Had two visits this week. One with a psychiatrist and the other with a psychologist. The psychiatrist told me if I am comfy with valium to keep using it. The psychologist tells me that I should consider seeing a different psychiatrist because he doesn't agree about the valium. He said there are other drugs out there. I told him I know about all of them and I dont want to take them as they cause side effects in most people if not all and I am very medication sensitive and won't take anything.

Why is medication the only route for anxiety issues?

What about therapy - talk - or C B T or something. Why does the road always lead to drugs that are hard to take.

Hi Looly,

I totally agree with you. I saw my primary care doctor at the end of February and she wrote me a prescription for Zoloft. I went to the pharmacy and got it but am to afraid to take it due to the possible side effects. I'm afraid if I take it...it will make me feel weird or spacy or shaky.

I too wish there was something else besides prescription medication.

If any on has any thoughts...please let us know.

Thanks

It seems that all these doctors know is medication.The doctor I went to said don't read about the side effects but in this computer age, everyone searches out information. It's more common than not to have some side effects and like you, I am afraid on any medication. I am going to try Cognetive Behavior Therapy. Maybe that will lead me in the right direction.

I was totally against taking meds in the beginning, but i got so bad, no amount of holistic, whatever therapy would have helped me.

I reluctantly went on Prozac, and it was the best thing i did, im 9mths into it now and its been great, i feel a whole lot better, and i KNOW i couldnt have got through this amxiety without it.

However, I dont want to stay on it forever, so with the help of CBT therapy i will eventually come off it. I will do this slowly as i dont want any nasty re occurances of my anxiety attacks.

But my opinion is although i too was reluctant, i know i made the right decision for me, so dont not take anything and struggle, just because you have this bad feelng about meds.

Hi all: Just another perspective...My psychiatrist is a pretty cool guy and is not the type to just prescribe and forget about the rest. I haven't tried CBT yet, but have heard many success stories.

I know when my psych gave me my script he explained that anxiety has a chemical and a behavioral side to it. The therapies work on the behavioral and the meds work on the chemical. He certainly does not recommend taking the meds constantly, but told me that only I can know what's happening in my body at any given time, and to act accordingly.

We've been working on me developing an understanding of my anx/panic attacks and how to spot them as they are building. If I can't control them through, deep breathing, diverting my attention, finding a physical outlet etc. then I take the meds. Kind of a last resort type of scenario. I know for me the challenge is to know when the rest isn't working, but I'm learning day by day to recognize and understand my triggers.

I know this cuts way back on my med consumption and right now it's beginning to work for me. And of course, my sessions with him are just as important. But everybody's different and I guess we all have to find what works best for ourselves. I don't think there really is just one method or med that works for every person.

Hang in there and keep looking for the best solution for YOU. cmpgirl

Looly, Cbt has made my life so much better after years of meds and talk therapy with unsatisfying results. I still do the tea form exercise just about everyday. The key for cbt to work is to do the exercises every day to retrain your brain and eliminate the thinking errors that are at the root of the problem. The book we used in my group called been there, done that? do this! by sam obitz is really good and illustrates the tea form thought countering exercise quite well. The main thing is that you are willing to work at helping yourself to get better for cbt to work. People that are self motivated and dedicated to doing the exercises daily probably do not need to spend a lot of money on sessions with a cbt specialist as it is the truest form of 'self-help' I have come across and the specialist still puts the onus on you to get yourself better. If you want long term relief cbt is the way to go but you have to work at it. Good luck!

I agree with country girl, about using other methods to help anxiety and using the meds only when needed!! I just turned 40 and my dr. kept upping my dose of Celexa just because I could not sleep. I finally quit the ad and I am sleeping so much better!! Plus I hate to think I need to be on meds for the rest of my life,ya know? I do not want meds controlling me and I do not want to become a pill popper either. Anxiety is something you work on every day. I have gad and do not like to be in social settings but that is unrealistic. I just bite the bullet and put myself in situations and in the end I am ok. Good luck everyone.

I am sorry, I meant cmpgirl has great advice here( I called her country girl,lol..sorry).

I used therapy to beat my anxiety. The therapy works because you need to understand why you are anxious and work from there.

I would say that medication is not the only alternative. Counseling helped me a lot and I read some great self help books. However, I also got put on Buspar, which is a wonderful anxiety med, with NO side effects :) It has helped me a lot.

Great job and outlook Melanie. I hated being a slave to my meds and wish I would have tried other methods even sooner than I did, but so glad to be where i am now even if it took longer than i wanted.