Anyone Else Doing It Without Medications

[Razz]

I have tried every class of anxiety medications and all made me worse, in some cases much worse.

I have used the non-medication techniques in the past with great success and have recovered only to fall back into anxiety hell from not keeping up the program.

I would really like to talk to anyone who is using the non-drug techniques for mutual support. This is a hard road and it helps to have friends doing it too.

Thanks

Rixx

[madhatter]

After dealing with doctors, and different medicines with little to no results, I have been dealing with my anxiety medication-free for almost a year. It's hard some days, easy the next. I think the worst thing for me is not having anyone to talk to about this, who shares in my suffering. Most people don't get it.

[Razz]

Madd

Would be willing to talk anytime - I am on the west coast

Rixx

[forwells]

Hi Rixx :P

100% drug free all the way with my recovery and still are .

I do not believe that taking drugs long term for anxiety is in anyway going to heal someone anyway . Many times you see people that have taken them , healed and then when they remove the drugs they are back were they started from . Why? Its because they never faced there anxiety and are still scared of it . the drugs did not heal them they hide the problem for a while . This is not taking into account the problems these drugs cause with side effects .

Recovery from anxiety comes down to a few things

1st lose all fear of it , this can only be done from learning what causes anxiety and how it works on the body . When you know why you are anxious you learn not to react to the first symptom , this reaction to the first symptom is what feeds anxiety and keeps it going . Most people are anxious for one reason and that is because their body has learned to be , its not because of their thinking . There thinking is not helping but it is often not what is causing it and is only feeding it .

2 nd Anxiety is a process and takes time to heal , it is not something that can be rushed or pushed . By rushing and pushing we are just adding stress to a already stressed out body . It takes along time to heal months if not years .

3rd it is about change , changing your lifestyle and removing things that cause stress on the body .

4th as above it is about giving it 100% in this change of life style . It is about changing diets to help our bodies heal , learning to relax , learning to take time for ourselves .

The reason i never took drugs to recover was two reason first was i could not see the point in taking a drug that had the side effect of anxiety and depression when this is what i was trying to get rid of .

Second and what i believe is the most important thing is i never wanted that little voice in the back of my mind saying that it was the drugs keeping me well and that when i had to remove them i would agian have anxiety . I wanted to know that it was me in myself that made the differance from were my anxiety was super bad to were i could fuction like a normal person . Do not under estimate how much this feeling alone helps in recovery . Not once do i have to question weather these drugs are causing problems or helping because i know it is all me doing it .

Basically it comes down to this Stress - drug - happy - remove drug - back to were started because they never learned to handle and remove stress

stress - learn to handle and remove stress - recovery and have tools to handle furture stress when they come up .
The key is in ourselves and not in a box of pills .

It can be done by the no drug way and it is really no harder than with drugs i believe .

cheers kev :D

[Razz]

Kev

I agree with you 1000% - I tried to find your post on 1% and lost it - wanted to print it out for a friend - could you please direct me.

Rixx

[[email protected]]

I have been on medication and it has helped alot but I want to heal on my own. I was wondering if I could get support from anyone on here. Thanks!

[pronto11]

i to tryed medications with no success, (fact im pretty sure it only made it worse)...my "cure" was the p90x workout...its a tough training system that kicks your ass into shape....after every exercise i would get the worst panic/anxiety attacks...working out basically mimics all the symptoms of an anxiety attack..(racing heart, light headed...etc..etc)...but after about a month you start to become accustomed to that feeling, instead of it creeping up on you when you least expect it...p90x maybe not for everyone, but find one that suits you and stick with it....not only will you feel great, you will be VERY happy with the way you look!....

[forwells]

Hi Razz

http://www.anxietyforum.net/forum/viewt ... ght=#24699 (http://www.anxietyforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=24699&highlight=#24699)

Its in with this one , glad it helped

I will also PM you something else that you may like to look into
cheers kev :D

[lostsoul]

I haven't been offered drugs by my doctor, however i am taking natural herbal supplements to give me a little help, you might want to try them -

Avena Sativa
St Johns Wort
Rhodiola Rosea

I think it definately helps me keep calm sometimes and gives me a little bit of happy feeling.

[_nita_]

I have managed without medications for the last seven months or so.
I chose a more alternative path, as I was already leaning that way with the psychical symptoms I had previously. I started two years ago with chest pains, dizzyness, heart palputations, and my first panick attack. The panick attacks didnt really kick in though until about 7 months ago when I got sick for two months with a virus that killed off all the nerves in my inner ear. The anxiety also triggered an emotional breakdown for me. I became too scared to leave the house, but after two weeks of this, started feeling really trapped and decided I'd had enough, and forced myself to go out. I bawled my eyes out for the entire hour until I got back home again.
I had already been doing a bit of Mickel Therapy, but hadn't had any sessions in six months, so picked those up again, and also started seeing a clinical psychologist who specialised in anxiety.
Mickel Therapy is based on the concept that the body sends us symptoms to try and get our attention, and get us to face what the REAL problem is. My problem was being almost completely emotionally shut down, and never properly dealing with the issues that happened when I was growing up. So even though I still get anxious, it is nowhere near as bad as what it used to be. I am able to actually enjoy things now which is still kind of amazing to me.
I chose not to take medication because I didn't want a quick fix. I wanted to deal with this head on now, and not in ten years time when I would have more issues to work through (I'm 25yrs old atm). It was hard though, especially when my doctor was pushing, and my family.
No matter how much we just want to be better already, it doesnt work like that. And I find myself being thankful for the opportunity to learn more about myself. I have grown up ten years worth in the last six months. Without the anxiety there with all it's intensity forcing me to face things, I would still be the same emotionally crippled girl.
Don't get me wrong... I also wish that the anxiety would go away and leave me the hell alone... but then I remind myself that things happen for a reason, and that the anxiety is my body's way of poking with me a sharp stick so I'll actually listen to it instead of ignoring it. (I find that when I am ignoring something that is upsetting me, that my anxiety gets worse and worse until I deal with the issue, and then I'm anxiety free until the next time.)
Sorry this turned into a bit of a rant... hopefully some of it is helpful :)

[Razz]

Nita

You are on the right track - medications only took me off track or made me worse.

I also had the ear thing that sent me into 6 months of anxiety hell.

Rixx

[pronto11]

you guys mention problems with your ears, how were you able to come to this conclusion?...ive had everything checked out (thyroid, heart..etc) and everything came back fine...my biggest problem was the dizzyness, pretty much the only symptom i had...(but being dizzy ALL THE TIME would send anyone into an anxiety hell!)..only thing i havent checked was my ears, what procedure did you guys all go through to figure out you had problems with your ears?...and how long could there be something wrong with your ears before it would just fix itself?...(ive had these issues for over a year now)....thanks

[_nita_]

my ear problems were caused by a virus. i pretty much have to wait two months for the virus to go away, and a further few weeks to allow the nerves in my inner ear to regenerate. apart from feeling sea sick all the time because of this, i also experienced vertigo which would make me feel like i was about to black out/die. no wonder i got anxious!
the dizzyness that you are talking about though - which ive also had alot of - is caused by the anxiety itself. your body automatically re-organises the flow of blood around your body, and sends it to ur major organs and muscles. this is designed to keep you alive, and get you the hell away from whatever it is that is "putting your life at risk". it can also cause symptoms such as pins and needles in your hands, seeing spots and flashes that arent there, and loss of apetite.
in saying that though, it is always good to check out other possibilities for why you get dizzy so much. i think you can get a head scan or something to check what your inner ear looks like. im not sure what the cost of that would be... i live in new zealand, and we have a public healthcare system that pays for stuff like that.
good luck :)

[simon..b]

pronto 11 what nita says above is exactly what i am going through at the minute,i had a virus in october and am still having dizzyness so when to see an ENT specialist and he has recommended a MRI scan of the area to make sure there isnt anything else going on but he thinks it maybe nerve damage that is causing the dizzyness etc and it should heal in time.
So see a specialist would be my suggestion and see about an mri scan on the nhs it can take a while but privately in my area they are £350.00 for the scan.

[Razz]

Here are the basics: allostatic load causes anxiety and panic and can build from childhood throughout life.

Allostatic load and stress alter GABA and other neurotransmitters and brain structures. Balance and the inner ear are largely effected by these changes (inner ear is full of GABA receptors) it is called psychogenic dizziness and vertigo. It can be mild or so intense you need to crawl to the bathroom.

One of the prodrome symptoms (early symptom) of stress and anxiety is an unbalanced feeling or head sensations. Because dysequilibrium is distressing and also causes more release of stress chemicals the self-perpetuating cycle of anxiety can take hold.


Rixx

[forwells]

Here are the basics: allostatic load causes anxiety and panic and can build from childhood throughout life.

Allostatic load and stress alter GABA and other neurotransmitters and brain structures. Balance and the inner ear are largely effected by these changes (inner ear is full of GABA receptors) it is called psychogenic dizziness and vertigo. It can be mild or so intense you need to crawl to the bathroom.

One of the prodrome symptoms (early symptom) of stress and anxiety is an unbalanced feeling or head sensations. Because dysequilibrium is distressing and also causes more release of stress chemicals the self-perpetuating cycle of anxiety can take hold.


Rixx

Hi Rixx

I think this sums it up in a heart beat .

Although i dont agree with the childhood push .

A happy healthy lady can come from a great loving and caring home and moves away to be with her new love , her new love turns out to be something he is not and beats her most days after coming home from the pub , she is away from her family , feels she has no one to talk to . feels ashamed that she has got herself into this postion, hopes that this man will change but is also scared to leave , scared to contact her family for fear this man will chase her down and do more harmfull things to her but all this is causing stress and with in six months she is a nervious wreak , she is getting to the stage that she is thinking of ending it just to be free of her problems.This lady gets away , maybe he died but it takes her along time to heal , along time to trust man again , along time to stop the shakes from starting when she hears her kids slam the back door This is not childhood this is about someone that made one bad move , one that came from the heart. I am sure we have all done something like this .

Stress is built from many things from diet , lifestyle , drugs , to the way we were taught to react to live . Their is no real clear cut case for it . There can also be no clear cut way of treating it .

But in saying that there is a clear cure and that is to remove and readjust to that stress . By removing that stress and learning to act differently in life we learn to move on .

Some people just dont get this and i cant understand why . I have a friend with anxiety who emails me each day and asks about this symptom or that . It normally ends with something from him along the lines of But what if its not? What if its something worst? What i cant follow is this person has anxiety , i can see it , his doctors can see it and he can see it to on some days . Why is it that he cannot just accept it as anxiety and live life the best he can why it cures and settles .
It is almost like he is wanting it to be something else . I have often asked him if he would perfer it to be a brain tumor. Which he always answers no .
I think what the problem is with him and with society today is that everyone is looking for someone else to fix them , a magic pill . Many many people have giving their lives over to others and they would be horrified if they saw this but they cant and this i cannot follow .

I also think that family plays a huge part in things , we live lifes so far from one another these days , so much is hidden , so much is never spoken of. We are taught to suck it up and get on with things .

I only hope that from my childhood and what i learned that if my two girls are every in a place like the lady above or my mate that they feel they can come and talk to me no matter what as i will always be here and will never judge them for what they do or have done .
I also believe that no matter what if you have someone by yourside surporting you weather they understand or not then you can handle most things in life .
You only need to take psychologist they can be great and very helpful but they can also do alot of hurt . The difference is weather they go by the book or they listern to their patient and what they are really saying . Anxiety is all about loss of hope and a good psychologist can give a person this back and be a friend for them to lean on . I bad one can send them down a road of misery . We seem to think that just because a person has a Dr in front or letters behind their name then they are the bees kness and should be taking at their word. I do not beleive this is the case and many many doctors should not be doing what they are because they dont have a clue what they are doing . Yes they think they are helping but in fact many are doing more harm than good . Always place your life in your own hands first before leaving it to others .

One more this i wish to say about drugs , drugs for anxiety should be the last restort , your doctor should explain what is happening in your body first. The problem i see is that doctors dish out pills and say take these and it will get better but these drugs dont work and even if they do by the time they build in your system in a few weeks there is so much damage done to a preson that it takes along time to heal from this and that is without looking into the livestyle charges that they should have been told to do in the first place .

I know when you go to the doctors you are hurting and wish for it to end but if the only thing he or her offers you is drugs then i would be finding a better doctor .

cheers kev :)

[Razz]

Kev

We are in 99.99% agreement....but not here!!

Here is neurobiology 101: children have more neurons than an adult and those neurons are extremely plastic (able to learn and form neural pathways) When a child is subjected to stress or anything that activates the sympathetic nervous system a neural engram is formed.

It also creates a set point in the GABA/Glutamate / Norepinephrine neurotransmitter system so that we are less able to elicit calming neurotransmitters and thus remain more stress sensitive - often for life...and more prone to reaching neural threshold and anxiety.

What usually happens is that people with this venerability do not realize this stress sensitivity and continue to provoke the CNS so the condition worsens. They also tend to act out the bad habits and early family programming causing more stress through internal dissonance and failure to reach normal life adjustments.

If a person keeps CNS provocation low and works to retrain the parasympathetic nervous system they can engage neuroplasticity and correct much of the childhood neural engrams.

[stoptheanxiety]

I have tried every class of anxiety medications and all made me worse, in some cases much worse.
I would really like to talk to anyone who is using the non-drug techniques for mutual support. This is a hard road and it helps to have friends doing it too.

Thanks

Rixx

I would have to agree with you there. I have been on Prozac, Effexor, Wellbutrin and then back to Prozac. Besides the Prozac the pills had too many side effects that made it not worth taking anymore. Ive been recently getting into herbal remedies. Trying to get away for these prescription pills. Recently came across a tea with a very calming effect for me at least.
Mix together equal parts of these anxiety herbs: (there are many sites that sell these herbs all in one place)
Oatstraw
Lemon balm
Skullcap
Nettles
Orange
Chamomile
Use 1-2 teaspoons of the mixture and allow herbs to soak in hot water to absorb the flavor for 5-10 minutes.

Hope this helps!

[Happy Mask Man]

Hi Rixx :P

100% drug free all the way with my recovery and still are .

I do not believe that taking drugs long term for anxiety is in anyway going to heal someone anyway . Many times you see people that have taken them , healed and then when they remove the drugs they are back were they started from . Why? Its because they never faced there anxiety and are still scared of it . the drugs did not heal them they hide the problem for a while . This is not taking into account the problems these drugs cause with side effects .

Recovery from anxiety comes down to a few things

1st lose all fear of it , this can only be done from learning what causes anxiety and how it works on the body . When you know why you are anxious you learn not to react to the first symptom , this reaction to the first symptom is what feeds anxiety and keeps it going . Most people are anxious for one reason and that is because their body has learned to be , its not because of their thinking . There thinking is not helping but it is often not what is causing it and is only feeding it .

2 nd Anxiety is a process and takes time to heal , it is not something that can be rushed or pushed . By rushing and pushing we are just adding stress to a already stressed out body . It takes along time to heal months if not years .

3rd it is about change , changing your lifestyle and removing things that cause stress on the body .

4th as above it is about giving it 100% in this change of life style . It is about changing diets to help our bodies heal , learning to relax , learning to take time for ourselves .

The reason i never took drugs to recover was two reason first was i could not see the point in taking a drug that had the side effect of anxiety and depression when this is what i was trying to get rid of .

Second and what i believe is the most important thing is i never wanted that little voice in the back of my mind saying that it was the drugs keeping me well and that when i had to remove them i would agian have anxiety . I wanted to know that it was me in myself that made the differance from were my anxiety was super bad to were i could fuction like a normal person . Do not under estimate how much this feeling alone helps in recovery . Not once do i have to question weather these drugs are causing problems or helping because i know it is all me doing it .

Basically it comes down to this Stress - drug - happy - remove drug - back to were started because they never learned to handle and remove stress

stress - learn to handle and remove stress - recovery and have tools to handle furture stress when they come up .
The key is in ourselves and not in a box of pills .

It can be done by the no drug way and it is really no harder than with drugs i believe .

cheers kev :D

From my experience I have to completely disagree with this. Absolutely nothing works besides drugs and even then it's like shooting in the dark to find the right one. I have been completely high on weed and still had overwhelming anxiety going straight through it. I'd be perfectly content spending the rest of my life on some drug as long as it stops the anxiety. I think that is preferable to trying "natural" methods that don't work effectively to make the anxiety stop and then still having it come back all the time.

[palow]

Regarding the earlier posts about having someone to talk to. I would like to share something from personal experience. When I look back now, I can see that those times I was sharing and mutually supporting a fellow anxiety or bipolar sufferer, I got worse.

I think that if you can find a successfully recovered ex-anxiety sufferer to talk to, that would be ideal. You can just model what that person did. But if you are talking to someone as messed up as yourself, you are both just wallowing in your own pain. It's not like quitting cigarettes or booze. Having an "anxiety buddy" is not healthy.

PL

[madhatter]

So guys, went though a pretty rough day today. Usually my bad days happen because of a couple things. Usually if the weather is bad outside, it makes me feel gloomy, and want to stay indoors. Sleeping also has a big part to do with it, if I don't get a restful night sleep (ie, wake up in the middle of the night, nightmares, etc) I feel anxious all day. On these days all I do is sit in my room, watch tv, go on the computer, I feel on edge all day. My heart rate is up, I feel unconnected from the world, I just want to confine myself all day. I've tried to convince myself that this is just anxiety, and not a hidden disease. I've had my thyroid checked, and while it is high because of my metabolism, it is within limits. Diabetes doesn't run in any part of my family, so that's off the list. Usually when I feel like this, I realize that it is a buildup of adrenaline, so theres one thing I need to do: convert that into endorphins. When I start to feel anxious, I exercise. Cardio workouts get my heartrate up, but also release endorphins which naturally kill the anxious feeling, or at least numb it down. Don't get me wrong, I still have anxiety very badly, but I've come to realize it won't be fixed overnight, and medicine doesn't fix the problem, it only masks the symptoms.