New here and looking for help or at least someone to talk with.

[Blueartist]

I suffer from severe anxiety, depression, PTSD, and it's gotten to the point me having of agoraphobia. I was wondering if there's people out there going through similar things that we could talk about or if anyone out there can offer help. I've tried a few coping techniques but nothing so far has helped and I just don't know what to do.

[tamka38]

He I have several anxiety and clinical depression and PTSD. And I struggle

With Agoraphobia for years and derealization and depersonalization

And been sober from alcohol for

2 months and been on Zoloft for

3 weeks

[Blueartist in reply to tamka38]

Congratulations about your sobriety, how's it going with the zoloft? I have a hard time even taking medications, I've been prescribed xanax to help with anxiety but I can't even take it due to gag reflex.

[tamka38 in reply to Blueartist]

Thank you am getting more sleep and I still don’t have any motivation or energy. I have Xanax too 1 mg 3X a day but I don’t like taking the Xanax unless I really need them

[Blueartist in reply to tamka38]

Wish I could get some more sleep, most nights in just restless. I have motivation but because of all these issues, I have a lack of energy and am unable to go out and do the things I love doing. Does the zoloft help with your agoraphobia? What do you do to cope with that?

[tamka38 in reply to Blueartist]

Download insight timer app, On You-Tube Dr. Wayne Dyer Before sleep. Dr. Alan Mandell Anxiety,Sleep. Michael Sealey Sleep And Anxiety. Gabriel Fernandes Powerful Prayer For Healing Of Your Body

[tamka38 in reply to tamka38]

Just them out and let me know if it helps u

[JEG325]

Hello Blueartist. I also have anxiety, depression, PTSD and Panic Disorder. I don't take drugs and I only use natural vitamins and supplements for treating my problems. So, my first question would be: What do you do for entertainment?

[tamka38 in reply to JEG325]

U never took any medication? And what kind of nature vitamins and supplements help you? I use to self medicate with alcohol and been sober for 2 months

[JEG325 in reply to tamka38]

There are many I could take but, right now I take Prescription strength potassium, vit d + I take magnesium citrate, zinc & B-50 complex. I have a physical disorder called, 'Hypokalemia', which aggravates and sometimes causes my attacks. I would suggest to the two of you that if you haven't done so you should have a full panel blood test that includes the following: Thyroid, adrenal glands, liver, vitamins B & D, Calcium & your electrolites. Vitamin deficiencies wreak havoc on your body & cause or aggravate all mental disorders!

[tamka38]

Yes but,I take Xanax if am going out. I do deep breathing exercise. Read my bible and do plans with the Bible app and I do meditation especially mindfulness meditation and I listen to Louis Hay 45 minutes change your life. Hypnos app for anxiety and depression and that helps me

And I write want am grateful for everyday and pray. What do u do to cope daily?

[Elfje]

Ye here thé same

Xanax for anxiety

But at night don't help

I have ptsd. Anxiety Panic

It's not Nice

[tamka38 in reply to Elfje]

How many time a day u take it? And how many mg? Maybe u could take it 30 minutes before bed than u can relax and listen to your favorite music or put on meditation and listen to Louis Hay 45 minutes can change your life am here

For u too we in this battle together

Do u take something else for anxiety?

And u can always drink warm milk before bed it helps too

[Elfje in reply to tamka38]

Well i have thé taken it 3 Times at day. Sorry but ptsd anxiety don't help with milk. It's really not Nice thé be awake at night with huge anxiety Panic stress

[tamka38 in reply to Elfje]

Well my auntie is a RN nurse and I was having a panic attacks 3 x day and anxiety through the roof and she told me to start drinking a warm glass of milk and it work but we all are different what works for me probably want work for u but I love deep breathing and If u seeing a psychiatrist ask them to give you something for sleep

[tamka38 in reply to Elfje]

Do u do deep breathing exercise and meditation?

[Elfje in reply to tamka38]

I do trauma therapy and i do sport working six on seven days i think that ptsd anxiety need more skills triggers it's not just anxiety. Ptsd is really heavy

[tamka38 in reply to Elfje]

I know been dealing with PTSD and anxiety depression age 8 a lot of childhood trauma and sexually abuse and my dad went to prison when I was 2 and died in prison when I turned 8

[anonymous-one in reply to tamka38]

Sounds like you've been through a terrible ordeal in your life. I'm so sorry. I sure hope you've having a better adult life. I hope you don't mind me sharing about my life. It's a little long. But this is what happened…

I was beaten, neglected and used as my parent's pawn while they were going through their divorce 3 year divorce in the 70s. Their divorce started when I was 10.

My dad brought a bunch of Christmas presents all labeled from his girlfriend from the bar. My mother was pissed off like usual and go OCD on cleaning the kitchen with strong bleach. It was enough that it could knock a person out.

My dad beat both my older brothers and myself and my sister continually. He also had a fetish about pulling our teeth. He would wiggle them loose until yanking them out. If we refused to open our mouths, he would beat us with his bare hands until we could wiggle away and run from him. He did it during his drunken blackouts. It seemed like he didn't know when to quit. There was lots of screaming, yelling and crying on a daily basis. My mother was thrown around like a rag doll. My parents sent me and my sister to Disney world only to announce their divorce right at the airport. It became a spectacle. Both me and my sister were crying and screaming. I don't think my parents ever realized that me and my younger sister witnessed their crap.

The courts gave my Dad visiting on Saturdays. My sister only went one time and I went with him every Saturday. It was my job to spy on my Dad and make sure I got the child support check for my Mom. Then came the phone games. Both them would call each other and I was made to pick up that phone with each of my parents yelling at me and not talking to each other. I was caught in the middle.

My Dad was also a convicted child molester. He was very grabby with me and my sister. My Mother always wondered why my Dad never taught us to swim considering he was always in the pool with me and my sister. It was shameful. I don't think my mother ever cared. It was always about the money to her. She only used that money for her gambling money.

She had left me and sister alone at home since we were 6 and 7 years old. She'd just leave for her Bingo games 4 nights a week and she's ignored being a mother. She always reminded us that she never wanted kids. That it was all my father's idea.

My dad remarried his 3rd wife 6 months after the divorce was final. That wife had 6 daughters and a swimming pool. There was one day where, he took me back to his new wife's home. Her 2 young daughters were home alone. I was told to sit in the living room while he took those girls into a bedroom next to the living room. He beat and raped the hell out of those girls. Those same girls took my Dad to court 10 years later for child molestation and rape. My Dad took a guilty plea bargain to avoid prison. His lawyer claimed that my Dad was in ill health and couldn't go to prison. I was the only person in the family who believed that he was guilty. He often begged me to believe he was innocent. But I couldn't. My Dad died at a young age of 63 from a ravishing lung cancer. I went to his funeral and the rest of my family cut me off.

I was only 14 when I met my future ex-husband. He was 23 and new in town. My Mom trusted him. But she didn't protect me. I ended up pregnant at 15 and had to have an abortion. I was a high school 10th grade honor student living a very short teenage life. He isolated me from any human contact. I did graduate high school with honors. But he controlled and stalked me before and after-school to make sure that I had no friends.

The future ex buttered my Mom up so much that she arranged a JP marriage for me at 18 years old. I ended marrying the 23 year old man who raped me. Six weeks later I joined the Navy, to get as far away from all that family crap. My Mom insisted that I take that rapist husband with me.

I spent 6 abusive years in the Navy. It was like leaving one bad environment only to go to an more hellish environment. I was physically and emotionally tormented by a lunatic female LT. She put my life at risk while I was going through a very risky pregnancy. I was 22 and transferred from journalism school right to Puerto Rico during Grenada. I could never do anything right. She publicly humiliated me, physically abused me and tossed me around like a rag doll. I no longer had my name in her world. I was referred to as her problem child.

Within weeks, I found out I was pregnant again. She expected me to hide that fact and forbid me from wearing maternity uniforms. I ended up tailoring my uniforms the best I could. She called me fat and a disgrace to my uniform after I refused to allow her to discharge me for being pregnant during my 5th month. She had me working 15 hours a day until I dropped from heat exhaustion with the 100 degree weather. I was given orders to bed-rest 10 days before I delivered.

Thus, I returned back to the very home to stay with my husband who never honored or respected me. My delivery was extremely difficult. After pushing for 3 hours, they prepped me for a c-section. The man(?) I married threatened the OG/BYN Dr. telling him not to cut on me.

So I was taken to the operating room. I was given an epidural. They lost my son's heart beat for a while and used high forceps then yanked my son out of me. This doctor had anchored his feet on the stirrups. My son didn't cry at first and had to be resuscitated. He was half purple. I nearly lost him.

I got back to my hospital room. And there was my LT. She threw a fitness magazine at me and ordered me to get in shape, told me that she planned to give me a PT test after getting back from my maternity leave. She also cut my leave down to 2 weeks. I returned to work still hemorrhaging.

No one cared. It's like it's been one horrible trauma after another. I was medically discharged for my bad knees by the time I was 26. I had arthritis at 26. I was sent back to my state of origin and sleep on my mother's floor with my husband and 3 year old son. My brothers nor my sister ever helped me settle in. I moved 45 miles away after calling an apartment complex and taking a taxi to get there.

My husband never worked. I went through an awful adjustment period from being in the Navy to being back "home" at the roots of my abuse. We stayed for a year, packed up a 24' hertz truck in the middle of the night and just left.

We traveled a few hours only to get into a horrible accident. An ex-state trooper was drunk on the road and hit our tow dolly with our new car...so bad that he wrapped the tow dolly around the rental truck. We had to drag the pieces of that car 1800 miles away to "his" family. Perverts were all through his family.

My 6 year son was diagnosed as autistic. He repeated kindergarten 3 times. I watched a 2nd grade teacher bullying him with the rest of the class joining in. By now my C-PSTD and anxiety was on overdrive.

The following year, I was in a near deadly car accident. A 16 year old drunk driver hit me head-on at 65mph. My head was split open and I ended up with 30 stitches and permanent brain damage. And that all happened before I was 30. Since then I've be in a psych hospital 4 times with things from suicidal attempts to medicine management.

Although after all those rough patches, I did take 9 years to invest in my son's health problems and special schooling. His Dad didn't work or help me. I pulled my son out of the public schools and placed him in private Christian schools. I had to bargain with them and make a deal on the tuition. I was a volunteer teacher's aide for many years and stayed within close distance to my son. I was protecting him.

I also managed to finish my degree in behavioral science with an emphasis in childhood education. My son graduated at the top of his class despite his struggles. I'm super proud of him even though he chose to live with his mentally sick Dad for 17 years. These days he's finally on his own and has worked at Walmart for the last 12 years. He's finally away from his monster dad.

Presently, I've been in a stable relationship for 17 years. But, my severe generalized anxiety, mood disorder, C-PTSD and brain injury has played a heavy burden on me. I also lost my right kidney along the way to blood clots. I've also had a severe blood clotting disorder for the last 15 years. And I've got a twisted, fractured IVC filter permanently cemented deep in my chest.

These days, I'm depend on Klonopin after taking it for the last 30 years, I've taken Lamictal for my mood disorder for the last 10 years and I just started a new anti-depressant/anti-psychotic, Rexulti. And, truthfully I feel my family really messed me up.

I've had a history of crying, seizure like meltdowns that last hours and of all things I have double knee surgery sometime soon and my back is wracked with severe degenerative disc disease, stenosis, any a nerve blockage that could put me in a wheelchair if I dare have surgery. The VA plans to send me to a neurosurgeon to discuss back surgery. I'm not allowing anyone to cut on my back.

My sister on the other hand, has also had a hard life of drug addiction and drinking. She heavily smoked for 30 years. And recently, she's been dealing with 4 back surgeries and a major triple fusion done 2 years ago. She's practically bedridden 50% of the time. But she wants more surgery now. She claims the discs above and below her fusion are going and she wants new surgery on her shoulder. She's got severe depression, isolates and has OCD. She's on Wellbutrin and 4 different blood pressure pills and she has heart problems with chronic COPD.

All these traumas and flashbacks to childhood traumas have taken a toll on both me and my sister. I think my anxiety levels are higher than hers. Then again she claims she has no childhood memories. Abuse, abuse and more traumas throughout my life. That's what my world has been like.

If I could undo many parts of it I would with one exception and that's my son. I guess I'll always be an over concerned Mom. He's 34 now but has lots of delays. The biggie is the social delay. Hopefully it's not too late for him to find a special girl in his life. He's never had a girlfriend. He's only admired them from a far.

Well, I'm just rattling now. Thanks for reading about my life. As I mentioned, sometimes life just sucks and we left to pick up the pieces and deal with it. If it take a bit of medical intervention so be it.

[tamka38]

I had a full panel blood test and he said was iron was severely low and I been taking iron pills for 2 months am going to make another appointment to get checked again

[Hannah712]

Hi I don’t have agoraphobia but I do have anxiety an depression it’s a battle plus I live with an alcoholic spouse . I like talking to people so if you would like to talk please feel free to reach out , you can post or individually message people too. I don’t take meds anymore, to many side effects

[Blueartist in reply to Hannah712]

What do you do instead of medication? If there's other treatments that don't include side effects, I'm all for it!

[Hannah712 in reply to Blueartist]

It’s not so much a “treatment “ per se , it’s more of just figuring out what will work for YOU . For instance for me , I have a counselor I’ve been working with for years , hypnosis, every other week I spend the evening with my best friend and we have dinner and talk and do some bible reading ,I pray , I have a study group at my church I meet with Monday nights , I’ll go shopping even if it’s just “window shopping “ I took up knitting .... my point is I do things for myself , those are some of my things - you can find YOUR things. Also pay attention to your diet , when I stay away from artificial sweeteners, refined sugars ,processed foods etc I feel much better . There are bad things in the stuff we eat. I really like “the Daniel plan” cookbook . If the “religious “ aspect isn’t your gig just look at the recipes, they are whole food , sound nutrition and they are good. Forks meal planner is another good online one. No, it won’t make anything go away but it might help manage it better. Still if you need meds it’s best to talk to your doctor , it’s your body you and your doc can figure it out 😊 message anytime

[JEG325 in reply to Hannah712]

Amen to that, my friend!

[Chink256]

Hi. I too suffer from PTSD, anxiety, and depression. Although I don't know how to help because I'm still trying to handle my own. I'm always here if you wanna talk.

[kchan13]

Hi BlueArtist! I don't have PTSD but I also suffer from anxiety and depression. Listening to music usually helps, along with anything that helps to distract me, such as reading or watching a tv series.

[o2G2o]

I had agoraphobia, PTSD, cardiophobia, fear of being more than a 5 minute drive from a hospital, extreme fatigue, fear of sleep, fear of driving, bloating, visual disturbances, constant malaise and discomfort, inability to relax...ever, suspicion of strangers for no reason (paranoia), fear of aging, feeling of hopelessness, fear of traffic or snowstorms due to inability to access emergency healthcare, memory problems, brain fog, weak back, legs that felt like they'd give out under me, dizzyness, lightheadedness, muscle cramping, chest pain, irritated lungs, sore neck and shoulders...I think that's it. Not all at once luckily, but often combinations of 4 or more of the physical symptoms every day and most of the psychological ones 24/7.

Now I'm fine.

[Hidden in reply to o2G2o]

What helped you get better?

[o2G2o in reply to Hidden]

I took Citalopram for a few months when I really couldn't cope anymore, but in retrospect it probably wasn't needed. My nerves were just SHOT and the meds (only at first) made me less on edge. Eventually they made me feel worse in some ways, especially in terms of fatigue. I couldn't even go to work for two months at one point, so that was the end of that.

All that really helped was teaching myself not to react to stimuli. My anxiety is especially health related, and I'd freak out at ANYTHING abnormal, even hunger pangs sometimes. As I learned to not react, it lessened almost immediately. A lot of the physical symptoms started to subside and then disappear. A few weeks in I just had some mild fear and lightheadedness left, and now even that's gone. I occasionally don't feel "great" but that is just life I think. I don't think anyone feels like they can climb Everest every morning, and in my case I was just glad to not literally spend all day every day thinking death was a few minutes away.

[Hidden in reply to o2G2o]

Ok yes I can relate to that at times...glad you’ve got some relief. Learning not to react to the stimuli is helpful. Thanks...

[LJS1972]

Also new here. This is my first reply. I used to be so strong, but then I got broken and have never been the same. Everyday is a struggle even though I have so much to be grateful for. Am on a lot of medication. But I still struggle.