View Full Version : Anxiety and Medications
I've posted the following in the meds section as a reply but I thought it might be worth posting it here too in case it helped anyone -
This post is just something to think about regarding anxiety and medications.
I know a lot of people take medications and I know they do help a lot of people by easing their anxiety symptoms. They can be a really good support especially when anxiety takes over and we need something to help us cope. Some people feel happier always taking meds whereas others prefer to learn how to cope without. Others always take them out of necessity so the issue of meds is complex and often subjective. I think we all do what works for us.
The issue I want to raise is how meds can sometimes complicate anxiety.
Years ago I went through a very bad spell. Anxiety consumed me. I could see no way out. It drove me to self-harm because I felt I needed to relieve my emotional pain together with my the anxious feelings. I was suffering panic attacks. I couldn't seem to stop them. In the end I became suicidal. I had lost all hope of getting my life back.
I was prescribed countless meds. I found they often worked at first but then anxiety would rush back causing me to increase the dose until I reached their limit before being prescribed a new med to see if that worked better. The problem was, the meds couldn't cure the causes of my anxiety. All they could do was ease my anxious feelings until my body got so used to the dose that they would then have to be increased.
To give you an example in another way, imagine you're walking through the African plains. You're enjoying yourself looking at all the wildlife until one day a lion appears. It stands there watching you but doesn't attack. However, just it's stare is enough to induce panic making you want to run, to hide and for the lion just to move away. You feel so anxious, you decide to take some pills in the hope they'll make you feel better. After a few minutes the lion moves away but you still feel in an anxious state so keep taking the pills. After a while you feel better and you say to yourself, "Those pills must be working now because I feel better".
You continue walking, enjoying yourself again until out of the blue a cheetah starts running towards you. You panic, you think it's going to attack you but it suddenly stops to sit in front of you just to stare at you. Again you feel you want to run and hide but you feel you can't escape. You feel trapped and breathless. You know you couldn't outrun a cheetah so you stand there hoping it'll go away. You decide you need something to help with its stare so you go back to your pills and take a few more on top of the dose you're already taking.
After a while the cheetah walks away but again you still feel anxious. After a while though your anxiety subsides and you say to yourself "That increase in dose must be working because I'm feeling better again".
You carry on walking enjoying yourself once more until this time a leopard jumps out of a tree. It stops to stare at you...and once more the same thing happens. You increase your dose, the leopard walks away and you feel better.
The question to ask yourself though, would be do you feel better because of the increase in meds or because the animal has walked away so you no longer feel threatened?
In life, we are faced with daily stresses. We can have really good days, months and years coping fine until one day something happens that makes us feel really anxious. That "something" will cause us a lot of stress. That stress will make us feel we're being stared at by a man eater while we've been happily walking across the African Plain.
We may well feel we need to increase our dose to help us cope with it's stare and it may well help with the anxious feelings triggered but the something to consider is when it walks away, when the stress has past and our mind forgets the trauma we've suffered, would our anxiety naturally subside too...until the next trauma surfaces?
Medications certainly help ease anxious feelings but they do take time to kick in. Sometimes the length of time they need to kick in is as long as anxiety takes to "naturally" subside after a stressful event.
Just something to be aware of how the "quick fix" sometimes isn't what it might appear but that's not to say you shouldn't take them because sometimes we really do need them.
BY the time you reached the leopard you would be dead with an overdose: you have just done a very long winded CBT fight and flight story. CRONIC MENTAL ILLNESS . is only helped with medication if you are born this way you cannot rewire all of a damaged brain. THINK ON with this short but to the point answer :shades:
I think that Bill is referring to a chronic anxiety state and not chronic mental illness such as bipolar or psychosis. It is certainly possible to live with a chronic anxiety disorder without taking medication and using CBT is one way of managing anxiety to a certain extent. It doesn't help everyone as people are affected and cope in different ways. I think fear of the anxiety state plays a big part in how you manage and live with it.
At the bottom of my admittedly long winded story I did say...sometimes we really do need them...because as Pulisa rightly says, it really depends on the type and severity of the condition or illness the person is suffering from.
I was lucky that I was able to learn to cope with my anxiety without having to keep taking medication but I know through very personal experience many people do Have to take medications daily just to stay well.
My story was just an attempt to illustrate how stressful events can trigger anxiety when in some cases such as my own, I have found medication not always necessary.
As Pulisa says, it depends on whether it's a chronic anxiety state or as you rightly say, a chronic mental illness that the person is suffering from in which case I would agree with you that medication would most definitely be needed. Hope that helps.
BILL you mentioned you were suicidal at some stage, that is a chronic mental illness wishing death to life .you also mentioned self harm. i was born BIPOLAR but i never self harm. That phase in your life was ACUTE mental illness and you were very lucky to survive. the Serengeti story was very long winded 1 animal would be enough to describe FIGHT AND FLIGHT. PULISA chronic anxiety is a mental illness , and trigger can be triggered any time if your a anxiety suffer, mental illness when in remission and thats all you are in is like alcoholism will you take another drink , or anxiety will you take another pill , NEVER SAY NEVER :shades:
I live with a chronic anxiety disorder but don't take medication. I have in the past but I prefer not to now. It's my choice and I do have a choice no matter how severe I perceive my daily symptoms to be. I'm actually not "in remission" because the root cause of my anxiety isn't treatable now and pills have never helped. Compared to many people with acute and severe mental illness what I have to deal with is pretty small fry.
snowghost57
09-07-17, 14:22
BY the time you reached the leopard you would be dead with an overdose: you have just done a very long winded CBT fight and flight story. CRONIC MENTAL ILLNESS . is only helped with medication if you are born this way you cannot rewire all of a damaged brain. THINK ON with this short but to the point answer :shades:
I disagree. I had anxiety and I did the medication "train" changing meds, changing doses and I didn't like the way they made me feel. I had no emotions, I was a zombie and I decided to cope with my anxiety with an excellent therapist. She TAUGHT me how to challenge my intrusive thoughts. I will advise you that it takes tremendous emotional strength, determination and a LOT of work to accomplish this. However, it can be done, I know as I am now anxiety free. Not 100% but I have learned how to live my life as me and not medicated.
I do not believe that anyone has a "damaged" brain! As for rewiring the brain? Yes I believe it can be done. For about 6 months I had a series of life changing events. My daughter was almost killed in a car accident, my job was in the toilet, college was a struggle. The last straw sent me to tears to the therapist. I started on Zoloft and couldn't tolerate the side effects. This is how I found this forum. After 20 days I felt much better but decided that I wanted to live the rest of my life as me even with anxiety. It has been 5 months without medication. I worked through my fears, I faced my anxiety, I breathe, cry, tell my brain to shut up if I have to. I challenge my thoughts. I am not 100% free from anxiety but I'm sure a lot better then I was 5 months ago and I get better every day!
It can be done. Its an individual decision. I fear that many people expect a pill to chase away their anxiety.
It has been an amazing journey for me and I am so thankful for the friends I have made here. I am now the happiest I have ever been in my life. I hope one day every one here will be able to say the same thing.
---------- Post added at 08:41 ---------- Previous post was at 08:36 ----------
At the bottom of my admittedly long winded story I did say...sometimes we really do need them...because as Pulisa rightly says, it really depends on the type and severity of the condition or illness the person is suffering from.
I was lucky that I was able to learn to cope with my anxiety without having to keep taking medication but I know through very personal experience many people do Have to take medications daily just to stay well.
My story was just an attempt to illustrate how stressful events can trigger anxiety when in some cases such as my own, I have found medication not always necessary.
As Pulisa says, it depends on whether it's a chronic anxiety state or as you rightly say, a chronic mental illness that the person is suffering from in which case I would agree with you that medication would most definitely be needed. Hope that helps.
You were not "lucky" in learning how to cope. You worked on your anxiety and identified your fears and learned how to face them without medication. I know, your posts have been very helpful to me and I will be forever grateful. I honestly don't think anxiety is a chronic illness. Our brains are an amazing organ. If we let it, this organ will rule our lives. I refuse to let a wisp of a thought to rule my life.
There are people that have mental illness and they do need medication just as a diabetic does. I think we are very fortunate in this day and age with the advancement of therapy that enables us to learn how to manage anxiety without medication.
---------- Post added at 08:44 ---------- Previous post was at 08:41 ----------
I live with a chronic anxiety disorder but don't take medication. I have in the past but I prefer not to now. It's my choice and I do have a choice no matter how severe I perceive my daily symptoms to be. I'm actually not "in remission" because the root cause of my anxiety isn't treatable now and pills have never helped. Compared to many people with acute and severe mental illness what I have to deal with is pretty small fry.
I agree, we do have a choice. Some people do need medication, however I prefer to use the tools my therapist has provided me with and the information I have learned here to battle this dragon in my head. I think I have him reduced to a little lizard right now. I doubt if my pet will ever leave me, but I have him on a tight leash right now!
---------- Post added at 08:47 ---------- Previous post was at 08:44 ----------
I think that Bill is referring to a chronic anxiety state and not chronic mental illness such as bipolar or psychosis. It is certainly possible to live with a chronic anxiety disorder without taking medication and using CBT is one way of managing anxiety to a certain extent. It doesn't help everyone as people are affected and cope in different ways. I think fear of the anxiety state plays a big part in how you manage and live with it.
You hit the nail on the head! Anxiety is created by FEAR. It is possible to live with anxiety without medication. I do it every day.
---------- Post added at 08:52 ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 ----------
I've posted the following in the meds section as a reply but I thought it might be worth posting it here too in case it helped anyone -
This post is just something to think about regarding anxiety and medications.
I know a lot of people take medications and I know they do help a lot of people by easing their anxiety symptoms. They can be a really good support especially when anxiety takes over and we need something to help us cope. Some people feel happier always taking meds whereas others prefer to learn how to cope without. Others always take them out of necessity so the issue of meds is complex and often subjective. I think we all do what works for us.
The issue I want to raise is how meds can sometimes complicate anxiety.
Years ago I went through a very bad spell. Anxiety consumed me. I could see no way out. It drove me to self-harm because I felt I needed to relieve my emotional pain together with my the anxious feelings. I was suffering panic attacks. I couldn't seem to stop them. In the end I became suicidal. I had lost all hope of getting my life back.
I was prescribed countless meds. I found they often worked at first but then anxiety would rush back causing me to increase the dose until I reached their limit before being prescribed a new med to see if that worked better. The problem was, the meds couldn't cure the causes of my anxiety. All they could do was ease my anxious feelings until my body got so used to the dose that they would then have to be increased.
To give you an example in another way, imagine you're walking through the African plains. You're enjoying yourself looking at all the wildlife until one day a lion appears. It stands there watching you but doesn't attack. However, just it's stare is enough to induce panic making you want to run, to hide and for the lion just to move away. You feel so anxious, you decide to take some pills in the hope they'll make you feel better. After a few minutes the lion moves away but you still feel in an anxious state so keep taking the pills. After a while you feel better and you say to yourself, "Those pills must be working now because I feel better".
You continue walking, enjoying yourself again until out of the blue a cheetah starts running towards you. You panic, you think it's going to attack you but it suddenly stops to sit in front of you just to stare at you. Again you feel you want to run and hide but you feel you can't escape. You feel trapped and breathless. You know you couldn't outrun a cheetah so you stand there hoping it'll go away. You decide you need something to help with its stare so you go back to your pills and take a few more on top of the dose you're already taking.
After a while the cheetah walks away but again you still feel anxious. After a while though your anxiety subsides and you say to yourself "That increase in dose must be working because I'm feeling better again".
You carry on walking enjoying yourself once more until this time a leopard jumps out of a tree. It stops to stare at you...and once more the same thing happens. You increase your dose, the leopard walks away and you feel better.
The question to ask yourself though, would be do you feel better because of the increase in meds or because the animal has walked away so you no longer feel threatened?
In life, we are faced with daily stresses. We can have really good days, months and years coping fine until one day something happens that makes us feel really anxious. That "something" will cause us a lot of stress. That stress will make us feel we're being stared at by a man eater while we've been happily walking across the African Plain.
We may well feel we need to increase our dose to help us cope with it's stare and it may well help with the anxious feelings triggered but the something to consider is when it walks away, when the stress has past and our mind forgets the trauma we've suffered, would our anxiety naturally subside too...until the next trauma surfaces?
Medications certainly help ease anxious feelings but they do take time to kick in. Sometimes the length of time they need to kick in is as long as anxiety takes to "naturally" subside after a stressful event.
Just something to be aware of how the "quick fix" sometimes isn't what it might appear but that's not to say you shouldn't take them because sometimes we really do need them.
As usual Bill another awesome story on how anxiety has the ability to scare us and feed our fear. I tried the medications and I literally could feel it changing my brain which I didn't like one bit. The medication made me into a person I didn't want to be. They did help me over my crisis, which took 20 days. I don't take any medication. If it has a side effect then I will certainly have it. I can't even drink a cup of coffee or have a coke. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones? I don't know. I just know that I prefer living my life as me and chase anxiety away with the tools that I have learned. Guess what? I'm winning!
---------- Post added at 09:22 ---------- Previous post was at 08:52 ----------
I've posted the following in the meds section as a reply but I thought it might be worth posting it here too in case it helped anyone -
This post is just something to think about regarding anxiety and medications.
I know a lot of people take medications and I know they do help a lot of people by easing their anxiety symptoms. They can be a really good support especially when anxiety takes over and we need something to help us cope. Some people feel happier always taking meds whereas others prefer to learn how to cope without. Others always take them out of necessity so the issue of meds is complex and often subjective. I think we all do what works for us.
The issue I want to raise is how meds can sometimes complicate anxiety.
Years ago I went through a very bad spell. Anxiety consumed me. I could see no way out. It drove me to self-harm because I felt I needed to relieve my emotional pain together with my the anxious feelings. I was suffering panic attacks. I couldn't seem to stop them. In the end I became suicidal. I had lost all hope of getting my life back.
I was prescribed countless meds. I found they often worked at first but then anxiety would rush back causing me to increase the dose until I reached their limit before being prescribed a new med to see if that worked better. The problem was, the meds couldn't cure the causes of my anxiety. All they could do was ease my anxious feelings until my body got so used to the dose that they would then have to be increased.
To give you an example in another way, imagine you're walking through the African plains. You're enjoying yourself looking at all the wildlife until one day a lion appears. It stands there watching you but doesn't attack. However, just it's stare is enough to induce panic making you want to run, to hide and for the lion just to move away. You feel so anxious, you decide to take some pills in the hope they'll make you feel better. After a few minutes the lion moves away but you still feel in an anxious state so keep taking the pills. After a while you feel better and you say to yourself, "Those pills must be working now because I feel better".
You continue walking, enjoying yourself again until out of the blue a cheetah starts running towards you. You panic, you think it's going to attack you but it suddenly stops to sit in front of you just to stare at you. Again you feel you want to run and hide but you feel you can't escape. You feel trapped and breathless. You know you couldn't outrun a cheetah so you stand there hoping it'll go away. You decide you need something to help with its stare so you go back to your pills and take a few more on top of the dose you're already taking.
After a while the cheetah walks away but again you still feel anxious. After a while though your anxiety subsides and you say to yourself "That increase in dose must be working because I'm feeling better again".
You carry on walking enjoying yourself once more until this time a leopard jumps out of a tree. It stops to stare at you...and once more the same thing happens. You increase your dose, the leopard walks away and you feel better.
The question to ask yourself though, would be do you feel better because of the increase in meds or because the animal has walked away so you no longer feel threatened?
In life, we are faced with daily stresses. We can have really good days, months and years coping fine until one day something happens that makes us feel really anxious. That "something" will cause us a lot of stress. That stress will make us feel we're being stared at by a man eater while we've been happily walking across the African Plain.
We may well feel we need to increase our dose to help us cope with it's stare and it may well help with the anxious feelings triggered but the something to consider is when it walks away, when the stress has past and our mind forgets the trauma we've suffered, would our anxiety naturally subside too...until the next trauma surfaces?
Medications certainly help ease anxious feelings but they do take time to kick in. Sometimes the length of time they need to kick in is as long as anxiety takes to "naturally" subside after a stressful event.
Just something to be aware of how the "quick fix" sometimes isn't what it might appear but that's not to say you shouldn't take them because sometimes we really do need them.
As usual Bill, another amazing post and how anxiety is nothing more then fear.
Medication is defined by Webster Dictionary [noncount] :" the science that deals with preventing, curing, and treating diseases"
We are humans with a brain and it is an individual decision to "prevent, cure or treat a disease. For some, treatment may mean a life time on medication. For me? I prefer to work with my anxiety without medication. I'm just saying that it can be done and don't just toss in the towel and say "I will stay on medication the rest of my life" We can get out of this anxiety!
BILL you mentioned you were suicidal at some stage, that is a chronic mental illness wishing death to life .you also mentioned self harm. i was born BIPOLAR but i never self harm. That phase in your life was ACUTE mental illness and you were very lucky to survive. the Serengeti story was very long winded 1 animal would be enough to describe FIGHT AND FLIGHT. PULISA chronic anxiety is a mental illness , and trigger can be triggered any time if your a anxiety suffer, mental illness when in remission and thats all you are in is like alcoholism will you take another drink , or anxiety will you take another pill , NEVER SAY NEVER :shades:
Braindead, I'm sorry to hear of your bipolar diagnosis and acknowledge your clinical need for medication. I think your argument re medication for anxiety disorder could promote a lot of fear in people reading this thread in that medication is the only way to manage life. We all know that anxiety thrives off fear so maybe this isn't a terribly helpful comment for you to make?
BENZO MEDS were made for acute anxiety, LIFE AND DEATH at some moments in an acute anxiety suffers life , to stop an attack dead in the water in 20 minutes has saved many lives. TRUE there highly addictive i myself take 6mg of lorazepam every single day i have a tolerance to 6mg not an addiction or i would need even more. I just could not stop the 6 obviously or i would seizure and maybe die. But to chronic anxiety sufferers, they are a route to feeling 100 times better in a short time , i am talking now and then not like me i was close to oblivion when i was scripted 6mg a day . a life sentence i no but at least it is a life :hugs:
Chrysmar09
09-07-17, 19:51
I wish I didnt have to take medicine but my intrusive thoughts were literally taking over my life... my therapist suggested the meds just so I could function. I am scared of what the meds are doing to me as far as changing my personality or making me someone im not... but I know me being as anxious as I was and being a single mother I needed help along with therapy.
Nobody should have to justify themselves for being on medication for anxiety. If medication helps and you can benefit from the therapy to a greater degree then meds have more than served their purpose.
It's an individual situation and decision. Medications treat both physical and mental illnesses. It just depends on what part of the body it affects. We all have a choice in all cases. I could refuse to take some of my medications and try to mange medical issues with diet and exercise. Realistically? While I do some, I'm not doing enough nor do I have the inner strength to do that at this point in my life. BP meds, blood thinners, remedies for side effects from treatment, a chill pill when things get to be a little too much etc. are part of my life.
I've taken anti anxiety/depression meds. They were for me, a crutch while I worked on getting my feet back under me. Like an antibiotic for my brain if you will.
I agree with Pulisa about justification. To me, it's a part of the stigma that still exists concerning mental health. Here's a question for you... If there was a treatment that would effectively remove your mental illness, like chemo and rads and all the real nasties that does to you, would you do it if you knew you would suffer side effects and need meds that rest of your life? If the answer is yes, then what's the difference between that and 6-8 weeks of "possible" side effects to help you manage and get your feet back under you? If you really need help, get help!
Positive thoughts
To try and put my views on meds simply, if someone is feeling really ill with anxiety and they're advised by their doctor and/or psychiatrist that they really should be taking medication then they really should take meds as advised.
If later, they feel better and would like to attempt to cope without medication, then just ask the doctor/psychiatrist for their agreement.
Regarding general anxiety disorders, a lot of people feel happier taking meds whilst others prefer to cope without. There's nothing wrong with either because all that really matters is we find a way to enjoy life.
In my experience, I was prescribed various modern anti-depressants but also the old type - Valium (Diazepam) and at that time I did really feel I needed something because I was under too much pressure and I couldn't see a way out.
The problems I found though were that the modern ad's take time to kick in and they don't have the immediate sedative effect of diazepam which I found of more benefit. However, I know doctors are reluctant to prescribe diazepam because as I found, they're very addictive if taken daily so it takes a lot longer to come off them. I've therefore found that they're best taken as "one off's" for particularly bad days whereas the modern ad's aren't a problem taken daily.
When I began to feel better, I asked the doctor if it would be safe for me to stop the meds. The modern ad's weren't a problem but it took me 6 months to completely stop the diazepam because every time I tried to reduce them too quickly, my anxiety shot through the roof because I had become addicted to them.
Having said all that though, the real reason for the story was an attempt to explain a problem associated with taking meds.
First of all, what is anxiety and what creates it? Anxiety is fear and worry, and of course these are created by our minds. I think of anxiety like chocolate. We can't resist chocolate but we hate putting on weight because of it. In other words, we can't resist worrying but we hate the symptoms it creates. Therefore, when something triggers our anxiety, what we're really saying is something in our life has caused us too much stress and this stress has then caused us to think all the "what if's" and doubts etc. These worries and fears then cause all those anxiety symptoms (which we hate which we want to stop just like putting on weight) which cause even more worries and so we end up in an anxiety cycle. It's at this point we often feel we need medication.
No doubt you've often read about people who suffer "anxiety attacks". These happen because something happens to push the mind beyond the limit and that's when we reach for the pills or if we're already taking meds, we look to increase them.
This was the issue I was trying to raise to make people aware because a stressful event can make people think their meds have stopped working when really it's an event that's caused more stress. The temptation is to increase the meds to combat that added stress but often I feel people increase too quickly because they want immediate relief but in doing so they end up on a higher dose after the stressful event has passed even though their stress levels have naturally returned to the level they were before.
This is what happened to me. I ended up on the maximum of each med and then I was prescribed another medication to see if that worked. It's just a trap I felt worth mentioning in the hope of helping others avoid what I went through.
MyNameIsTerry
10-07-17, 05:21
PULISA chronic anxiety is a mental illness , and trigger can be triggered any time if your a anxiety suffer, mental illness when in remission and thats all you are in is like alcoholism will you take another drink , or anxiety will you take another pill , NEVER SAY NEVER :shades:
My dad suffered a couple of years of depression to the point of not working and being in bed for weeks.
He did take meds. There was no therapy back, then Claire Weekes or any of that.
He's been free of mental ill health for over 40 years now. He got over it and changed his thinking.
In that time he's lost half his brothers & sisters (he's the 13th, the youngest child), most to various cancers or dementia, been involved in car crashes, been run over by farm equipment and witnessed a serious car accident where they had to try to keep a dying man alive until the emergency services got there.
That's a lot of triggers on top of bringing up a family of three and fighting a dodgy employer who tried to take his redundancy away from him which he took to tribunal to win.
It's different for everyone and disordes & circumstances differ so we can't generalise that it can't be done. He's mid seventies now.
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