Hello

[blkpitbull]

Hello,

First off my name is Todd. I am 29 and live in KY.

My story.

Now that I think of it, ive had anxiety tendencies since I was really young. But didnt develop full bloom until this past december. I have kidney stone problems ever since I was 17. Ive had about 14 sergeries since 1998. I had been on loracet 10's since 1999. Developed a addiction, and from about 1999 till Oct. of 06 I took at least 3 (most of the time around 5) loracet 10's a day. My wife sat me down last year and said she wasnt going to watch me die and said she was leaving if I didnt get help or stop!!!!! I quit righ then cold turkey, no weining. Ever since then (Dec. of 06) my anxiety has been HUGE!!! At first I couldnt drive, stayed in the bedroom, going to work or out with friends was hard, almost impossible. I tried to deal with it but I couldnt. Its been a TOUGH road, between quiting pain pills and the anxiety "flaring" up!!! I didnt know if I would make it and keep my wife, cause I am still driving her crazy. I finally went to the DR and she put me on zoloft. :shock: Hated it made my anxiety worse . And yes I was on it for about 2 months, so it shouldve been working. Now she has me on cymbalta and its working pretty darn good. A few annoying side effects but tolerable. She also gave me Ativan for those rough times and to help sleep. Its ALOT better than it was 7 months ago.

I have lots of questions, and hope to help a few along my journey here.

Will anxiety go away like it came???? I kindof came on fast and hard!

More later!! :D

Todd

[imported_admin]

I don't know this for sure, but I have been told before that anxiety is most common from teenage years to 30's. I am really hoping that the older I get, the less the anxiety will be.

[Robbed]

The question as to whether it will go away is impossible to answer. However, I can tell you about myself. My anxiety flared up VERY suddenly on October 20, 2006 (how could I forget that date?). Things have not been the same since. But over the last 10 months, things have DEFINITELY been improving. Granted, it has not been a good time these past 10 months And there have been LOTS of ups and downs (with the downs sometimes lasting for several weeks). But compared to even a couple of months ago, things are ALOT better. So hopefully, I will be able to overcome this at some point.

I shoud also note that I had an episode of anxiety about 13 years ago due to drug use (trying LSD REALLY seemed to do it). This episode lasted about three years. The first year was the WORST. AFter that year, I was feeling quite a bit better. But still not completelyright. It took twomore years for full recovery. Now I'm not sure how recovery from my current, stress-based anxiety will compare, as this aniety actually seems to be worse than the drug-based stuff. But as I said, hopefully I will recover.

Just keep a few things in mind. First of all, this thing is probably not going to resolve itself VERY soon. So be prepared to deal with this for a while - possibly a year or more. Secondly, try not to be too fearful of symptoms (both physical and emotional). The key to successfully overcoming anxiety is to try to remain calm through the worst of it. This is not easy. And you probably won't be able to do this rght away. But try the best you can. And finally, expect ups and downs. Recovery is not about getting better every day. You are going to have some bad days/weeks along the way.