Posted by Sad Sara on November 5, 2004, at 14:58:35
In reply to Re: Psychiatry should be replaced with neurology, posted by Squiggles on November 5, 2004, at 12:17:56
>
> Thank you. I wish i had the nerve. I take
> only 3 drugs, only one of which is truly
> a psych drug, and i almost killed myself
> trying to get off the anxiolytic.
>
> I've been on lithium for 25 years. I think
> that presents a challenge to any doctor.
>
> Perhaps others can benefit from your support.
>
> SquigglesI don't know if you get lithium for mania, but if you do, I must say that with some diseases relieving symptoms quick is more important than searching for a cure without side effects. If you enter a manic state, it can be devastating to just try psychotherapy and no medications, and that is of course also valid for other mental problems.
You know yourself best (at least one usually know oneself best), you have to choose what is best for you from the options you have...
But I still HAVE to come with the argument that studies have shown that the absolute most efficient therapy is a combination of medications and psychotherapy, I hope you don't feel like I am nagging now.
If you want, I can tell you a small part of my own story with anxiety... (later I found out I had the diagnose GAD with panick attacks).
When my father died went into major depression, with it came anxiety, that stayed just as intense whether my depression was major or minor the next years. It paralyzed me. I did not understand what it was, I thought I had a physical disease. But I didn't manage to go to the doctor to ask. I couldn't go outside the door. I mostly sat in the corner of my apartemnet and stared out in the room, terrified thatsomeone would call, look in my window or knock on my door. I was simply deadly scared that someone would notice that I existed, I don't know why (but who said that you have to understand your madness to be mad- I really felt that I was mad, though I don't like that word). This lasted for almost a year. It intruded my studies, my relationships, my social world. I could not think about getting the mail (30 second walk away from my door), if I had to go shopping food I would need six hours to prepare (which included throwing up of pure anxiety). At some point I managed to go to the doctor.The doctor told me that I was 'stressed', then he explained how that affected my body so that I got sick. Then he sent me home sayng that he couldn't do anything because I was 'not' sick! If I had been more depressed at that moment, I would have killed myself of the prospect of not having anyone to cure me. I did not know how to come in touch with a psychologist (the doc did not tell me how, nor did he advice me to), and considering how much it had costed me to get to the doc... looking up a psychlogist and go to regular apointments was not an option.
So I went home. And because my main problem was anxiety, and not depression, I was furious (I had a pretty bad temper, probably one of the reasons I made it that far despite my mental problems). I cried, I was angry, I vomited of hopelessness. After a few days I had thought about it, decided that there was no one there to help me, and I had to make a choice. Did I want to continue living the way I did, or did I want to get back my own life, or did I want to die. I did not want to continue the way I did, but i didn't want to die either. I found myself all the books I could about anxiety... but NOT about how to treat it. Just 'what is it'. I had to agree at some point that the doctor was right, only that the label was 'anxiety' and not 'stress'. I decided to take control over the situation, and very carefully I started forcing myself to do all the tings I was scared of. Repeating mantras in my head to distract me. It took me almost three years. But then I could not only go shopping and get the mail, I could take a bus, go to the movies etcetc. I learned later that what I had been using was "exposing therapy" (Im not sure of the word in English?), which is one of the most efficient therapies in treating anxiety. If I had been with a therpaist he could probably have cured my anxiety a lot faster, but for me what was important was to get rid of the anxiety.
Of course this would not work for everyone, but sometimes it is worth trying? I am quite happy that the doctor didn't give me benzodiazepines for example, even though I think he could have helped me a bit more than he did. It is now 5 years ago since I declared myself not bothered by anxiety anymore, and I haven't had one panick attack, and hardly ever felt anything resembling GAD. I still don't like big open space with lots of people, but I don't feel fear when crossing that space. But the last year I have been using anti depressives because my depression seems not to be curable with any of the psychotherapies that has been tried so far. I do not stop using psychotherapy even though I am on medications... simply because I feel that the depression has been twisting the thoughts in my head so much that I need guidance in making them good and healthy for me. And more, but I wont bore you with that...
But maybe you understand that I value both psychotherapies and medications, I didn't mean to glorify psychotherapy as such :-)
poster:Sad Sara
thread:411422
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20041105/msgs/412266.html