Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 1041892

Shown: posts 1 to 11 of 11. This is the beginning of the thread.

 

For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside

Posted by ert on April 8, 2013, at 17:47:22

hmm, maybe that's interesting on this board also. That's something new, from the new york times:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/for-the-anxious-avoidance-can-have-an-upside/?hp

 

Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside

Posted by vanvog on April 8, 2013, at 18:39:50

In reply to For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside, posted by ert on April 8, 2013, at 17:47:22

1.) Humans are not rats.

2.) Yes, exposure therapy often DOESN'T work

3.) Not everybody can work from home or has the level of education which would make some kind of freelance work etc. possible

I actually developed social anxiety AFTER I stayed at home for 2 full years leaving the house at nights only, I had a mild SA but developed full blown agoraphobia by staying at home for too long without leaving the house. It was a misstake, I should have not isolated myself completely from the outside world.

"Proactive avoidance" sounds good though, a terms I sure will remember for my next pDoc visit.

 

Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside

Posted by Phillipa on April 8, 2013, at 19:31:06

In reply to Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside, posted by vanvog on April 8, 2013, at 18:39:50

I was told by both a pdoc and therapist that I must get out daily and interact with others or I too would become agoraphobic. So each day out of house. Phillipa

 

Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside

Posted by JONO_IN_ADELAIDE on April 8, 2013, at 21:10:01

In reply to Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside, posted by Phillipa on April 8, 2013, at 19:31:06

Same thing happend to me, I became agrophobic and only left the house at night to go to the shops, driving to a shopping center a long way from home where i was sure i wouldnt meet any friends or neighbours

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I actually developed social anxiety AFTER I stayed at home for 2 full years leaving the house at nights only, I had a mild SA but developed full blown agoraphobia by staying at home for too long without leaving the house. It was a misstake, I should have not isolated myself completely from the outside world

 

Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside » JONO_IN_ADELAIDE

Posted by Phillipa on April 8, 2013, at 21:29:12

In reply to Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside, posted by JONO_IN_ADELAIDE on April 8, 2013, at 21:10:01

Jono what saved me is need to be outside in the sun and fresh air. But it's hard Phillipa

 

Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside

Posted by jono_in_adelaide on April 10, 2013, at 20:59:25

In reply to Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside » JONO_IN_ADELAIDE, posted by Phillipa on April 8, 2013, at 21:29:12

What saved me was Xanax to be totasly blunt, using Xanax, it let me pull my life back together

 

Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside » jono_in_adelaide

Posted by Phillipa on April 10, 2013, at 22:04:24

In reply to Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside, posted by jono_in_adelaide on April 10, 2013, at 20:59:25

In the beginning this was what also worked very well for me but as the years went by tolerance and refuse to up the dose. So I kind of "wing" It. Phillipa

 

Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside » ert

Posted by Chris O on April 11, 2013, at 5:22:56

In reply to For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside, posted by ert on April 8, 2013, at 17:47:22

Great article. I'm fairly certain I would not be around today if it weren't for passive coping. Certainly, it's something I hate doing but it keeps from losing it much of the time. Had a kind of work from home job from 2000-2010 that allowed me to engage in passive coping quite strongly, but that also was bad because it does nothing to heal me, get me to a better place. I'm coming to accept that there is no better place, which is terrifying to put it mildly.

 

Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside (nm) » JONO_IN_ADELAIDE

Posted by Vincent_QC on April 27, 2013, at 10:11:58

In reply to Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside, posted by JONO_IN_ADELAIDE on April 8, 2013, at 21:10:01

 

Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside

Posted by Vincent_QC on April 27, 2013, at 10:13:17

In reply to Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside (nm) » JONO_IN_ADELAIDE, posted by Vincent_QC on April 27, 2013, at 10:11:58

Why my message didn't appear?... It's a mystery! lol

Anyway I was saying that the same thing happen for me... In 2010, when severe anxiety (panic, health anxiety, somatic) hit me, I stop to drive my car, then I start to stay home all the time and by the end of 2010 I was and still are agoraphobic...

What I find funny is that I do some exposure therapy between 2010 and 2012 and my fears didn't decrease with exposure, in fact i'm worse and worse with each exposure out of my house... Even funnier, now at home I don't feel safe, it's like I didn't feel not anxious at home... It's like I don't have any place to hide and feel safe now, who scare me a lot...

Same thing for meds... at first when my Doc add some propranolol for the somatic anxiety it's help me to get out of the house, I had less tachycardia and panic was a lot harder to trigger when I wasnt at home and now my dose is 3 times higher than the one I was taking at first and it's doing nothing at all, just make me feel SO tired and heart race and is pounding all the time, little events like a phone call or a bad news will trigger panic attacks or tachycardia... Same things for the clonazepam, when I start to stop working it's like I lost faith and said to myself that I had nothing to help me to cope with the anxiety and of course the anxiety increase to the point that I start taking it every 2 hours in smaller doses just to prevent the increase amount of anxiety I had between interdose...

Now I feel terribly anxious at home, it's worse when i'm out the house, it's like i'm not used anymore to too much exterior stimulus like being around a lot of peoples, even my own family, bright light at Wal-Mart and strong sounds...). It's like I told to myself and my brain that now my meds don't work so I have anywhere to hide to escape and not trigger panic attacks or chronic free floating anxiety even at home, and it's like my brain know that my meds don't work anymore so nothing can't stop the anxiety at all, even staying at home with peoples that I trust...

Avoidance is the worse thing that can happen for an anxious person for sure... the more you avoid and harder it will be to be able to get out of your house...it's a bad vicious circle...

Of course, if I was able to return in the past, I will never start avoiding places where I was used to go and driving my car...but I can't travel back in time so I have to live with the conséquences of my own décisions...

Now when I have to leave my house, I need to take double dose of clonazepam, sometimes add a small dose of Xanax (even if it's not RX by my Doc, still have a full bootle of 0.25mg pills from 2 years ago), and double my propranolol dose... and even with all those meds in my body and brains it's harder and harder to get out...

 

Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside

Posted by Vincent_QC on April 27, 2013, at 10:17:20

In reply to Re: For the Anxious, Avoidance Can Have an Upside, posted by Vincent_QC on April 27, 2013, at 10:13:17

Sorry for the mistakes... have so bad cognitives problems from the propranolol... I wrote some words in french in my last message... don't even realize that I do it! lol


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