Curing Anxiety

[ALifetimeToWaitFor...]

Does any one have another way besides drugs or meditation to lessen or cure anxiety?

 

[Ormiston]

Does any one have another way besides drugs or meditation to lessen or cure anxiety?

Games!! Sports, exercise, eating better, medical treatment, pets, massages, sex, sex, sex, reading, writing, more games, drinking (sometimes only!), parties, friends, sex, ummmmmmmm AMUSEMENT PARKS!! Walks in the woods, vacations are awesome, and finally, drugs. Wait, besides drugs, all that other stuff and more I'm sure. :jam: Have some fun!

 

[Solon]

Sex whlist suffering anxiety isn't a good idea, in my opinion. All those things are are good, but, I don't think that anybody really suffering should ignore meds if they are prescribed.

 

[Valjean]

Meditation or pranayama or asanas sometime help.

 

[FyreBrigidIce]

Coloring or drawing pictures is helpful to me if I am home when an anxiety or panic attack occurs.

If I am in public I try to think of anything positive in my life, such as, my daughters laughter or silly faces, everyone who cares about me, a goal that I accomplished. Also thinking of a peaceful place and thinking about the different sounds that are soothing help.


FBI

 

[Solon]

Doing something like drawing is good, I used to sketch things myself, I'd pick up a travel brochure, find a picture I liked, say a little Greek Church, and do my best to draw it. The thing I find that about using your mind when panicking is, once your mind is excited, it's virtually impossible to focus on nice thoughts. Well for me it is, but sure if you can use your mind to control anxiety, that's a good trick to perform.

 

[Pardus]

I have a problem with affecting the chemical balence of the brain, expecially since anti-depressents have been known to cause suicide and even in some cases attributed to homocides.

 

[Solon]

Seroxat, or Paxil can cause these feelings, that stuff doesn't suit everybody, and in fact is harder to come off than any Valium group drugs. My own feelings and experience tell me that anti-depressants are not the best way of treating anxiety-panic. I've had some heated arguments with medics on this topic, they don't like been told things, as they assume they know it all, which clearly, they do not !!

S

 

[michel]

I have a problem with affecting the chemical balence of the brain, expecially since anti-depressents have been known to cause suicide and even in some cases attributed to homocides.

That is a myth. Anti-depressants themselves do not cause suicides; When a patient is first given mdication, he/she will most likely be at a very low state (hence going and asking for help). When very depressed, we have no energy whatsoever; any task seems like an impossibility.

The medication usually takes a couple of weeks to 'kick in', and there is a very gradual amelioration of the depression. After a while, the patient begins to have more energy.

That is the danger point; without some sort of parallel form of psychologist support, the patient is at risk.

The reason is that the cause for the depression is still there, and the patient now has some energy. Slightly skewed thinking, and energy can easily lead down the dark road to thoughts of suicide.............

Homicide ? have you any resources to back that up ? I would be interested to see what you have.

 

[jonny]

Breathing exercises work well for me when I can't go running or something. Just take slow, deep breaths until your heart rate goes down.

Another method I use is to lie down and tense, hold and slowly release each of my muscles, starting with my head (forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, etc) and going down through each muscle group until my feet. When I was having anxiety problems I would do this every night.

Finally, confront your fears. In my experience, the anxiety is caused by fear of the unknown. Confronting the unknown until the anxiety becomes manageable really works. Create a list of twenty steps (baby steps ) and order them from what would make you least anxious to what would make you most anxious. Start with the easy ones and confront the fear one step at a time. Keep doing the one step until it no longer makes you anxious. And work your way through the process. Get a buddy to help you if needed.

 

[michel]

Breathing exercises work well for me when I can't go running or something. Just take slow, deep breaths until your heart rate goes down.

Another method I use is to lie down and tense, hold and slowly release each of my muscles, starting with my head (forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, etc) and going down through each muscle group until my feet. When I was having anxiety problems I would do this every night.

Finally, confront your fears. In my experience, the anxiety is caused by fear of the unknown. Confronting the unknown until the anxiety becomes manageable really works. Create a list of twenty steps (baby steps ) and order them from what would make you least anxious to what would make you most anxious. Start with the easy ones and confront the fear one step at a time. Keep doing the one step until it no longer makes you anxious. And work your way through the process. Get a buddy to help you if needed.

That is an excellent method of relaxing; whenever I use it, I fall asleep by the time I get up to the eyelids ; used to be quite embarassing, being woken up by a therapist in group therapy.......

Any form of distraction when having panick or anxiety attacks will often help (simply by lettibng you forget about the symptoms, simply by concentrating on other things).

 

[Pardus]

michel:

I have googled the words prozac and murder for you want to take a look.

I know society is irresponsible when it comes to checking for the results of the things they do, until it's too late of course and even then they don't like to admit they made a mistake.

I'm happy to let a doctor repair me physically (tho i have had one perform malpractise upon me) i will not let a doctor affect my mind, only i can see the result of such actions properly and even then the damage itself may prevent me from doing that.

 

[Saw11_2000]

Seroxat, or Paxil can cause these feelings, that stuff doesn't suit everybody, and in fact is harder to come off than any Valium group drugs. My own feelings and experience tell me that anti-depressants are not the best way of treating anxiety-panic. I've had some heated arguments with medics on this topic, they don't like been told things, as they assume they know it all, which clearly, they do not !!

S

Well, most psychiatrists don't believe that these medications don't cause people to commit suicide, or homicide or anything like that. Antidepressants can motivate people who were considering these things prior to treatment to carry out their thoughts. That's why, for example, Zoloft isn't approved for depression in children (because depression is a high-risk thing to treat), but is approved for OCD in children, because people with OCD typically aren't suicidal. I believe the increase in suicides of people taking an antidepressant with the general public is 4%. The difference is only 2% greater than a placebo.

Paxil and Effexor are some of the worst antidepressants to come off. Prozac is fairly easy to come off. This is because paxil and effexor have short half-lives, while prozac has a long one. Your body notices when you miss your dose of paxil or effexor, and when you stop treatment without slowing tapering the dose, you increase the chance of having withdrawals. Again, due to the fact that paroxetine is quick in, and out of your body, it's notorious to cause withdrawals more than other SSRIs.

If you consider this withdrawal experience that some people encounter a dependence on the medication because people are afraid to get off it, perhaps you are right. But benzos also have dependency and addiction problems.

 

[Saw11_2000]

There have been several cases of alleged antidepressant caused homicides

1. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6894217

2. Although the manufacturers say there is no reliable clinical evidence that the drug can cause violence or aggression, a wrongful death suit was filed against GlaxoSmithKline in June 2001 by the surviving family of Donald Schell, a Wyoming man who had killed his wife, daughter and grandchild after two days on the drug. During the investigation of the clinical records, it was reported that, although paroxetine is safe and effective most of the time, in a minority of cases the drug can cause unpredictable side effects such as wild mood swings or suicidal thoughts. The jury ultimately awarded damages of $8 million against GlaxoSmithKline.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paxil

That is a myth. Anti-depressants themselves do not cause suicides; When a patient is first given mdication, he/she will most likely be at a very low state (hence going and asking for help). When very depressed, we have no energy whatsoever; any task seems like an impossibility.

The medication usually takes a couple of weeks to 'kick in', and there is a very gradual amelioration of the depression. After a while, the patient begins to have more energy.

That is the danger point; without some sort of parallel form of psychologist support, the patient is at risk.

The reason is that the cause for the depression is still there, and the patient now has some energy. Slightly skewed thinking, and energy can easily lead down the dark road to thoughts of suicide.............

Homicide ? have you any resources to back that up ? I would be interested to see what you have.

 

[Pardus]

Exactly, i already have dramatic mood swings which i do not want to augment through such medication and a cure is better than a crutch in my opinion.

I will say again tho, healing yourself is not the best avenue for everyone.

 

[ALifetimeToWaitFor...]

Paxil and Effexor are some of the worst antidepressants to come off.

Having been weened off of Paxil for the past month i've finally been taken off it and am having horrible withdrawls. I would strongly recommend not taking it. Secondly it was prescribed to be for an social anxiety medication and never really did anything. The withdrawls, for me, have included puking, head whirls as i call them, and aches all over my body. It has been similar to quiting cocaine.

 

[Solon]

You can become dependant on Benzo's, as indeed I am. But not addicted, addictive substances act on the pleasure centres in the Brain, and in particular, dophamine receptors; hence the need to take more and more to maintain the high. Benzos, act on GABA receptors, and in fact dampen down electrical activity at these sites, which prevent adquate amounts of GABA in the Brain. What benzos do is to return the anxiety/panic sufferer to to return to a state of near normal brain function. Research has shown that benzo users do not typically increase usage, but stay at the prescribed levels of dosage. I might, typically when I feel really bad then I might take two xanax instead of the one I take daily, but that is a rare occurence for me.

solon

 

[Saw11_2000]

Having been weened off of Paxil for the past month i've finally been taken off it and am having horrible withdrawls. I would strongly recommend not taking it. Secondly it was prescribed to be for an social anxiety medication and never really did anything. The withdrawls, for me, have included puking, head whirls as i call them, and aches all over my body. It has been similar to quiting cocaine.

Paxil can actually be a very good medication for some, but it's due to it's very short half-life that withdrawal symptoms can be devestating. Paxil is also notorious for weight gain. But, Paxil is one of only a few antidepressants that treat social anxiety disorder, and the only antidepressant to the best of my knowledge that treats generalized anxiety disorder.

You should try switching to Prozac now. Prozac has a much longer half life, and is the only antidepressant that doesn't really cause withdrawal symptoms. A lot of people go from Paxil to Prozac in order to stop taking the Paxil. You can also quit the Prozac easily when it's over. Some doctors don't know about this, so you can just say you've been having bad side effects and want to try another medication. Hope that helps.