What level of anxiety do you 'accept'?

[lalala]

Hi! :)

I was wondering if I could tap into the wealth of experience here. Everyone seems to know so much about meds and cope so much better with things I would find impossible, so I'd be massively grateful if you could look over my situation and see what you think.

I am currently being treated for anxiety (I think it started with PTSD and is now more GAD) and I am on 150mg of sertraline daily, and 80mg of propranalol (as & when). I swapped from paroxetine after 4ish years about 3 months ago - some people think I will still be going through withdrawal from this but I really don't think so.

I am also taking a B-vit, doing meditation and I am 6 weeks into CBT. I had about 4 months of more generalised counselling last year.

I am nowhere near as bad as I have been in the past - I haven't had any panic attacks recently - but I still don't feel 'right'. I have a low level anxiety/dread for much of the day, early morning waking and nausea/loss of appetite. It's very wearing and I feel a bit of a misery.

I don't know whether to go back to the doctor and swap to another med and see if that 'works' or just work on accepting that this is how I am. People put up with worse after all.

Any thoughts?

[vicky23]

this is an interesting question which I think only you can answer really. I guess it would depend on how it's affecting your life. on a practical level there may be issues with swapping meds in terms of side effects or getting worse before you get better scenarios.
I find that when making decisions it helps to write my options down then do pro's and con's for each. I'd also suggest trying as many nonmedical things as possible to try to get to where you want to be, because Dr's don't tend to like putting you on meds forever and so there comes a point when you have to start decreasing the dose which can be 'rocking the boat'
so to sum up : it's your decision because only you know how much this is affecting your life
However I would lean towards more natural remedies (there's a whole host of things you can try if you get a book out the library or browse this site under 'remedies' section
best wishes
x

[Bill]

This is just my Own opinion and I'm talking Purely about anxiety but sometimes I feel doctors and even some psychiatrists prescribe meds on top of meds or change them from one to another because the causes are "hidden" within the mind leading to guesswork and trial and error, and people feel so desperate to find an instant cure but in the end it all just muddles everything so that we don't know whether it's our fears, our lifestyle or even the meds themselves causing us to feel anxious....and then we're left with unravelling all the outer layers to find the true causes left hidden under everything.

Take me as an example. Yes, I've always suffered from anxiety but it was only about 10 years ago that I suffered panics, became very low and suicidal. The doctor put me on diazepam then added a modern ad which when it didn't have any effect, tried another...and then another....Meanwhile, I was left on diazepam which was gradually increased to the maximum dose. I ended up being addicted to them and it took me 6 months to come off them. I was also referred to a psychiatrist who gave me ECT because they were convinced I was suffering from depression due to my suicidal thoughts.

Eventually, I saw a psychologist who told me I was simply suffering from too much pressure due to circumstances both at home and at work which were too much for anyone to cope with. I then had to make a choice between home and work so resigned from my job. I gradually worked myself off diazepam and the other ad's whilst at the same time worked on finding practical ways to ease my pressures at home. After taking od's and self-harming at my worst point, I eventually came through it so that I no longer need meds as I have learnt to cope with my anxiety. Now...if the doctors and psychiatrists had viewed things as the psychologist did and rather than dosing me up with meds and instead looked at the actual causes and did something to support me with them, I would never ended up on lots of different meds and treatments because they thought I was suffering from pure depression. However, I don't actually blame them because at face value it must have seemed like that because the true causes laid hidden. Having said that, I have nothing against meds because I think they can help us through bad spells and they can enable people to cope with their daily stresses long term. I just think sometimes if not used correctly, they can really mess us up so that we end up not knowing which way to turn or who to believe because they can really muddle the true picture when we still don't feel well and are still looking for a cure with or without their support.

Anyway, my suggestion would be, rather than analysing all your meds, changing them, withdrawal symptoms, side-effects etc etc, ask yourself this..."What are you actually afraid of and why"? Once you find the answer to that, you can then start working on the actual cure for our hidden cause so that one day you can then be free of all your meds if that's what you would prefer.:hugs: