Anxiety - what worked best for you

[bootswiththefur]

I am a perimenopausal newly single mum of two and due to various life traumas, have fairly horrendous anxiety to the point where I don't do a great deal - I do the school runs, walk round the block, go to the office once a week and visit my dad and sister but have very little social life and panic (phsyical shakes and racing heart) if I am in the car too long.

I'm not depressed, and have a happy loving relationship with my kids and am sociable with other people but its preventing me from doing anything more than basic day to day tasks. I've started CBT and am working on exposure therapy, but wanted to ask....

Those of you who have overcome anxiety - what methods worked best for you? I'm keen to avoid medication unless it becomes a necessity. I'm willing to try pretty much anything.

I dont' want to go sky diving or travel the world, just be able to do omre and have more more fulfilling days.

Sertraline. Magic little pill.

The cure for anxiety is to do the thing you are anxious about.😀easier said than done though, I appreciate that.

Divorce for me. I'm now quite ruthless about who I am prepared to interact with on a personal level.

In addition, as you age you care less about what others think of you. That's very liberating.

WRT things that make you anxious, two mantras - fake it 'till you make it and feel the fear and do it anyway. Deep breath, jump in. After a while you realise that things aren't as bad as your brain is telling you. It takes practice, but it works. If you start to panic, box breathing is an excellent technique for getting yourself under control.

Fluoxetine 💊

I'm on 50mg of Sertraline and also had some counselling. Started doing more things for myself, new hobbies etc. Getting regular exercise. Multi vitamins. Getting a good night sleep. It has helped.

Reducing caffeine by giving up coffee, breathing exercises (especially at night/in bed).

Loads of exercise and after 3 years of desperately trying to avoid meds with exercise, diet, changing jobs (reducing hours) I tried escitropalm. Best decision I made.

Stopped caffeine altogether

Take a small dose of escicilatram

Yoga when I feel myself getting too stressed.

Baby steps

So what if you take things slow for a bit.
Once a week I would set myself a new determination

Week 1. Drive to the next town and park up to get a takeaway hot chocolate.

Week 2
Same as week one but also on a seperate day went to the beach parked up and had a lovely walk in the sea air

And so on.

I now walk probably four times a week before I start work as it's dark by the time I finish so not going after work yet till probably March time.

I practice yoga from YouTube which is free and pick depending on how long I feel I want to do it for.

I still have times where I can really feel myself getting anxious again and it's normally due to a multitude of things coming all at once so before I get too bad I face each thing one at a time and deal with it rather than hide from it.

It is really true when it's suggested to face the fears head on

This is basically what im trying at the moment.

Pre Christmas I couldnt even do the school runs or pop local shop wihtout freaking out.

I've mastered school runs and short commutes, (stage 1 and 2) so now trying to build in some stage 3 tasks, which are manageable and not too much of a jump. - e.g longer drives, meeting a friend outside the home, going to a shop a little further away etc.

My caffiene intake and diet could def be improved and im working on that - taking supplements now too as hormones are all over the place x

Love your username OP. First of all please hold on to the fact that this is all temporary. You will get through this and look back and be proud of yourself for how far you've come. Secondly, I was like you. Tried everything to avoid medication thinking I’m stronger than science but push came to shove - breakdown - and my GP at the time made a wonderful point: if you're iron deficient you take iron, you're serotonin deficient so......why not take a tablet to help? I take 100mg of sertraline for GAD. Changed my life for the better. I still do all the things to help my mental health like eat well, exercise, practice daily gratitude etc but I would not be without the medication. I realise it's not for everyone and you'll find your own path but please don't discount it before giving it a try. Best of luck with everything. You've got this 💪🏻

Weirdly, after many many many years of occasionally being completely crippled by anxiety, a spell in hospital (for something unrelated) helped me. I was on intravenous antibiotics for five days in hospital, so when I came out I started taking acidophilus and eating probiotics to get my gut flora back to normal. Unless I’m completely imagining it, it’s had a very positive effect on my anxiety. I now concentrate on eating plenty of veg and fruit and taking probiotics. It might be bollocks, but it seems to have helped me. They call the gut the ‘second brain’ after all. Good luck x

I too was really hesitant about taking medication, but a small daily dose of Citalopram has worked where yoga, breathing, reducing caffeine, exercising, mindfulness only helped temporarily.

Qutiapine for me.

I only had it for 6 months and then slowly came off it and was less anxious. I went through a period of not driving due to the fear, I used to get an instant headache when driving, got my prescription checked, wasn't that. It was especially scary if I'm sleepy. So I have a coffee before driving, was drs personal advise....opposite to others advice, it's such a personal thing. I am currently wanting to cut down caffeine. However, I recently didn't enjoy driving because i was too tired and hadn't had an afternoon coffee...

Also improving diet and exercise should help.

I would say to go for HRT if you are peri. It's just replacing not medicating.