when I have an actual anxiety attack I just stay home..call in sick/cancel gatherings and do Christina time.
I have terrible anxiety and depression! PM me if you ever need to talk! *hugs*
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Hi there! I, too, had cognitive behaviour therapy. It helped me regain my life back.
Here are a couple of handouts my therapist gave me:
Steps To Managing Your Anxiety
1. Recognize your feelings of anxiety - call the feeling by its name.
2. Anxiety is a feeling - it cannot physically harm you or make you "lose control."
3. Anxiety has physical and cognitive aspect - physical feelings can lead to certain thoughts, and certain thought can lead to physical feelings.
4. Thoughts and physical feelings may be "linked" to places or situations, but the places or situations do not cause anxiety.
5. The more you "fight" or try to push away the feelings, the more power (and adrenalin) you give to anxiety.
6. Avoidance of places, situations, and feelings increases anxiety.
7. Each time you practice "facing" the place, situation, or feeling, the less anxious you will become.
8. Don't forget to breathe!!
Coping Strategies for Panic Disorder
1. Stay in the here and now. Don't anticipate in fear, wondering what could happen. Keep your thoughts on what you are NOW doing or where you NOW are.
2. Accept the "first feelings" of anxiety. Don't try to make them go away. Your force of will cannot make the feelings go away.
3. Do not add "second fear," which is saying to yourself things like, "What if....? Suppose.....? I hope this is over soon, I can't stand this any longer!" Remember, it's not the place but the thought that's causing the anxiety.
4. Remember that you can be anxious and still do what you are doing! Say to yourself, "It's okay to be anxious and I can do this no matter how I feel!" Face the fear and the fear will disappear! Remember that the feelings of anxiety are distressful but not dangerous. Remember that you're learning to re-educate your body.
5. Your body is only responding to the thought in your mind, which signals danger. Feelings follow thoughts so quickly that it's hard to see the connection sometimes. Therefore, we must replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts. Positive thoughts are like these:
* This is only a feeling and although it's distressful, it can't hurt me or cause any lasting danger.
* It's ok to feel anxious.
* I can do this no matter how I feel.
* I will accept this anxiety and continue doing what I must.
* I will not avoid or run away from anxiety because I know that each time I do, I reinforce the idea that there really is something to fear.
* But each time I face the fear, I learn that I can see it through by accepting the anxiety. And little by little the fear lessens.
List of Cognitive Errors
1. ALL-OR-NOTHING THINKING: You see things in black-or-white categories. If a situation falls short of perfect, you see it as a total failure.
2. OVERGENERALIZATION: You see a single negative event, such as a romantic rejection or a career reversal, as a never-ending pattern of defeat by using words such as "always" or "never" when you think about it.
3. MENTAL FILTER: You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it exclusively, so that your vision of all reality becomes darkened, like the drop of ink that discolors a beaker of water. Example: You receive many positive comments about your presentation to a group of associates at work, but one of them says something mildly critical. You obsess about his reaction for days and ignore all the positive feedback.
4. DISCOUNTING THE POSITIVE: You reject positive experiences by insisting "they don't count." If you do a good job, you may tell yourself that it wasn't good enough or that anyone could have done as well. Discounting the positive takes the joy out of like and makes you feel inadequate and un-rewarded.
5. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS: You interpret things negatively when there are no facts to support your conclusion. Variations on this theme are:
* Mind reading: Without checking it out, you arbitrarily conclude that someone is reacting negatively to you.
* Fortune telling: You predict that things will turn out badly, even when you don't really know what will happen.
6. MAGNIFICATION: You exaggerate the importance of your problems and shortcomings or you minimize the importance of your desirable qualities.
7. EMOTIONAL REASONING: You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect the way things really are: "I feel guilty. I must have done something wrong. I must be a bad person. OR I fell anxious. Something terrible must be about to happen."
8. SHOULD STATEMENTS: You tell yourself that things should be the way you hoped or expected them to be. "Musts," "oughts," and "have to's" are similar offenders. "Should" statements that are directed against yourself lead to guilty and frustration. "Should statements" directed against other people or the world in general lead to anger and frustration.
9. LABELING: Labeling is an extreme form of all-or-nothing thinking. Instead of saying "I made a mistake," you attach a negative label to yourself: "I'm a loser." You might also label yourself "a fool" or "a failure" or "a jerk." Labeling is quite irrational because you are not the same as what you do. Human beings exist, but "fools," "losers," and "jerks" do not. These labels are just useless abstractions that lead to anger, anxiety, frustration, and low self-esteem.
10. PERSONALIZATION AND BLAME: Personalization occurs when you hold yourself personally responsible for an event that isn't entirely under your control. Personalization leads to guilt, shame, and feelings of inadequacy. For example, a woman who received a notice that her child was having difficulties at school told herself, " This shows what a bad mother I am," instead of trying to pinpoint the cause of the problem so that she could be helpful to her child. The problem with this line of thinking is that the distortion actually stimulates anxious sensations (swearing, heart racing) and consequently reinforce the behavior of them reoccurring in the future.
__________________ enits
Noelle - my little baby, was only with us for 17 weeks and 5 days, February 7, 2005
2nd loss - my little angel, could only stay with us for a little while, 8 weeks, August 3, 2005
Hoping to remain positive, always...
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I take clonazapam it is a slow release ativan so it kinda calms you a bit all day, but not like a zombie, and if you have really bad times you can still take an ativan as well!
For some people nothing natural can take care of anxiety, but I hope you find something for you!
Also online support helps too!
Check out the link in my siggy
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Katrina, I also experience mild anxiety (as well as some not-so-mild anxiety), in addition to my depression. Using meditation sometimes helps me. If I meditate on a regular basis, then when I know I'm going to get an anxiety attack, getting into a meditative state of mind will help me stay more calm and relaxed. I have been out of practice recently, but I noticed that it did make a difference when I regularly meditated.
My anxiety is triggered by a fear of social situations - a fear of being judged. It has helped me to work on reducing that fear to a degree. I may worry that people will think I'm dumb, or unattractive, but I remind myself that it is perfectly okay to be those things once in a while. It's okay to be less than perfect. Therapy can be very helpful, when dealing with those issues.
If you are interested in herbs, St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) is helpful for both depression and anxiety, although I personally have not tried it yet. You may also want to look into aromatherapy (which I also have not tried, but have heard helps).
My thoughts are with you Katrina. ((hugs))
__________________ I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. - Helen Keller
I suffer from anxiety too if you need some advice please pm me.
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I have severe anxiety, panic disorder and agoraphobia so I know how you feel. I usually manage to get out and about a bit if I feel ok, but recently I've been really bad and I also have loads of stuff to take back to the shops!! Almost 100 pounds worth of stuff!! There are plenty of things to try. St John's Wort works wonders on depression and makes life easier to cope with, did with me anyway. I find simple things can make anxiety much better - a bath with aromatherapy oils and getting your shoulders and neck under hot water, get a massage if possible, I try to sit out in the sun when it's nice. I am very sorry to hear what you're going through, you'll be in my thoughts.
Hugs xx
www.stresscenter.com is very helpful. Order the "attacking anxiety and depression" program, its lifechanging. Im going thru the program and it realy does work.
I have suffered terrible anxiety and panic attacks for many years now.
I find Bach Flower Remedies "Rescue Remedy" really helpful. You should be able to buy it at a health food shop (that's where you'd get it in Australia) but I'm sure if you do a Google Search on "Bach Flower Remedies" you'd find it. It is natural flower essences in either a spray or drops (usually in a mild alcohol solution, but you only use a couple of mls at a time) that you pop on your tongue. It really does work and quickly too.
I also find certain pieces of music really helpful as well. Something gentle and soothing just to ease the mind into relaxation.
i suffer from anxiey, i dont know if its real bad, i guess not seeing as my doc hasent done anything about it.
i suffer from acid reflux as well because of it.
and its all down to this damn facial hair!
i hate sitting at home of a weekend because my friends had a habit of turning up un anounced while i;ve had a face full of hair! and now i go into a panic when ever a car drives past, or my dogs start barking! and geeze if somone knocked on my do0r i think i would just about drop dead!
the only way i somewhat deal with it i guess is to distract myself, so block everything out and then i find myself not thinking about it!
Anyone else with anxiety ? 
They gave me zoloft and ativan, ativan calms me waaaay too much with just half the dose I was prescribed. And the zoloft is in the same family as paxil, which I had huge problems with. 
