Anxiety...help

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

Im suffering really badly with anxiety and panic attacks....saw doctor on Monday he gave me se tablets to take if the panic attacks get to much but they are addictive so can't take everyday. I don't want to take one incase I have a bad reaction or get addicted.

I just want to feel better again.....I can't cope with the never ending anxiety building inside me.

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

Work triggers it I think. I have been really stressed lately with the amount of work I have to do as well as house/children stuff too. But even with the thought of putting the little one in nursery and getting more help with the business it's still not making me feel any better. Maybe I'll feel better when it actually happens. I'm having an internal battle with not wanting to work at all but then I know if I didn't have work I would be bored/depressed with nothing to do. I really feel like I can't win

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

Ok so I got it wrong they are diazepam 2mg. Can I take these with st johns wart? And has anyone taken these before? How will I feel?

[EMUZ]

I think when you have anxiety you can't see the wood from the trees and its only when something actually happens that you realise it's better?
For me not working would give me more time to navel gaze and probably make me more panicky! The best thing I did was start exercising again

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

What do the propranolol do?

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

I've been exercising and eating healthy for the last 4 months just because I wanted to get healthier but I can't face exercising at the moment, I can't even eat

[EMUZ]

A quick google suggests no with St. John's
I've never taken them

[EMUZ]

Also interacts with caffeine and grapefruit juice

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

St johns wort are supposed to be herbal, I'm not sure why you any take them with anything else? If I don't take st John wort tomorrow do you think it would be ok to have one of these tablets then?

[EMUZ]

Propranolol in simple terms block the anxiety symptoms for me. Stop my heart racing, lower my blood pressure and help with chest pains that I get

[citalobrain]

EMUZ does the propranolol help with racing-heart, shakes type thing?

I'm not sure as I haven't taken the ones prescribed to me. But she did say it was to help with the physical side of the anxiety.

I can't help thinking that a proper course of ADs would be so much more helpful to you Plantaseed (alongside ones to help with physical symptoms).

I really would get in and see another doctor who will hopefully be much more helpful.

take care of yourself x

[citalobrain]

x-posted EMUZ!

[EMUZ]

It can decrease how effective some medicines are. I mean it's herbal but it's still effectively a treatment or medication

[EMUZ]

Here's the website I mentioned earlier. Down the side you can click on symptoms and lower down is medications and it has details on different things
www.nomorepanic.co.uk/

[timidviper]

I think you need to go back and see another GP. It is not good prescribing to give a benzodiazepine (like diazepam) for anxiety other than for a defined situation like flying, NICE guidelines recommend an antidepressant as others have suggested upthread.

[EMUZ]

You need to eat too. If you can't face it then try and take a multi vit and an omega 3 supplement. Omega 3 has had a study showing that essential fatty acids can lessen the body's reaction to stress

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

I'm trying to eat day by day, evenings are best, I seem to be able to eat half a dinner but struggle to eat more than a handful of cereal during the day.

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

I'm also taking iron tablets and multivitamin.

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

If I can just get rid of the anxiety I an function normally. But the anxiety of everything I have to do builds up and the work isn't going away so why would the anxiety go away?

[TooYappy]

Tbh the diazepam are only for a short relief, with 2mg you may feel slightly less anxious for a few hours but thats it.

I second what the other posters are saying you need some type of anti-anxiety treatment, I have been on several pills, none habit forming but I also get diazepam for anxiety attacks too.

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

If the anxiety stops, I can get the work done and then hopefully it won't come back. But I don't knowing this is just hopeful thinking or whether this will actually be able to happen?

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

I think I'm just scared of being reliant on pills for the rest of my life, everything I read seems to suggest that people are on them for years and years, I really don't want that

[MechanicalTheatre]

What's better though? Being on pills or having anxiety? For years, I refused to take anything because I didn't want to be on medication. But then I realised that I was just a slave to my illness instead. And I'd rather just be on the medication. It's not ideal but it's by far the lesser of two evils.

Diazepam work for me to just get over the initial hump so that I can get on with things. Then I'm usually fine. The doctor won't give them to me though.

Propanolol don't really work for me, because I don't get any physical symptoms, it's all just in my mind, making me feel terrified.

[Casmama]

I too think you should go back to your doctor. You need to tell them that you are taking/have taken St. John's wort and that you are anxious about taking what they prescribe because of the warnings they have given you.
. It maybe that a different drug, one which is suitable for longer term use and which you know you have to take daily would be more suitable.

[Casmama]

Sorry cross posts. How about guving yourself a break and don't worry about the rest of your life- focus on now and how you can overcome the anxiety and when you feel it is under control then you can come off them. May be two three months will be enough to get over this.

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

I think because this has happened twice before in my life and I got through without medication I feel I should be able to do it again, but at this moment in time I don't want to just 'get through it' I just want to feel better now. I think I will have to call in the morning and get something long term for it. The doctor said because it had only been 5 days it was still early days and so didn't want to prescribe anything long term. Maybe when I feel a bit better I can come back off of them?