Anxiety Disorder?

Question

I'm a 39 yr old mother of three and have recently started having panic and anxiety. I consider myself to be a very social person and now I hate being in a crowd or in a situation where I feel that there is no escape. My doctor recommended Paxil but I really don't want to go there. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I agree with you 100% - avoid going on meds if at all possible. If your case is so severe that you cannot control/cope with it without meds, by all means go that route.

Before going that route, try to heal yourself from the inside out. Start by a diet rich in veggies and protein and lower in sugars and carbs. Also drink alot of water and get regular exercise. Sleeping patterns can also contribute to anxiety. Try to get regular sleep without eating or drinking anything but water within a few hours before you sleep.

It is also crucial to focus on your soul. By this I mean connecting to your centre of life. Your soul. Try getting to know yourself by taking time out for yoga, meditation, reading, family time....I found it helped me cope incredibly with my daily anxieties.

I too suffer from panic/anxiety disorder and have for about six years now. At first, I found myself calling 911 and taking meds every time I had an attack. When I realized the meds were altering my mind, body and soul, I knew they would not work for me. There is no such thing as a happy pill. You need to find the answer within yourself and the things you believe in. For me, I found my answers in God, reading, yoga, and positive self talk and trying to think positive and take one day at a time. Alot of times, anxiety sufferers try to take on too much too fast and cause ourselves alot of grief.

There may never be a real cure, so to speak, but I believe that I found a better quality of life by learning to cope rather than try to find the magic pill that will make my life better. Yes, I am still limited to certain things I feel I cannot do like fly in a plane or shop in busy malls, but I am still a successful, educated professional with a loving family (husband and two kids) and a little doggy and for me, that is all I really need.

I hope you look within and find all you need right there in your heart.....

Answer 2

I had full-blown panic attacks, and the agoraphobia (fear of crowds) that you described. First you need to take care of the anxiety attacks and then work on your phobia, which is a seperate issue. I was on Paxil for a long time, which helped, but then it occurred to me that Paxil and other prescriptions only treat the symptom and not the problem. I also realized that the on line forum I visited (which was fantastic) had people in it that were taking prescriptions for 20 years and they still weren't cured.
I wanted a cure and I found it on the same site.

Panic symptoms are brought on by lack of oxygen. You are tensing up and taking shallow breaths. Your body is am amazing machine that WANTS TO SURVIVE. If your body and brain sense that you are not taking in enough oxygen you go in to flight-or-flight mode. Your heart speeds up, you get dizzy, you hyperventilate.

What you need to do is practice deep, diaphragmatic breathing. Watch a baby breathe. Babies haven't learned to breathe incorrectly yet. Many people breathe with their shoulders. Your lungs and diaphragm are what your breathe with, they are not in the shoulders. If you are breathing properly your shoulders and chest will not move when you breathe, instead your diaphragm will expand your stomach when you breathe in and your stomach will go in when you breathe out.

Breathing seemed way too simple of a solution compared with all the suffering I went through, but it worked like a miracle for me and I haven't suffered ANY anxiety attacks for 4 years. Good luck to you.

Answer 3

Drugs never handle the actual problem, just hide the symptoms.

You do say this is a recent thing. So there must have been something that happened in your life to bring this about. Change of environment, a new group of people, other life changes.

If you can find the cause and do the needed handling, you will be able to handle the source. Then you won't need the drug at all.

No one denies that people can have difficult problems in their lives, that at times they can be mentally unstable. Mental health care is therefore both valid and necessary. However, the emphasis must be on workable mental healing methods that improve and strengthen individuals and thereby society by restoring people to personal strength, ability, competence, confidence, stability, responsibility and spiritual well-being.

Answer 4

Doctors are very quick to prescribe anti-depressants...without actually taking the time to understand your ailment. Good for you for staying clear of the Paxil or any other drug. At least for now. The mind is a powerful thing...it can make you believe many things about yourself that are just not true. You didn't suffer from anxiety prior to now...so what has caused it? What is in your head that is allowing you to believe these things about yourself? I hate to suggest its mind over matter...but in most cases, it is.

Answer 5

Good Luck. I have battled the condition for almost 10 years and I dont take any medication for it, i could but i dont like to take stuff. What I do is drink plenty of water it lowers your body temperature and helps to literally cool you down and just know that what ever your feeling is not going to kill you- you will make it through it and you will be just fine. I just deal with the shaking and sweats and dizzyness and claustrophobia and all the other symptoms and tell myself that I am fine and will be fine. Try to control your breathing in a slow steady pace and keep your shoulders relaxed, carry something to clench in your hands and water. Stay away from caffeine and things that will make your body go faster they could trigger panic. Finally I think whats helped me in the past few years to almost overcome my anxiety is to make yourself do things you dont want to do. If you dont want to go boating do it anyway, if you dont want to sit in the restaurant order a water and stay, you'll soon learn that you are safe and ok and your anxiety will be under control.....Good Luck... Oh. God will help you if you just ask. Trust that God is with you and that no matter what your safe.

Answer 6

Stay away from Paxil and those type of anti depressants. Now and then I take a xanax

Answer 7

Don't listen to any voices at all they are not real something in your head is making them real or sound real but they aren't so do all you can to ignore them because they are nothing. I have epilepsy and it is a weird type i get what seems like panic attacks and they always freak me out and i get flash backs to a incenst from my brother, sweetie you have to see a therapist who has gone to school for this exact thing and get the help you truly deserve remember it isn't your fault but a chemical imbalance in your brain please go right away ok...

Answer 8

I have read some litterature about panic attacks. But they allways seem to have a more scientific approach and that is nothing I need in my struggle to survive those horrible panic attacks. This is a "hand on" and very practical book. I felt it was written to me. I am sure that you are going to feel the same.

Joe Barry writes exactly how I think. The examples are perfectly described. And the method is genius. I recommend this book and thanks Joe Barry for writing it. It changes your life

Answer 9

Have you considered cognitive-behavioural therapy? It can be an effective way to cope with anxiety. Talk to your family physician about it, and perhaps he/she can make a referral for you. Also, visit www.paniccenter.net. There are some good resources on there re: anxiety.

Answer 10

I take 3 supplements that you can get in most drug stores:
SAMe
5-HTP
L-Tyrosine
I have anxiety depression disorder and these work better for me than any prescription medication. I haven't had a panic attack in over 5 years. I take them every day.