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trying to reduce anxiety meds

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Posted 2/2/2014 6:49 AM (GMT 0)
i am trying to reduce my oxazepam (serepax) because ive reached the maximum dose my dr is willing to prescribe, but im not coing, even though this is the first day and the reduction is small, i start with a therapist in a week, to find ways of coping with anxiety and panic attacks which have been plaguing me since last september. also, it is 5 yrs since our house burned down in a bushfire, and it is really bad fire season right now. i m scared that this time we won t get our pets out, which, praise
God, we did last time, though we lost everything else except for photos. have been reading calming scriptures, but stilll feeling bad. sorry bout the time, but i m in australia, blessings to all
Posted 2/2/2014 11:20 AM (GMT 0)
hello mindy,

i am sorry you are going thru a tough time. I can relate to your apprehension about reducing meds because i have done that on different occasions in the past 3 plus years. i was originally on 10mg lexapro, 1mg xanax and 1mg klonopin. The first attempt to reduce the klonopin did give me uneasy feelings and was initially more anxious. but i was able to slowly wean myself off over a span of 6 weeks and then i slowly tapered from the xanax following or less the same schedule. My biggest fear then was that I was not gonna be able to sleep. I did some research and learned about meditation and progressive muscle relaxation as natural ways to slow down the mind and relax the body and that did help me get to sleep naturally as time went on. Perhaps you'd like to give these a try? Also, since you are taking a benzo, I would suggest a slow taper. I am sure your doctor would have told you this as well.

Hope things get better. Keep talking to us. PEACE.
Posted 2/2/2014 1:50 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, Mindy!
Have you considered natural supplements? My personal favorite is taurine. I've been having some anxiety setbacks for the past week, but my good ol' taurine has really helped me a lot!
http://www.thewayup.com/newsletters/011500.htm
Also, some people take magnesium supplements and B vitamins and GABA. There is also Vistaril, which is an antihistamine that can be used for anxiety as well. There are alternatives out there.
You might want to look here:
http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/anxiety.html

Hope this helps!
Take care and wishing you the best!
jl
Posted 2/2/2014 8:01 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Mindy,

I have seen the pain and anxiety a person goes through when a fired destroys your home and all of your personal belongings. Experiencing a fire such as this surely must have suffer from PTSD.

Have you ever tried journaling ?  Journaling, as a stress management and self-exploration tool, is not the same as simply recording the happenings in one’s life, like keeping a log. To be most helpful, one must write in detail about feelings and cognitions related to stressful events, as one would discuss topics in therapy.

Journaling about traumatic events helps one process them by fully exploring and releasing the emotions involved, and by engaging both hemispheres of the brain in the process, allowing the experience to become fully integrated in one’s mind.

They have many free online sites - penzu is one of them.  Consider this as a tool to help you.

Posted 2/3/2014 12:15 AM (GMT 0)
thank you all so much for your caring advice. i will definitely investigate taurine, can you buy this easily? journalling sounds like a good idea, if i can just get motivated, everything is very tiring these days, but hey, if i was talking to someone else i d say thats no excuse! never been to therapy before, but she just rang me to make an appointment, so i ll let you know how i go with that after thursday morning, aussie time. i willll definitely be tapering slowly, thanks for the reminder groverpower, blessings to all
Posted 2/3/2014 11:40 PM (GMT 0)
last 2 days were okay, kett to my plan and reduced oxazepam by 1/4 og a 15 mg tablet. this morning not so good. planned to go bank with my husband, but can t even manage to get dressed. worried i am getting a chest infection, but not sure if i m just anxious. i have severe bronchiectasis, which means if i get a bad chest infection, i could die. this is a fact, no t anxiety. i only have 37 % of my lung capacity left, which makes my health, as my doc says "precarious" . i have accepted this and really want to live the rest of my life to the full, with my husband, grown kids and pets, but anxiety makes this very difficult. seeing my first therapist on thursday. but was really looking forward to just getting out with my husband, going to the bank, having lunch, but can t bring myself to even get dressed. prayers would be very welcome, blessings to all
Posted 2/3/2014 11:44 PM (GMT 0)
Mindy,

Consider it done. Prayers being sent your way along with plenty of well-wishes!

You have quite valid reasons for feeling trepidations about this whole process. Anxiety for someone with "normal" lung capacity can be debilitating. Add to that your decreased capacity and the enormous stress of these past events,.....my goodness, I'd be surprised if you weren't feeling anxious!

That's really a full plate, so tackling it in bite-sized pieces may be more do-able than planning for a whole day of events? Just a thought.



M.
Posted 2/4/2014 12:29 AM (GMT 0)
thank you friend
Posted 2/5/2014 11:01 AM (GMT 0)
really bad day and half. had to increase rather than decrease my meds! really don t know whats going on. have tried to relax and have been quoting scripture all day, but today has been so bad. feeling relatively okay, just at thhis moment, had chest pain earlier, wonder if im nervous about seeing the therapist tomorrow? haven t been to one for over 20 years, in fact forgot that i had actually seen one all those years ago. he was really nice and helpful, but i think my anxiety this tiime has a different cause, that is my terminal respiratory condition. if i knew when i am going to die that would be one thing, but not knowing makes it even harder in a way. no one except drs and husband and e friend know, about this, and now you guys of course, i will let you know how therapy goews, if i can actually drag myself there
Posted 2/5/2014 2:11 PM (GMT 0)
You can bring yourself to therapy with bells on!

Accepting that you have valid reasons for feeling anxious and accepting that therapy is there to help you, personally, is a big step towards healing, physically and emotionally.

Nothing is certain. Nothing is concrete. All we have is the moment we live in, and it's our choice what we do with the time we're given.

Let us know how therapy goes. As always, we really are here for you.



M.
Posted 2/5/2014 11:46 PM (GMT 0)
Mindy Mate, All I know is you are receiving a Prayer now and
you are on my list, Peace

Larry ***
Posted 2/6/2014 7:19 AM (GMT 0)
therapy was interesting, with my therapist being Christian. she concentrated on Bible verses about receiving God s peace, combined with relaxed breathing. if i can memorise the scripture it will be good, coz then i can call them to mind whenever anxiety threatens me. pray you are all okay, and thanks so much for your prayers. if you need specific prayers, please tell me, else i will be praying for you all in general, blessing
Posted 2/6/2014 4:13 PM (GMT 0)
It is so refreshing to read this thread. I am currently beginning a wean off of Lorazepam. I've been dealing with depression and anxiety most of my life, but the anxiety has been at an all time high since my divorce 7 years ago. Even though I write the amount of years, I can't believe it has been that long. I"ve been remarried for 3 years and am a strong Christian...I know that this anxiety should not define me. I am praying, in therapy, have weaned off of Cymbalta and am in the throes of weaning off of Lorazepam. There is a huge frustration that accompanies this, due to the fact that I told the doctor when he first prescribed this medicine that I did not want to be on anything that was addictive. I'm frustrated at myself for not doing more research on this drug. It has, in fact, been doing the exact opposite...it has been giving me more anxiety and from my now current research this will happen as your body get used to it. I wanted to know if any of you are familiar with the Ashton Method in weaning off of this? Thank you and bless you for any info...I"m also going to read through the rest of these forums for natural ways in which to deal with this. Thank you all and God bless.
Posted 2/6/2014 4:16 PM (GMT 0)
p.s. I"m very new to this, should I have started a new thread?
Posted 2/6/2014 5:33 PM (GMT 0)
IN the VIEW

Welcome to HealingWell.  Pull up a chair and stay awhile, we love our new members and of course our old members too.

If you don't mind, please click on New Topic box near the top left side and introduce yourself to the rest of our community. Tell us a little about your self that you don't mind us knowing.

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You can copy and paste your words from right here into the new thread.  Remember to give your thread a title.

As soon as I see your own thread, I will be right there to welcome you again. :-)

Kindly,

Kitt
Posted 2/6/2014 6:30 PM (GMT 0)
Mindy,

I cannot memorize the bible but I do have a book, in fact I have 2 books; Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. I received both of them for a gift at Christmas time. The book is devotions for Every Day of the Year. Each day's devotion is based on scripture and may be something you would find helpful.

I am in the same place as you are as I have cancer and trying to live like their are no problems is tough.  Most of the time I do pretty well until I have to go in for my chemo and then the anxiety flares like a bonfire.

I saw one of our clinic Drs. this morning that works with alternative treatments for anxiety, pain and depression.  I liked what she is doing and made 2 more appointments with her.  Even though I have learned most of what we worked on I have never worked with a Dr. in developing strong skills in deep breathing and relaxation exercises.

I hope you feel better and please keep talking with us as we are here for you.

My prayers are with you,

 

Kitt

Posted 2/7/2014 12:42 AM (GMT 0)
Two quick pieces of advice.... Wean yourself even slower than the doctors recommend and learn coping mechanisms like CBT before weaning whenever possible. I tried getting off meds several times with less than good results before I discovered CBT and learned skills that enabled me to wean off successfully.
Posted 2/7/2014 6:45 AM (GMT 0)
thanks bigbear,will definitely keep your advice in mind, hope and pray that all is well with you and yours, blessings
Posted 2/7/2014 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
Mindy - Just to let you know that I have managed to wean myself off of Zoloft and Buspar - I think, successfully! I have had a few rough weeks doing it, and finally, yesterday was WONDERFUL! Probably the best day I've had in a year.
I have been using Kava-kava very sparingly (1/2 tablet) but didn't need anything yesterday- never tried Taurine but would like to know more about it. In Hawaii and the islands there are actually Kava-Kava shops. My son lived there for a few years and told me about it - it helps with sleep too.
Going off of the Zoloft & Buspar caused me to have nightmares for about a week, but they seem to have subsided. I must admit that NONE of it has been easy and it seemed, for a while like it was actually going backward. I really had to force myself not to go back on the meds- but worked through it.
Keep yourself occupied - puzzles, dancing, I've even done jumping jacks in the restroom where I work. Breathing and being able to focus helps but most often it's the distraction that helps.

Take note - I spoke with my therapist prior to going off of the meds. I was on 50mg of Zoloft and 15mg of Buspar daily. I cut it down slowly -perhaps not as slowly as some would have suggested. Whatever works for you.

We are all pulling for you. Pray for me also that I can keep it up! It feels sooooooooo gooood (day 2 of a new me)!
Love, Reepin
Posted 2/8/2014 7:02 AM (GMT 0)
thank you, reepin,i m really happy for you with your efforts to reduce your meds. i ve been really trying to do the relaxation exercises that my therapist taught me, but its an uphill battle. sometimes i can concentrate, but then anxious thoughts intrude, and i m back to being a quivering mess. my therapist said to persevere, but be gentle with myself. more stress at home has made today just horrible, but hey, here i am despite it all!, blessings to you all
Posted 2/8/2014 9:17 AM (GMT 0)
about panic attacks ---

I say the following because of a situation I am familiar with.... Talk to your doctor. For some people, an alternative medicine approach can be helpful --i.e. read the cayce readings, talk to your doctor about taking things like Passion Flower fusion, eat healthy alkaline diet, get chiropractic, electrotherapy, colonics, drink 8 cups of water a day and so forth. But also if you are suffering from panic attacks, it could be useful to go to get your heart functioning checked by a heart specialist physician too. I say this because I know of a person who had panic attacks when younger, and at the time when they were younger they had no idea they had heart problems. But then when older one day the person just unexpectedly collapsed and when hospitalized the doctors said that the person's lower heart chambers had stopped functioning--and the person subsequently had to get a pacemaker. The strange thing is that long before the person collapsed, the person had actually previously gone to heart specialist doctors and gotten tested and at that time the doctors didn't find anything wrong with the heart on tests. So the collapse was a complete surprise. Anyhow, I reiterate that the doctors said that the bottom two chambers of the heart had shut down. Person subsequently had to get a pacemaker! Talk to your doctor and make sure that your panic attack symptoms are not being caused by heart problems/ or arrhythmia or orthostatic hypotension or other illness.
Posted 2/8/2014 10:44 PM (GMT 0)

mindymaggie said...
thanks bigbear,will definitely keep your advice in mind, hope and pray that all is well with you and yours, blessings

Thanks Mindymaggie! I hope my advice proves useful to you. It was bad enough going through the anxiety conundrum once I cannot imagine what it would be like to have it come back so many years later :(
Be well!
Posted 2/9/2014 8:55 AM (GMT 0)
dear goldenrule, i appreciate your advice about eating healthy and drinking enough water. i certainly stay in touch with my drs, and have tests done on my heart over the last 12 months. i agree that western medicine doesn t hold all the answers in every individual case. i had never heard of the cayce readings, so i looked into them a little.to be honest, his connection with the occult is very worrying to me. i really appreciate you taking time to reply to my post, as panic attacks have become crippling in my life, and i hope to have some better news to report to my new friends here on this forum, blessings and the truth of God to you!
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