hello

[skippy0712]

Hi

I am new here and am so relived to find a bunch of people who know what it means when you say anxiety rather than people who just think you are making a fuss and you are just a bit nervous :)

I have suffered with anxiety since before I can remember. You guys will probably know what I am talking about when I say that I had no life cos I couldnt go out, unless completely necessary, couldnt sleep very well, waking up in panic etc etc... After 30 years of this and coming up against a brick wall of not even being able to go out of the door without bursting into tears, I figured that I needed help... my anxiety was rooted deeply in my past from when I was about 2... and it had just built up and built up over the years, so I had gotten really bad. Anxiety and mental health wasnt really that "fashionable" in those days as it is now, so I just ended up feeling like a total freak completely on my own. I didnt want to go on drugs prescribed from the doc, because I was so anxious, I was even too scared to do that... Also I didnt want to remove my reality, however bad it got. Trawling through my childhood was something that was actually really good... but people would say to me "How can you go through the pain of doing that?" I was so desperate to get out of this anxiety bubble that I would have done anything...

I am pleased to say now that I am fairly free of it, it still raises up its head now and then, but its copable with now. I make it sound like an easy road... it wasnt... the first 30 years of my life were a living nightmare with it, and the counselling was tough, but it is so so worth it now...

Thankyou for listening to my rambling, its good to be around other people who know how I feel

:)

[jitters]

Welcome, It's good to have fellow mostly recovered worriers here. You can help those who have newly realised their condition and those going through the recovery process. As you have been there and know better than anyone the problems it can cause.

Worriers of the World Unite!

Duncan ;)

[skippy0712]

Hi Duncan :)

Thankyou for your hello :) Glad to hear you are a recoverer as well... I feel a bit of a fraud really cos I am ok, but I have had a total nightmare... When I heard that others had recovered, I never thought I would be there in a million years, but I am telling you ANYONE can do it, and if I can help, I would love to :)

[guivolution]

glad to hear an honest fellow.. glad to hear you're doin' better. Curious about the ways of your recovery. Looks like you went down the hard way and not by medication or cognitive therapy..

by the way, I think you did the right thing..

[skippy0712]

:lol: I am a girlie, not a fellow :slywink: seriously tho, I didnt want the drugs, I figured that I didnt want to alter my reality, however bad it got, it was my reality and I needed to deal with it, not hide behind drugs. (I am really not dissing anyone who is on the drugs, but I just know that they wouldnt have worked for me - great respect to those who can make them work tho!)

If my journey can help anyone in anyway, I would be more than glad to help, I am very good at hand holding, which TBH is sometimes the very thing you need... half my problem was being isolated with something that anyone who has never experienced it just thinks is daft and you are being stupid. Sometimes just finding someone who knows how you feel is a massive step towards recovery. Thats why this forum is so good :)

[jitters]

The drugs used to treat anxiety do not alter your reality. They alter your mood, that why they are called happy pills. The work by increasing the serotonin in your brain chemistry. Some people here who have severe anxiety or panic attacks, use tranquilisers as these work differently I suppose you could say these were reality altering. But personally I think the problem with these drugs isn't this. (peoples reality is altered more by going out and getting drunk.) but rather the drugs addictive nature and the fact that if they work you wont know to pin down the true causes of your attacks.

In short tablets are a good tempory solution allowing you the ablity to fully focus on your recovery. In my case I couldn't think of anything other than how sick I felt prior to taking tablets, they helped me to turn down the volume on my symptoms to allow me to begin treatment. Not everyone should take tablets though if your symptom are entirly mental and dont manifest physically then you can attend therapy or do some self help to recover, however those of us with severe anxiety including panic attacks and many physical symptoms need a little help to begin the journey.

You'll find a lot of people here who dont take and never will take tablets. This is because anxiety sufferers (of course) are anxious about taking tablets its part of the condition. Even those who do take medication only do so after spending time thinking it, over researching the tablets and talking to there doctor. I think that if we could get therapy immidiatly maybe tablets would not be needed. But in the real world immidate help does not exist.

Except here. :)

Wow I went on there a bit... just thinking aloud. Sorry.

Duncan

[skippy0712]

Yeah, I kinda know what you mean and like I said big respect to those who use them and make them work. When I say alter my reality, I mean that I was not happy, I was not secure and thats what I needed to work on. I had some awful physical symptoms. I remember I had to travel 90 miles away from home and got in the car and couldnt feel my legs. I was constantly nauseous all the time I was awake and being sick it the worst thing I can think of. I was in a living nightmare as far as I was concerned! I know that therapy is not immediately available unless you are willing to pay heftily, but just the decision made to do something about it made my mood lighten and able to cope a bit more.

I know drugs can be a good thing, they were just not for me. I didnt want to lose control of myself or my mood because it was mine and as far as I could see thats all I had in my life that I had any control over, so thats the path I chose. Not an easy one by any means, although I shrug it off now, but it was still the best way for me to go. :)

[jitters]

I get nauseous too, now it turns out I have emetophobia (a fear of vomiting.). which is ironic as the anxiety makes me nauseous. :|

[skippy0712]

its horrendous isnt it? I feel for you Duncan... I dont have a phobia of being sick, but will do absolutely anything I can in the world to avoid it... Its because of the build up of adrenaline and noradrenaline that causes the nausea... I was told that I was supposed to do lots of exercise to burn it all off, but I could never get my act together and do it. Mainly because my anxiety was making me so depressed... its such a viscious circle isnt it?

[jitters]

Thanks skippy,

Yeah I was told that too, But I'm too lazy... :yawn:

Duncan.