Pre existing conditions. What happens

[Guest [Tw...]]

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[[se...]]

I would really like to hear from some more people that had pre existing conditions such as anxiety and agoraphobia that have healed or are healing?

 

My agoraphobia has gotten 100x worse in the past year which is also when I’ve increased my valium usage and likely become dependent. I’m hoping the agoraphobia getting worse is due to the valium but I cannot be sure. I have had baaaaaad agoraphobia in the past before i used valium. I’m just terrified I’ll only just survive the taper and withdrawal but still have the agoraphobia just as bad.

 

A year ago I was enjoying going into Christmas markets. I was looking forward to planning trips away. I still had agoraphobia but not to this extent. These days I never want to leave my house. I have to force myself and I usually end up getting too anxious to do anything and have to come home. I’m 25. It’s my birthday on the 8th December. I’ll be 26 and just look at my life? I am depressed. I don’t look forward to anything. I’m dreading my birthday and Christmas. My boyfriend wants to take me away but I can’t go. I can’t go out for meals. I can’t do anything without terror and depression that follows as I can’t function when out.

 

Is this all the drug? I’m scared this won’t go away. I never used to be depressed and scared to leave my room. I fear my boyfriend will leave me. He has to go out and do his own stuff on the weekends as he can’t bare to be stuck in with me.

 

I just wish more healed people would stay and give us hope...

 

Sounds like the drugs.  You are young and have a lot of life to live.  If you were not agoraphobic before and enjoyed going out, I can see no reason why you won't feel that again after getting off.  Please hang in there.  Stay focused on getting off and things will turn around for you.

[[se...]]

Sorry I missed that.  I have had difficult anxiety my whole life and now that I've been off, it's back to the same level as before but.... I've learned so much with what I've gone through.  The anxiety I had while on the medication was about 100 times worse too or even more.  I didn't know it was humanly possible to get where I got.  I managed to stay functioning until my taper though.  I kept my job somehow and avoided most longer lasting damage (debt, legal, etc.).  So this is to say the anxiety doesn't seem so bad now and as I've gotten off, I've just gotten stronger and feel I'll be able to get through a lot more than I ever thought I could before all this mess.

[[Ma...]]

I healed without pills from a bad PTSD and panic attacks, with the right therapies and strategies, changed life circumstances.

Then I was put on meds and depression, anxiety, and a lot more symptoms got so worse I wanted to kill myself. In the end I was polydrugged and had to taper for 5 years - the result is that without meds I am 100% depression and panic free.

 

A pill does not help to solve problems.

[[Nu...]]

You are very much like me. You worry about the future and what if. What if this or that happens. We can't change or dwell on the past and nobody knows about the future. Today is all we have. The present and that's why they call it a gift. I'm coming off 30 years of klonopin and AD's. I have lots on symptoms and anxiety. What I've found very helpful is a exercise class 3 nights a week. It's a small group 10-15 ladies and me and another guy. It helps a great deal not only to get some exercise but also to get out in a small group setting. I've learned I'm out of shape stiff and rigid from being on med's and very uncoordinated. They go up I go down left I go right. I've learn to laugh at myselve and distract. You might consider a small group activity also. It really helps. We need to expose ourselves to things that cause us anxiety. Go slow have your boyfriend help and coach. We have our biggest growth in hard times. All the very best.

 

[[Lo...]]

I would really like to hear from some more people that had pre existing conditions such as anxiety and agoraphobia that have healed or are healing?

 

My agoraphobia has gotten 100x worse in the past year which is also when I’ve increased my valium usage and likely become dependent. I’m hoping the agoraphobia getting worse is due to the valium but I cannot be sure. I have had baaaaaad agoraphobia in the past before i used valium. I’m just terrified I’ll only just survive the taper and withdrawal but still have the agoraphobia just as bad.

 

A year ago I was enjoying going into Christmas markets. I was looking forward to planning trips away. I still had agoraphobia but not to this extent. These days I never want to leave my house. I have to force myself and I usually end up getting too anxious to do anything and have to come home. I’m 25. It’s my birthday on the 8th December. I’ll be 26 and just look at my life? I am depressed. I don’t look forward to anything. I’m dreading my birthday and Christmas. My boyfriend wants to take me away but I can’t go. I can’t go out for meals. I can’t do anything without terror and depression that follows as I can’t function when out.

 

Is this all the drug? I’m scared this won’t go away. I never used to be depressed and scared to leave my room. I fear my boyfriend will leave me. He has to go out and do his own stuff on the weekends as he can’t bare to be stuck in with me.

 

I just wish more healed people would stay and give us hope...

 

It is not all the drug, actually. There's far more to it. Yes, the drug makes it worse over time, but it seems to me that the agoraphobia in your case was  heavily influenced by situational/life anxiety and the fears that seemed hard to deal with from the get go. Took me about 4 years of on/off ativan to go from someone with panic attacks at work to a full blown agoraphobia. Of course, the trick with valium-like drugs is that they expand the comfort zone, but then they wear off, and the comfort zone shrinks back. In the beginning, they could expand the comfort zone quite a bit, but once tolerance hits, all of a sudden all the gains end up cancelling out, and it gets worse.

 

It looks like you're struggling to stay on the current dose, and I am thinking that may have something to do with agoraphobia. Once more stable on it, I think it may become just a bit more bearable to deal with it. I'd highly recommend listening to Dr. Claire Weekes audios over and over until it becomes a habit.

 

http://www.junior-anxiety-depression-exchange.org.uk/media/relaxation2/How-To-Recover1.mp3

http://www.junior-anxiety-depression-exchange.org.uk/media/relaxation2/How-To-Recover2.mp3

http://www.junior-anxiety-depression-exchange.org.uk/media/relaxation2/How-To-Recover3.mp3

http://www.junior-anxiety-depression-exchange.org.uk/media/relaxation2/How-To-Recover4.mp3

[[sh...]]

Hey, I'm not even healed and it sounds like there's hope for you. I had pre-existing anxiety and I just thought I was getting worse. Realizing it's the drugs is a relief, then it's not-- once you get in the thick of tapering and stopping the medication. But I always find comfort in remembering that even though recovery is taking more time than I want it to, it's not going to steal my life away. I'm 23, and even if this feels long, there are SO MANY YEARS of health I can hope for.

As for the pre-existing anxiety, there is no one silver bullet, but there are many, many tools that can help you build a good, happy life. Medical treatments, therapy, and a supportive social situation can all help you get out of the hole. And you're right that many folks who do get out of the hole aren't on the internet talking about it--they're out there living and enjoying life! What a thought! To live life not consumed with thoughts about being unwell and how to get better. But it happens all the time.

Plus, science keeps improving. Not just for our own health needs, but hell, maybe one day we'll get to talk to WHALES or something.

I bet one day, we'll feel not just okay, but joyful. And people have been managing to do that since before indoor toilets, before electricity, before cheese was invented. Though hard to imagine--a world without cheese  :'(

Keep on keepin' on.

[[Gr...]]

For me I had some legit anxiety and agoraphobia before the drugs.  Once I was on the drugs, I never gave a thought to the causes for my anxieties, other than thinking they were just some physical disorder I had.  Now, many years later, I realize that I was having legit stressful things happening and also I was not thinking about things is a way that was helpful to myself.  Now, I allow myself to feel anxiety, anger or whatever emotion, and I don't worry about it so much.  I'm still working on my thinking.  I truly believe most anxieties can be overcome without drugs.

 

I wish I had known then, what I know now.  Mostly about listening to my body and allowing the emotions to happen.  Getting anxiety used to make me even more anxious and I would just think about how much I hated the feeling.  Now I can just allow it to happen and get curious about it, and try to figure out why it is happening.  I also think having agoraphobia is so much harder with another person around.  Even a pet can make it better.

[[of...]]

Thank you for posting this. Having too much anxiety to read it and respond preoperly right now. But I know this is me so I’m following. I think it’s so brave when people with pre existing anxiety and or depression post as I feel it is stigmatized even on boards like this. But maybe that’s my own bias towards myself and I’m projecting.