If anyone needs any advice... I am here for you! I had anxiety and I beat it....

[dsaintp]

Hi My name is Danielle and I wanted to let all of you know that I was once where all of you are. I sit back and read what everyone has to say and I know the pain you are all going through. I can relate to almost everyone's post....... When I was 19 I had a heart attack and had to have a pacemaker put in.... From there I was always worried that my heart wasn't working the way it should even with the implant device and I became very anxious about 90% of the time. The symptoms of an anxiety attack are extremely similar to those of a heart attack so it was hard for me to tell the difference.... It got to the point where 2mg xanax 3 times a day and ativan on top of it weren't working anymore. I started drinking heavily with my meds and have been on and off switching from benzos to binging just to not have the feeling of anxiety. I lost everything, my career, many good men in my life, my family, all because my anxiety had gotten a hold of me. About 8 months ago I took the advice of a dear friend of mine who also had anxiety and beat it. He had tried to help me several times before but I was so numb and weak! I was ready to accept that anxiety would always control my life, that I would die probably from an overdose just to make it go away. Finally I listened. I was at my lowest point in life and I healed myself. So If anyone wants to talk I am here for you and have great advice on this subject. I can tell you how to get off of your meds safely, how to use different methods for different situations so you can be calm and live your life...

Danielle

[cmaddox421]

Hi Danielle,

I am very curious about your story. Congrats on beating the anxiety. I too, beat anxiety, well mostly panic, about ten years ago. It was I think a bit worse than this episode even, just with different circumstances (family, school, work, etc.) After getting back to "my old self" I was doing great. Right now I'm half way through an RN program and work at a local hospital as a Cardiac Monitor Tech. I've been taking 50mg Zoloft for basically ten years now, however in the past 5-6 months was resorting to benzo's for sleep because I was working overnight and going to school during the day and struggling a bit. In retrospect I don't think I really truly needed them, but was taking them. Unfortunately I was getting them from a family member instead of a script ( not smart I know!) Any way I ran out and stopped taking the benzo's last tuesay and by Friday I was spiraling into a panic, derealization, and all the other crazy stuff that comes with it. Still not overly sure why. Sunday through Tuesday I broke and ended up going to a psych center last night. We talked some things out and they gave me ativan and I'm taking ambien to sleep. They are helping, just scared about dependency. I have a very supportive family and especially my wife. Trying to stay optimistic and push forward. One of my biggest fears is how this is going to affect my children and not having them (or any one really) see me like this. I am typically a very strong person and it just sucks! Thanks for sharing your story, I'd like to hear about what you did to beat it.