Symptoms or is this forever?

I’ve been told and told again that I most likely have Generalized Anxiety disorder or GAD, but before my first panic attack at 21, now 30, I’ve never had anything over maybe sweaty hands. It’s a long story, but basically panic attack derived from smoking weed, almost instantly prescribed benzos and now I’m almost 10 years into taking this medicine.

My dose and type of benzo has changed quite a bit, but I’ve always had the crutch since it started. Am I the only one that can’t leave the house without carrying some on me? Am I the only one who will completely lose it if they forget to bring benzos anything over 2 min from home?

 

Is this forever, the constant anxiety, fear of having anxiety, fear of dying, fear of not living a full happy life because I can’t control my mind?

 

Somehow I went from 3mg of KL per day to 10mg of valium per day, but lately I see my dose increasing again. I have a new fear lately and if you all live with anxiety, I won’t mention it as we tend to take on other peoples condition sometimes, but it’s rough.

 

 

I want to know if I were to be locked away, rapid detoxed, brain not dependent on this medication, will my anxiety go away? Is my fear of death and is my anxiety all from this medicine? Or at least this extreme version?

 

Sorry, this is a lot, but I’d like to see who can relate, but mostly someone who has had all of these feelings (and I mean disabling anxiety for the most part) and if it is gone, no more carrying the benzos everywhere, all of it.

Hello Mentally,

 

  Welcome

 

I am not a Dr. or an expert but tapering off Benzos doesn't remove the underlying anxiety or insomnia or whatever the person has going on. Having said that, people have learned coping strategies that allow them to get off benzos and live a life with much less anxiety than they had pre bonzos. It is a good idea while you're tapering off to start working on other methods (besides drugs) to reduce your anxiety.

 

There's lots of support, advice and encouragement here should you decide to taper and adopt new strategies for dealing with anxiety.

 

I hope you have as good a day as you can,

 

HM

Hi MD,

 

You are absolutely not alone. I can relate to everything you describe, whether feelings, thoughts or behaviours. HeartMost's suggestion is pretty much the same as I will offer. I am trying to use as many techniques as possible to allow the feelings to exist and not attempt to silence them by chewing on a cheeky little nibble on one more pill. Breathing exercises and walking are the most effective strategies for me at the moment. Eating helps, too, as does being very cautious around coffee.

 

I also know that being with animals helps me. My neighbour has two big Staffordshire Bull Terriers, which are the softest, loveliest creatures despite being nominally fighting dogs. When I visit, both must come and lie to me, and I hug and stroke them. It is potent - there is some transference, and their unconditional love brings me relief. The importance and power of touch are significant.

 

The technique known as Self-Havening is also very effective for me (if I allow my head to get out of the way and follow the suggestions). I really recommend this guy's session from YouTube. He is very calming and comes over as such a genuine healer. I recommend you give it a go.

 

Facilitated Self-Havening Dr Robin Youngson

 

 

If you like it, there are plenty more practitioners, male and female; search on self-havening.

 

I hope this helps you.

 

 

Bancha

Thanks for the responses!

Yeah I’ve sometimes wished someone would take me camping or something without any pills and just leave me to fight through the suffering. Maybe taking away the option to have the crutch would either A. Make me panic hard until I exhausted myself or B. I’d go out there and realize there isn’t anything I can do and maybe be calm.

 

🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

I know a lot of therapists use 'exposure therapy' and that can simply mean being exposed to the things/situations that cause you anxiety without your "crutch" until it gets less and less anxiety provoking.

 

HM

This is also the power of distraction. When our minds are focused on other things we can forget and the release from the obsession is a good sign.

Hello Mentally,

 

  Welcome

 

I am not a Dr. or an expert but tapering off Benzos doesn't remove the underlying anxiety or insomnia or whatever the person has going on. Having said that, people have learned coping strategies that allow them to get off benzos and live a life with much less anxiety than they had pre bonzos. It is a good idea while you're tapering off to start working on other methods (besides drugs) to reduce your anxiety.

 

There's lots of support, advice and encouragement here should you decide to taper and adopt new strategies for dealing with anxiety.

 

I hope you have as good a day as you can,

 

HM

 

Fully agree HM. My two main anxiety coping mechanisms are light aerobic exercise and meditation.

Hey MD,

 

You're not alone. I've been on lorazepam for 12 years. Been tapering off for awhile. There is definitely the possibility of an underlying cause, however, Benzos also have a weird threshold where you can get withdrawal symptoms even though you are still taking the drug. It's why I'm tapering. My panic attacks are always for no reason. When I'm stressed is when I'm LEAST likely to have them. I try to not bring them with me if I'm going to be gone for only a while. Or if that's too much for you at first, maybe bring them with you, but leave them in the car.

 

Tonight I left them at my house and started to feel off . Felt an attack coming on while at the store. I had water in the car so figured I'd head to the parking lot and get the water. Between that thought and the walk, the initial flash of symptoms (for me this time, heat in my chest and back like a bomb went off, a flash of irrational fear and dehydration) fell to an afterthought. My body was of course still on edge a bit from the chemical rush, but I eventually got home. Didn't have an urge to reach for one. Was able to go on with the rest of my night.

 

I can tell by how you're questioning all of this that you're strong and not wanting to take this lying down. You have such an edge up on a lot of people from what I've seen and read. I think you've got this.

 

Feel free to hit me if you ever need to talk.

 

Best Regards

Hi MD,

 

I feel your pain. GAD is such a drain on our lives and I've had to climb mountains in order to manage mine. I quit benzos 10+ years ago and still struggle with some bouts of anxiety but it's manageable. I think a huge part of anxiety is the mind-body connection.

 

If you have 6 minutes, I definitely suggest watching this video about GAD to give you some simple tricks to cope with the anxiety. I made this video recently. These strategies have worked for me and I believe they can help most anyone: