Anxiety Disorders

[CWO]

Anyone have them and have any suggestions for dealing with them? Maybe have someone close to you that has them and is dealing with them? Hopefully without the use of drugs?

I've been reading into CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy), anyone have any input on that?


Thanks

[Forever_frost]

I take my medication on time and avoid triggers.

[downshift_me]

I have major anxiety. Meds never worked. I finally realized how severely bad off I was and it was effecting my life big time. I learned to self soothe, but I don't have it down pat yet. I've learned to recover quickly from an attack, though.

I hope you do find relief, because it is hard to deal with.

[CWO]

It's going to sound cliche, but it's not me. Someone I care about greatly though.

[Samhain]

Cutting out caffeine, nicotine, and exercising regularly will help.

[CWO]

Cutting out caffeine, nicotine, and exercising regularly will help.

Yes. Thanks for this. She doesn't smoke, drink, and limits caffeine because of it. Exercise is hit or miss.

[SlowLX]

I get a little general anxeity occasionaly when work gets too stressful. i try to keep a Regular sleep schedule and I exercise like a motherfucker when I have a bad week. Endorphins from a long ass run or ride do wonders.

[crapstang]

I get a little general anxeity occasionaly when work gets too stressful. i try to keep a Regular sleep schedule and if I exercise like a motherfucker when I have a bad week. Endorphins from a long ass run or ride do wonders

^this

Avoid medication at all costs. Eat right, get to sleep, and work out like none-other!

[MustangPoser]

I've always had a lot of stress and anxiety, especially having run an online business since I was 16 (personal website network and an associated web dev/net marketing service)

I took Celexa for a few months. I had a TON of stress and anxiety. I came off before my doctor wanted me to because I didn't want to be on them too long.

They did help with my stress, and they did help with anxiety. The tradeoff was that I lost ALL motivation while on them.

Pills will help. You can't just "take pills" and make everything better, if you do that you will never be able to quit taking them. If your anxiety is really bad, you need to talk to a therapist and use every tool at your disposal to combat the anxiety. You should wage a multi front offensive.

Now, coming off the SSRI's is supposed to be HORRIBLE. I quit over a couple weeks, skipping doses every other day, then skipping for 2 days, down to taking a TINY dose every 3-4 days just to end the dizzyness when waking up for the day or from a nap.

The withdrawal was very mild and uneventful. Really easy. I came off slow enough that I never really saw any difference in my mood. I was just tired for a couple weeks. After that, I got my motivation back and I still feel exactly the same as I did when I was taking the medicine.

So short story > Pills did help me abandon a ton of stress and anxiety and I only took them for ~6-8 months.

[Leah]

It can really affect the ones who have it much more than they may think, which in turn, affects the ones around them. It sucks. Hope you find the help you need for her.

[Josh.0]

Meditation helps a lot.

[S_K]

Regular sleep is a big deal. It really helps. Along with what others have said - find some activity that helps reduce your level off stress. Anexity for me is a "closed loop system". I get stressed, then I get stressed about being stressed, then I get even more stressed because I am stressed about being stressed about being stressed. Anexity feeds on itself and you have to break the cycle and remove yourself mentally and sometime even physically from the trigger.

You need some sort of activity that requires both physical and mental concentration. Exercise is good especially team sports where you have to get your head in the game. (basketball, soccer, tennis, etc) Playing a musical instrument has also been found to be a great anexity reliever.

[BP]

^this

Avoid medication at all costs. Eat right, get to sleep, and work out like none-other!

Agreed, they have long lasting side effects that can be worse than the problem. In my case the cause of stress was pretty obvious and I've since remedied it.

[Coupe81]

<--Panic/Anxiety attacks since I was 25, didn't know what it was til I went to the ER. Paxil, zoloft, wellburtin (made it worst), Lexapro worked pretty darn good even coming off of them, and Xanax which pretty much eliminated all my problems but very addicting. At the end like everyone mentioned, Good amount of sleep (5+ hours), eat right, and some form of exercise everyday. What worked for me was working at the shop 10+ hours Monday-Saturday at a medium pace, I'm tired but I stay active, keep the weight off and sleep awesome at night. I hate being at home doing nothing, that's when my anxiety gets the best of me. I still do suffer from social anxiety when I just focus on work and away from human society for awhile but that's pretty much everyone. Hope this helps

[SEB]

I suffer from this myself. I try to keep myself in check & not let it get a hold of me. A lot of me calming myself is staying busy & not slacking in life IE WORK, MY BODY, PERSONAL LIFE. I try eliminate anything that will stress me out. I try and keep a schedule & follow it to the T! I am about to start hitting the gym cause I stress about how I look. I find its easier to JUST DO IT! Then stress about it if this makes sense