Anxiety

[[Fl...]]

Was very anxious before I started tapering and now it is even worse.  24/7 so I can hardly stand it.  Afraid like I am being chased by a lion all the time.  I force myself out of bed and do a bunch of exercise and went to church this morning but just feel so nervous every day and afraid of everything.  Is this normal or am I a hopeless case?

[Guest [ba...]]

You're not a hopeless case. 

 

If you were prescribed meds for anxiety, then dropping your meds may result in your anxiety returning.  Add to that the anxiety that benzo withdrawal often brings.  It's no wonder you're feeling jumpy.

 

Slow, controlled abdominal breathing can sometimes help to relax those anxieties.  Mindfulness can also help.  I think therapy also helps (I started seeing a therapist about the time that I jumped). 

[[ea...]]

I agree. Anxiety can be helped with slow abdominal breathing. It takes some practice, but it really does work. There is a physiological reason for it working, having to do with the vagus nerve.

 

You might try the "body scan meditations" - they can be pretty relaxing.

 

east

[[Fl...]]

Thanks.  I do try to deep breath whenever I think of it.  I am just so easily stressed out.  Being around people and lots of talking really gets to me.  My poor husband can't even have the radio on when we are in the car together.  Terribly sensitive CNS.  I was still terribly anxious even while on the benzos.  Feel overwhelmed by life most of the time.

[Guest [ba...]]

Music is one of those areas where I had to turn the beat/intensity way down when I was in acute.  I usually like a lot of diverse music genres, but for a few months, all I could handle was mellow ambient music.  Even classical music was too rowdy for me.  Eventually, I was able to handle rowdier music (and a somewhat rowdier life).  You will get there too.

[[Fl...]]

I just feel so scared almost all of the time.  I was feeling like that before I went on the benzos regularly but I had been taking them off and on for years, even two weeks at a time when I went to Europe and asked my doctor for something to help me sleep while away from home.  I didn't realize that the pills she gave me were benzos or even that I shouldn't just stop them cold turkey when arriving back home after a horrible scary flight.  Then I used them again for a 4-day trip about ten months later and then again when my anxiety got so bad that I tried an SSRI which sent my anxiety skyrocketing and made me suicidal.  Then I used them here and there with other meds that I tried.  Nothing worked and I got worse and worse while trying to get off some of the other drugs, never thinking that I might have been so much worse because of my on-again, off-again benzo.  I was such a wreck that I used them again for my daughter's wedding for a couple of days.  After stopping, I was terribly depressed and got put on yet another drug which didn't help.  It seems like drugs don't help me but I am afraid of everything in life and just can't function like a normal person.  Am afraid that I won't be any better even when off the benzo.  I am afraid to be alone - can hardly make myself do anything and spend a lot of time on the bed trying to distract myself reading on here and playing games on my iPad.  No life whatsoever.  Just terrified of everything.  I have tried every alternative therapy under the sun and spent  thousands of dollars, all to no avail.  Feel totally hopeless about ever being to enjoy my life again.

[Guest [ba...]]

Pills/meds will not be the 'cure' for your anxiety.  Sometimes they help to manage the symptoms for a while, but they never deal with the cause.  In time they can make things worse.  Are you seeing somebody to try to get to the root cause of this fear?

[[Fl...]]

As far as I can tell, it seems to be genetic.  There is a lot of anxiety and depression in my family tree, on both sides.  It seems to be something I have no control over and gets worse through stress and getting older.  Makes me very hopeless.  My husband is fearless and excited about life and I just feel so defective and such a burden to all my family.

[[Fl...]]

Had a nice calm window last evening and a fairly good sleep and woke up feeling calmer than I have since I can remember.  Now, if only I can remember this when the really bad comes back.

[Guest [ba...]]

[[Fl...]]

Back to my normal apathetic, anxious self😟

[Guest [ba...]]

I'm guessing that you are a warm, loving, caring, wonderful individual.  Once you get through this ordeal, you'll be more able to focus on positive attributes instead of having the drug and its withdrawal focus your attention for you.

[[Fl...]]