anyone tried beating this with no med?

[bab]

For the first time in 12 years I am off my tablets - I have been feeling pretty much the same as I did on the tablets so I thought what is the point of being on them. My anxiety is no worse but im getting very irritable. Has anyone been on tablets and then tried being off them and been ok, or not ok?

[honeybee]

hiya I

have never taken meds. In my opinion if I started taking them I'd not only have to learn to deal with my panic attacks but once I'd achieved that I'd then have to re-learn how to deal with them once I decided to stop taking them.

Of course I don't see anything wrong with them if someone is really depressed and just can't cope without them. But if problems are just anxiety based I think its so much better to just try and deal with it. I have come through severe agoraphobia - at one stage in the space of 2 years I didnt spend any time on my own at all, not even 5 mins. But - I'm better now. I can spend as much time as I like on my own, I've just gone back to work after 4 years and things are really looking up.

I know I'm not in the same posistion as you because I never took them in the first place but I hope u find some comfort in the fact I've overcome this without meds- and if I can do it anyone can.

Just believe in yourself and Be patient with yourself.

[lorac]

Hi

Like honeybee I too have never taken medication for anxiety and with alot of hard work and understanding I am managing to turn my life around. I still have a way to go before I'm 100% better but I am dealing with the agoraphobia and panics now and it is getting easier and my life has improved so much. There was a time I just used to stay inside with fear of the panics but now I get out there and just let them happen and they aren't half as bad now. Good luck and as honeybee said be patient and believe in yourself it is
the way forward. You can do it.

Carol
x

[louwilliams]

Hi Bab

If you dont mind me asking-what meds were you on?

was on cipralex (escitalopram) for about 5 years and like you, decided to come off them as after a while I started to feel the same on them as I had off them. unfortunately once I did come off them I went downhill fast and had never felt worse so have decided to go back on them.

Keep us informed and Let us kow how your getting on. Best of luck to you hun
lou xxx

[LindyF]

I am also fighting this without meds, gp gave me a prescription which I promtly shredded, tabs were highly addictive which in my eyes would defeat the whole object and only give me more problems in the long run. The war is tough but I do feel I am someway towards winning the battle. I did not leave the sofa for weeks, I can now move around downstairs ok and go out as far as the patio so slowly getting there. xxhugxx

[Cathy V]

Bab, i'm going back quite a few years with this one, but my first encounter with anx and panic i was given tranquilisers, Ativan then Tranxene, with the occasional Mogadon thrown in at night. After a few years of upping the dose they were obviously no longer doing the job, so over about 12 months the meds were reduced, but it still took a long time to fight the anx and panic that came back far worse than before the meds. I made a promise to myself then that i would never get into that situ again with meds, and over the years since i never have. Once the withdrawal had disappeared i found other ways of coping...ok yes, i developed a taste for red wine, whos perfect?:D and i was a volunteer telephone councellor/home visitor for others in the same nightmare.

Then last year for the first time ever my blood pressure was really high, but because I get migraine too, the doc put me on Propranolol. Great for the first few months, then started getting bad anxiety and ectopics. Tried to come off them but this made everything much worse, so went back to them again. Side effects for me (and everyone's different with this as we know) were weight gain (almost 2st in 9 months) and breathlessness, no energy. But i do know that Prop' have worked fine for others though.

My doc and i talked about it last week and he has now swopped me onto another beta-blocker called Bisoprolol, at a much lower dose and so far theyre working well, but i can't help thinking that maybe, like the others, i'm only in the honeymoon phase, and the worst is once again yet to come:unsure:
I'm hoping not so! coz if i can stay on this small dose until my system has had a rest, then maybe i can come off meds altogether.

I guess my message to you is that if you can try to cope without any meds, and with the support of the ppl on nmp, go for it. Its not easy (and i think the exception here would be depression. Thats a different thing and i think i'm right in saying that you should never try to manage depression without meds? perhaps someone would know more about that one)

Anyway hope this helps
Best wishes
Cathy x:)

[Lilith1980]

Hi Bab

I've never taken meds, always been a bit wary of them but that's just me.

I think I am doing well now and its really been down to me taking better care of my mental well being - not pushing myself so hard, not aiming my sights too high, reading some CBT books and getting myself into a job that I enjoy.

I'm not saying everyone can recover without meds but I knew I had to work on what was going on in my head and I dont think meds could have helped me with that.

Jo xxxxx

[bab]

Hi everyone

im so thick have only just remembered about this post - how have you done this without meds? I hate the side effects but dr thinks i should go on them as panic most of time. im so annoyed with myself and am getting agoraphobic. how did you do it? you are an inspiration

[jodie]

hi bab

i have never taken meds to scared of the side affects , i have panics and ha and done ok without them i think
i have days and good days but i am glad i have got this far without them .
i guess they work for some ppl and not others

jodie xxx

[jo61]

My meds have changed my life. It took a long time to get the right cocktail. Now that I'm well, there's talk of reducing to 'maintenance' levels which I'm happy with. Last time I came off the completely I had a major depressive episode. On them I can live a normal life (whatever normal is!:blush: ):hugs:

[bab]

Hiya
Again thank so much for replying - i think i need to go back on meds but im so tired of having the 3 week horribkle period then what if they not right ones so its starting all over again. I feel like resigning myself to the fact I will be like this forevr

[samtheman]

I've never took any meds either, Just self help couses and books like Linden Method and Attacking Anxiety & Depression, I can't praise the latter enough, Its a complete life skills course and addresses the underlying causes of anxiety and depression, Like others have said I also was afraid of meds

[sheba2]

Hi There.

I have been where you are now. This is my fourth bout of anxiety and panic with agorophobia this time. I took meds for the first three episodes. Sermontil the first time, paroxetine the second and citalopram the third. Each time I was on them for a period of approx 2-3 years. I didn't have dreadful side effects but certainly needed to adjust for a few weeks and then had the long haul of coming off them. When my panic returned 2 years ago I was determined this time to do it without medication. They certainly help with calming the system down and you can get on with life to some extent but I certainly didn't feel anxiety free. This time I have had to learn the reasons for why I react to lifes situations in such an anxious way. It has been really hard and I have had severe agorophobia because of the anxiety this time. But I still haven't had medication. I have been very tempted on many occasions but I do genuinely feel that I need to change the way I think and feel and no amount of medication is able to do that. Going med free is not easy and whether I wll conquer my fears and problems remains to be seen But I think it is the right route for me but not as easy as taking a tablet. I hope yu get on well whatever your decision is because neither is easy and both have there merits and drawbacks. Good luck

[Franz]

For the first time in 12 years I am off my tablets - I have been feeling pretty much the same as I did on the tablets so I thought what is the point of being on them. My anxiety is no worse but im getting very irritable. Has anyone been on tablets and then tried being off them and been ok, or not ok?
Bab,

I came off meds (clomipramine at the time) for 3 months, 7 years ago. For a long time, my OCD didn't get any worse, but I noticed that I became almost uncontrollably irritable - obviously my natural state :\ I also noticed how much more easily I got depressed. Conversely, I had a lot more energy, both mental and physical.

I actually considered going back on medication simply to bring my temper under control, but held off. In the end, unfortunately, the OCD came back anyway, so I had no choice but to go back on the pills. (Even more unfortunately, the pills stopped working several years later but I still take them as antidepressants.)

BUT that said, lots of people come off medication and don't need to go back on it, once it's got them out of their rut: I'm not saying my story is typical.

F