has anyone made full recovery or at least a good one

[crazymum25]

So you all know I've had one session with emdr eye training with A physcotherpist but I'm wondering if its worked for you having a bad day

[Davit]

Although I know what EMDR is I never needed to do it, but then we are all different. My anxiety was based on core beliefs and changing them with cognitive therapy was what worked. Yes I am 100% recovered and I know other people 80 to 100% recovered and very happy. It will interest you to know almost all of them are women. I have a theory why this is but will keep that opinion to myself, one pissing contest a month is enough. Oh and age is no barrier. They vary from teens to pensioners. But young males stand a better chance than older males.
Are you still feeling good? And that is a serious question from an information Junky. I
like to know what works besides what I did.

[swajj]

I made a full recovery the first time I had HA 13 years ago. It is only in the last few years that my HA has returned. So yes I know you can definitely make a full recovery. My HA this time has lasted much longer than it did the first time. I am a lot better than I was last year or the year before that. Davit that is interesting information regarding gender and recovert. The fact that you have recovered 100 percent and yet you are still a regular visitor here surprises me. I have also thought that anyone who frequents or even drops in here must be still experiencing HA. Why would anyone bother to come here otherwise? There are many other chat sites where the mood is upbeat. Upbeat definitely does not describe this site. Rather depressing would be a better word. Please don't think I'm accusing you of deceit or denial. I guess you just come here because you want to help people. I haven't seen many members who are here for that reason. Maybe Fish and Gary because they don't come across as HA sufferers. And then there was the wonderful Dr Rane a retired neurologist who helped many on this site and on his own forum. Anyway good on you for wanting to help others and it is great to know that others can beat HA. It gives me hope. :)

[Davit]

I don't have HA. I actually have diseases so know what you feel. I have two pinched nerves, arthritis and chronic staph infection. My storey would sound like BS but here goes. I have always had anxiety and it has ruined what I might have been. A core belief at fifteen destroyed a promising electronics business and I went into avoidance phase that lasted till I was 50. I made good money doing dangerous jobs because I could do them without much contact. Arthritis took that away. Ten years I was a wreck and became an Ativan addict. I became suicidal. I volunteered to go to a psych ward for a rest. A few questions and my status changed, I was committed for six weeks instead of ten days. That was a learning experience. It took a year to get off the Ativan. SSRIs do not work for me, they make me physically sick and suicidal. Panic attacks grew from a few to massive many hour long ones every night for a year. I was afraid to sleep. I wanted to die, my therapist wouldn't let me. She kept me busy doing research into my condition. I started to realize there was a reason I was the way I was and at least in theory it could be changed. Tracy is not a head patter or hand holder. With her you do the work or you get your ass kicked but she was always there when I said I can't do this. I never once left her office not feeling ten feet tall and bullet proof. I never once left without a lot of research to do. I really do owe that lady my life and my recovery. I remember days I jumped out of my skin if someone pulled in my driveway. I remember days I made excuses so I could go to the house for an Ativan. I remember my legs collapsing on me, my vision blurring or becoming a tunnel. I remember not being able to eat. I remember wishing for cancer or a heart attack to take the pain away without breaking my promise to Tracy. We know negative breeds negative so why would I expose myself to that when I could be on a less negative site? Because I can. I can replay my worst panic attack and it is just facts, I can replay my two months with an infected perforated ulcer that tried to kill me in that time. I can remember the hallucinations and they are just facts. I lost 20 pounds and had to learn to walk again. Very scary not knowing if I ever would again.
When some one saves your life you can never pay the debt. But you can try. Everyone I help to recover is a payment but more than that I do not want to see people go through the hell I did. Cognitive restructuring is not easy because for it to work you need to know how it works and that is technical. but you can not do it without that. CR is not coping, coping is just one of the five steps. It is changing thought patterns so the trigger becomes harmless. Any trigger. There is a whole different perception and attitude after. New triggers are harmless. So I put the information here. But I'm not pushing it because I know people and I know anxiety. But knowing that I know that people will use CR as a last resort when nothing else works. A pity they will bring a "this can't work" attitude to it because it is proven to work. Any CBT that does not have the five steps in the right order is not CBT.

[swajj]

Wow davit clearly ypour life was horrifiuc for a time. Its great that you are willing to come here just to help others. Your stance on CBT is the same as my psych's. I remember asking him if I should go on medication and he said to me "do you want to get better" and when I said of course he said that the quickest way to get better was not to go on medication. He also said that people chose that route because they weren't prepared to do the work that was needed for CBT to work. I've never posted that here before because I didn't want to insult people who went the medication route. I never went on anxiety meds but I sometimes think that my psych was wrong about them not being beneficial.

---------- Post added at 13:20 ---------- Previous post was at 13:19 ----------

Please forgive my typing I'm on my mobile.

[Davit]

There is a fear and a justifiable one that you would take the easy way out and just do meds. But if you are having difficulty concentrating meds help CBT. I have two cousins permanently on prozac. Meds do not cure. I list them as coping.

[swajj]

Yes I think they probably can be helpful in conjunction with CBT. I have some valium which I use every now and then. I don't take them on regular basis though. According to my psych if you take them daily for 2 weeks you will have formed an addiction to them.

[Davit]

I took valium for a year every morning to face the day when I was mid twenties. 5mg. No problem quitting, not like Ativan. Benzo buddies has information.

[SarahH]

I have had EMDR twice in the last 10 years for PTSD and if you have a good psychologist who knows what they are doing it is an incredible way to help with past traumas. It can be quite stressful but the long term affects are great. Good luck

Sarah

[crazymum25]

I don't suffer from PTSD just general anxiety n health anxiety

[SarahH]

Oh, are they using EMDR for other things now? I thought it was only for traumas.

Sarah

[MyNameIsTerry]

Wow davit clearly ypour life was horrifiuc for a time. Its great that you are willing to come here just to help others. Your stance on CBT is the same as my psych's. I remember asking him if I should go on medication and he said to me "do you want to get better" and when I said of course he said that the quickest way to get better was not to go on medication. He also said that people chose that route because they weren't prepared to do the work that was needed for CBT to work. I've never posted that here before because I didn't want to insult people who went the medication route. I never went on anxiety meds but I sometimes think that my psych was wrong about them not being beneficial.

---------- Post added at 13:20 ---------- Previous post was at 13:19 ----------

Please forgive my typing I'm on my mobile.

Its a question of severity, isn't it? Some people are so intensly anxious that they can't seem to get anything to work. Meds can be useful in reducing it so that you can gain enough control again to work through therapy.

I don't think people can be insulted by it really because our NHS don't have the resources so GP's throw pills at the problem as they have little else they can do other than refer you to some books or an online CBT course. NICE guidelines state meds are not 1st line and forms of therapy are, its just there aren't the resources to do that and I don't know how they can expect us to wait months.

I think its also about attitude. If you accept taking meds knowing you need to still do all the hard work, thats fine. Its when you want the meds to take it all away and make you return to normal that is the issue.

---------- Post added at 07:17 ---------- Previous post was at 07:15 ----------


Why would anyone bother to come here otherwise? There are many other chat sites where the mood is upbeat. Upbeat definitely does not describe this site. Rather depressing would be a better word.

Yes, its the nature of some of the boards but we do have a bit of a laugh on some of the others so come join us if there is the opportunity, swajj. You've got my permission to take the micky out of me! :D

[swajj]

Thanks for the invite Terry. I tried to join the chat forum a few weeks ago but I couldn't. Something to do with my mobile I think. Will try again using my computer eventually. What are the other boards?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Thanks for the invite Terry. I tried to join the chat forum a few weeks ago but I couldn't. Something to do with my mobile I think. Will try again using my computer eventually. What are the other boards?

Usually on the games/humour board but in any thread if we have the opportunity and it won't be an issue for others! :yesyes: