Courage?

[Bill]

Remember the lion in Wizard of Oz? What was he looking for to overcome his fears? Meds? Or was what he needed already within him and he just needed someone to give him confidence and self-belief? So then why do we always look for other "magic" cures or are they to help us cope with fears we feel too afraid to face?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc8bv...eature=related

I was reading an article recently about the addictiveness of supposedly non-addictive ad's. Any idea why they then become addictive? I have a theory.....

Originally ad's were used for people with depression hence their descriptions being "anti-depressants" but later it seems they were used for anxiety sufferers as well because anxiety makes us feel depressed! However, anxiety is based on fear so what is actually happening is that we are prescribed a "support" to help us cope with our fears or daily stresses that have become too much for our minds to cope with. Ad's have become the easy option because to overcome what is actually creating our anxiety takes time and support that isn't easily available.

Once we start down the route of taking ad's, how do we feel if we miss taking our dose? Anxious because we fear that that we'll get a panic or our anxiety symptoms will return or be too much? So to make sure we stay safe, we make sure we take our dose and therefore ad's then become addictive because they are brought into our fear cycle.

If someone said to you to go to work without taking your daily med, how would you feel? Would it bother you? Would you become anxious? If so, you're addicted because of fear.

This is one of my concerns about meds. Yes, they can help us in the short term to "ease" symptoms but they're not a cure and we can become addicted to them without realising it.

One other concern to be aware of is that once we experience a panic attack, it is often our fear of having another panic attack that actually creates more panic attacks. Therefore, if we miss a med and experience a panic, we say to ourselves it must be because we missed our med when really it's the thought of missing the med that has triggered our fear which has actually caused the panic because we've worried ourselves into panic. In this way we convince ourselves the meds are working because we "believe" they are. Our belief in them thinking of them as our support gives us more confidence when in actual fact the meds aren't really doing anything in themselves other than making us think in a more confident way because we convince ourselves they're helping because we feel ill if we don't. See what I mean?

I'm not saying that meds don't help to ease symptoms but we can become to rely on them because we feel they're helping when really it's just the self-belief they provide us with.

When I first became ill, I was prescribed valium which is the old type of med which really is addictive. It took me 6 months to come off them. I was also then prescribed various other more modern ad's which all helped to lift my mood for a short while before losing their effect but they never tackled my fears. I decided in the end to go without and instead look at alternatives to coping such as making changes in my lifestyle, my job, home life etc and I've found it to be much more effective.

When I do get anxious to the point that I need to see the doctor, they know ad's aren't the answer to my issues and I just have to work them out for myself. I must confess there are some issues I'll never be able to confront because I know I would break so some things I just have to accept that I'll never have. However, I know now meds aren't the long term answer to my issues but that they can help to ease symptoms.

I also realise that often we can't do anything about our stresses and feel we do need something to provide us with support and there's nothing wrong in that. In bad times we often need something to ease our symptoms.

It's just that after reading this article, it confirmed what I've always believed that ad's can become addictive because anxiety breeds on fear so we can become too afraid to try coping without ad's because when we do, our symptoms return and we think it's because we've not taken our med when really it's our worry that we've not taken them that has triggered our symptoms so we become addicted to something that isn't and that we probably could learn to cope without in the long term if we wanted to.

[Desprate Dan]

Cheers Bill, What you say makes a lot of sense, i am currently taking 40mg Citalopram and dont think its doing much to help really, but then i think maybe it is and i would probably be in a terrible state if i wasnt on them.....So i can see you what you mean.

I think the best thing would be to have someone caring beside me who would listen and help reasure me and not judge me. I dont think any amount of meds can fix the way i feel, i need to believe in myself and have confidence just like the lion in wizard of oz, i could of easily played that part....

[Veronica H]

thanks for another inspiring post Bill.

Veronica

[chickpea]

I love your posts, Bill - they are inspirational.

I'm on citalopram and am doing everything I can to work this thing out for myself.
When I started, with terrible side effects,my GP dished out Diazepam and Zopiclone.
Thank god, I realised what road either of these might take me down, and I realised that the whole point of anxiety is that is something we must face and see beyond.
I just know that I have to do this myself, for myself - I am the type of person that would never really believe I'd overcome it if I felt it was down to the meds alone. I need to know it's within my control.

Sadly, my fabulous GP doesn't entirely go along with this idea. She is very keen that I realise the drugs will get me there quicker. Due to the woefully lacking provision for mental health, perhaps her hands are tied - the waiting time for CBT on the NHS here is 1-2 years.

Going back to your Wizard of Oz analogy, perhaps anxiety IS the wizard - terrifying...until you realise it's just a man behind a curtain.

Much love to you, Billxxx

[Bill]

Going back to your Wizard of Oz analogy, perhaps anxiety IS the wizard - terrifying...until you realise it's just a man behind a curtain.

Now why didn't I think of that! So True!

I do feel meds "can" help when we reach a point where we feel unable to help ourselves because they can provide us with the lift up we need but when we get out of the hole, that's where I feel the dangers can lie because we could become too afraid to stop them.

Certainly I'd agree that Gp's have their hands tied because they are confronted with a patient in desperate need with only meds at hand for immediate relief but there lies another danger because we then could think that the meds will be the magic cure so we become misled into thinking they're the answer when anxiety is created by fear and stress and it's only when the issues causing the anxious symptoms are resolved that we are able to lead happier lives.

For instance, if someone is under too much stress at work and become ill with anxiety, they turn to the Gp who gives them a med which helps to ease the stress they're feeling but it's only when they either delegate at work or change their job that the anxiety will be eased completely.

Another example would be panic attacks. They normally occur because of too much stress but once we experience an attack we then become afraid of them and it's this fear that then creates them. Meds may ease our symptoms but only when we learn not to be afraid of panics will they stop occurring.

My original Gp put me on diazepam and left me on them without warning me of their addictiveness. When I tried to reduce them too quickly, my anxiety shot through the roof! It would have been so easy to think it was because I needed the mds to stay well rather than realising the diazepam was causing my anxiety.

If you read the leaflet with ad's, something that often surprises me is that they warn they can cause anxiety which makes we wonder i meds "can" actually make things worse than better. For instance, when I took seroxat the side-effects were realy frightening and they increased my anxiety making me feel worse!

I know they work for some people although I confess I'm not entirely convinced about the reasons why they work because I feel sometimes we might feel they're a comfort blanket or think they're working which then gives us more confidence which then eases symptoms anyway, but I feel people should also be aware of the risks involved when offered this route. However, I also feel if something works for whatever reason, then all when and good because being able to get on with our lives is all that really matters!

As Dan says, I think the best thing would be to have someone caring beside me who would listen and help reasure me and not judge me. I often feel that can be just as effective because alot of anxiety is caused by insecurity. Yes, we can learn to cope alone but it's often easier when we have the right support.

I'm always just glad to be of help (hopefully!).