Posted by JohnSky on September 14, 2007, at 15:51:25
In reply to Anxiety/ Panic advice, posted by Jimmyboy on September 14, 2007, at 13:02:51
Hello JB. I hope you get alot of replies to your post because there are alot of ways to tackle anxiety and panic. Clonazepam is a pretty darn effective drug to lower your anxiety level which should in turn lower panic attacks.
On the Cognitive side there are many approaches.
I would buy the book "Don't Panic" see: http://www.anxieties.com/dontpanic.php. In my opinion it is first class book with techniques that work. Anxiety and Panic come down as we willingly accept it and don't resist it. When we walk straight into and accept whatever happens instead of trying to push it down or away is when anxiety and panic no longer have power over us. At times when anxiety and panic start to come up I say (sometimes outloud if I can) "Come on... give me your best shot anxiety... I can take anything you got... you can not hurt me". Instead of fiercly tightening against anxiety and trying to avoid it all costs you let it be and move on with what you want to do.John
> I have bipolar II with vegatative type depression, ( no energy, feel sluggish, think slow, tired all the time, no motivation) . I recently have been taking scopolamine which has helped depression quite a bit, but I am still having anxiety and panic.
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> I basically want to know if there is any medication that can help or would a therapy approach better handle this?
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> There is not a general sense of anxiety, it more of a specific situation thing. For example - a couple of years ago I had a panic attack while driving on the freeway, my hands went numb , got dizzy, etc. I was terrified I was going to die. Now a couple of yrs later, i can drive around town fine, no problem .. but get real tense and even have had a couple more panic attacks while driving on the freeway. In my mind I know its ridiculous, but I guess that emotional memory was very strong and its hard to shake.. Although prior to two years ago I had driven across the country multiple time and nothing like that ever happened.
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> There are a couple of other situations like that also. So to make a long story short ; whats the best way to get over panic/phobia that is embedded vey strongly b/c of the extreme emotional feelings you associate it with?
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> Thanks
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> JB
poster:JohnSky
thread:782888
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070911/msgs/782914.html