Anxiety sucks !

[Long Haired Rob]

I'm new to this , and slowly I feel like I'm running out of options :(

My story is in August 2011 , I was at work and I suffered the worst anxiety attack I have had to date , light headed , chest pain , fizzy/pins&needles in both my arms , short of breath , things which I'm sure everyone who reads this has experienced before once , I went to the doctors on the same day and he told me exactly what had happened and that I had , had an anxiety attack , back then I felt like I didn't worry about anything other than the normal things such as health and diet and such , but nothing near what I worry about nowadays , anyway I went to see my GP again and he gave me a self help book from the NHS which I read two pages into and threw away as it stated that anxiety becomes worse when you think about it, (or something along those lines) HA! , after losing the self help book I felt as I was worry free for at least two months and then , on october 22nd i lost a family member close to me which sent me down a dark path of drink which lasted around three weeks , coming out of that wasn't easy but I can tell you now it does not help!!

Since that day my anxiety has slowly been creeping up on me and making life a lot harder to enjoy , some days I lose feeling to anything , lose touch with reality , I feel alone, lost in my own mind , fighting a losing battle against myself !! I have propanalol which was given to me through prescription and I havn't taken one since I took one and it gave an attack ! If anyone else has the same then some advice on them would be great !!

Like I said right at the start (sorry for the mass post) ANXIETY SUCKS and any advice would be great :)

[alankay]

Long, well if you're asking about meds an ssri could be tried at a low dose(zoloft at 25mg for 1 week then go to 50mg/day) and ask the doc about a short course of a long acting benzo(centrax, clorazepate, valium) to counter any temp increase in anxiety that often comes with starting an ssri. Then taper off the benzo. I think the NHS is reluctant to rx benzos so they might rx you lyrica(pregabalin, not a benzo) to lower your anxiety instead until the ssri kicks in. Inderal just works against adrenaline........which does help. I use it for social anxiety(racing heart/tremor).
Having said all that a psychic root of your anxiety should be looked for first if possible via a counselor. What is going on in you life and/or has gone on that might explain your anxiety? Sometimes we suppress conflicts/past abuse, etc, and this can cause anxiety. This really should be done before going down the med route unless you are in an acute high anxiety state. In that case you'll need to get calmed down to get started working on trying to find what's the cause of your anxiety and working to reduce it. CBT is also useful/helpful and should be considered. It helps many.
For now avoid/minimize caffeine and alcohol use, on the herbal side try some chamomile or passionflower teas, maybe valerian root, hops extract, skullcap or kava kava will help calm you(get at health food shops, etc). Some find melatonin helpful too as well as progressive relaxation, deep breathing exercises, and light aerobic exercise.
PM me any time. Alankay.