This question has come up countless times on the forum. Truly, it's an individual thing. For some they're beneficial and even life saving and for some, it doesn't help or worsens the situation.
As a non sufferer that has used meds for some depression and "scanxiety", I found it helpful. They enabled me to focus on therapy and recovery. I look at meds as a crutch while you're learning to walk again.
Positive thoughts
"Eat. Drink. Enjoy the work you do. Be thankful for the blessings God gives you in this life. Live, love and seek out the things that bring your heart joy. The rest is meaningless... Like chasing the wind." King Solomon
The best help is the help you give yourself! http://cbt4panic.org/
I love this! - thank you. I've found one of your recommendations MBSR courses - Palouse - I'll check it out .... I can see it is much deeper than Headspace but these apps are also useful due to time constraints..
I've been having terrible nausea from my new med Brintellix and actually vomited this morning so a bit fed up with the whole thing right now.
Thank you and Pulisa so much for taking time out with your advice. Very insightful x
Me again
I was on a super low dose 2.5mg and had a wonderful 3 weeks of feeling normal and hopeful and accepting. I then went to 5mg and anxiety has been creeping back again.
This is due in part to Uni starting again on Monday which although anxious about I feel my physical anxiety response is exaggerated. The butterflies all day and now the interrupted sleep and waking early is back.
It’s no wonder people feel hopeless sometimes. I have a plethora of tools and knowledge behind me but wondering when all this is going to kick in and help. I remember anxiety joe saying you play a game of mental chess for a few months - this is so true but when does it come good?!
Could be weeks, could be months. It's different for everybody.
One thing I will say is that I have heard (and I don't know because I never took them) over and over again that anti depressants can make anxiety worse in the short term.
The biggest trick here though is learning to accept anxiety and allow the unpleasant symptoms happen without reacting to them. This is the 'magic bullet' to beating anxiety. If you can learn not to let the symptoms bother you, does it matter than they are happening? The paradox here is that the more you allow yourself to get used to them, the less they happen in the first place.
It's really hard, because you are dealing with a central nervous system telling you there's danger, and then ignoring it. It's almost like standing in front of a bus that's hurtling towards you and not jumping out the way. It's the same physical/system response....but that's what you really need to do for recovery.
Meditation is the most fundamental tool for learning this response as it is literally teaching your brain how to just observe sensation rather than over reacting to it.
But remember you are trying to undo months or years of learned anxiety and it's hard to undo. Anybody CAN do it, it just takes perseverance.
And I shall persevere!
I’m trying to go with it much more these days and have been reading “at last a life” which echoes much of what you have been saying. I believe this is the way. Resistance clearly doesn’t work!
It’s going to be hard going but I’m up for the challenge. Thank you 🙏
The experience of anxiety and stress can be very different for each person. Many need to have some medication for a while until they can function well again. If you have a chronic illness as well as (anxiety/depression/stress), it can be difficult to deal with it all without some form of medication.
Yes it's definitely OK to live with anxiety, some of us are also genetically more susceptible to it than others. I think the key is to find some happiness in each day even if it's just something small you achieve
For me, meds severely decrease the number of my intrusive thoughts, the length of time I dwell on them and the emotional lows I get from them. Meds do not make them completely go away, and under times of stress they will always get worse. That’s why it is imperative that you do learn comping mechanisms to deal with them when they do arise whether you are on meds or not.
I'm still a work in progress.
Currently working on: World Domination
For me meds helped a lot in the beginning, could say life savers. I'm off now and not feeling great lately, so thinking of starting them again
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