Comments on: Will my anxiety ever go away?

By: chonie

chonie — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:01:46 +0000

I’m 28 and I have refused thus far to take anti-anxiety drugs, but for a few brief exceptions…In high school after being depressed most of my senior year, I was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and they put me on Effexor. After 2 weeks I felt like I didn’t care about anything and a piece of my personality was gone! I hated it. I couldn’t “wait-and-see” what a build up of the drug would do to me, which was the doctor’s advice at the time.

I have suffered with palpitations, numbness in my legs and feet/hands, breathlessness, etc. etc. But I have found that going to bed early, morning exercise and restricting my diet helps- I try to eat more omega 3 (lots of sardines) and less omega 6…I quit dairy and am doing gluten-free experiment that might not last, we’ll see. All of this is worth trying!

By: Carmen Frangiosa

Carmen Frangiosa — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:14:37 +0000

I think the hardest part of recovery is the patience thing, its like am I doing this right or not? And I am seeing days where I feel 75%, but I just can’t seem to get over that hurdle yet. And I do agree that I think alot of anxiety sufferers have the personality where you are trying to figure this thing out. Is it from the fact I am grieving over my mom’s death? Yet I had this minor version while she was sick, so I am not sure if it is all because of my mom or not? And all day I think about this, for 8 months now, even the pretty good days I don’t let myself go and say wow I am getting better, its like I am having a good day, but I still feel like tommorow will be another off-day? So Paul are you saying if I forget this, even the days I have my Generalized Anxiety and feelings of Derealiztion/Unreality, the faster I will recover? I feel like I am accepting it, but don’t know if I am doing it right? My girlfriend said after my so-called mental breakdown this past Dec 1, I am doing better than I ever was. Its just turned me into a quieter anxious person…The old me comes back sometimes, but when I was Old Carmen I had a way of life just flowing with it, charm everyone around, felt so connected to the universe and everyone around me. Life was heaven. Since my breakdown, I feel like I am slowly coming out of the firey pits of Generalized Anxiety and Depersonalization, its been a long year, but Paul does give me hope I will get better. I just have hope, but sometimes I think I give this feeling and thoughts control over my life. So that’s why I am not getting better as fast? Any comments I would love to hear? Thank you all for listening to my story

By: kim

kim — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:27:04 +0000

Amy I am so glad I read your comments. I also went through the same thing as you and it really messed me up good. A good friend that I had just been with went home and committed suicide. My mind did not know how to understand what he did. I went from a completely normal person to a very sick person almost overnight. I am slowly getting better but i still look for answers on what really happened to me i know i have anxiety/ depression but i dont understand why it came on so quick. I have to also monitor what i watch and i cant stand anything that has to do with suicide. For a long time i obsessed why he did it and so on and i would sit there and shake and i couldnt eat more than a couple bites. I lost alot of weight. My biggest fear is what if I loose control and get like him. I would never hurt myself but is it normal for me to think and fear that i could become him and ever do what he did. I feel like my mind thinks things that i dont want it to. I cant understand why my mind thinks things that i hate. I know I have to realize that im not him and this is my minds way of copeing but how do you ever forgive yourself for getting that low and how do you believe once you get better that it dosent come back. If you or anyone has any feedback it would help so much thanks.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:33:50 +0000

Fellow anxiety sufferers, As I read your posts, I see all the fears you have had, I too have had, I have had anxiety since I was a teen ager, and probably before that, I was always scared of the dark, I slept with my older siblings, as a child I was scared of getting bad dieseases, had my first panic attack when I was 17. Had no Idea what was wrong with me, it was scarry as heck, Then as I got older my anxiety was all about losing control, or losing my mind. It isn’t like I am really scared of anything, it is I have these scarry thoughts, and I think Man that isn’t a normal thought, and then the I must be losing my mind kicks in, so I guess I am just afraid of the feelings, or I am afraid of the fear itself. I am my own worst enemy hehe. Anyway, I am now 42 years old, I have lived with this crap all my life basically, I am successful, and have 2 great children, and been married for 22 years,. My anxiety always told me I would never be able to get married, and would never have children, never thought I would live this long, or keep my sanity this long. However, I am still to this day un medicated, never got any meds, I have never told anyone other than my closest family that I even had anxiety, keep your heads up people, You will make it

By: Shoshana

Shoshana — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:28:49 +0000

Hi All,
I am so glad i came across this board in my search for help.
I am 56 years old female. Never been the calm type of person always needing to be busy. A few month ago, my husband lost his job and all of a sudden a felt that i cannot breath. I kept sighing, yawning trying to breath but the more i tried to more frantic i got.
My doctor put me on xanax for help but now I am trying to help my self by telling myself that it is all in my head. My mornings are sometimes hard for me. I so much like the idea of not thinking so much about the anxiety, i just find it hard to implement it.
Any suggestions?
Shana

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:16:26 +0000

Hi All, I have suffered with anxiety and panic attacks for the last 18 years when I was cheated on by someone I really loved. I never got over this and over the years it has got worse and worse. I found it hard to trust anyone. This has caused major stress on other relationships and also caused me to feel lower and lower about myself. I felt unwanted, no good, rock bottom low and even taken a handful of pills at one time cause i saw no way out. I have always asked myself why and what i did wrong. Now I have panic attacks very badly. My heart starts thumping really fast and i describe it as a pain cause to me it is. I feel sick and get awful pains in my chest I cry all the time and no matter what reassurance I get it is never enough. My current partner has always been supportive but has also effected her because she feels she is being blamed for things she would never do and who could blame her for feeling like this??
About 7 years ago i was diagnosed with depression and the series of medication started. Somemade me feel better but the side effects were unbaerable. My panic attacks got worse and i certainly did not get better.
Then my current partner told me some hidden haunts that she had in her life and they hit me hard (I am talking about all sorts of abuse) totally horrifying. I felt I couldnt deal with it, the panic attacks started getting worse and I was not being supportive of my partner. I convinced her to go to a doctor and she was also diagnosed with depression and the tablets started (Citalopram) She was taking these for 2 years. She completly changed but not for the better ! She became enclosed and could not shed a tear. Yes her panic attacks slowed at first but where had my partner gone ? She started lying to me, we had massive arguements and she flung horrible abuse at me and it wasnt until she calmed down that she regretted what she had done. She pushed me away really without realising and i felt alone. So what did I do ? I made her feel bad about these situations and kepton about them to her, i thought this would stop her if she realised what she was doing. But No it got worse her panic attacks were uncontrollable and so were mine I kept threatening to leave and it made things worse. We were both in a hole we could never get out of and this amazing relationship we once had was in turmoil!!
The reason I am telling you all this is because i all of sudden awoke and felt cured.
Now be warned i have only made this turnaround over the last couple of days but I feel completly back to normal. So fingers crossed it will stay. The key is that i beleive it will ! This is the biggest medicine you can have beleif in yourself and to realise who you are.
Following a dreadful row andmaking mypartner feel i was leaving she suddenly said she felt the same way and now doubted me.This hit me hard this person who always loved me suddenly says she doesnt want me! This is when i suddenly realised how selfish i really was. This is how I made her feel all the time and now i didnt like a taste of my own medicine.
I nearly lost my job because i couldnt think of anything other than nmy depression and my partners change.
So I threw all the tablets away and my partners and we both started a road to recovery. We have now both stopped the tablets for 2 weeks and there was improvements straight away. Some happiness came back, our sex lives improved, we were able to talk nicely just the way it always was but the panic attacks still came on strong.
Then yesterday I woke and felt good ! First time in 18 years. But half an hour later the panic attack came and i hit rock bottom. about 2 hours through the attack I suddenly snapped and said to myself what am I doing?
Then i started realising all my faults everything i had put my partner through, all the blame and the rows and making her feel guilty for her faults. I starting realising that i was never to blame for what happened 18 years ago and am looking for answers that are never there.
Today I woke and already felt better. Beleive me going to bed and beleiving things will be better tomorow rather than worse really helps. I felt positive and then it suddenly hit me. Depression ?? Am I really depressed? and the answer is NO !! If you beleive you are depressed theni think you will be, if a doctor tells you you are depressed then you are branded with it. You need to beleive you are not depressed. It is only a word. You are special, you are a person, there is nothing to worry about. The world starts to seem different and your real life starts to return.
I have never spoke about my problems, and now I found this site and started to write cause it felt right. I really beleive i am on a road to recovery and want to help others get to this stage.
The medicines hide the problem but never solve it, they just create you into someone you are not. Beleive in yourself and stop and really think what am I doing? Realise your true faults and own up to them. I beleive this helps, once you realise them you can start to change them. This will hopefully make you feel positive, I beleive the biggest step to solving depression is to believe that you dont have it. Beleive that you have a problem that can be resolved. All the time you beleive the problem is not curable it wont be, beleive it is and it will be cured.
I know this is early days but it is a huge step in the right direction I hope this helps in someway!

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:12:55 +0000

I have had panic attacks / anxiety since my first panic attack 10 years ago. Ive been on all medications out there which helped but caused weight gain and other symptoms I have been off of medication for over a year now and lost all the weight from the medicine, and i was doing really well until a recent trip to a warehouse store that sales items in surplus and my husband and I were talking previously about the failing economy and well in the store I lost it, I started with all the panic symptoms and wanted to run out of the store, which I pretty much did and sat outside with myself wondering why this is coming back, I had been doing so well. Now I’m afraid again to go anywhere even if its not by myself , fear of feeling this way again fear of my breathing to stop or my heart to stop in front of a bunch of people, I afraid to drive on my own because what if I loose it and cause a accident because everyone ones when you are in middle of a panic attack you can’t think straight. I feel depressed because I don’t do things with my kids like other moms, I feel bad that I depend on my husband so much . I refuse to be on medication because it doesn’t really fix anything, i eat healthy and exercise 2 hours a day yet it’s still there. I’ve become fustrated with my life, 10 years of this has made me desperate for change…but how…? I want to change myself. I don’t like therapist because they tell you to pop a pill and make it better. I feel so alone .. when I go to a store nobody else seems to have to the struggle I do to be there. I am only 27 and want to be the independant women I know I can be…. Does anybody have advice?

By: Liann

Liann — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:39:40 +0000

I have read all the posts on this blog and its very interesting. I have some questions for you all. I did read that some of you arent taking medication but what about the rest of you. Are you taking medication and still having bouts of anxiety? Does your anxiety come and go or is it there all the time.

My anxiety came about 8 years ago. I believe it came due to the dealings of my father suffering with a brain tumor. I dealt with feelings and emotions for about a month not knowing what in the world was wrong with me. Finally someone said maybe it was anxiety and I did get on Paxil and within days the cloud was lifted and i was back to the normal me again. Life went on as normal until about 7 years later and I dealt with a very stressful sitauation and I could tell the anxiety was trying to creep back in, it last a few days and then I was back to normal again. Now 6 months later I am dealing with another stressful time and I am anxious again.

So now this time I am wondering if maybe my medicine is loosing its effectiveness etc or is it normal even on medication to have episodes come and go and then be fine.

Thanks for all of you that are posting on here

By: Emma

Emma — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:22:13 +0000

I have been really suffering with anxiety since April 08. Looking back I can see that I am improving – each week seems to bring different symptoms – and a lot of them I now dont get. However every single morning I wake with a pounding heart, and feel really ’strange’. It gradually goes away within an hour. I would love to be able to wake up and feel like I used to pre April. I dont take medication but I am thinking about it. I dont care anymore about the side effects, cos as far as I am concerned there are side effects to anxiety, like future health problems, such as blood pressure and heart disease, which has been proven. The most puzzling thing is I have nothing at all to be anxious about and never have – nothing major anyway, like some people have. I dont sit and worry about anything but I get all the anxiety symptoms. Has anyone else ever experienced this, where they dont have anything to be anxious about yet get they symptoms? I would appreciate any help that can be offered. Hugs Emma xx

By: SJ

SJ — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:04:01 +0000

Alexis,
I have suffered with Anxiety for nearly 4 months now. It started in early May. I have chosen not to take medication as i believe the side effects would add worry to worry so one problem is enough to deal with. I am muddling along and some days are easier than others. I have been through most of the stages and for the last 2 weeks have felt ok in the morning when i first wake up only to then start to feel odd and lost. My motabolism is up and down and i have lost some weight which is normal. I can see where you worry about that but i eat and drink little and often on the days i don’t have an appetite rather than force feed myself. It is very soul destroying as you lose part of who you are which i feel is the worst part of it all as life changes dramatically and things you took for granted seem like such an effort now. I find talking to family and friends helps a lot. I also listen to a relaxation CD which does the trick and i try and take a hot bath before bedtime or have a massage from my husband which helps me sleep through til the morning. Most of the symptoms have subsided and i still have mind chatter but not as bad. I just struggle with the lack of motivation and feeling unlike the me that i know. I guess time is the factor as we all know but i think for everyone it is a frightening experience no matter how they feel, think or where they are at the moment. I feel that i am recovering slowly and taking each day as it comes good or bad which is the key to moving forward but it isn’t easy and hormones can play a role too. I don’t think there is anyone out there who doesn’t wonder at some point whether it will ever go away cos there is no time limit. I can truly relate to your post one way or another.
Good luck with the battle. xx