I gave suffered from anxiety and panic attacks my whole life

[Dpaolucci63]

I am a 54 year old women who lives alone with no one to turn too other then my children who don't know how to help me anymore I feel I have become a hand full to them.

[Sprinkle1]

I feel sorrow for you and think I know how you feel. I am 75, live with 2 cats and have been battling depression all my life, right now I am in a lousy depression and killer anxiety. I have no friends here and my only child is a quad. and lives in England. Have you talked to your Dr. about how you feel? You may need some med's to help. I also think it would be good if you talked with a Therapist, and found a support group. I have done all these things and they really help. I have a good Dr. and a Nurse Practitioner Psych. Although I hate to take pills, right now I am on 6 different meds!!! Thank goodness the side effects have been tolerable and I feel just a slight improvement - it takes time. I am still looking for a support group. I am not going to let this monster beat me. Be good to yourself everyday, do Not put yourself down, do something nice for yourself everyday. I am here for you, I send love & peace. Sprinkle 1

[Ceciliaak]

I am 55, and am in the same boat. Ive had to isolate myself from my two grown kids so they dont worry so much too. But, i just found this support group here and am feeling less isolated already. Thank you for sharing. Just knowing I'm not alone helps! We can get thru this!

[one-love]

I know your pain I have my good days and my bad days a lot of my anxiety attacks I thought were heart attacks in the beginning because of the physical symptoms I was always having (heart pounding, dizzy, impending doom feeling, breathing difficulty) but after years of having them and talking to doctors and therapists I realize now when I have them they are just anxiety attacks but they can be very scary for sure if you don't know what it is in the beginning. I hate taking RX meds too so it's a double edge sword, I feel like I trade one problem for another when I take the pills the doctors give me and all the side effects that come with them. To be honest I have been using medical marijuana for the last few years and I feel it really helps me and doesn't have near as many bad side effects. I know it might sound crazy but look into it and try a sativa strain it really helps with mood, anxiety and depression. But use a low does if you never tried it before

[Pearl67 in reply to one-love]

Although I do not have an issue with medical marijuana in general, I do have a problem with it for my son. He started young and went on to hard drugs. Got clean and now uses medical mj. The thing is...clearly it is NOT working! The ONLY thing I see it helps is with his appetite, which he does NOT have unless he uses it. His horrible anxiety causes him to not eat and/or have horrible stomach issues.

Clearly it is not the fix for him, but he is so afraid of prescription drugs. I do NOT love them either, but I have seen them work beautifully in many cases.

I guess what I am saying is, medically mj can work, I believe it! But I also see people saying it works or they want to avoid pharma and the rest of us are like, uhhh, your behavior is not one of health or sound mind.

Use caution if you try it!

[one-love in reply to Pearl67]

I agree it might not be for everyone I am a medical cannabis patient as well but have found great relief with using it. I feel for your son, drug addiction took my older brother from me last year so I know how painful it can be. If used in the right amount though and the right strain medical cannabis can work great, I know you mentioned he had a substance abuse problem before so it could possibly be that he is using too much of his medication at one time now I know it sounds weird but you need the right balance like any medication around 7.5-10mg THC is the perfect amount to help with depression and anxiety if he is just using it whenever he feels like it. He might be over medicating himself which can cause anxiety to be worse like any medication if you take too much you might get a bad reaction which kinda sounds like what your son might be doing. I always suggest a cannabis high in CBD and lower in THC so they work together better.