physciatrist/doctor

[trevor]

hello,

i had an appointment with a physciatrist today i think its the third time i have seen him and all he wanted to do again was prescribe me medication (PAROXETINE) has anyone heard of this drug>>??
the last time i went he wanted to give me (CIPRAMIL)

you see the thing is the first time i saw him i was really bad with anxiety//panic//agaraphobia,,but now things seem to be changing for the better only ever so slightly but i can sense a change in myself and i have always said to myself i could do this without medication no matter how long it would take i have always had that positive side in me about the meds ok i do have bad days like i guess we all do but i am in there for the long ride but i feel my doctor and my physciatrist are trying to pressure me into taking these meds???

i told him today that medication dosent solve the underlying issue of where or how the anxiety started meds onky mask it for a little while and then when you come off them you have to deal with it again so whats the point????

he did agree with me to a point but said they give you a kick start if you like (not so sure)

the bottom line is guys should i take the medication???or should i carry on no matter how long it takes and beat this thing on my own i know deep deep down inside i can,,

could anyone give me a little advice cause i really do feel like i am being brainwashed between my dr and the physciatrist>????

also can this be done without medication????has anyone beaten it without medication,,or feel the need not to take medication???

thank you ever so mmuch,,

trevor:(

[LisaS]

hi Trevor,
obviously the decision is yours, no one can force you to take them and if you think you can do it without then i think you should do it without. The meds will help you if you are not coping with life as you knew it.
I had a consultation with a psychiatrist and he prescribed me fluoxetine/prozac without really knowing me at all and I took them and they made me worse. My doctor agreed today that these only added to my existing anxiety.
I therefore was in a right state and was changed to a different AD and am now feeling much better.
It can be done without AD's so maybe you should hang on before you make a decision.
good luck
Lisa
xxx

"do not fear to hope...Each time we smell the autumn's dying scent, we know that primrose time will come again"

[Karen]

Hi Trevor

I agree that the decision regarding medication is your own to make. No one should force you to take medication if you don't want to.

It is true that medication helps some people, but others recover without. So it really comes down to personal choice.

Unfortunately, I have found this in the past with psychiatrists being too quick to reach for the prescription pad. You do not have to agree if this is not the route you want to take.


Karen



It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.

[ana]

Hi Trevor!
I am 17 and am on 4 kinds of medication [?]
When I first went to see my therapist, she immediately gave me 2 meds. I was only 14, but didn't mind, all I wanted is for the panic attacks to stop....
Now, after few years, I have reduced my dose, but I still feel mentally dependant on these things, I still need them. I say, take them, see how they help you, not all meds cause addiction, some of them even don't have side effects. Good thing is, that you are able to control your panic and if you feel like you can manage without them, then don't take them!
I wish you all the best, whatewer you decide.
Love
Ana

[tt]

Hi Trevor,
I am totally with you. I feel if you were suicidle and was going to endanger yourself or someone else these that would be different. I feel
the answer is learning to deal with it and positive thinking, not fogging up the mind.
They can help, but there is side effects that go along with them. I think you sound like you want to find the way to help yourself so you are already on your way.
Good luck, postitive thoughts will get you there!

TT:)


TT:)

[seh1980]

hi Trevor,

As the others have said, the decision is entirely yours. If you think that you are improving without medication, then keep trying to cope without it. If you feel that you are stuck and need an extra push, then take them..

Sarah :D

"Life is too important to take seriously" Corky Siegal

[lotus]

Hey Trevor

I understand how you feel.

When I visited a psychiatrist, he very quickly prescribed Seroxat /I'm pretty sure this is the same medication as Paroxetine and Paxil/, even though I explicitly told him that I don't want to take any meds. He said that I would take it only until I feel good enough to be able to fight the condition on my own. I hesitated whether to take it or not, for the same reasons that you mention in your post. I bought it, but only tried it a couple of times. Overall, I probably took 4-5 of the tablets, not in successive days though /what a bad patient I am ;)/. It made me feel worse /headache, nausea, extra anxiety/, so I decided I'm better off without it.

I strongly believe that meds can only temporarily relieve some of your symptoms, but they cannot cure the cause of the condition. They have many side effects /including the fact that you might develop a psychological addiction to them/ + it might take a long time until the psychiatrist manages to find the right med for you. Personally, for me, it is very important to fight anxiety on my own. I feel that this makes me stronger and more confident in myself because I know that my progress is due to what I have managed to achieve without any extra help.

Seeking help and taking meds is not a weakness though. In fact, it takes a lot of courage and strength to confess that you have a problem and ask for help. Some people suffer severely and struggle with the symptoms, and they need a kick start in order to get back on their feet so they can fight on their own. I think that how you choose to fight doesn't really matter. The important thing is to realize that there is a problem that needs to be solved, to start taking care of yourself and to get on the road to recovery.

The decision whether to take the meds is yours to make. My advice is ... don't. Save them as a back-up plan. You can control the anxiety, you have made some progress on your own, and now you feel slightly better /congratulations ;]/. This means that you're doing something right. Keep it up and see how it goes. If, for some reason, things get worse, you can always try the meds.

Can anxiety be beaten without meds? Yes, it can, because it is not a desease of the brain, it's a temporary condition caused by negative thoughts and emotions. On this site there is a lot of useful information on what you can do to help yourself, check it out.

Good luck my friend, I know you'll make it with or without the drugs ;]

[Meg]

Hi Trevor.

I took Prozac for 8 weeks . It showed me that I could feel better by just taking a pill and that I wasn't really going mad.

I then chose to come off it and 6 weeks later I had another crippling run of panic and decided to go med free for as long as possible.

The next few months were the hardest possibly imaginable as I was back at work by now but this was also the time in which I did my learning and accepting and I suddenly had several light bulb moments and never looked back since..

I know Nic would say her prozac helped her depression but not the anxiety so she came off them and has been med free since then.

I think if you can see chinks of light and progress then you can go all he way without meds, if however you are completely dispairing and at your wits end, they can be life changingly brilliant but as many people have said - you will need to come of them sometime and if you haven't made those vital changes - then you may possibly be in for round 2.

Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Watch your thoughts, they become your words...
Watch your words, they become your actions... Watch your actions, they become your habits... Watch your habits, they become your character... Watch your character, it becomes your destiny...

[stimpy]

The only person who can decide to take medication is you.
Some people do find it of great benefit.
Anxiety disorder has no quick fix, however the meds can give you a boost in order to help you to recover.
I have been taking my medication (sertrailine - zoloft in the US) on an off for 10 years (as I suffer with a lack of happy chemicals) and I find it of great benefit. It has really helped me over the years, both with anxiety and depression. However not all medications suit everyone and it can take several tries before you find the right one for you.

Some people can begin to feel better without medications, and it can be done with relaxation, possitive thinking and a lot of practice. Some people prefer herbal remedies to prescribed medications.

Paroxetine is in a class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Which tells your brain to hold on to the happy chemicals rather than allow them to disappear, which helps control the anxiety attacks and depression.

It is precribed for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders and panic disorders. These medications can take up to 6 weeks to work before you begin to feel any possitive effects.
As the medication is reduced slowly it means that the brain has time to adjust and cope without it and so the panic symptoms are less likely to return in such a severe manner.

Good luck with what ever you decide to do.




Love, light and Best wishes
Liz xxx
With hard work and determination and all the things you know.
The world is there for you to take. There's nowhere you can't go.


[:p]Scatty Eccentric & 'Poet Laureate to panic and anxiety'

[trevor]

thank you,,,

thank you all so very much there are some great positive posts to my topic ,

thank you indie i do like your post it sounds like me and you sound so positive good luck to you my friend,,

thank you tt i esspecially liked yous too thank you my freind,,


and thank you meg i know what you mean about the light bulb moments as i have had a few of those thanks meeg,,

what can i say you ALL hve helped me to stick with it and fight it on my own ,,you see its in me to fight it i do feel so so positive about that but i suppose we all have our weak moments when we feel we need a cruch,,,but i am going to do it for as long as it takes,,,i have just met the most wonderful friend but didnt want to tell her about my problem for i was ashamed and fearful of what she might think ,,but the time was right 1 evening when she told me she had taken anti deppressents only a few weeks ago and she felt strong enough meeting me to come of them so i told her about me and she is so so supportive she is truly an angel,,

THANK AGAIN ,,

trevor:):):)

ENJOY THE SUN EVERYONE[8D][8D][8D][8D]

[laurenessex]

I've never been to the doctor for my problem much to mums chagrin, because I didn't want to and was afraid of what they would try and make me do...I thought If I was going to get over it it was going to come from me. The danger is i think we sometimes cling to anything that might give us a sense of security and if it's drugs....it all depends on the person i think and what they are finding hard within the problem...I've still a chunk of my life to get back but i've hobbies and interests and things that help me relax...

[pips]

Hi Trevor,

it's so difficult isn't it do I don't I?????.

I was on Seroxat (Paroxetine) for 6 months and I think it helped pull me out of a really bad patch with anxiety and depression I was going through at the time.

After being on them for 6 months I decided to come of. I am now med free and manage purley with natural remedies. Somedays I do find it difficult though and think should I go back on them? I know unless totally at my wits end I won't.

I think if you can manage without it then thats good but if you need something to help you through then that ok to.

Whatever you decide is fine and you will know what's right for you.

Take care,

Love PIP'S X X

[nomorepanic]

Trevor

As Meg said, I was on Prozac and it helped with the depression but never touched the panic attacks so I stopped taking it.

This was over 7 years ago and I decided to do it med free -it may be harder sometimes but I didn't want to be on drugs forever so I chose this way.

Good luck with your decision.

Nicola

"Nearly all happiness comes into our lives through doors we don't even remember leaving open"

[melanie]

Hi Trevor,melanie here! i have been on paroxetine at one point and it really is good and helps you tremendously but i think if you are strong enough it would be possible to get better or at least cope with anxiety without medication,personally i couldnt but if you think about it you can take them for a while get yourself better then come off them,i dont like taking tablets as my mum was a manic depressive\serial suicidalist but if it helps give it a go.
Hope i have helped
mel xx

melanie

[chucklehound]

I was on paroxatine (seroxat) for 6 months and I cant say that it did me much good...sorry

All the best

Feel free pm me if you want to chat

steno -x-

[alexis]

I wish Id been strong enough to cope without drugs.
I feel I lost months of my life due to this and although I was against medication the time came where I felt it was the only option but I knew I was getting worse without. I do not cope with any illness and never went to the GPs for anything hardly.
I hope you can continue to improve, you sound like you are doing so well.
Good luck, Love Alexis,x