Letters to the Editor
-
p.s.
Definitely put off having a baby until you get your anxiety under control.
My mother and father are both very anxious people (my father is the worst of the two, but is now on meds finally) and this made growing up in our house very stressful on me and my sisters. I think I suffered the most, being the firstborn, and I still have what is probably low-level anxiety.
So please think about this before having a baby.
-
GAD is just another way to say pass the Paxil...
well, my head is certainly swirling..the only thing you havent managed to take on is Dafur and Global warming. whew...put your feet up...you should be keeping a diary--just make sure you bury it 6 feet under the dog house--or label it exponentially private and attach a landmine to it so you wont feel guilty if someone reads it. (trust me. i learned this from Cary's last searcher and the responders thereto...)
depression and alcohol is a dangerous mix--i would suggest you avoid the combination.
Night terrors, ripping anxiety, morbid thoughts and analysis paralysis tells me that you should get to a psychiatrist or other treating professional as soon as possible. Your seratonine levels seem dangerously low--they have med for this--not as a magic fix necessarily but as prophylactic while you work out some of your other existential woes. ( and if you are chemically back on track, your other issues may not seem as overwhelming as they seem now) you could go shopping and mood alter-but maybe your credit cards cant take the hit or perhaps this will create greater angst-- I put a picture of a starving child on my refrigerator once--with a post it that said-- are you REALLY HUNGRY?- it kept the food intake down but depressed the crap out of me so I had to tear it down. Shopping is a bad idea. It gives you the opportunity to send yourself more negative messages about a what a greedy consumptive waste you are on the planet. Forget I suggested it.
While your in this emotional crunch do things that make you feel good about yourself. exercise--hey it works! Buy some flowers. avoid the newz, read a book--(No russian authors), hit a soup kitchen--nothing makes you feel better than to see there are people out there in the world that are really messed up and its ego gratifying to feel in some small way you have made a diference.
Once your feeling better reach out to your family and try to connect in ways that are meaningful. But remember, relationships are 2 way streets-both people have to be able to change and want to make an investment--otherwise your left back at square one and feeling bad about it.
-
if you think you're anxious now wait till you have a kid!
It would probably help if you did some yoga or Tai Chi and drink less. I'm not one of those "never touch another drop of drink" people...but just make sure you are not overdoing it. I find that if I drink too much that in itself makes me jittery and anxious. One and a half drinks seem to be OK..any more and I get jittery the next day. So just try cutting back and see if you feel better. And it is true that we worriers, once we have one problem solved (in your case having a partner) then our worry habit latches on to something else. I often feel that if I don't worry enough about a subject and then something bad happens it is my fault for not worrying enough. This is clearly not good thinking.
-
Some reservations about medication
The LW may well need medication, but I am not sure psychiatry and medication should be her first option. I think one of the big problems we have in the health care establishment in this country is a disconnect between systems that provide for our physical health care and those that provide for our mental health care.
So far Salon readers seem pretty saavy about all the things that the government does to control us or rip us off, but a grab the pills mentality in the advice given to the LW bothers me a bit. Please recall that SSRIs (Paxil is one) have been implicated in causing suicidal ideation in children to the extent that there is now a warning label. If you have been following this story, first you will notice that the problem was with young children and then with teens. I have known adults who have had severe suicidal ideation on some of the various SSRIs. The pharmaceutical industry is big business in the U.S. and especially medications for mental health problems.
I would prefer the LW try an incremental approach. First, a thorough checkup by a doctor who practices internal medication (But do not take a psych prescription prescribed by one!), then a visit to a psychologist to talk about the anxieties, and then a visit to someone who can prescribe if needed. She should do some research to make sure she gets someone she can trust and who will also listen to her carefully and not just reach for a prescription pad. Preferably all these people should communicate with each other, as a treatment team should.
Those who might scoff at my caution should do a search on Zyprexa and Paxil and side effects, just to name two.
In my first response I asked if she had recently stopped taking an SSRI. This is because some of the agitated anxiety she described can be a symptom of going abruptly off such medication. When SSRIs were first advertised, they were touted as nonaddictive. This is true in a way, but that does not mean people taking them cannot suffer serious problems if they just stop. You have to taper off them slowly and when you start them you have to be aware that they take awhile to have a beneficial effect.
Even if the LW needs medication (in the opinion of a competent medical professional) we have no way of being sure what medication might be useful. She might benefit more from lithium or Elavil or one of those medications designed specifically anxiety. She might even need to be treated for OCD.
I am not a doctor. I have just had the occasion to do a bit of research on these things and prefer not to assume to much.