is there anyone out there with GAD?

[robbie178]

I have GAD and I need to know how to address it. I have trouble with my concentration. It feels like something is off in my brain. I feel absolutely no pleasurable feelings. Can anyone relate. Just started to take Zoloft. I am already taling 2 mg of xanax a day.

[Jerzeegal]

I am very familiar with the feeling that you will never get better but believe me you WILL.  It takes about 2 weeks for the anti depressant to reach full effect. You will notice an improvement and hopefully will be able to get to a therapist.

There is a good one not far from you if you are interested you can private message me and I'll give you the name.

Hang in there things will get better.

Jerz

[robbie178]

I apparently was medicating with alcohol because since I stopped drinking nine months ago  all the GAD symptoms started. I think that I am in a  state where my symptoms are so bad that I cannot go to  aa meetings or get into cognitive therapy. Ever since I took the alcohol away my anxiety is so bad that I had trouble doing my wash today, even read a simple news paper article and enjoy it. I feel like a fish out of water knowing I am not going to get relief from drinking. When I drank my brain chemistry must have been so used to getting the alcohol that I functioned at a normal level as long as I medicated with alcohol. I heard that alcohol (of course not recommended) is the most effective chemical for anxiety. Very vicious cycle. Also, my concentration and energy level is quite low. I started an anti depressent last week and hate to take it because it causes sexual side effects but I am banking on it to make my symptoms lessen so I can get the therapy that I need. I had to leave my job as a teacher when I became sober. I am truly living a nightmare. I feel that I am never going to get better and will be forced to start to drink again to feel normal.

[sumihari]

Hi robbie,

I was first diagnosed with GAD around 15 years ago and I found a good psychiatrist who worked with me using CBT and no medications. She recommended meditation, breathing/relaxation exercises and some form of regular physical exercise. This kept me functional until 2004 when I had a health scare and a very stressful time in my life. I developed severe health anxiety which is a subset of GAD and am struggling day by day to find a good solution.

Having said that I think GAD can be brought under control if you find the right mental health professional, this I find the most frustrating and challenging task. Also I agree with JS Geare that medication can at times be very helpful with the symptoms but you will need theraphy as well. Usually medication is prescribed for people who are overwhelmed by the symptoms that they cannot do theraphy. Whilst on medication and as their symptoms subside, then theraphy is commenced so that one can learn coping skills and then gradually in a year's time taper off the medication, for instance.

Take care.

[JSGeare]

If you're looking for people with GAD, let me be the first to announce with great pleasure that you are holding the right lottery ticket -we are ALL about GAD and his nasty gang of accomplices. It could be worse, you could have ended up in the gifted, rich and too well-adjusted forum.

All that said -and all kidding aside, one of the important things you did NOT mention was therapy under the guidance of a psychiatrist or other qualified mental health professional.

The meds -whatever they turn out to be- can be very helpful with symptoms. But if you want to FIX the problem, therapy is powerful tonic because it comes from your own brain. Please consider it.

And stay with us! Thanks for being here.

[Jerzeegal]

I have GAD and found therapy to be extremely helpful. Sometimes when you start a med like Zoloft the anxiety may seem to intensify for the first week or so until the medication reaches a therapuetic level.

I really believe taking medication alone and not doing therapy as well won't give you the tools you need in order to manage the anxiety.

There are a lot of people in this forum going through or have gone through what you are dealing with so keep posting. I have some things I have learned listed my journal entry that have helped me alot if you would like to take a look.

Good Luck
Jerz