GAD or just too much stress?

[typea]

I'm a new member and glad to have found this forum. I've been reading a lot of posts, but I was hoping to get some feedback on my situation. I apologize that this will probably be a long post, and say thanks in advance to anyone who reads this and takes a minute to respond...

I've been under a tremendous amount of stress the past 3 years or so, for a variety of reasons. I'm the epitome of the Type A personality. I own my own business that while doing very well overall the past few years there have been some serious ups and down. I've had some serious financial pressures over the past few years, we built our "dream house" that was incredibly stressful and went way over budget which contributed to the stress, and we also had our first child that I have found to be pretty stressful as well (the poor child is a horrible sleeper, cries a lot throughout the day, etc.)

Anyway, I've always been somewhat "anxious" due to my Type A personality. But the past 3 years or so have been so incredibly stressful for me, and lately my anxiety has gotten pretty bad. I've only had 1 real panic attack, so that is not an ongoing problem ... but the constant and increasing anxiety has definitely started to interfere with my work and life. I have a lot of the common physical symptoms - high blood pressure, occasional pounding heart beat/palpitations, hard time going to sleep many nights, etc. And of course I have even more anxiety about my anxiety, and more anxiety due to the physical symptoms. It's like a viscious cycle sometimes.

I don't know if I have what is considered to be GAD, or just an extreme amount of stress. I only stress about very real and specific things such as problems at work, financial issues, etc. I don't have social anxiety, I don't have panic attacks, I am definitely not depressed, and I don't really have irrational fears or worries that seem to problems for people with GAD.

Mainly it's just the thinking, thinking, dwelling, ruminating, worrying, and the inability to "shut off" my mind. I sometimes feel pretty tired in the afternoons, although I wouldn't say fatigue is a major problem either.

Here is what I don't understand...

I've recognized that anxiety has become a problem for me, and I've started to make changes in my life. I am in the process of selling my business, I've made some other changes, and I no longer have the financial pressures that have stressed me out for the past few years.

As of today, I really have nothing to stress or be anxious about ... at least as compared to my life over the past few years. And yet, I don't seem to be getting "better". Maybe it's just a situation where it will take more time for my body to "re-adjust" and start feeling better, or more time for the anxiety to slowly go away? I guess I've put my body and mind through hell the past few years, so I shouldn't expect it to "fix" itself overnight??

Basically I just feel like I have 10X the normal amount of adreneline pumping through my veins at all times. I have slightly high blood pressure, for which I take a blood pressure medication that honestly doesn't do much. Just recently my doctor increased the dosage on my blood pressure medication and my body doesn't seem to be responding to it. My blood pressure is still borderline high at about 140/80 even on the higher dose of the blood pressure med.

A few weeks ago, I got a few .5 mg Xanax pills from a friend of mine, just to see what it would do for me. All I can say is WOW - I felt like a completely different person. I know that's a relatively low dose, but for those few afternoons that I took the Xanax I felt "normal" for the first time in a long time.

The interesting thing is that even such a small dose of Xanax temporarily reduced my blood pressure tremendously - down to about 120/70 both times I took it. This tells me that the only thing causing my high blood pressure is all the stress and anxiety I feel.

I don't want to take Xanax everyday, and I've read all the horror stories about addiction and withdrawal, etc. But I would ALMOST take that risk just because it made me feel so much better. I'm considering getting some Valium, which I think is a lot safer, and just taking a low dose as needed over the next few months as I work on getting "better". Anyone see a problem with this?

I do exercise, and I've tried Yoga, relaxation techniques, meditation and all that, but that stuff really doesn't seem to work for me. I think my Type A personality has a lot to do with it, and I'm working on that as well. I can't see how anyone with a Type A personality could enjoy Yoga! lol

I know the long-term solution is to address the underlying problem, and I believe that CBT holds the answer for me. I just recently ordered Sam Orbitz's book, which I've heard great things about, and I'm looking forward to putting it to good use and doing the TEA forms and all that.

Anyway, that's my story. After reading about what some other people are going through I feel lucky, and I feel for these people who have really debilitating anxiety. I just want to nip this in the bud before I get any worse.

I would love to hear your thoughts on my situation, especially regarding the use of valium at low doses for a relatively short time. I've taken Valium before and while not as potent as the Xanax, I think it would really calm me down and help speed up my "recovery" and allow me to more easily focus on the task at hand.

[rothko]

Wow! I can really relate to your story. It's nice to hear someone else has a similar situation and I am not the only one. I'm new to this forum but I have suffered from anxiety for about 9 years. For the most part, it was never a big deal to me, and for most of that 9 years, I had no anxiety at all.

In the last 3 years, I have been through a huge amount of stress. I'm talking a lot of stress. Gradually my anxiety has gotten worse. Like you, I haven't had many panic attacks; I've only had 3. I don't have SA(social anxiety) either. My anxiety kind of comes and goes. Out of the blue, I can just get myself so worked up, I become very anxious and uncomfortable. I do get that "racing thoughts" feeling sometimes, too.

My most recent panic attack kind of shook me up. I started having anxiety about having a panic attack. I started getting this big fear I might have a panic attack somewhere where it would be harder to deal with, like in class or out in public.

I ended up going to see a psychiatrist, which was my first time in about 5 years. I was very against trying any sort of medication at first, so my doc and I tried sequence tapping. I tried this for about 2 weeks but finally decided I needed to try medication because the tapping could only do so much. My doc prescribed me Xanax and it has helped a lot. Xanax is not the cure to anxiety but it makes anxiety a lot more manageable. I hope that helps.

Just as a side note... Xanax is not stronger than Valium or vice versa... They are all considered benzo's

[typea]

Yeah, we sound similar in terms of the stress. Off the charts for me. When I think about it, I think I'm lucky I don't have more problems than I do. But I know if it continues it will eventually lead to serious health problems, which is why I'm determined to get a handle on it now.

I've only ever had 1 panic attack. It was horrible. I thought I was having a heart attack and called 911. After all the tests at the hospital of course everything was fine and all tests came back normal. Stress is amazing. I remember the day like it was yesterday. I was a day trader at the time, I had lost a lot of money that day, and probably drank 5-6 cups of coffee that afternoon. I think it was just a combination of things that caused it.

As far as the meds go, after doing extensive research it seems that valium is generally considered to be safer than Xanax. It has a much longer half life, is generally considered to be less addictive, and because of the much longer half life it is generally much easier to taper off of as compared to something like Xanax which has a really short half life.

I agree that meds are not the long term solution, but like you said they sure seem to make things more manageable which I assume would make it easier to tackle this whole problem, without being constantly stressed out and anxious all the time.

[Robbed]

I don't know if I have what is considered to be GAD, or just an extreme amount of stress. I only stress about very real and specific things such as problems at work, financial issues, etc. I don't have social anxiety, I don't have panic attacks, I am definitely not depressed, and I don't really have irrational fears or worries that seem to problems for people with GAD.

When it comes to the question of stress vs anxiety, you have to look at it in terms of cause vs effect. Simply put, stress is the cause of anxiety disorders. And when you develop an anxiety disorder, it causes its own stress, as well as symptoms of stress, without any outside influence (or outside influences that should NOT cause such a reaction). Sometimes (as in your case at least partially), the stress is VERY obvious. But in other cases, it is not. For instance, you may have been brought up to be fearful of ALOT of things. Or, you may have been brought up in a situation where you learned to blow things out of proportion because this was the way people around you were. For instance, many Type-A people worry ALOT about whether they can sustain their level achievment, or worry that everything might somehow come crashing down due to some sort of failure on their part. Because this is SO consditioned as to become automaic habit, you might not see yourself as causing yourself LOTS of stress. Indeed, this could be (and probably IS) a bigger problem for you than the stress that you face from your business - you could be making it ALOT worse than it really is by catastrophizing over it.


Mainly it's just the thinking, thinking, dwelling, ruminating, worrying, and the inability to "shut off" my mind. I sometimes feel pretty tired in the afternoons, although I wouldn't say fatigue is a major problem either.

These are all typical stress/anxiety symptoms. Accept them as such without worrying about what they might mean. As for fatigue, this IS a big part of the problem. Anxiety disorder can really be looked at as a fatigue of the mind. You've stressed yourself out, and can't take much more.


As of today, I really have nothing to stress or be anxious about ... at least as compared to my life over the past few years. And yet, I don't seem to be getting "better". Maybe it's just a situation where it will take more time for my body to "re-adjust" and start feeling better, or more time for the anxiety to slowly go away? I guess I've put my body and mind through hell the past few years, so I shouldn't expect it to "fix" itself overnight??

Part of the problem actually IS that it takes time to recover from anxiety. In fact, it takes MUCH longer than you think it should take. Furthermore, anxiety itself causes LOTS of stress. It causes people to worry GREATLY about the symtoms, and what is possibly wrong with themselves. The worry that anxiety might be a more serious physical or mental condition, the worry that it will never go away, and the worry that it will ruin your life all can cause an anxiety condition to linger FAR longer than any initial stressors. Or cause it to not go away. So losing the fear of anxiety, realizing that you are just suffering from symptoms of stress, realizing that youwill feel better when stress is reduced, and accepting that it will take time for you to recover (more than you would like it to take) are all key to recover. In other words, accept your symptoms, try not to worry about your anxiety symptoms, and give yourself the time necessary to recover.


I do exercise, and I've tried Yoga, relaxation techniques, meditation and all that, but that stuff really doesn't seem to work for me. I think my Type A personality has a lot to do with it, and I'm working on that as well. I can't see how anyone with a Type A personality could enjoy Yoga! lol

I know the long-term solution is to address the underlying problem, and I believe that CBT holds the answer for me. I just recently ordered Sam Orbitz's book, which I've heard great things about, and I'm looking forward to putting it to good use and doing the TEA forms and all that.

I would love to hear your thoughts on my situation, especially regarding the use of valium at low doses for a relatively short time. I've taken Valium before and while not as potent as the Xanax, I think it would really calm me down and help speed up my "recovery" and allow me to more easily focus on the task at hand.

Stuff like meditation and exercise helps some people to recover. But not everyone. Relaxation techniques tend to be VERY hit-and-miss. But other strategies such as spending time outdoors and doing things you like can also be helpful. Try not to spend too much time at ome doing nothing. Idle time like this can be the IDEAL time for anxiety to be at its worst.

Addressing the underlying problem with CBT can be REALLY helpful. But keep in mind that TEA forms DO have a downside. Sometimes, being overly analytical about thoughts can worsen anxiety rather than help it. So know when to use them and when not to. For instance, if you feel bad because you are down on yourself, break out the TEA form. But if you feel free-floating anxiety because you decided to get a glass of water, just accept and don't try to 'figure it out'.

As for the meds, I personally don't like meds much. But at least benzos are free of alot of the weirdness of SSRIs. And they don't need to be taken all the time. I believe that this last factor is the key to avoiding addiction. In other words, try to keep their use to a minimum. Rather than taking them at scheduled times throughout the day, only take them when absolutely needed (like for extreme panic attacks or utter inability to fall asleep). It is better to put up with and learn to accept feeling somewhat weird at times than it is to mask it with meds. So try to deal with your problem using CBT methods.

[rothko]

As far as the meds go, after doing extensive research it seems that valium is generally considered to be safer than Xanax. It has a much longer half life, is generally considered to be less addictive, and because of the much longer half life it is generally much easier to taper off of as compared to something like Xanax which has a really short half life.

I still think it's a little silly to say one benzo is stronger than another. I mean a benzo is a benzo. I do agree Xanax has a short half life, but they also make Xanax XR(which is extended-release). I think you should see a psychiatrist and he/she will prescribe the best medication for you.

[typea]

Not that it really matters, but you get about the same affect from 0.5 to 1 mg of Xanax as you do from 10mg of Valium. So wouldn't you say that Xanax is "stronger" ?

[nowayride]

changing my diet seemed to really help my symptoms go down. i cut out alcohol and caffeine almost completely and try to eat a more balanced diet. that got rid of the 'not feeling like myself' symptom. also getting out of 'the cycle', reminding yourself that it is a cycle.