Thanks for such honest and informative responses, everyone. It’s just so freeing and affirming to find others who can identify with me and what I’m going through. Should we just try to keep this thread going like the Weight Loss thread? How does that work? Or is there a better way. I’d really like for us to keep sharing supporting and growing our group.
There is Cecil’s Place, a Yahoo! group for Dopers with depression (here’s a link to it). I don’t there’d be a problem if we expanded it to include people with anxiety disorders, if only because they do seem to be closely linked.
If someone would like to set up a separate group for people with anxiety attacks and is willing to run and moderate it, all that person would do is go out to Yahoo! Groups and start one. Here’s a link to the page you use to do it.
As for me, I spent most of my life battling depression, but I started having what appear to be anxiety attacks a few years ago. Some of the techniques I learned while in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for depression have helped me cope with them, but they’re still unpleasant. If they get out of control, I will go back into therapy. In my case, they often form into a terror that my home will be destroyed by fire while I’m out. The funny thing is, a couple of years after I started having them, I really did come home from running errands to find my fiance’s apartmen being destroyed by a fire. That particular day, I didn’t have a single anxiety attack, although I was scared when I saw the flames. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped them, but at least they haven’t gotten worse.
I had my followup with my therapist and got my “test” results back. It appears that I have severe anxiety issues. I have meds for it, but only use them ‘as needed’ - meaning I have to have one heck of a panic attack. And even then, I dont like to use them because I have a friend who is addicted to them and I dont want to become addicted to anything.
I take Wellbutrin for my depression, but opted to skip the mood stablizer… I’m thinking I probably need to go back on them because my anxiety/manic episodes are increasing.
I’m a worry-wart. I dont worry about the house burning down or my SO being killed, I worry about chores not getting done and the house looking like crap, bills not getting paid, not getting another job so I can get out of the one I dislike so much, etc etc. Now I’m worried about driving to San Antonio in bad weather - I dont like driving in big cities to begin with or taking long trips when I have to drive all the way there and back. I worry about the children’s well-being (which is justified to a certain extent), I worry about other peoples well being and I have the tendency to take responsibility for situations that I shouldnt have to, or are not my place to. I constantly twitch/move around and cannot concentrate. All this time, I thought maybe I had ADHD, but perhaps it’s the anxiety that’s the culprit.
I either cannot sleep, or sleep too much. Right now, I go to work only because I need the income and the benefits. And maybe, just maybe, that’s why i havent set a date yet because once I am on the SO’s insurance, then what? Sure, I still need the income but not the insurance and I … oh gods, there I go again, rambling on and worrying… it’s a viscious cycle :smack: 
:mad:
If someone sets up that Yahoo group let me know.
I was also taking Xanax as needed, like Pixilated, and also like Pixilated I never took that very much. I was really worried about getting addicted to it (even though I don’t have an addictive personality) and I always found the recommended dosage made me even more anxious, and the double dosage (that my doctor said I should take if it was really bad) put me out like a light and I had memory loss issues for a few hours after.
I said in my earlier post that I don’t really believe the doctors saying my heart is okay. Let me clarify that a bit. I believe them because they know a lot better than me, and they have examined x-rays and the heart monitor recordings, and they know what they are saying. However, my panic disorder makes me think they may be wrong. I know logically that they are completely right, but when I’m panicky I keep thinking they could have missed something, or maybe they were just trying to make me feel better by saying it was all okay :rolleyes:
Honestly I wish I could just shut off that little niggling worry, because it makes things a lot worse than they would have otherwise been.
Could you try taking one and a half and see how that works for you?
I know this is really easy for me to say from a distance, but please try to go back. Explain to them that you are in a state where you can’t handle the paperwork and could she talk to you about it. I would think as long as you can show them insurance or payment and you aren’t trying to get over, they could work with you on the papers.
I say this as someone who had debilitating attacks for weeks* and couldn’t eat or sleep and FINALLY went in for help. I mean I could barely function but I knew I needed help. They did kind of a screening and then were going to send me home again. “But I thought you were going to help me!” I wailed and this got their attention to at least give me meds so I could sleep and be more able to talk things out.
It took me a while to decide I wanted to use meds on an on-going basis and I am stable on Lexapro. I also have Ativan as a safety net; I know it’s there but try not to have to take it, but knowing it’s there can calm me down. The only time I’ve had to take it was facing my brother’s medical emergency, car accident, etc.
*I had had them now and then over the years but this time it just wouldn’t stop.
Hi, I’m cj (Hi, cj!) and for the past 3 years I’ve experienced PTSD, panic/anxiety, depression, insomnia, adrenal exhaustion, and B-12 depletion. Also, I’m peri-menopausal. Badly.
I’ve taken a 6 week group CBT course and while it didn’t work immediately, I have gotten to the point of no panic attacks in the last 8 months–save for last night. I’ve been having feelings of disconnect when my husband comes home from work (he works 7 days out/7 days in) and I finally confessed my worry that this was a true feeling. I feel better today which says everything, I think. I’m not looking at him wondering, “Who is this person?”
I’ve been weaning myself off Citalopram for the past 6 weeks; I took my last half pill about 10 days ago or so. I didn’t know if I was ready or not to get off the anti-anxiety meds but I wanted to find out if they were giving me the constant low grade anxiety, which I think they were. I’ll be checking in with the doc about getting my serotonin and other hormone levels tested, and ask about L-tryptophan and HRT.
olives, how did your interview go? Did you manage okay?
Aww, thanks for asking. Actually my interviewer called to reschedule for next week. Apparently the weather was too dangerous to drive out there, and additionally she had the flu. Over the phone though we got along very well and chatted for about 15 minutes (she didn’t even have my file in front of her.) So having such a good rapport really makes me feel better about going in for the interview.
Anxiety still abundant, though. Every day on the commuter train I worry we’re going to crash despite the incredibly unlikely probability. I am incredibly sensitive to noises, so the slightest creak or rumble or train whistle and I’m convinced we’re headed for imminent doom. I keep waking up early as well, and am getting a little more sleep deprived every day. A part of me has to accept the anxiety as a part of the process, but another part of me just wants to feel calm for a change. I did good on Tuesday at work by implementing a ‘‘no thinking’’ rule. I’m not allowed to have any of those extra, unhelpful thoughts at work anymore. I didn’t magically have less work to do all of the sudden, but I did cope better with the amount I had.
I am a co-facilitator of a real-life self-help/support group for sufferers of anxiety and panic, and I also recommend CBT and Lucinda Bassett’s program (called “Attacking Anxiety and Depression”). I am recovered from my anxiety disorder, in spite of doctors telling me, “It’s like diabetes - you’ll have to take medication for it for the rest of your life.” I am almost five years medication free now. CBT is as effective in treating anxiety disorders as drugs; if you are deep in anxiety and panicking every day, CBT and drugs in combination can be extremely effective. The thing about taking drugs for anxiety disorders is that they are crutches that treat the symptoms, and they never help you get better - CBT actually helps you get better.
I’ve thought about trying to start a group to run online instead of at a local meeting room - I think it could be really good for sufferers. When I started going to the group I am now leading, it was incredibly reassuring to me to know that not only was I not alone, and these people knew exactly what I was talking about, but meeting recovered people was huge to me.
Maybe I should start the group - I have so much good news to tell all of you guys who feel so hopeless and tired!
Please, please do! We need HELP! I know that we would all be enthusiastic, optimistic members. What’s the next step?
I’m working on the Yahoo Groups website (thanks for the link, Siege!). I know that anxiety and depression are two sides of the same coin, but I think a group just for anxiety would be beneficial - anxiety seems to be a disorder of too much energy (you can’t settle, you can’t think, you can’t turn your brain off), and depression seems to be just the opposite, even though they seem to come from the same place.
ETA: Would you mind if I borrowed some of your wording, Siege, like the disclaimer and coming from the Straight Dope?
I wouldn’t mind at all. If it will help anyone who’s dealing with this, you’re welcome to the words and the disclaimer. Consider it payback for the information about Lucinda Bassett. I’ve been wondering if her stuff works for a while now.
Here is a link to Lucinda Bassett’s organization: http://www.stresscenter.com/ But, here is another link calling is a fake: Ripoff Report | Midwest Center For An Review - Oak Harbor, Ohio
I did the Lucinda Bassett program through a local library for free - I wouldn’t call it a ripoff at all. It’s a lot more than just drink water and think positive thoughts. That link really only attacks her program on the basis of its price and refund policies (which may be crap - go find it at your local library!).
We have anxiety group - CBT Forever! (yeah, all the good names were taken. 
).
Thanks, featherlou. This is just what I’ve been looking for and I just became a member!
I’ve got social anxiety disorder and a few other anxiety disorders as well. Any contact with the government is likely to give me an anxiety attack. Dealing with bills and rent can cause an attack as well. I countered this by treating myself to chocolate after I pay the bills each month. The social anxiety disorder manifests not as a fear but as a profoundly intense nonspecific embarrassment. I am, for example, completely unable to exercise in public. I can wear an octopus helmet and rant on streetcorners about Cthulu without any shame. But I cannot do a single sit up or push up while people watch. I fly twice a year to visit family. I have no fear that the plane will crash (look at the recent emergency landing in the Hudson- minor minor injuries and no fatalities). But I will have attacks about being late for the flight or that they will lose my luggage. Until I started on the appropriate medications many years ago, any mention of death would trigger an anxiety attack.
I am currently on- Abilify, Concerta, lithium carbonate, and Paxil. My current therapist does seem to be taking a CBT approach. I’m having some trouble recognizing my automatic thoughts because they’ve become so completely reflexive.
Just an aside: anyone else here freaked out by the ‘automated voice’ on the phone lines of so many businesses these days? “Thank you for calling Allegany Power; your call is very important to us; the phone number you’re calling from is: (555) 555-5555”
I’m fine as long as it’s words; as soon as they start with the numbers, though, I have to struggle to not go into panic mode. WTF is that about??
It is hard to focus in on them at first because they’ve become white noise but remember the triangle. In order to change your thoughts, you must change your behaviour. Then your emotions will change, which lead to a change in your thoughts (and hopefully an end to the anxiety).
I made a goal for one day to set aside 3 - 15 minute blocks of time to focus in on my thoughts. I kept a notebook in my hand and just wrote brief word or two about the thoughts as they whizzed by in there. That was all I needed to start being more aware of yakking going on in my head and more active denials of the negative thoughts followed by a confirming, positive thought.
The Safeways around here have starting doing this weird thing over the intercom that reminds me of Stephen King’s “1408” - “Deli - Two, One, Two.” “Floral - One, Oh, One.” It’s totally creepy.
Oh, God, I know! I think that “voice” on the phone in that story is the main reason the story scared the crap out of me! :eek: