Feeling sick

[mhdwjw]

Hi, I need some advice please I am really suffering at the moment. Frequent anxiety attacks and fear of feeling sick for the rest of my life. I constantly have this sick feeling in my stomach almost like an empty pit sometimes mild sometimes quite nauseas. This send me into complete panic. Even when I feel ok I start to worry about when I will feel sick again. I have had every medical test done and there is nothing wrong with me but I am having a hard time accepting that anxiety can do this. Also often there is frequent bowel movements. My anxiety is always there lingering, waiting for me when I wake, the only thing that gives me relief is xanax. I have been on Effexor 150mg but jusy witched to Zoloft cos I have been getting worse on Effexor. PLEASE HELP ME

[palow]

I am very sorry to hear how much pain you are in. I went through everything you did except for the drugs. I think you've been following my posts and you know what I'm going to tell you, which is to get yourself either CBT, an internet treatment program or a workbook from the library or bookstore. And then you'll need to slowly wean yourself off all the meds with your doctor's help.

Is there any reason why you cannot try one of those 3 things? I know how much you are hurting but there is simply no drug that will cure you. Anxiety is not a virus. There are no words anyone can tell you that will ease the pain. The only thing that will ease the pain is for you to take action.

If you have about US$70 get Panic Away. If you don't want to spend that much, at least get the Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmond Bourne from the bookstore.

Please take action and have faith, patience and courage. The courage IS within you. The cure is right there at the bookstore or online. I am living proof of it. And there are thousands who have weaned themselves off drugs and beat this thing. You will too.

Patrick

[newbie]

Hi
I feel this way too, l am refusing to let it make me take drugs, l am seeing a Psychologist, she is fantastic and even though l feel l am getting nowhere she points out things that l am no longer doing,so l am getting there slowly, l personally would be getting off the meds but thats just my opinion. Goodluck its such a horrid feeling l know

[palow]

Newbie, when you say psychologist, do you mean psychiatrist? Anxiety is a behavioural condition and can only be resolved by practising non-anxious behaviour all your waking hours.

Some people might not like hearing this but I think psychoanalysis is useless for anxiety. It will help for depression and child abuse victims but not for anxiety. Talk therapy might even hold you back because you're focusing on your anxiety and yourself, two of the worst things you can do.

When I was on the Linden Method, I was not allowed to talk about my anxiety with anyone, not my wife or my closest friends. I was on a diversion programme that was meant to do one thing: to stop me from thinking. By God it really worked.

Patrick

[newbie]

I see a Clinical Psychologist who specialises in CBT, where l live a Psychiatrist is a whole different ball game. We dont sit and chat about things unless running over time or she is waiting for her computer to loadl,or if l come out and say "l think l am getting nowhere" she has a set pattern of what she wants to achieve in a session and it is very structured. I get homework etc.

[mhdwjw]

Thanks for the posts. I am considering buying panic away. My GP has suggested a psychiatrist because he too thinks psychologists are a waste of time. I have seen psychologists before and have gained little benefit.

Palow, have you fully recovered from your anxiety disorder? Did you also suffer depression. Do you think Panic Away is worthwhile? Were your physical symptons similar to mine; nausea, sick feeling, fatigue, zombie like etc?

I think the worst thing about anxiety and depression in that you feel like you will be like this forever and you just can't see a way out. I am going back to my GP this week for a referral to a psychiatrist.

[palow]

My condition was mainly severe generalized anxiety. During the last two years before I went on Linden the anxiety was starting to turn into panic attacks.

I recommended Panic Away because it is for panic attacks. The creator Joe Barry's techniques are more like exposure therapy, which was the reason why I went with Linden in the end, because exposure therapy does nothing for generalized anxiety.

The fact that you are on meds and suffer depression makes me think you might need a cognitive behavioural therapist who can give you CBT and wean you off medication at the same time. Do you have healthcare or insurance that would cover this?

If you have to go it alone, I want you to know something. The depression, the anxiety, the symptoms, these are the results of identifying with your mind. The thoughts come, you believe them, and you cannot imagine any other way of thinking, you cannot imagine that you have huge reserves of calm and courage somewhere in you.

I want you to stop right now, close your eyes and REALLY LISTEN to your refrigerator humming or whatever sound is around you. For those 3 or 4 seconds, where was your anxiety and suicidal depression? For that matter, where were YOU?

When you are doing meditation or diversion, which is what Linden Method teaches, your thinking stops. When your thinking stops, you have no anxiety. You are who you truly are. When your thinking starts again, you are back to being suicidal mhdwjw, who has no courage, no hope, nothing left to live for.

Whatever course of action you now take, you've got to stop being sucked in by your mind. Your mind is a swirling cesspool of satanic ideas about who you are. But they are just false beliefs. Doesn't matter where you got them from, just know they are false and don't listen to them.

Some people say they suffer depersonalization, when they don't know who they are anymore and they see themselves from afar like they're a robot. When that happened to me, I started to heal. I think depersonalization is a great thing.

If you have any more questions about not listening to your mind, send me a PM. I don't want to get into a whole lesson on Zen Buddhism on this forum.

Do me a favour and please go to your local library and get books by Claire Weekes and The Worry Trap by Chad Lejeune. These books will do wonders to calm you down and assure you that the cure is not unattainable. Also great are books by Eckhart Tolle and Byron Katie (not anxiety authors, though).

Patrick

[forwells]

Hi mhdwjw

From one fellow aussie to another .

I agree with Palow an everything he said .

My GP has suggested a psychiatrist because he too thinks psychologists are a waste of time. I have seen psychologists before and have gained little benefit.

Sorry but your doctor is wrong , your doctor does not understand anxitey. By the sounds of it he is one that thinks this is something that you need to learn to live with . This is rubbish , As palow said anxiety is all about the way we react to things and the effect they have on our body and mind .

If you go to a psychiatrist here they will do nothing , not a thing , the only thing they will do is put you on drugs . That is thier job to push drugs , they will not talk to you about your problems . They will ask a few questions and then give you a scrip .

Now these drugs may work or they may make it worst . But the one thing they will do is hide your problem if they do work. They are a bandaid and nothing more . ( did you watch 60 minutes last night and see the cash kick backs that the father of ADHD was getting from the drug comps , make you want to believe them does it not .)

Why is anxiety and deprssion such a big problem theses days , well my believe is one reason it is being hiding and not treated . Hiding by placing people on drugs . These people are not cured they are just controlled .

Yes you may have been to a psychologists and had no luck but they are all different and many of them are clueless also . They seem to not be taught here about the workings of anxiety in detail and more on relaxing . I think this is fine in a way but you need to understand anxiety before treating it , There are some good ones out there but you have to find them . The lady i see if i was in your frame of mind i would say is usless but i like talking to her just for someone that has a bit of a clue . I often find that she ask me more questions about anxiety than i ask her . But i am happy with that atleast she can pass it on .

Trust me when i say this there is one way you will get past this and that is to start to take controll of your own life. The people treating us should be seen as nothing more than guides. They do not heal anyone they guide people to sort their own life out . You need to stop and look at your life , the way you live and the way you react to that live and anything that is not working change.

And dont fall into the brain washing , the only thing that gives me relief is xanax Relief is not working you want something that make us face the problem and work on the fixing of it.

You also need to stop looking at it as a quick fix , everything in life worth the effot takes time .
cheers kev :D

[palow]

Kev, thanks for backing me up and giving a 2nd opinion on the drugs. I never took them but you did and your testimonial counts for a lot more.

I only have friends who take them and I can see they are in denial all the time. They are not so much addicted to the drug but addicted to the INSTANT relief from anxiety.

This is what you have to fight against, mhdwjw. You have a psychological addiction to the meds on top of your anxiety disorder. But don't worry. You'll get through this if you take this one day at a time.

You know what will really help besides doing an anxiety treatment programme? Do the 12 Steps from Alcoholics Anonymous but adapt it to your own needs. Essentially you admit you have a problem and cannot control it. There's a part about God or a greater power that may be tricky for some people. Then you make amends to the people you have hurt, or you can do charity work. Then sit down and figure out a new purpose to your life and dedicate yourself to that purpose. And you must help others who have the same problem.

A lot of this stuff is in that book Worry Trap. It is based on a type of CBT called ACT. There's an article on it in my website (click on the link under my name).

Patrick

[mhdwjw]

Hi Kev & Patrick,

Well went to my doc today and he seems to have had a complete turn around and has given me a referral to a psychologist specialising in anxiety for CBT. So I hope to get my first appointment this week.

You are right I am hoping for an overnight fix. I need to take it day by day. I have actually been through a bad patch of depression in previous years which I got through once without drugs and another time with drugs and then slowly went off them. So I know that you can get well again. I just have never experienced anxiety so severe and with the physical symptons that go along with it. I just keep thinking I must have an illness.

Can I ask both of you what your phyiscal symptoms were? As I have said before my main ones are nausea, empty stomach, sometimes frequent bowels, headaches, extreme fatigue, often a zombie like out of body feeling.

I hear what you are saying about the drugs. I guess at the moment I am relying on them alot as I have twins that are 10 months old and not really anyone around to help me so until I start feeling a bit better sometimes they ensure I get through so I can care for my kids.

Where are both of you with your health currently?

Do you think it would be beneficial for me to sort of do my own anxiety treatment via book or internet as well as seeing the psych?

Thanks so much. I really do appreciate your posts cos as you would know it can be a very lonely time.

[palow]

If you can get a CB therapist specializing in anxiety GO FOR IT! I'm always worried people will get a therapist that specializes in depression, in which case you'll get more drugs.

Interview this therapist first and find out if s/he will get you off drugs using CBT. There is a chance s/he might say you're not ready to get off drugs yet, which might be true. But you should still do library research on those authors I mentioned. If you get the wrong therapist, you'll know.

I think a therapist is a good idea if you can afford it. If you have twin babies and you're on a lot of meds, getting a book or Panic Away may not do it.

I am not going to answer that question about the symptoms. It is a characteristic trait of anxiety disorder for the sufferer to seek someone with the exact same symptoms. It's a trick your mind plays on itself. Don't fall for it.

Patrick

[forwells]

Hi mhdwjw

Its good to see your doctor has changed his mind .

It will help you heaps . Even Patrick is helping me when i thought i would have known what was going on . :shock: :lol:

My symptoms . Boy were do we start . Well i think its best to say the link on this page up the top .
I would say i had 90% of them at one stage or another. ( :o boy i have got better , been long time since looked at that ) I still have a few but my biggest one now i think is memory and flaskbacks . This is causing me problems driving long ways as the worst time i had was driving and now when i drive i think to much . I have a few depression patches but they are thought based and i can stop them by distracting myself . I also have trouble handling stress on some days , nothing bad but as the wife says i get the shits easy at times :lol: . So this tells you how far you can come .

Do you think it would be beneficial for me to sort of do my own anxiety treatment via book or internet as well as seeing the psych?

In a word yes . Panic away i read and didnt really help me as i knew most of it . More for panic .

InstantPanicRelief was good and i bought this one just to read but found it very good and it comes in both text and voice . The croc brain bit was great.

The site that saved my life was anxietycenter.com . Most of my panic started from two things . I didnt understand it and bloody drugs ( but thats was only me and the wrong drugs). This site helped me understand it and took away much of the fear with it . It explains in detail the way the body changes when it is understress .

Another you should try is Dr Cabot . She is good and you can do it via the internet but it is a bit dear. Cost me about $200 but it did help .

Drugs well i want go there again but plan you trip to be off them one day

There are so many natural products out there without side effects that these drugs have .

I have to ask . I just have never experienced anxiety so severe Was this before or after you were put on these drugs.

Your new CBT psychologist , if you sit there and are thinking what is this crap and you dont feel it is working then say so . You have to be happy with the person treating you . You have to be happy that they are working on your problem as you see it and not on what they think is the problem . Hope that makes sence. You know what your problems are better than them and they should be your guide to face them not place them there .



Other things to do

Diet - eat well and often , your body is using alot to stay so hypo

Eat protien with every meal , Brain needs it

Take some good supps - multi with good amounts of Bs , magnesium called the calming mineral , Omega 3s brain needs it

Meditate - This is a must .

Tell yourself everyday - you will get over this and it is only a phase .

Like AA everything passes

Get your hormones tested

cheers kev :)

[mhdwjw]

Patrick,

I am going to do alot of research to understand the cycle of anxiety as you have suggested go to the library.

With regard to your last comment about physical symptoms and you say its a trait for anxiety sufferers to seek someone with the same symtoms etc. Can you explain what you mean a bit further? If you mean what I think you mean you have hit the nail on the head for me because I have spent hours surfing the net to see if anyone has the same symptons as me to reaasure myself and to know I dont have a physical illness!

You are very helpful :)

[palow]

mhdwjw, that's exactly what I mean. This need to seek out someone with your exact symptoms is a con. Your mind is getting you to go on a USELESS quest to make you more anxious.

Think carefully about exactly what you hope to gain by finding someone with your exact symptoms. One leper finding another leper does not cure them of leprosy. So why are you spending hours looking for another leper?

That's just ONE of the many fun con tricks your anxiety is playing on you. That's why I keep telling you, don't listen to your mind. Your mind is something MASQUERADING as you. Who are you really? You are that person when you stop thinking. That person is calm and peaceful. The mhdwjw pleading for help is not real. It is a voice that came from a witch's brew of off-balanced brain chemicals and post-natal hormones. I'll say it again: don't listen to it while you are in therapy.

Patrick