Dear Shae03,

I suffered from anxiety in the past, it got so bad that I developed strong stomach aches. But circumstances changed and nowadays the stomach aches are gone, so I’m here to say that yes, it can get better again. My circumstances may change again in the future and stress might return for me, still I wanted to write to you what helped me so far.

It’s a step by step process. Don’t expect for things to get better over night (especially the antidepressants need time before they start making a difference, but your doctor probably told you that). Small steps are the key. Your therapist and the antidepressants are part of these steps. What also helped me in the past was „autogenic training“. It’s a relaxation technique. If you can find a course where they offer autogenic training, maybe try it out. I found that it helped my brain to switch off for at least a short while from the permanent state of alarm that it was in. Otherwise I think you already found a lot of good ideas yourself. I would only add „get enough rest“, „do things for myself“ and „be patient with myself“ to the list.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Peppermint.

Dear Shae03:

A couple of questions:

Do you believe that the origin of your anxiety is in the abusive relationship that you left two years ago- or is it in your childhood?

Do you think the above question is relevant and has it been brought up in your psychotherapy?

anita

Dear Blake,

Since all of what you explained happened just two months ago I will suggest you to do EFT for your issues.
EFT or Emotional Freedom Techniques is useful for freeing yourself from any negative energy or emotions (although it is also used for physical issues).
There are lots of videos and articles over the web explaining how to do EFT. Check them out, but if you are also ok with some tailor made EFT tapping scripts at a small paid amount then I recommend the below website.
This is a wonderful website for EFT scripts on almost every single issue of our day to day lives.
(http://tap-easy.com)
Go through the site and you will find things relating to your issues like anxiety, panic attacks, low self-esteem and there might also be certain things that may require “healing” from the emotionally abusive relationship. You will be able to relate by simply glancing through the titles on the homepage of the site.
Although you may have (thought that you have) bounced back from the negative emotions of the relationship, there are chances that they may still be stuck in your unconscious/subconscious memories and may be running in the background causing anxiety issues in the foreground.

You are doing the right thing about choosing a healthy diet, exercising, staying away from toxic people and situations, setting personal goals, etc. At the same time something like EFT is required to cleanse the negative emotional debris.

as an fyi -the owner of the site Sonal Pandey will respond in case you have any queries/questions/doubts as I have personally interacted too.

Take care,
VJ

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by VJ.

Just be glad you don’t live in the US and get to experience the flat-out gong show that is taking place in our cities. (*Function checks 1911*). Sometimes glad to live in the rural areas 🙂 Though driving ~240 miles through a snow storm to get to the State Supreme Court for oral argument is a real pain.

Medications help, but they aren’t the end-all-be-all. The most effective I was ever prescribed was the Xanax, Klonopin, etc. family. Too bad they are now viewed as the equivalent of something like heroin these days; good luck getting a script for them in the US. Last time I wanted about 10 pills for flights, I got treated as if I asked for crack cocaine or something.

Before law school, I was diagnosed with major depression and GAD (also GERD, but something different). Before and during law school, I was prescribed virtually every flavor of anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication available at the time. Prozac blew my stomach up; tri-cyclics turned me into a highly constipated individual who wound up losing hours long blocks of time. When I took Zoloft I hallucinated and had out-of-body experiences. The best overall effect for anxiety came from Klonopin for me. Klonopin and its relatives didn’t seem to have a ramp-up process that things like SSRI’s, etc.

Strange thing started to happen: when I knew I had something that simply worked, there was a certain power in that. I think I used a total of ~5 out of my last refill, mostly used with bouts of anxiety accompanied by migraine headaches (turn off the lights, shove a towel under the door, duct tape black trash bags over the windows, and turn off the phone type migraines). Once I grasped that I had something that would work when SHTF, then I could manage the lesser instances.

As far as coming out of the end of it, I guess you could call it a success. Graduated law school and now work as a prosecutor making six-figures with assets over $1M. The downside is that I went into massive work-a-holism, my social life went in the cr*pper, and I’m 39 with no SO or spouse. Still suffer from anxiety and depression, but much more of the depression side than the anxiety these days (late fall/early winter on the Canadian border and SAD).

We don’t really have much in the way of mental health services out here. It’s not that uncommon for even suicidal folks to not find mental health facilities, so I can’t talk about experiences with therapy. Lot of folks out here handle things differently. Shooting sports are very popular out here, but in Australia, probably not much of an option. A nice late spring day, a half-case of varmint ammunition, a sighted in rifle, and an endless supply of ground dwelling rodents = a mind (and field) clearing afternoon/morning.

Exercise is always good.

One thing: There’s always somebody richer than you are (unless your name is Bill Gates). There’s always somebody more knowledgeable about your field than you are. There’s always someone with a better looking, wealthier, SO or spouse than you. There’s always somebody with a better car, house, boat, than you. I don’t care what metric you choose, there is always going to be somebody better at it and somebody worse at it than you are. That type of comparison is not terribly likely to help you feel better.

Thank you, shae03 for this uplifting update. You obviously did (and are doing) the work, over time, and you are reaping the benefits! Post anytime.

anita