Does Medication Help??

[bobby0786]

Hi All,

I have been feeling really anxieous for the last few days, on Sunday I was traveing home from Newcastle after a week away on the train, I had to get off at every station because i felt so panicy, so 2 stops away manchester my stop, I got of and couldnt get back on the train again luckly i have family in that town and ended up staing the night there,

I then decided i would get the train early in the morning and try to get home, 15min in to the journey i had to get off at the next station, and was only 8mins train journey to my final stop, but I could do it and decided to get a taxi the rest of the journey which was still unpleasent but I could get out of the car when I wanted as opose to the train couldnt, since the I cant shake of my anxiety,

So now have made a appointment with the doctors and going to try to get some medication which I have avoided for 10years, But now cant take it anymore.

Does the medication help??

Thx in advance for any advice.

Bobby

[daybyday]

Med. has helped me. Sometimes I think it is placebo a bit as I am on a low dose. However, I do want to be better so I can wean off. I am still on the road to freedom, with some issues yet to overcome.

[nomorepanic]

In my opinion NO it doesn't help - try the CBT route instead. Just my personal opinion

[bobby0786]

I have started CBT im 2 sessions in, Id thought the medication might be a quick help.

[nomorepanic]

It may relieve the symptoms but the side effects can be so bad that you may not want to tolerate them.

[nomorepanic]

Have you tried Rescue remedy products?

[Going home]

Hi Bobby, ive got off so many trains and buses over the years because of panic so i can relate to your problem, but once you get off you start to feel ok again, so actually nothing bad is happening when you're on the train really is it, not if you start to calm down once you get off it? So its only an imagined fear...unpleasant yes, and i still hate to get on a crowded train, and still plan my journeys to avoid them if i can, but as long as i can be near the door and not look at the crowds of people i'm ok and i tend to stick with it these days, after all i'm still here so all those times i got off the trains were unecessary really, and all those times when i thought i was going to die on the train, well i didn't and so many years later i know i'm not going to :)

Try to cope without meds if you can, as nicola says the can cause their own problems.

Anna xxx

[KK77]

People giving you their opinion on whether meds help or not is pretty meaningless. It depends on your unique circumstances. ALL meds have side effects but it really depends on the severity of your illness. For some people, including myself, I think the side effects - nasty as they can be - ARE worth it. For others with milder depression and/or anxiety perhaps it's not worth it. One thing is certain though, and that is meds are rarely (if ever) a cure: they help alleviate the symptoms of the illness and can therefore make getting to the root causes easier.

So you would need to discuss all this with a health professional - including your concerns about taking psychiatric medication - and come to a compromise that you're happy with.

[shell24]

Hello, i have tried rescue remedy products and it helps me! At the end of the day if i use tablets for my panic i feel like i am letting it win......sounds funny but i want my brain to be trained to know that i can deal with it because its just fear i am not going to die and a tablet isnt going to help that training process. I am also scared that ifi start taking tablets that i wont be able to get off them, I dont want to be reliant

[Bill]

Just to look at this from another angle....

You say 8 years ago your panics started. My guess is that your first panic occurred due to a very stressful period that you were going through or you simply had a "bad day" which triggered the panic.

This then left a fear of further panics.

These days you say the panics occur most often when you're at home, at work or on motorways. Curiously you manage ok on minor roads and I think there is a reason for this.

My feeling is that the first attack left behind a fear which is now triggered under certain circumstances I've mentioned above. In all those situations you're in what you feel are confined spaces with no escape whch is why on a large open motorway you still suffer panics. In other words, there is no easy escape when driving down a motorway.

I think that when you're feeling stressed or become aware that you're in a situation that makes you feel stressed because you feel you can't escape, your fear of panics then surfaces. Your mind then focuses on your fear of panicking which in turn makes you feel even more afraid and anxious which then triggers your panic.

The more you feed fear by thinking about it, the more likely it is that you'll panic. If you can train your mind to relax and not dwell on your panicky feelings, you'll find that although you may still feel anxious, you won't actually develop a panic attack.

You could try finding a way of breathing fresh air to help you feel less trapped and it will also help you to breathe slowly and deeply. After all, a panic attack occurs due to quick shallow breathing which we're uaware of that we're doing so controlling your breathing might help.

Also you could try to train your mind to look at things around you. Find something of interest that will make you think. This will then distract your mind from thinking about your feelings.

On journeys take a paper, a book, a game, music etc. Anything that will help to make your mind not think about panicking.

As for meds, some people find they help and others prefer not to take them. Sometimes when we're in a really anxious and depressed state, they can help to lift the mood so we feel more confident but it can also be very easy to grow to rely on them to ease our symptoms. When you take meds, I feel you need to be aware of the pros and cons involved which I feel the doctors don't tell you and maybe are not aware of. What I mean is panics are created by fear so to attempt coming off meds can make us feel anxious as we feel we're losing our safety blanket. When we become anxious, we become afraid which can then create panics leading us into thinking the meds were our "cure" preventing our panics. Anxiety and panics can be very deceiving so timing and the right state of mind come into play if you then want to be free of meds. However, it's really a personal choice as to whether we feel we need or want to take meds and there's no right or wrong involved. What's most important is you find the method that makes you feel happiest and more confident so you can get on with your life.

Personally, after taking various meds, I feel we ought to be looking at the root causes because once they're treated, we can then learn how to think correctly and look at ways to ease the underlying stresses in our lives causing our panics.

One word though....remember that panics are created by our fear of them so in other words, our minds create them through the way we think when we feel trapped. If you learn ways to relax so that you don't focus on your anxious thoughts, the panics won't happen and your confidence will then build.:)

[jothenurse]

It does really depend on the individual and how debilitating the illness you are going through. I could not tolerate the SSRI's - but I know some people can and they were helped by them. I take a very small dose of Ativan .5 in the morning and .5mg at noon. It is a benzodiazepine and can be addicting - my psychiatrist says I am at a low enough dose that I shouldn't have any withdrawal or rebound when I want to get off of them. So, you need to talk this over with your doctor.

[bobby0786]

thx everyone for your advice , I think i will try the rescue remedy today and see where the CBT leads before I go down the medication path,