In sort of a crisis mode, can anyone help?

[MKlein]

Hi,

I'm 20, and I am experiencing severe anxiety problems.

I've always had mild anxiety, but recently it has gotten much worse.

I have to take online classes at school, and I can barely drive without stopping every few minutes because of nausea and fears of vomiting etc.

I also have a mild finger tremor when I get very nervous.

I have tried a few types of medication with no effect. I don't know what else I can do? I heard something about kava but I don't know much about it. I'm in desperate need of some short term fix so I can begin to deal with some long term solution as well.

Is there anything anyone can recommend? Please, if you read this, please help because this is having a crippling effect on my life.

[northstar]

hi there, i'm sorry to see you suffering so badly right now :(

you know there is a lot that you can do for your anxiety as well as the medication your doctor prescribes. i wrote a big post with all the stuff that helped pull me through my own problems, you might find it helpful to read it: http://www.anxietyforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4087

unfortunately i don't think there is a quick fix, but perhaps if you talk to your doctor they may be able to help you out? meds can be good to help calm you down from a really bad state, but it's important that you also take matters into your own hands and start to deal with the anxiety. i know it's hard though, but it can be done :)

have you been to see a counsellor/therapist? or have you looked at your diet? my own belief (and experience) is that the key to recovery is a combination of good therapy with diet & positive lifestyle changes. is there any reason why your anxiety has gotten much worse lately, like have you been sick or under a lot of stress?

anyway, i'll stop waffling! have a read of that other post, you'll find lots of helpful information in it and hopefully will be able to help yourself out with some of it :) i really hope you start to feel better soon. keep us updated on how you're feeling!

[MKlein]

hi there, i'm sorry to see you suffering so badly right now :(

you know there is a lot that you can do for your anxiety as well as the medication your doctor prescribes. i wrote a big post with all the stuff that helped pull me through my own problems, you might find it helpful to read it:

unfortunately i don't think there is a quick fix, but perhaps if you talk to your doctor they may be able to help you out? meds can be good to help calm you down from a really bad state, but it's important that you also take matters into your own hands and start to deal with the anxiety. i know it's hard though, but it can be done :)

have you been to see a counsellor/therapist? or have you looked at your diet? my own belief (and experience) is that the key to recovery is a combination of good therapy with diet & positive lifestyle changes. is there any reason why your anxiety has gotten much worse lately, like have you been sick or under a lot of stress?

anyway, i'll stop waffling! have a read of that other post, you'll find lots of helpful information in it and hopefully will be able to help yourself out with some of it :) i really hope you start to feel better soon. keep us updated on how you're feeling!

Thank you Northstar, I found your thread to be very detailed and helpful. I think my diet may be a major part of it. I am sleeping very late and waking up at around noon, so I never really eat breakfast. I just kind of go straight to lunch about an hour after I wake up.

I particularly found the following to be a perfect illustration of my condition:

"I have read that it is common for hypoglycemics to have phobias connected to where they first experienced the low blood sugar problems. For example: imagine you are driving in your car when for the first time you experience heart palpitations, anxiety and maybe difficulty breathing. These symptoms are very distressing and you don't know what is causing them, it seems as if they're coming out of the blue. You start paying close attention to the symptoms and get more and more worried and it blows up into a panic attack. All of a sudden your world has changed, you feel uncertain, shaky and nervous at the very core of your being. Because you were in your car when this happened you then start to associate the car with panic and fear and a phobia begins. When you climb into your car you instantly feel stressed and worried and of course your body reacts to this and sends you into 'fight or flight' mode causing and endless cycle of panic and fear all connected to driving. "


Another reason it might have gotten much worse recently is that I don't exercise like I used to. I doubt though that can be the only reason, but I can't think of any other reason.

Lastly, do you or anyone you know know anything about kava? I don't want to resort to alcohol as a short term fix, and the medication certainly isn't doing the job. I need something so I can at least get by.

[danstelter]

Kava Kava is supposed to be very helpful for anxiety, but it has been shown to produce liver cancer! Google it and you can learn the more detailed info. I would also recommend counseling or some sort of mental health professional if you can afford it because they are used to dealing with crisis situations and can give you the help you need (I used counseling and found it very beneficial)! Northstar's post absolutely rocks, but I would just like to highly recommend counseling!

[northstar]

afraid i don't know anything about kava kava, but if you ask at your local health food store or pharmacy i'm sure they'll be able to tell you about it. i also think you know as well as i do that resorting to alcohol is not going to help the problem :( alcohol often only makes anxiety problems work as it messes with your blood sugars (there's a section on alcohol in that big anxiety help post if you look through it).

i don't think i found any quick fixes when i was feeling the worst, there were a couple of things that really helped me feel a bit better though:

talking to someone (you'd be amazed how much this helps)
accupuncture & aura soma therapy (both of these helped me to relax and get a good nights sleep)
exercise
singing (i know this is a weird one, but i like to sing a lot & i found when i felt bad that it was a wonderful way to distract myself and made me feel really good)
basically anything that distracted me from how i felt, so getting out and about and doing the things i liked to do, you might like to try something similar, be kind to yourself :)
eating properly and regularly, staying away from junk food, caffeine, alcohol & sugar as these only made me feel worse

i'm sorry i can't give you much more than that, in my own experience recovery takes work and time, but it is possible :) if you start sleeping regularly, eating right and exercising again i'm sure you'll begin to feel the benefits too.