Question:
Thanx Gary, I know that i need a little push this time around. I think that maybe it would have helped me a long time ago. I guess i am afraid of several things: Losing my sex drive is definately one of them. i am not depressed, just anxious. think it will still help? G
Response:
At low enough doses to affect anxiety, many SSRI’s have minimal to no effect on sex-drive. Consider also that sex-drive is of limited use if you can’t get out there and use it, so getting better in one’s head FIRST might be the way to go there. "I am ashamed in a way for having to take psych meds." The only person who should be ashamed, is the person who can be helped, but refuses to accept help. My opinion, Gary
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thanx Gary, I know that i need a little push this time around. I think that maybe it would have helped me a long time ago. I guess i am afraid of several things: Losing my sex drive is definately one of them. i am not depressed, just anxious. think it will still help? G
Response:
Feeling good about ones self is important. Sex starts in the head, afterall isn’t about fantasy. take a look at www.bofhotspot.com
Response:
Subnbelle, i really did not get your post. was it suppose to be encouraging or what? I did not get the jist of it ia m sure it was made to help
the one to you was definitely meant to be encouraging with my at least unappreciated sense of humor, and at best, ineffective. my post to Blues Ma was meant to be understanding and maybe enlightening as to how i understand fully your fears of letting go of things mostly deemed societally incorrect. i do NOT have a way with words in this forum, i’m beginning to see this clearly. i think i’ll take a break for awhile. i wish you the best, of course, Gary S. !!!! xoxoxoxo ~tanya
Response:
Gary, a lot of people really seem to like Zoloft, and you might too. I personally thought it was intolerable (it is the one SSRI that interacts significantly with dopamine receptors, which I need no help with from any drug). After four days on Zoloft, I was about one millimeter away from being homicidal, so I discontinued it with no discussion, no doctor consult, nothing – I knew I did not need to be on that. People react differently to medicines though, so MY experiences are really very immaterial here. You might think it was the greatest thing since chocolate ice cream. My personal opinion? Ask the dr. about trying Celexa, it’s a cleaner drug, and the side effect profile is better, and it’s not as difficult to discontinue. That’s what I think, since you asked. Start out with a low dose, like 5 mgs, and increase by 5 mgs every two weeks or so, if you want to see how an SSRI will help you. BTW, I think an SSRI would help you a lot, based on many things you’ve said. G
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -I am trying to replace stuff but it is damn hard. you know Gary here is the funny part. Gary, i want to get better i do! i mean i want to live a better life. ia m just scared i guess. I guess maybe i need more courage, i pray for that. What do you think of me trying the zoloft?
Response:
Subnbelle, i really did not get your post. was it suppose to be encouraging or what? I did not get the jist of it ia m sure it was made to help
Response:
I am trying to replace stuff but it is damn hard. you know Gary here is the funny part. Gary, i want to get better i do! i mean i want to live a better life. ia m just scared i guess. I guess maybe i need more courage, i pray for that. What do you think of me trying the zoloft?
Response:
Work on letting a useless feeling like that go right now.
at the risk of incurring tha wrath of muh best friend, Blues Ma, i gotta say that your judgement of his feeling as ‘useless ‘ could possibly be how it would "feel" to you. the feeling he has was not at all useless to him, if i read his post correctly, but rather use’ful’. it dictated a success oriented arena. If you want a better life,
i don’t recall him saying he wanted a ‘better’ life which again, i believe is subjective, maybe fitting your OWN pictures, as you see his life as ‘available for betterment’ when it’s possible he sees it as ‘just what it is’ with some sense of loss of that whence he has become attached to for his own reasons, his own agenda. you’ve got to take control.
again, there is no such thing as control, control is an illusion we create to give us a personal comfort zone, in my opinion. perhaps ‘power’ over whatever situation he cares to encounter can only be assessed as he sees it. he may not want to change it. he maybe possibly be looking to replace it, let go of it, release himself from it, keep it, who knows? only him, and he may not even know at this point. i personally suggest to use the power he has exemplified by ‘naming’ his fears, anxiety of this situation to decide what to do with the situaion. it’s not my world he’s living in with this ‘dilema’ of sorts, it’s his. as i read his post, i see he’s not inviting advice, but possibly understanding and validation, i could be wrong. And even with your deeply entrenched anxiety quieted, there will always be plenty of things to worry about.
hate it, but i see something different. his anxiety may or may not be quieted,i didn’t see that as the jist of his post. i personally read that he may have fear of it eluding his world, his world of which this anxiety manifested itself as a sort of dependence for other forums. possibly success, self-fulfillment, a "YES!!! UMPH" moment, a support tool that happened to become a crutch, if you will, for overcoming obstacles that would otherwise not have been possible in his mind. again, i’m guessing, maybe formulating a thought/dependence process based on information, i am in no way "right". Although it’s difficult to imagine why you’d want to continue such a habit.
…as it is difficult to imagine why anyone would ‘want’ to continue a behavior "you" see as destructive, possibly the person involved knows is destructive, thus causing shame. in case he DOES see this behavior as destructive, i’m almost positive he doesn’t ‘want’ it to continue, much as a crack addict doesn’t ‘want’ to continue tha thow down of tha energy and avoidance stopping the ‘life as they would prefer to have’. thus, the enigmatic dictation of ‘force’ so seemingly throw-outable, yet overwhelming to the non-addicted patron of a so-called sensical power over their OWN existence. i personally have faith in his ability to follow his path as opposed to creating it, as he has NO control over it, only power he may or may not choose to employ. that’s merely my own take on the post, i’m not right, i’m not wrong, i’m simply stating my perception and possible/probable projection. ~tanya
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi guys, well i am still here and have not yet lost my mind:) I have gotten through i think the worst period of the setback. but what keeps messing me up is the memories of some of teh stuff i came up with during that period. I cant seem to let go of some of the fears i conjured up. i let them go and then i bring them back and so on and so on. i would like to just move forward from them, but i feel i lack the courage. I am going to start taking Zoloft shortly. I have decided. In all my years of having anxiety i have been med free but i have decided to try it this time around and see if it can move me forward. Guys i am scared. I am scared of what it will do to me and believe it or not ia m scared that if i start feeling better what will i do? what will i think of? what will i worry about? it has been such a big part of my life that i am scared of what i will do without it:( is that weird? I am ashamed in a way for having to take psych meds.
Work on letting a useless feeling like that go right now. If you want a better life, you’ve got to take control. And even with your deeply entrenched anxiety quieted, there will always be plenty of things to worry about. Although it’s difficult to imagine why you’d want to continue such a habit. Ma
Response:
Hi guys, well i am still here and have not yet lost my mind:)
ya can’t lose sumthin’ ya never had. HAHAHAHAHA remember them bumper stickers "I FOUND IT" ? i made one that said "I LOST IT AND GIVE THAT MOTHERFUCKER BACK"… well, anyway… I have gotten through i think the worst period of the setback. but what keeps messing me up is the memories of some of teh stuff i came up with during that period. I cant seem to let go of some of the fears i conjured up. i let them go and then i bring them back and so on and so on. i would like to just move forward from them, but i feel i lack the courage.
could it be that that’s a period of success you fear you may never visit again? like this was your personal ‘15 minutes?’… i say that because i am constantly fearing i’ll never duplicate my success in my business ventures that i’ve succeeded in and ultimately lost and regained systematically 4 times. i’m at the bottom of the barrel now and i NOW KNOW i’ll do it again. sometimes once success is achieved it’s difficult to bring into your own reality that nothing is permanent. ya just do it agin, anyway. that ability don’t dissipate, only your fear of it’s dissipation without a light at the end of the "success" tunnel ain’t showin’ up right now. so ya kinda hang on to the "good, proud moments" because you’re positive they cannot be recreated. I am going to start taking Zoloft shortly.
cool.. blue’s my favorite color too ! I have decided. In all my years of having anxiety i have been med free but i have decided to try it this time around and see if it can move me forward.
i can answer than unprofessionally and with surety. no. it will not. Guys i am scared. I am scared of what it will do to me and believe it or not ia m scared that if i start feeling better what will i do?
again, i promise you that the pain that motivated your success in overcoming will take on a new life. you’ll always find a way to create new drama. i do. and i’m not even creative. what will i think of? what will i worry about?
trust me, what you will worry about is the least of your worries. if it makes ya feel any better, send me yer address and i’ll stalk yer ass. THAT’s a worry, fa real. and dammit, i’m capable. it has been such a big part of my life that i am scared of what i will do without it:( is that weird?
no, it’s extremely honest and introspective. not many would figger out they’ll miss misery, it just ain’t societally correct. i mean, if ya have a boil on yer ass removed after 18 years of pain, ya might be glad it’s gone, but yer gonna miss it in some sorta fashion, you were connected to it. i have dumb analogies, sue me. but STAND IN LINE, BABYCAKES ! you’d have about 89 before ya. (people love ta sue me in muh biz.) i’d probly miss it if they didn’t, honestly. I am ashamed in a way for having to take psych meds.
ya DO realize that’s yer own shame, eh? (nobody else cares.) you have power over that shame. you can change yer focus. perhaps you’d miss the shame, also, as it’s become a part of you that would leave a void if you overcame it. the strangest things become our closest friends, or even worse, enemies… which we all have learned to keep closer than friends. call me if ya need a dose’ah misery. i’m there for ya, dude ! <wink ~tanya
Response:
Maybe if you think of the "Anxiety problems of Gary S" as weeds in your "life’s garden" it will help. You plucked some, and you’re thinking about plucking some more, but then there will be this big patch of dry dirt, where it once at least appeared green (even though they were weeds..). The job, of course (to stick with the metaphor) is to plant something better in the void left by the plucked weeds (lost/gone anxious thoughts that you didn’t need). G
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi guys, well i am still here and have not yet lost my mind:) I have gotten through i think the worst period of the setback. but what keeps messing me up is the memories of some of teh stuff i came up with during that period. I cant seem to let go of some of the fears i conjured up. i let them go and then i bring them back and so on and so on. i would like to just move forward from them, but i feel i lack the courage. I am going to start taking Zoloft shortly. I have decided. In all my years of having anxiety i have been med free but i have decided to try it this time around and see if it can move me forward. Guys i am scared. I am scared of what it will do to me and believe it or not ia m scared that if i start feeling better what will i do? what will i think of? what will i worry about? it has been such a big part of my life that i am scared of what i will do without it:( is that weird? I am ashamed in a way for having to take psych meds. well thats all for now. thanx for listening Gary
Response:
Hi guys, well i am still here and have not yet lost my mind:) I have gotten through i think the worst period of the setback. but what keeps messing me up is the memories of some of teh stuff i came up with during that period. I cant seem to let go of some of the fears i conjured up. i let them go and then i bring them back and so on and so on. i would like to just move forward from them, but i feel i lack the courage. I am going to start taking Zoloft shortly. I have decided. In all my years of having anxiety i have been med free but i have decided to try it this time around and see if it can move me forward. Guys i am scared. I am scared of what it will do to me and believe it or not ia m scared that if i start feeling better what will i do? what will i think of? what will i worry about? it has been such a big part of my life that i am scared of what i will do without it:( is that weird? I am ashamed in a way for having to take psych meds. well thats all for now. thanx for listening Gary
Response:
Hi, all, Just thinking about the times when I do feel some relief from the anxiety in my life. If it weren’t for the memories of past bad times, I wonder if we would feel differently on our outlook of our lives. I guess it goes back to IF we would have been treated when we first felt signs of anxiety until waiting for the BIG one would our lives be different? I really think so, I think the bad memories are what keep me from being a more normal person. That always having to be "on guard" situation I know ialways find myself in. What do you people think? SMILES, ELISE
Hi (((Elise))), i think there will always be that nagging doubt in the back of my mind. It’s the last thing preventing me from making the final breakthrough after making good progress with my anx/pan and agoraphobia. Maybe it’s something that’ll always be there and i’ve just got to learn to live with it. I saw a quote here the other other day, sorry don’t remember who posted it but it went something like " bravery is not being fearless just deciding that there’s more important things than fear" (apologies if it’s not quite right). Which in my case makes perfect sense. I’ve got to learn to ignore my doubts and fears, easy to say, not easy to do. Love and best wishes, Kenny.
Response:
To Ken and Elise: I love the shore and always feel so relaxed there. I think the reason is because I don’t have any bad memories of being there. Now, the ride to the shore is a different thing. I had some pretty traumatic things happen to me while coming and going there. Once we got caught in a forest fire late at night when we were coming home, and another time we got caught in a traffic jam due to an accident on a two-way bridge, both times while I was pregnant and agoraphobic. So I think our memories have a lot to do with our anticipatory anxiety at least. Just my thoughts, Rita 
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Response:
To Ken and Elise: I love the shore and always feel so relaxed there. I think the reason is because I don’t have any bad memories of being there. Now, the ride to the shore is a different thing. I had some pretty traumatic things happen to me while coming and going there. Once we got caught in a forest fire late at night when we were coming home, and another time we got caught in a traffic jam due to an accident on a two-way bridge, both times while I was pregnant and agoraphobic. So I think our memories have a lot to do with our anticipatory anxiety at least. Just my thoughts, Rita
Hi Rita, i love being by the sea, definitely has a calming influence on me. I’ve always wanted a house on the coast, oh well one day if i win the lottery. Kenny.
Response:
Hi, all, Just thinking about the times when I do feel some relief from the anxiety in my life. If it weren’t for the memories of past bad times, I wonder if we would feel differently on our outlook of our lives. I guess it goes back to IF we would have been treated when we first felt signs of anxiety until waiting for the BIG one would our lives be different? I really think so, I think the bad memories are what keep me from being a more normal person. That always having to be "on guard" situation I know ialways find myself in. What do you people think? SMILES, ELISE
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, all, Just thinking about the times when I do feel some relief from the anxiety in my life. If it weren’t for the memories of past bad times, I wonder if we would feel differently on our outlook of our lives. I guess it goes back to IF we would have been treated when we first felt signs of anxiety until waiting for the BIG one would our lives be different? I really think so, I think the bad memories are what keep me from being a more normal person. That always having to be "on guard" situation I know ialways find myself in. What do you people think? SMILES, ELISE
there have been people who have had anxiety problems for many years who have suffered various cerebral accident problems ranging from trauma to stroke who forgot they had anxiety at all and went on with their lives as if they had no problems with panic–if you give a mildly intoxicated subject nonsense words or numbers to memorize they can remember them better when in the same state of intoxication-when you feel anxiety you remember all the other times you felt it when relaxed you remember all the other times you felt it-this habituation and learning from attribution can be changed so that when anxious you can use relaxational ques to remember relaxed times and short out the anxiety-use your memories of past things that were good often to reprogram that loop tape you play in your head over and over. LM
Response:
there have been people who have had anxiety problems for many years who have suffered various cerebral accident problems ranging from trauma to stroke who forgot they had anxiety at all and went on with their lives as if they had no problems with panic
Hello Margrove: I had asked Jackie sometime back : If a person suffered from panic disorder and then had amnesia for some reason, would that person continue to have panic attacks? In other words, would the person simply not "remember" to have the attacks? Your statment seems to suggest that this would be true. Can you explain more about this idea? Thanks, Kinder [p.s. and where can I get a "dose" of amnesia?]
Response:
amnesia
AMNESIA unless organicaly caused via amore permanent mode would only have you regain your memory-whereas a cerebular accident where blunt trauma destroys certain pathways of memory in many seems to also allow a person to forget they have habituated psychologicaly to a panic or a mode of phsyiologic alarm-if you have this disorder long enough there are times when you can almost forget about it-a sort of slip into the past performances of yesterday and then sproing you remember and start energizing yourself against anxiety again-anxiety encompasses many systems with equal or greater reliance on some for most this greater reliance is on that which is learned or that which is part of a gestalt or a foregorund background relationship based upon our propriorceptive input or how we percieve things through our senses and reticular formations in our brain-if the gestalt or the visual cliff scenario exists as the forground all the time one becomes programed to respond this way-if it becomes the background which is the goal of therapy then it is present and tolerated-if it is forgotten or destroyed then one cannot use this learned informaion as didactic and it doesn’t exist for them-the physiologic state of anxiety can but there is no memory as to how it has fulminated into a lifestyle it is just experienced as an alarm-as anxiety sufferers do a lot of assumptive learning there is no assumptions to make -whether they will over time is another story and I have no answers for that -when weaning onto an ad sometimes it creates a drugged state especialy the tca’s that in some ways acts like that hammer one would use on their own head to cause amnesia-sort of a drug induced pause in ones memory and pneumonic attachments to emotions through that memory. LM
Response:
elise, my whole adult life’s outlook was a result of PTSD from childhood abuse. As I begin to heal and talk more with my mom ( who was NOT the perpetrator) we have come to realize that I have suffered from severe anxiety since I was a pre-teen. I totally understand what you are talking about!!!!! ((((((HUGS))))))) Kindest Regards, Katie – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, all, Just thinking about the times when I do feel some relief from the anxiety in my life. If it weren’t for the memories of past bad times, I wonder if we would feel differently on our outlook of our lives. I guess it goes back to IF we would have been treated when we first felt signs of anxiety until waiting for the BIG one would our lives be different? I really think so, I think the bad memories are what keep me from being a more normal person. That always having to be "on guard" situation I know ialways find myself in. What do you people think? SMILES, ELISE
Response:
Thanks Margrove, I’ve often wondered about this regarding varing views as to wheather panic attaks are purly "learned" and therefore psychological, or wheather they are purly biological. I suspect they are biological and then made worse through the memory fo them and therefore trying to avoid [leading to agoraphobia], the remembered "panic attacks". Again, Thanks, Kinder – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -AMNESIA unless organicaly caused via amore permanent mode would only have you regain your memory-whereas a cerebular accident where blunt trauma destroys certain pathways of memory in many seems to also allow a person to forget they have habituated psychologicaly to a panic or a mode of phsyiologic alarm-if you have this disorder long enough there are times when you can almost forget about it-a sort of slip into the past performances of yesterday and then sproing you remember and start energizing yourself against anxiety again-anxiety encompasses many systems with equal or greater reliance on some for most this greater reliance is on that which is learned or that which is part of a gestalt or a foregorund background relationship based upon our propriorceptive input or how we percieve things through our senses and reticular formations in our brain-if the gestalt or the visual cliff scenario exists as the forground all the time one becomes programed to respond this way-if it becomes the background which is the goal of therapy then it is present and tolerated-if it is forgotten or destroyed then one cannot use this learned informaion as didactic and it doesn’t exist for them-the physiologic state of anxiety can but there is no memory as to how it has fulminated into a lifestyle it is just experienced as an alarm-as anxiety sufferers do a lot of assumptive learning there is no assumptions to make -whether they will over time is another story and I have no answers for that -when weaning onto an ad sometimes it creates a drugged state especialy the tca’s that in some ways acts like that hammer one would use on their own head to cause amnesia-sort of a drug induced pause in ones memory and pneumonic attachments to emotions through that memory. LM
Response:
HI Elise, My car was out of commission for about 7 months but before this I had it loaned out mostly to my Mom. So it had been awhile since ive drove that car but the last times I did regularly I was having intense anxiety. The other day after just getting in it the flood of memories came back. But they were only that memories and put in the proper perspective was not a threat to me but a sign of how well we can get past the memories and make them just that a memory:-) Hugs Charla non smoker:-) saving $14.87. Life saved: 7 hours, 0 minutes. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, all, Just thinking about the times when I do feel some relief from the anxiety in my life. If it weren’t for the memories of past bad times, I wonder if we would feel differently on our outlook of our lives. I guess it goes back to IF we would have been treated when we first felt signs of anxiety until waiting for the BIG one would our lives be different? I really think so, I think the bad memories are what keep me from being a more normal person. That always having to be "on guard" situation I know ialways find myself in. What do you people think? SMILES, ELISE
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