Anxiety, vitamin supplements and therapy

[squutaar]

I don't really have a question.  I have been suffering from Anxiety, Panic Attacks and now I am in RECOVERY.  It took work, but I was able start recovery and have come a long way.  I feel so much better now, and each month gets better and better.  I had a major breakthrough during therapy last week.  I found the source of my anxiety.  My therapist, a specialized nurse practitioner, who not only can prescribe medication, can also very skilled in talk therapy (an excellent combination).  I have resisted going on medication and my therapist has been very supportive of this.  I went on medication 3 years ago for depression and it really helped, but I never got to the source of my problem.  In my last therapy session I finally discovered the wound that appears to be the point source of my anxiety!  It was profound and scary, it was like ripping off a giant scap and exposing a deep wound.  I was so surprised and so was my therapist.  It seemed that during therapy eventually everything turned towards some sort of medical related fear, whether for something like getting blood drawn to issues with my wife having surgery 2 years ago.  Ultimately my therapist ask me a pointed question:  did you ever have a medical procedure where things were scary or things went wrong.  I just about jumped out of my chair, my FEAR level rose to extremely anxious levels, and it felt extremely raw to expose this.  I recalled being 11 years old and having to go in for surgery to remove my appendix.  I thought I was going to die.  I didn't understand that this surgery is rarely fatal (but I was 11).  I have never been more scared in my life than at that moment.  And now I realized that is where is all is coming from.  It's like I opened up the neural pathway for my brain to know just how fearful it could feel, and it seemed after my wife's surgery 2 years ago, when all my symptoms started, that is when my brain decided to start down this path again, bringing back my deep seeded traumatic experience.  My therapist said I definitely suffering from PTSD from this.  I had no idea.  I thought this sort of sudden awareness of a bad experience only happened in movies.  She was also surprised at how I nearly leaped out of my chair when she asked about any medical related, bad experiences.  

I hope that by telling my story that this may help someone out there.  I found that taking fish oil 3 times per day, B-complex vitamins REALLY help with the mental fatigue. Also warm baths in a darkened bathroom provided a "safe place" to calm my anxiety and reduce or remove the mental fog/depersonalization feelings, often doing this right before bed.

Reading the book "When Panic Attacks" was super helpful and getting me to understand that my physical symptoms were being caused by anxiety and not something else.  Talking therapy and this book, brought me to realize that my thoughts were causing my anxiety.  And therapy uncovered the source of my fearful thoughts.  I know it's difficult to go through this, but I think I'm really, finally, getting better.  I do know that my thoughts were creating all my symptoms.  I didn't really believe that I could feel all these physical symptoms for just my thoughts, and it took some time before I really understood and noticed that they were exactly right.  But everything from all the experts and my therapist said that my thoughts were the source.  And in my case, much of it was from my traumatic experience.  But also, when I would suddenly start feeling anxious, I was take notice of the thoughts I was just having, and most of the time, my thoughts were a vision of what BAD things might happen, what might happen in the meeting today.  I was not always aware of what I was just thinking right before the symptoms appeared,  but slowly I became more and more aware, and finally I started seeing the CONNECTION.  It took work, I had to try, I had to put energy and effort into all of this.  

If anyone has any questions about my experience, I would love to share what I have discovered about myself, and maybe this will help you too!

[Perfectly_Imperfect]

I totally support therapy, I've been going now for a solid 4 months (after going on and off for year) but not everyone has a root cause that will jump out at them like you ... I've have been able to recognize what makes me feel the way I do and have learned great coping skills ... and like you, I refuse medication (besides vitamins & herbs) ... it's a struggle but even if anxiety doesn't have a root cause, therapy can be extremely beneficial :)

[ajg33]

Im in on therapy being a great thing! i have a great therapist that I have been working with for around 2 months when my anxiety kicked in! I have been diagnosed with chronic migraines and didnt even realize that most of the anxiety was the "fear" of the next headache, the triggers, ect! My therapist has a way of opening me up to a point where it always goes back to the "root" the damn migraines. So three cheers to a good therapist! And 4 cheers to all of us taking the step to get back to our real selves!!
Anthony

[mammo]

Good for you!  But your experience is exactly why we tell people to get into therapy because often our anxiety does have a root cause.  Once we discover what this is, we can deal with it and move on.  A good therapist can do wonders for us.  We also learn to think differently, more positive thoughts verses the negative which feeds our anxiety.  We are what we think!  I tell people when they start therapy that if they reach a point where they want to leave, are getting scared or angry, to know that they are close to the problem, and to keep going.  Congratulations to you for being able to do this!  I hope your story shows others the value of therapy and how much our thoughts affect us.  sharing your story!!