suffering from anxiety

[annajo]

Hi, I'm new here and suffering from pretty bad anxiety disorder. I feel like I have tried everything to overcome this but my anxiety just keeps getting worse. Counseling did not help and I'm trying to avoid medications if possible because my job I can not afford any adverse affects. I am hoping that being able to talk openly about my struggles will be helpfull.

[Ironj]

Anxiety as your well aware of is a torturous and relentless Disorder. As you stated counseling didn’t help you , And you don’t want to try anti anxiety meds in fear it may effect your performance at work. It sounds like your anxiety is made worse thinking about how to control your anxiety. I can tell you that some medication will effect your alertness while they have a calming effect. I personally take Xanax as needed and take a dose appropriate for my anxiety at that moment. That being said you shouldn’t worry about how an anxiety medication may or may not affect you as you can control how much of a dose you can take to take the edge off. I have 2 mg Xanax that I can take a 1/4 of a tablet to take the edge off but won’t affect my alertness. That’s the great thing about Benzodiazepines you can take them as needed and cut the tablet to fit the situation . Best wishes John

[annajo in reply to Ironj]

Thank you John, I appreciate the advise.

[StarryNight72]

Hi Annajo,

Welcome. I’m so sorry that you have been suffering. Like John said, anxiety is tortuous and relentless. Many of us here having been wrestling with it for years and we can do identify and relate to what you are going through. Remember, this is a brain disease. It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything to cause this. You are innocent. But, it is a disease. And diseases can be treated, if that’s what you choose. There are a lot of different treatments for anxiety. Some involve medication and some do not. Medication helps many people and that’s what it’s supposed to do. So, if you end up taking some meds, know that’s ok. You don’t beat yourself up for taking an aspirin when you have a headache, do you? People with diabetes can’t change their blood sugar by force of will. And to my knowledge, I’ve never heard of a sinus infection that went away from thinking positively. That being said, I completely respect your decision to try other options first. Many people benefit from mindfulness meditation. Including me! It takes a while. It took me three months of meditating every single day before I started to feel better. I was always a little skeptical it was working at all, but then one day I realized... WOW. I DO FEEL CALMER. Physical exercise has been known to help. A great place to do research is google scholar. There are a lot of research studies on non-pharmaceutical treatment of anxiety and you can see what treatments had the best success. Anyways, I wish you the best and will support you in any treatment avenue you feel is best for you. Sending you lots of hugs and warm wishes.

[annajo in reply to StarryNight72]

Thank you, I drive for a living so I have to be really careful with any medications that I take. I can't take something that is going to make me groggy or worse than I feel already and I have had issues with that in the past. I'm considering accupuncture. Has anyone tried it for anxiety?

[Hidden]

Hello amnajo,

, have you been to your doctor to ask them to trfer you to a psychologost who hopefully will be able to provide you a course of CBT? its far much better than counselling take it from me..

[annajo in reply to Hidden]

what is CBT? I tried to get a referral from my doc to see a psychologost but I just got a bunch of run-around. It created more anxiety so I just gave up.

[Ironj in reply to annajo]

A quick example of cognitive behavior therapy would be. If you afraid of elevators ( claustrophobia or getting trapped ). They would start you out with getting in the elevator without closing the door for several occasions. Then move to getting in and closing the door and opening it to let you out. Finally use the elevator fully. The end result is that you no long fear the elevator. Best wishes John

[Hidden]

Cognitive behavioural Therapy. It would take me so long ti explain everything but its the best treatment for all anxiety disorders. Hooe you get to see the psychologiist as soon as possible. I know it does create more anxiety but there is a light at tge end of the tunel, so never gi e up hope.