is it true?

[tricia56]

hi is true that once you have GAD you will always have it as ive battled with it for 8yrs now and its only recently that ive been trying to learn to exept the anxiety for wat it is and believed I will get better and overcome it but ever since I heard that I will always have it its set me back again as I don't want to be like this the rest of mylife so I thought id ask people on here wat they think and also if anyone on here has overcome it in time thk you

[LucyR]

Probably always have it, I have had it for 30 years now.

[Barbarydove4]

Hi,I think the best way I could describe the way you live with anxiety is its like having an unruly dog... Sometimes it hauls you along and sometimes , through help like CBT and meds, you can walk it alongside you, in control but knowing its still there. It's just getting the right medical help like a good therapist to help you challenge the anxiety and having time and support to take you to a level you can have a good life!
And also be kind to yourself! Praise yourself for the good days! It's not an easy thing to live with...
Hope this helps
Best wishes

[tricia56]

hi thk u for replying so it is true you cannot overcome anxiety you have to lean to live with it the rest of your life.. wonder why people tell you that u can overcome it and when really u cant

[Edie]

I think it depends what you mean by words like "overcome" and "cure."

You can always learn new coping mechanisms to manage thoughts and symptoms. Medication may help manage your symptoms. You can reduce your anxiety to manageable levels and have a good quality of life. Those are things worth working toward, right?

But I don't think we will ever become anxiety-free. Our brains have got used to working that way, or maybe we were always prone to anxiety.

I don't think it's a helpless cause though. I do think it's worth fighting for improvement.

[shakey1961]

I am cured! And I don't say that lightly. I suffered with anxiety and panic for 35 years, had numerous treatments and meds, acupuncture, homeopathy, relaxation, nothing worked.

I always had a niggling feeling that it wasn't "all in my mind" and as I used to put it to my parents "something is doing this to me"!

35 years later, I find out, purely by accident I have gluten intolerance/coeliac disease. I am now calmer, more relaxed, can breathe easy, head clear and no panic!!

Listen to your body, notice any changes at certain times, are you worse when you eat or drink something, do you feel strange a few hours after you eat?

I'm not saying you have a physical cause, but you may do.

Keep searching there's always hope and you could find what is causing the problem.

In the meantime, try not to worry too much, difficult, but you will get through it.

If you want to read what I've already written about gluten/coeliac disease then do some searching on this forum, I've written extensively on it.

[loreen]

Hi,I think the best way I could describe the way you live with anxiety is its like having an unruly dog... Sometimes it hauls you along and sometimes , through help like CBT and meds, you can walk it alongside you, in control but knowing its still there. It's just getting the right medical help like a good therapist to help you challenge the anxiety and having time and support to take you to a level you can have a good life!
And also be kind to yourself! Praise yourself for the good days! It's not an easy thing to live with...
Hope this helps
Best wishes


That is such a good way to describe anxiety. Most of the time my anxiety "walks along side me", but when it doesnt I can feel very alone and out of control.

It's not easy to live with, but I think having this has made me a more understanding and compassionate person.

Loreen xx

[little scientist]

I agree with you Loreen, what Barbarydove4 said is spot on. I think it is always there for me, in the background, but my medication keeps in in check. One day I would love to be free of my medication but I sense the time isnt right for that yet but one day it will be.

It may be that one day I find out what the true cause of my anxiety is, as nearly ten years on I still do not know!

[Lissa101]

You can certainly overcome it in my opinion. I also find it really depressing when people say you have it for life but you have to remember that a lot of people on these forums are life time sufferers and that is their experience. I'm back to living my life as normal after a really horrific year and a half with GAD. Weirdly it only started to go away after I accepted I might have it for life - I think that was a fundamental step in my recovery. I'll always be a worrier and more anxious than usual but that's a whole world away from GAD, which took over my life.

Don't give up hope x

[jayjoe18]

I think you can definitely overcome it to some degree with therapies and medication or other techniques that work for you but I do also think it's not something that you can cure and that's it, never again will you have problems because it's in your thoughts, your mind and memory and you can just forget. The brain is really complex. But you can learn to control and manage it and probably go for years or long periods where it doesn't effect you but there is always a chance of relapse in my opinion. You just need to work out the right coping mechanisms, whatever that may be, keep yourself healthy and keep a good support network around you.

[Mark13]

I think it can probably be overcome if you have not suffered it all of your life.

I've had GAD always, although I didn't know what it was as a child, just thought I was going mad, so I kept quit. I had life-saving surgeries as a child when probably prompted my state of mind.

For me GAD is all about management rather than cure. My mind is hard-wired towards anxiety so my goal is just to not feel it 24/7, and I've achieved that quite often but only on various medications.