Posted by Racer on December 2, 2005, at 13:18:54
In reply to Can anxiety eventually resolve itself?, posted by ClearSkies on December 2, 2005, at 10:34:39
> ...I have tapered down from 1mg xanax to the present .25mg which seems to keep the yucks under control.
That's great progress, and it's come in a pretty short time, when you think about it. Think of where you'll be that same length of time from now -- perfect in every single possible way, right? :-D You've improved so much, and it's likely to keep improving, too.
In my own, pig-ignorant, knee-jerk opinion...
>
> My question is - can I expect my GAD to eventually go away?
>
> Should I just accept this as the way I am now?Yes. You can accept this as the way you are RIGHT NOW. And be aware that in another month, six months, year, things will likely be very different. Your panic attacks may be gone entirely. You may have a whole new set of symptoms, of course, but you may not. You're doing everything right, and it's likely to improve. At least, I think so.
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> I'm not looking for "it's OK to take xanax every day". I'm looking for "just as the anxiety gradually grew in intensity, it will lapse back into remission". Is this unrealistic? Have my adrenal glands been permanently recalibrated to this "ON" position?
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> Oh, and I know that worrying about my anxiety makes it worse.
>
> thanks all,
> ClearSkiesMy guess is that your adrenals are going to reset themselves, but it will take a long time. Mine seem to be much improved -- though I must admit the propranalol probably had a lot to do with that happening as rapidly as it did. I still get tense, scared, etc -- but I'm not in that state of constant hyperarousal.
It will take some time, though. The whole LHPA axis is pretty delicate, and tends to take a fair amount of time to adjust to anything new. A friend of mine had trouble after a week on a steroid, which reset his system -- took approximately one full year to return to baseline. And that's from a one week course of steroids for some sort of allergy (I think), rather than chronic anxiety.
I hope that helps.
Oh, and one of the worst things to do to your HPA axis is called Mother's Visits...
poster:Racer
thread:584506
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051126/msgs/584581.html