View Full Version : Success - with or without meds?
How many of you overcame anxiety and/or depression without meds?
Was your anxiety and/or depression severe or moderate?
Just interested, I'm going the therapy (CBT) route, progress is slow but I can't cope with the 'bumps in the road' that meds and their side effects bring.
Hello Nel
I'm currently on meds - but would dearly love not to be. I think GPs find it easier/quicker to prescribe meds than to go immediately down the CBT route. After 6 weeks on meds, I've only jut realised how deep rooted some of the issues causing my attacks are. I knew I had these insecurities and probems but they had never caused 'physical' symptoms before. It was only the shock of one BIG event which impacts on these insecurities that triggered the attacks.
Having been aware of my 'issues' for many years (I'm 53), its only as a result of the attacks kicking-in that I realise I need to address the problems; I think CBT is withouth a doubt the way forward for me and I want to to talk to my GP about this.
I've actually found this site a therapy all on its own - didn/t realise there was such an 'illness' out there, or of the huge numbers of people out there suffering.
Take care
Sandie
Hi Sandie,
Yup, I guess we all want it to disappear overnight - but the long haul is the only way to get complete cure and save the risk of relapse. Speak to your GP about CBT, and maybe counselling at the same time - if you have issues from the past a combination of CBT and counselling could prove very beneficial. Good luck
Nel xxx
Just bumping this.
___________________________________________
"At the end of a storm, there's a golden sky..."
think it depends on the individual circumstances and how severe the anxiety and thought patterns are.
Ive spent most of the past 10 years on meds - but the past 2 yrs have greatly reduced them. Im now on a maintenance dose and this combined with other treatments seem to be working for me.
Try not to get too hooked up about taking meds - if your body needs additional help at this time then go with it and once the CBT becomes more automatic then you will find you will be able to reduce the meds. Just give it time.
........life is for living not just for surviving
Dark great post and I love that last line about life. Cbt has changed my life in the past year and I highly tout it to everyone. If you are willing to invest the work in yourself it can really do wonders for you.
I had to give in and useLexapro (Cipralex)
Only on 10mg/day but I wish I'd done it years ago
Phill
Don't believe everything you think.
I have never used meds, I'm scared they will make me feel weird (sensations mimicking panic), I have reached a level of control over panic before and was panic attack free for many many years which enabled me to live, travel, work and gave confidence to challange situations which scared me.
Unfortunately am goin thru a major relapse at the mo, I am starting CBT this week and feel very positive about it, more importantly I believe and have faith in this route to recovery.
I am lucky in the sense that I have reached a place before where I became confident to the point of cockiness if u like! in my ability to ward off a panic attack.
Building confidence takes time, but time and effort build results.
The very best of luck to everybody.
Just wanted to add I have recently read Claire Weekes Essential help for your nerves, which I have to say was brilliant!!! That lady had a complete understanding of nervous illness and I'm so thankful to have found that book thanks to this website!!!!!!
I actually rang for the dvd and spoke to a woman who was a patient of Dr Weekes when she was alive, the lady told me she had been deemed incurable by doctors, psychiatrists etc, had been on every drug, electric shock therepy, everything short of brain surgery, she says she owes her life to Claire Weekes.
It felt like an honour to speak to her, I felt so much admiration for her and so much gratitude for the work this Dr did, and what a testement to her work.
Anyway have been out today putting into practice what I have learnt and walked thru the whole shopping centre today, panic came and I managed it!!!
I believe the answer is inside ourselves we just need to be shown the way and be prepared to push ourselves and do the work
All the very best to you in your recovery
Julie
I can't say I have beaten this having only had 4 sessions of CBT but it is helping.
I was against going down the meds route and fought for CBT all along, although I ended up paying privately to see the therapist I wantes with a good reputation and give up on the NHS.
Meds can help some people but weren't for me.
Karen
I voted needed meds-severe. I think the basis of my anx is my depression rather than the other way round.
I tried CBT but found it unbelievably difficult but I was slipping further and further down into a depression that my concentration and will were extremely low. In agreement with therapist, we have decided to put a halt on the cognitive therapy until the depression is alleviated a bit.
I know depression is treatable without drugs and drugs only mask the symptoms, but I need that mask just now!
Happyone
xx
hello, well i have done it with meds seroxat but i have also done it without meds too with help of my exercise and getting rid of things that were negative in my life and making me worse xx
Lilith1980
22-04-08, 11:15
I was too scared to take meds, and I reasoned with myself that seeing as I had suffered for 14 years, then a bit longer wouldnt hurt so I might as well try therapy first.
Meds may have helped in the short term but I survived without them and am finding that reading CBT books and looking after myself better, are helping.
I think meds are dished out too readily sometimes because the real problems behind anxiety/depression are to do with how people feel about themselves and that's something that should be addressed in therapy.
But I can appreciate that in some cases, meds are the best first step as they can help people cope better with making decisions....like going into therapy.
Jo xxxxx
Hello everyone! I am new on this site but not new with anxiety. It has been a year now...But I feel 100 times better than I did a year ago and it is all thanks to therapy, famility support and my determination. I have been helping myself with herbak remedies and I had a pack of chlopromazine which I have been taking so rarely that I still have a first pack! I just always believed that I should FEEL anxiety in order to get rid of it and that meds can cover my fears which I should face so they will never come back again. Well that is me and I think that it would be much more easier for me if I would take those meds. However, everyone is different and will get better in their own unique way. So good luck everyone!
The first time round i had severe anxiety/panic disorder and recovered with just meds. However, 7 years later it has all reoccured and meds arent working this time, i think meds and cbt are the way forward together, wish id done that the first time, then i might not be here now!
Hi
I have agoraphobia so for a long time have not been able to leave the house. I also get depressed but i think that is more down to constently worring then a clinical thing. I have been on loads of different medications and not one has helped me. I also have a close reletive who had terriable withdrawral symptoms.
On the other hand another of my friends is on meds for depression and he feels much better on them. It really is an indivdual thing.
What i dont like is medication being used as the first option. What is helping me get through the agoraphobia is facing my fears and leaving the house with the support of a care woker and my family. Also exercise has really helped lift my mood and feel better about myself. Other people find support groups great or talking treatments. Its just so hard finding the alturnatives to medication because the mental health services are so underfunded.
Blackie
I just can't help but say why on earth do you want to stuggle every day to feel 60% well when you can enjoy life and feel 95% well on medication!!
You only get one shot at life, try not to waste it.
It's all well to say i'm tough and I can kick its ass but you will spend most of your young life doing it! it doen't hurt to give meds a go!!!!
IrishPrincess
07-11-08, 12:31
I would've been severe first time round,practically housebound and hypnotherapy with no meds got me through it,this time im doing counselling again with no meds and im getting through it again.
Everybody is different and just because you practice CBT doesnt meen you wont get ill again it just meens your better equiped to handle it and live with the feelings. Claire weeks tells you to take meds and tells you to expect setbacks. I think its wrong to think that you should not need medication when you are ill, if you are experiencing mild anxiety then thats ok but when like some on this site you end up housebound and terrified out of your wits with nowhere to turn then I think its madness to not accept support from medication. It relaxes the mind enough to take in the CBT and hopefully have a good life without anxiety and panic.
Had success with, had success without.
Relapsed many times though. Currently on meds which make the days OK. Also been prescribed meds which have made me wish the day would end there and then.
I know its a generalisation, but it really is horses for courses. In real terms, everyone is different and peoples paths to recovery differ greatly.
I myself am due for another detox next year (thats after posting a success story too, but my arrogance got the better of me). The success story still stands, I will just revise it when I know I'm better for good.
The bottom line for me is belief. I've stared into the pit and laughed at the devil - I will get better and that belief carries me onward and upward. Square 1 no longer exists, as every set back is an opportunity to learn from my mistakes and move forward.
When I finally come off all meds and lead the life I used to I'll post again. The most important thing for all to know is that you have to want to change (thats not think but know). Meds, CBT or any other method is merely a stepping stone to achieving your goal.
Krakers.
Not used medication at all this time and this is my 4th breakdown in 30 years, the longest too, 2.5 years. It has been far from easy as you can appreciate but I feel I am now getting there.
Shirley
sunshine-lady
16-12-08, 18:39
I voted severe meds.
I have bipolar and have tried everything. I have spent a lot of time in psychiatric hospitals (twice being sectioned) I find that taking meds are the only thing that keeps me reasonably stable. Would love not to have to take them though and admire people who can beat their demons without them.
I had meds for a year, the panic vanished so I stopped taking them was have been fine for the last two years, however the anxiety returned about three months ago and I've decided not to have the meds this time, Just CBT ? I'm stuggling abit.
Wouldnt say mine was a success story but i am glad to say i got where i am without pills.I did take them (lorazapam i think they were)twenty years ago for about a year.They did work for anxiety.They also turned me into a physical wreck !!I see people now who have been taking anti depressents or similiar for years and they dont seem right physicaly.Wouldnt say i was mentaly right but i dont think i would have stayed physicaly sound with medication.
Hey
I had a very servere panic dissorder, I did go on medication for a week by one doctor and was told to come off it after a week of taking it as it could cause further depression.. It didn't actully help me in anyway and they refurred me to CBT one session a week and I over come my fears xx
bluegirl09
27-02-09, 22:32
i was very anxious my stomach was constantly in a knot and i would be shaking a lot in the end i was just a wreck yes lst a lot of weight crying for hours i had or have clinical depression for me i put off and put off the doctors until i had no choice really umm he put me on citrlopram and of course it made me ill more anxious and i really though it was a bad -idea for me to go on anti -depressants but 2 months on my life is back on track i can go almost anywhere i have no panic anxiety at all and my depression is still there but i have a quality of life that is much improved with the meds -they work im living proof :yesyes:
starlight78
08-03-09, 11:18
I've been on Citalopram for a while now and have found it immensely helpful. I think i would have got through it without them, but they definately made the struggle easier. I've also had CBT which was fantastic. I think meds are only ever a small part of the answer, but they can get you to a place where you have the strength to fight.
Hello,
I have had a very bumpy ride since starting my meds (50mg sertraline in November 2008) I experimented a bit upping my dose to 100mg around Christmas time. But I had such chronic stomach probs.......running to loo etc, I had to reduce the dose. Also I had been having alcohol whilst taking the tablets and its only now almost five months later, I have stopped drinking and just take 25mg in the morning and the evening. I have tried every approach known to man! to help me get over my anxiety that I had since a child, it is funny it has been like a really irritating companion through my whole life, I dragged it along with me through everything. Now I seem to have stabilised and I am able to think................and say what I feel. If I don't like how someone is behaving or talking to me I tell them, I don't just pt up with it and then soak up their badness. It has been about 1 week since I arose from the ashes like a phoenix from the flames! After having gone ON a alcoholic bender because I had not dealt with things or people, leaving myself vulnerable to negative behaviour and negative self thought. I REALLY DO HOPE THAT I HAVE GOT THE RIGHT END OF THIS STICK THIS TIME..........AND ME AND MY IRRITATING COMPANION CAN GET ALONG BETTER TOGETHER.
I overcame 50% of my anxiety through CBT alone without meds. The other 50% needed me to be on meds so I could go further in my progression.
Me too tom - I started with CBT, then needed some Citalopram to just give me a break.
I was OK for a year - am now in a relapse and have no hesitation in having Citalopram again -
I am having amzing success using the CBT TEA form exercise from the book by Sam Obitz. I was concerned it may only work for a while but several people here have posted that they have had success for many years with them and got off all their meds too. I have never felt this good and am more hopeful I have finall put my severe anxiety problems behind me :D
I've tried almost every form of therapy going all helped a little but not as much as meds. I only had side affects in the begining but get none now, on 20mg citalopram for 8 months now and the change in me is amazing, i have no problems staying on them forever if they help me
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