I haven’t started to cut down on my Xanax yet.  Just being on it (for months now) causes me both anxiety and depression, at times.  I knew I shouldn’t be on it again, because it made me feel crazy in the past, but I had several months of worrying about and going through doctor appointments.  They sometimes make you wait so long, plus I put it off for a month before even making an appointment.

Everything is basically okay, after several different appointments and tests, but I do have diabetes and had to go on medication for my thyroid, too.  For diabetes, the doctor has me on a low-carb diet, because I want to reverse it and not add another medication.  The low carb thing maybe isn’t helping my mood.  The diet is tough, and it’s even tougher when you have to mostly eat bland food because you also have interstitial cystitis.  Still, the diet isn’t that hard, because it makes me not very hungry, but my mood problems have made it hard for me to get enough vegetables made all the time.

Several rough years recently, losing loved ones, and my husband’s scary heart surgery, so I have a stronger fear of loss than I ever did (though I always did).  Now my best friend might be seriously ill, but we aren’t sure yet.  And the medical stuff of my own made me very panicky, which is why I was on constant Xanax for several months.  I’ve done this before, and it’s always been bad for me.  I’ve also very slowly come off it before, though I can’t remember how I coped with it.

I know (from my research in the past) to come off it very slowly and give your body time to adjust, but I don’t know how to cope with all of these times (even before starting to cut down) when I have bad anxiety or depression, or usually both at the same time.

Sorry for over-explaining.

I just was wondering if anyone has any tips for things I could do that would help me the most.  Like, when I’m really breaking down, it’s hard to do anything, and I’m trying to think of ways to distract myself and wait for the emotional pain to pass.

Also, if there are things I can do when I’m feeling more sane that might help me overall (help me not dip into the bad times so often), I could try those.

I probably have some deficiencies, because of my interstitial cystitis and that limited diet (for decades) and I’m going to work on a few of those.

I might try to increase the intensity of my exercise to see if getting some endorphins might help.  I’ve exercised every day for a month (per my doctor’s instructions), but it’s been pretty mild, so maybe doesn’t help much with mood?

My sleep has been bad, too.  My husband, mom, and friend have been very loving and understanding, but I want to be better soon, especially for my husband.  He’s got enough stress with his work, and I’d like to not be crying so often and making him worry about me more.

Does anyone have any tips for either distracting yourself at bad times, or helping with anxiety or depression?  I did do some research on it myself, a month or more ago, and wrote notes, but I’m looking more for what really has helped other people the most.

Sorry this is so long.

Mimi