Normality on AD's

[dkharrison]

Hello everyone...

I'm new to the exhausting, and overwhelming world of anxiety/depression. I'm a 37 yr old male from the woods of Magnolia Texas. I had a pretty rough upbringing (financially, divorced parents, neglecting father). But, that's all under the bridge... so I thought. Throughout my life I remember dwelling on my past, however it's never brought to my knees. I swore to myself that I'd never neglect my family, nor would they go without. That being said, I've worked my ass off since I turned 16 to achieve the goals I'd set for myself long ago.

For the last two years I’ve slowly notice some changes in the way I feel, and act. I started have shortness of breath, "Stage Fright" during meetings, various pains, and very irritable toward my family and friends. I've always been the type of person to deal with my own problems, and have successfully done so in the past. However, back in August 08 I had three major panic attacks at work (two during meetings, one at a restaurant during a lunch meeting). After the last episode I, again, brushed it off as another thing that would go away. the next morning I woke up trembling, my mind was going crazy with random thoughts, and nauseous. That morning I had to make a 3 1/2 hour drive to my brother's wedding where I was to be the best man. On the way I told my wife about how I was feeling. After arriving I found a doc and he gave me a supply of Klonopine to get me through the weekend.

All of this doesn’t make much sense to me due to the fact that I have always been the first person to say "oh well" when a problem would arise, and I've never cared what people thought of me.

I've tried several different SSRI's (Zoloft, Welbutrine, Remeron, and Effexor), but all of them sent my anxiety though the roof. I'm currently looking into trying Cymbalta.

I read about a lot of people that have great success with AD's, however I don't know what type of people they are. I'm probably wrong, but I really need to know. It seems to me that AD's would be a good thing for people just go shopping, hang out with friends, or go to parties; things that aren’t that physical.

My lifestyle is pretty physical. I ride horses, ATV's, fish, hunt; not to mention that I have 3 acres to tend to.

My question is, do these AD's allow you to do these physical things that I do, or will I be limited in how much I do?

Another question I have is, with this only going on for three months does anyone think it could be temporary, and not really an "Anxiety Disorder?

Thanks so much for any responses.

[northstar]

hi dk and welcome :)

sorry to see you suffering right now, i hope that things will improve for you and you find what you need here. i'm not very experienced with drugs, i came through anxiety without much help and i've never been on an SSRI or ADs. but i can tell you from reading questions and tales from many many people that everyone's reaction to them is different, no two people will be the same, so there is no way for someone to tell you if you will have physical problems with certain drugs or what ones will work best for you. the best person to talk to about it is probably your doctor, but to be honest for most people it seems to be a process of trial and error to figure out which one works best.

my own feeling about medicines is that they tend to treat a symptom rather than solving the actual reason for the anxiety. that is not to say they don't work, but there are a lot of things that you can do to help yourself along with the meds :) one of the worst things about anxiety i found is that it takes away your sense of self confidence and security and strength. i think it is important to work on yourself so that you can build yourself up again and regain your sense of self - does that make sense? i don't know if i'm describing it in a very clear way lol.

you sound like a pretty busy person, do you find yourself stressed a lot what with a job and so much land to tend to? plus all that stress from your past, have you dealt with it? what was happening in your life around the time when the panic attacks first started? all these things can add up and wear us out and create anxiety, and anxiety wears us out even more, it is a horrible cycle. what i would suggest is that you look into relaxation techniques to try and give yourself a chance to chill out and recooperate in the middle of your hectic lifestyle.

ok i'm not going to ramble on much longer, i've gone on a bit of a tangent to what you actually asked lol. if you want to read more about the kinds of things you can do to help deal with the anxiety you can take a look at this thread on the general discussion board: http://www.anxietyforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4087

unfortunately i don't think anyone here will be able to answer your question about wheather the anxiety is temporary or not, it's another of those things that are individual to all of us. i suffered with mild anxiety symptoms for about 2 years before a complete anxious breakdown. round about a year ago my life was heading into a downward spiral of anxiety, panic and fear. but luckily i figurered out what was going wrong in my body and have managed to make it through, it took a couple of months of recovery, but now a year later my life is totally different, i am happy and i am living a life that i want to lead :) i only get anxious in perfectly normal situations like before an audition or when i eat too much sugary things and don't look after my diet. so i know it is very possible to get better, the recovery time period is just different from person to person. don't let the words "anxiety disorder" allow you to believe that anxiety is a permanent thing that will never go away. i was told i had anxiety and panic disorders and was almost hospitalised and pumped full of ADs, and yet i managed to pull through it and now consider myself recovered :)

i hope this helps a little bit, i guess the best person to talk to about these things is your doctor, but it's always helpful to speak with people who know exactly how you feel. let us know how you're doing :)

[dkharrison]

Thanks so much for your comments, and inspiring words. This is miserable. Although, I do fear for my own future, but my biggest fear is for my family. I have two girls, 9 mnths, and 7 yrs. Not to forget my lovely wife. AS of now I'm hardly able to leave the house except to go to work, and come back home. I'm dredging the holidays; traveling and al that.

You said that you came through this yourself without much help. If you don't mind me asking, did you have a job throughout this time, or kids to take care of? Also, did you have depression as well?

I don't mean to be so nosy, but I'm just trying to get an idea of what I'm in for. Maybe that's part of my problem. I get too obsessed with things..
:?

[northstar]

sounds like you have a lot of stress alright, it must be tough when you have a family relying on you too. i did indeed have a job throughout the anxiety (a new job in fact, i felt so bad about what was happening!), and also was coping with mild depression. anxiety and depression go hand in hand it seems. but unlike you i didn't have a family to take care of, but nonetheless the things i leared about stress and anxiety along the path to recovery will be just as helpful to you :)

let me tell you a little bit about my own story so that you have a better understanding. when i said i made it through without much help i meant without much help from meds. of course i had help and support along the way, i had to reach out for it though and it took a lot of strength i didn't even know i had. most of the information i discovered about how to help anxiety did not come from the doctor but from my own research and lots of different sources along the way.

i've always been a worrier, but never really an anxious person. but about 3 years ago i found myself not only getting "blue" patches where i felt down and exhausted but also feeling anxious, worried and on edge when i had no reason to. i had irrational thoughts and fears that i couldn't control and took over my life whenever i got the tiniest bit stressed. eventually it grew a bit too much for me, so i went and talked to my doctor about it. she diagnosed me with mild depression and anxiety and adviced me to get some counselling. so eventually (and it took some courage lol) i started seeing a psychotherapist and began working on feeling better again.

about 6 months into the therapy i was feeling much better and thinking about finishing up. then at the beginning of november last year out of the blue one day i had a panic attack. it turned out that i had caught a virus that effected my inner ear, as november went on i lost my balance, couldn't walk, eat or sleep, felt incredibly dizzy constantly and my levels of anxiety went up and up and up. eventually it reached a stage where i was actually in a constant state of panic, i'm talking calling a doctor to my house in the middle of the night, being watched because i was in danger of harming myself, thinking i was going crazy from constant fear and panic. i was a shell of my former self. i was absolutely exhausted, yet still trying to struggle on and live life normally, looking back now i had no idea how i did it!

at first i thought it might have something to do with the fact that i had changed birth control pills, came off the new pill and gave it a chance to wear off. i thought i was getting better, but the anxiety never really went away and eventually came back just as strongly where i felt constantly panicked and had a physical feeling of the most intense fear and anxiety in my stomach for about a week. when it finally relaxed i felt like i had been punched and beaten.

anyway, cutting a long story short, i eventually realised that how i was feeling was actually connected to what i was eating. i discovered the link between low blood sugars and anxiety and realised that was exactly what was happening to me along with adrenal fatigue from a combination of the long illness, the birth control pills i had been on and the amount of stress i had been under from the ear virus and my old job. i was totally worn out and was not really taking care of my body at all, it's no wonder i reached such a bad state. so i improved my diet and began eating to keep my blood sugars stable, continued to see my psychotherapist along with lots of other helpful things and slowly slowly i recovered and began to feel better than i have done in years :)

i firmly believe that nutrition plays a great role in our mental health, it's just that most of us don't realise it! if you have a look at that link i posted in my first response you can read all about the kinds of things i found helpful as well as nutrition. recovery is possible i believe, but you need to be proactive in your own recovery. it is difficult when you are feeling so bad, believe me i know that, but it is important that you work on your own recovery along with anything your doctor prescribes you. your mindset is also quite important, don't resign yourself to being an anxious person or believe that your experiences will get worse, you need to focus on getting better and improving things for yourself. don't give in, stay strong and stay positive :)

it might be a good idea to look into talking to a counsellor about your difficulties? it's tough, but totally worth it! it's great that you came to these boards, you will find lots of helpful and positive people here who will share their experience and advice. i hope you found some of this helpful :)