Severe Anxiety

[User4567]

I have tried everything. Anything you name for anxiety. I have tried. Except of marijuana. I take citalopram, alprazolam, and propanol daily. I feel like I can’t control it no longer. I’m constantly worried. I’m constantly on edge. I’m afraid all the time. I think everyone is about to die. I can’t stay focused. I don’t enjoy anything. I’m always in the bed. I see a therapist once a month. I don’t know what else to do.

[Beevee]

Have you tried doing nothing about your anxiety?

[MassamanCurry in reply to Beevee]

Doing nothing? What do you mean? Going off meds altogether?

[Beevee in reply to MassamanCurry]

Not as such. Doing nothing means accepting your anxiety for what it is and being ok about not feeling ok, living a normal life, despite feeling anxious. Like you, I had tried everything to feel better and wasnt getting anywhere.

It was another sufferer called Paul David who wrote a book called At Last a Life that also helped me better understand the meaning of acceptance and doing nothing about the symptoms, instead of constantly battling anxiety.

The following is a quote from his book that his therapist told him and can say that it is absolutely bang on the money, especially if your only issue is coping with the symptoms of anxiety and depression.

"You won't get better until you stop trying to get better. "

This was one of the most valuable pieces of advice I received which well and truly set me on the path to recovering from anxiety and depression.

It's the trying that keeps people trapped because it means they are constantly fighting to feel different and essentially fighting with themselves because those scary thoughts and feelings are perfectly natural under the circumstances.

Perfectly natural in the sense that they are a symptom of extreme nervous fatigue caused by continuous worry, stress and fear.

When you learn to live alongside the symptoms and genuinely accept them, it means you are no longer adding more stress and fear which allows those nerves to desensitise and for normal thoughts and feelings to return.

I flushed all my meds away and gave up trying to fight the symptons, faced and accepted whatever my anxiety conjured up and they all faded away.

Hope this helps.

[Aiyoo in reply to Beevee]

Acceptance is key. I agree. Patience too.

Takes so long to recover...

Mild to moderate symptoms are tolerable. When severe, people do need to be medicated sadly as some people may hurt themselves from the symptoms.

So happy for you that those symptoms have faded away for you. Such huge blessings.

[Beevee in reply to Aiyoo]

Thank uou.Yes, patience is key but it does get easier. I'd also bet that most self harmers do so because they are bewildered by the symptoms and a way of avoiding or blocking them out. Being blunt, its an avoidance technique and anxiety thrives on avoidance.The forerunner to acceptance is knowledge and understanding of how anxiety manifests. It takes away that bewilderment, and fear of the unknown and that doing nothing to try and get rid of the symptoms is counter productive.

[Scarletsunrise in reply to Beevee]

I once heard anxiety described as a fire in your garden and jumping around doing all of the things is like throwing more things on the fire to see what puts it out, and it's actually making it worse. Doing nothing, noticing it's there is at least stopping adding things to the fire. Then it only has so much fuel and it will burn itself out and each time you let it do this it will get smaller and smaller.

Honestly I heard it and thought this was mad.....and then it worked!

Except for the odd small spike of anxiety now and then I can honestly say I don't really suffer. My only problem now is sometimes when I excercise (fet iut of breath) my brain/body thinks I'm having a panic attack and proceeds to have a panic attack! Which I'm working on!

If you are taking medication and it's working for you please keep taking it. Mine changed my life and stopped depression kicking my butt. There is no other illness you would not get treatment. You wouldn't tell a cancer sufferer to mind over matter it and just stop thier body from overproducing cells!

If it is not working for you keep going back to adjust dosage and maybe even change what you are on. Maybe something else will work better. Also remember it takes weeks for it to work and feels worse whilst it does. Missing a dose is a recipie for a major wobble. I also found taking it the same time everyday made a massive difference in it's effectiveness and for me it was better taking it in the morning, it made mornings rough but also meant I got the most effectiveness throughout the day.

[RS1974]

I have found an anxiety twin in you. Reading your post was like I could of wrote. It's everything I feel.I hope we will be able to overcome anxiety.

[Aiyoo]

Severe anxiety is very debilitating. How long have you been on the meds? You may need to tweak your meds with your doctor if it's been a while and not working still. Sometimes the side effects can also cause similar problems.

I really understand and empathise with severe anxiety. Best to sleep it off, if you can. When awake, incorporate some breathing exercises to mitigate. And call some friends to talk. Walk. Find distractions to get out of the head. Don't trust any of the negative thoughts. All that worrying and fear came from the illness, and will be gone as you heal. They are not real. Keep affirming positively.

Notice how those feelings and thoughts come and go...and savour moments when you're free of those negative sensations. Brief moments of peace.

I am also on my bed too much for over 4 weeks now. Lots of fears, worries, chest pains, palpitations, restlessness etc just as you described. Luckily the anxiety symptom is mostly gone now. I couldn't do anything at all initially..now I can do a few house chores in the evenings now. The progress is very slow.

I watch YouTube videos on dealing with anxiety and depression to remind myself of what to do.

I am left with fatigue, lack of motivation and energy. Waiting for antidepressant to stabilise as the dose increases bit by bit.

It is extremely tough. So be kind to yourself. My therapist advised me to silent the inner critic and allow the recovery process to unfold.

Sending you healing energy as we heal together. May all be free from suffering.

[TheBooG]

I can tell you it works for me, it has different effects on different people. Try CBD that does not have the THC effect.