YOU CAN AND WILL RECOVER

What is important to learn about fibro, anxiety and IBS is that they are associated with the HPA axis in the brain that has become deregulated and this is caused not only by a major event but by a lifetime of Allostatic load.   I call this “Death By A Thousand Paper Cuts” and what most patients don’t understand is that endogenous stress (created by our personalities, thoughts, beliefs and history) is the most damaging. Then you add the external stress of living and a threshold can be reached and frightening symptoms appear . Asking a patient to see and understand how they cause or perpetuate these conditions is like asking a fish to describe water. When it is all you know you just don’t have any way to see it. So while trying to track down a major stress event that started this may be of interest that event would not have set off these conditions without significant Allostatic load....and if there is no event discovered it leaves the patient lost and more frightened that they have some unknowable condition they will have forever.   An unskilled clinician may hope to uncover the big event or catharsis – this is futile. A skilled clinician will help the patient assemble hundreds of tiny puzzle pieces until they stop the driving forces of the condition and the patient recovers.   As a Medical Psychologist I can tell you that my 9 years of schooling taught me almost nothing about anxiety recovery – neither did my medical training. I had severe, crippling anxiety and other comorbid conditions like IBS, fibro, TMJ, panic and more. My schooling did not help. What did turn the corner for me is seeing hundreds and thousands of patients and seeing the patterns. Many years of study of neurophysiology and my own personal recovery.....and talking with others who had recovered. None of us used medication and in fact they prevented me from recovering for many years.   I no longer do clinical treatment and have chosen to do mostly telephone work so I can travel several months a year. Even after 40+ years of learning I am still learning recovery's hidden details and I am still seeing people recover   My point is do not give up and NEVER conclude you will be like this forever. My anxiety story was very severe and I am now living a wonderful gifted life – you will too if you keep learning and searching for your personal answers..   Anxiety recovery is a puzzle – and one that we are largely responsible for creating ( or our stressful childhood started)   Post script : Let me tell you a great recovery story:   When I met Max and started working with him over the phone he was about 99% anxiety disabled. Max was 29 years old and living in his mothers spare bedroom. He paced the floor all night and slept on a blanket in the corner during the day. He seldom ate, showered or shaved. His room was worse than a garbage dump.   He was so terrified he could no longer care for himself and was tortured with panic – severe DP/DR – phobias and OCD. I never met Max personally but his mother sent me photos of him and his room...he was a mess....a total mess!!! As Max and I began to talk I saw the patterns that are so common with us.   It is now two years later and Max in in his own condo and working as a real estate property manager. He is in a successful relationship and rates his anxiety at about a one or two.   You are not genetically doomed to anxiety, you do not need a drug to recover and what you feel right now is absolutely no predictor of how good you can feel. Hold on to the promise of recovery...you will with the right help/education and perseverance.  

The hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands make up the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which plays a pivotal role in triggering the stress response. By releasing certain chemicals, such as adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol, the HPA axis rouses the body for action when it's faced with a stressor. The effect of this release of hormones is widespread. Senses become sharper, muscles tighten, the heart beats faster, blood pressure rises, and breathing quickens. All of this prepares you to fight or flee in the face of danger.

Anxiety disorders serious medical illnesses that involve intense feelings of fear, anxiety, worry or apprehension often associated with specific situations, events or objects. The physical symptoms that accompany these feelings include heart palpitations, trembling, dry mouth, dizziness, nausea and diarrhea. Increase in adrenaline causes much of the anxiety we are feeling however if we have to much adrenaline in our system on a regular basis = anxiety increases.

There are different types of anxiety disorders, but all share the feelings of excessive fear and dread. Types of anxiety orders include panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, social phobia or social anxiety disorder, specific phobias (such as fears of enclosed or open spaces) and generalized anxiety disorder.

Anxiety, nervousness, fear - everyone experiences these feelings at one time or another. They are normal emotions that can be appropriate and even beneficial under certain circumstances. However, more than 20 million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders - a collection of psychological problems characterized by unnatural and unhealthy anxiety or irrational fears. The emotions and fears surrounding these disorders can dominate an individual's life, interfering with the ability to work, socialize or maintain relationships with people.

Fortunately, anxiety disorders are highly treatable. Experts estimate that up to 90 percent of people who suffer from anxiety disorders can be helped through medication, behavior modification, or psychotherapy.

Kindly,

Kitt

I agree with Kitt , this sounds like a sales ad

Well, I kinda liked it, "but I do so miss the carnival, the hawkers, especially the koochy,koochy dancers,
I just wish they had told me where they stole me". I miss my dog, I still have the sack they carried me
away in, Peace

Larry ***