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.

In his book, he mentions a meeting with a very knowledgeable therapist who gave him this pearl of wisdom and I 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 which well and truly set me on the path to recovering from anxiety and depression. If you understand the meaning behind this, you understand the true meaning of acceptance.

It's the trying to get better 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.

[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.

[Beevee in reply to Scarletsunrise]

Glad you are very much heading in the right direction and an accurate analogy which I might use 😊

Best wishes!

[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.

[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.

[Beevee]

Thank you.

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, it's 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.

[Worrier1960]

I have found marijuana gummies to be helpful. Not too much, though. Start with 2.5mg.

[linuxusr]

Hello User4567! Under your circumstances, seeing a therapist once per month is not sufficient. Can you do once per week? I'm assuming that your "therapist" is a psychiatrist with expertise in psychopharmacology, no? I am disturbed that you are taking a short-acting benzodiazepine, a drug class with distinct risks. Spelling error? Are you talking about propranolol, the beta-blocker (cardiac medication) that is also used as an anxiolytic? What is the conclusion of your psychiatrist? You claim complete failure to treat symptoms. What does s(he) say? You might consider seeing another psychiatrist who particularly specializes in psychopharmacolgy (versus therapy) for a second opinion. Lastly, do you have anxiety attacks? There is a method that will STOP an anxiety attack every time. Let me know if that is the case.

[SongofAmergin]

A small amount of an antipsychotic can oftentimes work, or very often Neurontin can be very helpful.

[SsgCulldelight]

Hi, apologies you have to go through that, ok 1. Learn and rely di breathing exercise and meditating, if u need a guide, get one. 2. Weed is a great way to go, but you must know what you need a ask weeds are Not created equal by any means, Inca send TY be the best fit anxiety sleep and, slowing your busy brain down. 3. Which should really be 1. KNOW that everyone is not about to die, neither are you, do NOT say iam about to die, your body didn't know the difference between what you mean to tell it and what you don't, the mind controls that and will respond in ways you don't want or need. The good news is that Your Here, and that means you have a choice. Choose positive uplifting thoughts, know and mean them, consistently tell yourself, I AM healthy, I AM in control of my cells, my life, my thoughts and I AM asking the universe to bestowe upon me Good health, wealth and calming comfort, and you walk and live as it is already so. It's hard I know, and turning off the brain and awareness that you have this challenges is a tough challenge in itself, You Will Do it, You Must. We need you to do this so you may help others, you are kind, compassionate age talented. No one can express our execute this but you, Choice is your weapon that NO ONE can take from you, but you have to make that choice. Read and research positive affirmation and breathing exercises with self meditation, you will be better. Cheers I know this will help. Oh and be careful don't zone out on the weed🤣👍

[Pitalife]

I feel bad for you,I too suffer w high anxiety see if they'll try you on Klonopin for anxiety...I get vicious panic attacks on top bipolar depression...I wish you luck.

[Kruidje]

Did you try leaving out hot herbs (spicey foods) like pepper, clove, muscat, chili, cayenne, chocolat, coffee, cinamon, anise, ... they can make somebody very depressed. Also citric acid or ascorbic acid can make someone depressed. And salicylates can make someone depressed. Some people get asthma from salicylates, but some get depression. Also dairy or gluten also can make one depressed. Carbs can make one depressed. Did you tryed al those things?

[Sqlguy]

Have you tried Ativan or Klonopin for the anxiety? Alprazolam has a very short half life and is not usually the choice for chronic, continuing anxiety. Klonopin has a much longer half-life and may be your best bet (Ativan is in-between for half-life). I would say talk to your doctor and see if they approve of switching .

[wiggity_whack]

I had the same problem, and after 20+ years of ineffective therapy I found out that I have OCD. Most therapists don't know anything about it. Do you think you might have it?

treatmyocd.com/what-is-ocd