no medication but some advice and support needed please

[CE3K]

Ji all,
Firstly, I'm not sure whether to post this here or in the depresion forum (or even social phoboa forum). Secondly, I'll try to be as brief as I can, but this may go on a bit . . .

• Back in April I had a (query) TIA
• I was put on perindropril for high blood pressure, a statin to lower cholesterol and an aspirin a day.
• I had a week off work.
• A couple of months later, I had two weeks off work with hypertension and 'acute stress reaction' and had developed 'anticipatory anxiety with things like attending meetings at work
• After another five or six weeks at work, I was signed off again with the same thing.
• I was alo prescribed Serc-16 and Sturgeron by an ENT specialist at a different hospital because some of the main physical symptoms included 'giddiness' and tinnitus.
• During the last three months I've had 24 hour heart and blood pressure monitors, 72 hour urine test for hormonal abnormality and an MRI of brain and inner ear.
• Two weeks ago, I was told that blood pressure is still to high and my perindropril dose was raised from 2mg to 4mg and I was prescribed propanolol as a beta-blocker to help with the blood pressure and also was told it would help with the physical symptoms assocated with anxiety.
• So, as someone who is VERY anti-meds, I'm now downing quite a few sweeties a day!
• OK, now to the main problem . . . . .
• Last week, I was signed off work again for two weeks. I had still been finding it difficult to attend meetings and was also becoming 'unwell' at the thought of anything which involved having to 'go somewhere'
• My GP says he thinks I have both anxiety and depression.
• What he doesn't know yet is that since I started taking the propanolol, I have actually started to feel depressed emotionally . . . but also have anxiety-type mental symptoms (but not panic attacks).
• The worst feeling I guess is the underlying 'sense of dread' and the development of unwanted, iterative thoughts, swearing quite often, occassional fear that things are just too much.
• The tempation has been to rest and do nothing (and I have started practicing relaxation), but I find that if I can do something physical, it does seem to help.
• The last two days now, I've strarted getting the sick feeeling all the time and wanting to just lie in bed when I wake up (with thoughts going around and around, almost like a conversation)
• I'm trying to practice CBT/postive thinking etc as well, and just about hanging in there at the moment.
• I still keep having feelings, a number of times during the day though, that the illness is gradually winning and will get worse than it is now . . . which would be disasterous for me and those around me.
• I have sworn NEVER EVER to go on to anti-depressants, after having had a dreadful set of experiences with anafranil, prozac, seroxat at various tiems in the 80's and once in the 90's. Me and anti-Ds just do not mix and I've told my GP this (which he accepts to some extent, but reckons there are 'better ones' now which might be worth trying). I'm still adamant that I'll not go down that path again, ever.
• I just want to know whether anyone would agree that I likely have both anxiety and depression, or just GAD? and also whether anyone here can identify with wanting to win the battle without anti-Ds.
• If so, what techniques have you found best that work(ed) for you?

Sorry I couldn't condense this any further

Thanks
Roger

[Jaco45er]

Hi Roger and welcome

I know what you mean about the meds, I tried them for 6 weeks and it was 6 weeks of hell.

I have used propanolol for high anxiety, but I did find that if I took them for a while, they slowed me down and made me lethargic, and I have heard they can make you feel a bit sluggish/down.

Are you finding the more active you are, the better you can cope ? There is a lot of evidence to suggest that being active can help ease anxiety and depression.

If you are looking for alternatives, I would also suggest checking out Claire Weekes self-help books, I found them a godsend when I was at my worst.

Jaco

[Bill]

You've obviously been through a hell of alot so it's no wonder you're feeling stressed and depressed but my feeling is that you may not be suffering from actual depression. The reason I say this is because of your anxious state being caused by the traumas you've been through. Often when we become very anxious, we start to trying to fight off the anxious thoughts and feelings which then lowers our mood because we feel we're in a constant battle with no escape. This then leads to frustration hence your irritability, although I do wonder if your blood pressure could also be connected but I'm really not sure.

About 10 years ago, according to my doctor, I tried all the ad's he thought would help but I found none of them had any lasting effect. I believe in my case it was because of the constant stress I was experiencing both at home and at work. I just think the stresses were too much.

However, the modern ad's can help to ease the worst of the symptoms but like you, I hate taking anything unless I feel I really have to like I did last Christmas when I lost my dog.

Having said that though, if we feel well enough to cope without meds, it is certainly possible to cope with general anxiety once we learn the right techniques. As you say, doing something physical will help because you're using up adrenalin whilst at the same time distracting your mind away from feelings. Exercise also helps us to sleep better.

When you rest, try to make sure you don't just sit and do nothing because your mind will focus on feelings and worries. Try to find a book, a crossword etc because it'll help.

If you're resting and just feel too tired to do anything, that's when a relaxation technique should be used to relax all your muscles to get rid of the tension. If you got a cd with a voice instructing you, it'll help you to focus away from intrusive thoughts.

When you get anxious feelings and intrusive thoughts, try not to tense up by fighting them. Allow them through you by keeping your body and chest relaxed. Make sure you let your muscles relax because any tension you hold will make you feel worse.

Anyway, just a few things that have helped me.