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Anxiety Community
This patient support community is for discussions relating to generalized anxiety, anxiety and eating, anxiety and sleeping, mood swings, and phobias.
Anxiety???
by smc123, Dec 19, 2006 12:00AM
I have been suffering from anxiety for 3 years now. I have been on Lexapro in the past but do not want to take medication on a daily basis. I am currently trying accupuncture and it seemed to be helping but today I am feeling extremely anxious--Now every little twinge or pain I feel I am convinced that i am going to die!!! I feel so ridiculous!!! I have tried talking to someone but it made me feel so ashamed(that probably adds to my anxiety!!!) Does anyone have any suggestions?? I have read books by CLaire Weeks and Lucinda Bassett. It seems so obivous as to how to calm down but when I feel like this I can't. I am at work and I don't want anyone to know--today my anxiety has definately gotten the better of me. I just want to cry!!! I hate these feelings and want them to go away!
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I don't advocate a medicine-only approach to psychiatry, but in the case of GAD, or any acute anxiety disorder I do try to impress by any means the necessity of getting treatment as quickly as possible. Untreated anxiety can lead to syndromes related to post-traumatic stress disorder. In my experience, acute anxiety does not get better on its own. You will have some good days and some very bad days; you may try to figure out why your good days were good and the bad days were bad. You will learn to cope in an abnormal world where everything becomes more frightening. You may find yourself going out less, staying home because it is the one place you feel safe, and even home doesn't feel safe all the time.
Patients describe to me a feeling that the walls are closing in on them and they don't have any place to run for safety anymore.
The tragedy is that all the anxiety, all the lost living paid out in panic and fear could have all been abated if treated vigorously by a psychiatrist who is competent in the field of anxiety or the diagnosis and treatment of Generalized Treatment Disorder. Medication is not a cure but it is a begining, and a begining to take back control of your life.
Many people have argued that therapy is the better first course or treatment and I wholeheartedly disagree. First you must treat the anxiety because anxiety is the underlying cause for much of what your feeling. Therapy can be very useful for some people but it is rarely useful for persons who are in extreme states of uncontrollable fear.
Your doctor has you on Lexapro.
My unsolicited advice to you is to find another doctor.
Unfortunately, many doctors still think in terms of the old paradigm; that anxiety is caused by underlying depression and if you treat the depression (with an antidepressant like Lexapro) the anxiety will eventually fade away. This view is antiquated and perhaps even dangerous.
Anxiety is a actual disorder. It is not depression and contrary to the old paradigm; it may turn out that anxiety, in some patients, may cause depression and not the other way around.
I urge you to find a doctor who specializes in the treatment of anxiety and get some of your life back, get to feel like your back in control. If you have trouble finding such a doctor you can consult NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) and ask them to assist you in finding a doctor in your area, or within reasonable distance.
Good luck.
I don't know if anyone will ever read this as its a logn time since the last posts here. I am suffering and needing someone to comment on my situation.
History: 95: Anxiety attack... Mum said she saw a change in me from this point on. On and off panic and general anxiety since then. The last two years have been fine then BAMM.. two months ago it came back a little then my mind grew it an grew it again.
Avoidance of situations, concerened about how im percieved, symptoms from "not being there", obsessed with how im breathing, GERD, feeling of something caught in the throat, angry and sad. New symptom is a rush that almosy bowls me over.. starts in the solar plexus and rapidly surges for a second.. very very frightening, dizziness, numbness or feeling very light in the extremities, then heavy and shaky and the classic, wanting to escape from situations because your body feels like it just HAS to get you somewhere safe... everyone becomes an obstacle, an escalation for more anxiety, "get out of the way" i once yelled at someone when trying to escape from the train.
I am in therapy and today i had a full blown anxious moment/attack and whenever i see my psychologist its hard to relax and listen to the dialogue. I did however allow her to see me experiencing this anxiety.. The type where i couldnt look at her or turn my head at some points because i was so afraid of the feeling. It was a form of release in therapy though and im proud of that.. Just crying over the symptoms, the fact that i can't face people, work, responibilities and exercise was good to acknowledge.. You have to remove the pressure to be rid of anxiety, it will only make you worry more.
I wont lie, its a long journey for me and its been incredibly debilitating. But i am being corageous and facing the anxiety head on in therapy even when i feel so anxious about the session before i go... Be brave and know that we who are posting are trying to discover, feel and release this pain. I believe that each day i get better and better and better.... no pain, no gain. Hang in there.... YOU ARE NOT ALONE...... ever... from Australia.