The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
Sad, I believe there is nothing wrong with medication if it is prescribed by a reputable Dr. Just because we take meds to get us thru some challenges, doesnt mean we have to take meds forever.
It would be good that you get a good check up to find out if there are any other issues. I had panic attacks and lots of other stuff going on and it was discovered my thyroid was low and once I was put on the proper meds. , I was much better.
A lot of what your describing sounds like effects of living with an alcoholic, but you say he is getting sober and he is not the problem. The alcoholic lives mostly in denial and sometimes so do we.
I would continue the Alanon meetings and once you have heard the experiences of the other alanoners you might just relate to what we are talking about. Every symptom you have described, I have felt before recovery.
Keep coming back Sad, the program works if you work it. Hugs, Bettina
-- Edited by Bettina on Sunday 25th of August 2013 01:38:14 PM
-- Edited by Bettina on Sunday 25th of August 2013 01:38:48 PM
I have to say that I probably announced to the world at large one day (the world who doesn't give a rip) that I had never taken any mood altering drugs although one doctor tried to prescribe some in the early years of dealing with my then AH. Then, I caught a glimmer of myself in my memory, sitting in front of my doctor's desk smoking a cigarette as he smoked his pipe. Nicotine acts as a sedative for women. It has the opposite effect for men. We were both using drugs at the time. We just didn't know it.
As far as whether or not you should take prescribed drugs yourself, I think I'd check out the contra-indications of the medication your doctor is suggesting before I took anything. Based on the facts of what has been learned so far about the drug, I'd also check out how long the medicine is in circulation. There once was a Physician's Desk Reference available on line. If there isn't, you can always key in the name of the drug and check things out for yourself. I think those are prudent steps to take before putting drugs into our system. Many drugs prescribed are done on a trial and error basis. Pharmacists also seem to know better than physicians about meds and their effects on us. If you know one, you could always check out the information you'd like to know with them. Physicians aren't God. They make mistakes, too.
Ultimately, whether or not you want to risk taking a suggested medication is up to you. I do think checking things out yourself helps you make a more informed decision.
-- Edited by grateful2be on Sunday 25th of August 2013 01:58:05 PM
-- Edited by grateful2be on Sunday 25th of August 2013 05:45:28 PM
I just started my recovery. I *engaged* in my first alanon meeting as well as a Coda meeting a few days ago. I thought I had been doing ok..I left 2 months ago. I realize now that my AH getting sober (thank god for him) is NOT the solution to my problems. I am my solution to my problems...er, well I should say me and my HP are the solution. But I feel pretty stuck. I am stuck in this dull depression...I can get out of it..when I go places..to a fun job, to church..I can manage ...but I'm just ignoring it. When I get home I just want to eat and sleep. I attempted to exercise, which I know will boost my mood, but when I try - I start to cry.
My husbands therapist..my doctor...my friends have all been surprised that I am NOT "taking anything".
I get anxious a lot and feel guilty a lot (for mindless things), my mind races, sometimes compulsively, although mild. I wonder If I am so used to living in anxiety that I can't stop. I am like a mouse in a wheel. I am a very logical person, but I am having a hard time letting things go. Guilt, shame, saddness, heartache, loneliness, bitterness, jealousness. I don't want to feel that way, and I know that I really shouldn't and I am getting depressed. Even when I do let myself feel these things and have a good cry...I feel some release, but the anxiety and racing thoughts don't go away.
I have been averse to taking anything to help with anxiety or depression, I have always believed that I could fix it with diet and exercise. But all I can bring myself to WANT to do is eat (poorly) and sleep - so that is not realistic. Do you believe that medicine will help me *recover* or just hide something that I need to learn to deal with?? At this point it is too hard to struggle with being depressed while I am trying to make progress and feel and recognize and change emotional patterns and habits. But I don't want the medicine to be something else that I am going to have to "deal" with.
I always avoid chemicals in my body at all costs....wish I did not have to take anti anxiety meds, but I would be disabled w/the ptsd/anxiety if I did not....
however, that said....I think just MOTION....DOING something helps produce feel good hormones...When I am down over my situations in life, I MAKE me do soemthing.....for me.....a putter round the house....gardening...trampolene and working out to music.....I do that to keep in shape and to help me feel better by being healthy
Even more important, I step up on my meetins, sponsor work, step work, I mean i do it anyway, but INCREASE when depressed.....depression is anger turned inward.....step work helps me figure out what I am down about....what I can do....or do I just toss it off me to the universe.......Just sayin!!!!
__________________
Live and let live and do it with peace and goodwill to all!!!!
Have you tried enrolling in an anti-anxiety clinic? My son has been diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and he attended a four month course . He feels that it has done him a world of good even if he was really reluctant to sign up. We are in Canada and so it was free. It is offered through our mental health units.He says he wishes he had gone through such a course in his teens as it teaches him to deal with irrational thoughts or fears or worries and to question his thinking. The leaders do not believe in any kind of meds including anti-depressants. I think the text book was called Mind Over Mood.
I think Grateful2be makes a lot of sense....I didn't mean NEVER take any meds, I just FOR ME, try at all costs to avoid taking anything
my brother, youngest, is so bad on drugs, maybe that is part of my being agaisnt chemicals in my body
also my dear dear alanon co-recovery mate got on an anti depressent and it somehow clashed w/her other meds that she has to takel for anxiety, bi-polar, etc., and her diabetes meds....one of them clashed w/the anti depressent....maybe it as the diabetes med, I forgot, but one of them did not mix and she was very very sick
Like Grateful said, I would do research, are their any "bad drug" lawsuits going on about them?? how long have then been in use?? what are side affects and drug interactions??? I wold be very careful.....Like I said, I wish to God I could dump these anti anxiety meds, but I just cannot
by now, no doubt I am dependent on them b/c my system has been taking them for , since 1970 when I had my breakdown
I am very very careful, I underdose when at all possible....my klonopin i am to take .05 mg. klonopin 2x per day...not a bad dosage for someone as messed up as I , but I do the .05 mg, ONE tablet in morning and I break in half the nite tablet so I am taking .025 mg. at night...unless ptsd is really bad I do that a lot.....I really have a healthy respect for drugs and addiction, since it is in my family....
U gotta do what U gotta do...I would just do a lot of ???s and research b4 I allowed chemicals in my body....what are the pluses...minuses......is there a holistic way to go
JUST saying.....good luck in whatever you choose.....I don't tell folks what to do...I just tell what I did, what I would do and "suggest" this program strongly b/c it is my saving grace
so you are gonna see posts who agree and disagree w/each other b/c we are all humans with differing takes....doesn't make on bad or the other good....it is just folks giving their take.......The bottom line is what do YOU want to do, after, I hope, U did checking around...Like I said, Grateful had some really good points....
and Deacon, I sure wish I was in CA...I would LOVE to check out that program you mentioned....mental health help here sucks if one is poor.........glad your son got some benefits from it.........
__________________
Live and let live and do it with peace and goodwill to all!!!!
I've done meds...and at one time my neuorolgist pulled me off of all of them because he discovered what the others and myself didn't know then...I am chemically tolerant and as he told me, "most people can't even stand up under the load you are under". Gonna take meds? find out about your system first cause mind and mood altering chemicals is about life changing stuff...it isn't always good or pretty. In the early 2003-4 years I agree to try meds again because of a mental/emotional problem I had...it was my wife that clued me into how my life had changed while she watched it change and I wasn't even aware until clued. I dumped the meds even when the Psy Phd warned me I should have bled myself off of them. At first I told him I didn't wanna take them and then I let a tiny bit of fear change my mind. My wife know the posture of the alcoholic and that was the posture she was seeing again. Been there done that didn't want to do it again and was. Done now.
Today I use the ESH of others in the program...I share what I am going thru and listen for their feedback. Some times I will ask for additional clarifications and when I'm done...I practice what they do that works. Only prescrpit I use to day is a sleep aid that keeps me under when I go under...sleep.
I had been / have been trying to use Teas to calm me. My AH is from Morocco and they drink Tisane or Louisa..which I think is lemon verbena and that has a very calming effect on me. I have been drinking a "stress" tea by Yogi, and have used a calming tea by Tazo, but they are not quite calming enough and don't help me enough. I am starting to feel like I want to isolate a little bit. Im noticing that I am avoiding calling friends. maybe it will pass.
I take absolutely NO medication right now, so I don't have to worry about interference, but I am concerned that I will be in a haze. I dont really want to experiment. Either way I think I may just go talk to my doctor to see what she has to say about it and go from there.
I wish I lived where mental health care was free, or even cared about. I pay over $1600 a MONTH in health care, and my therapist visits are not covered nor was my husbands Rehab. Reminds me of what is important in life.
Thanks for the update, SSusie. Good to see you've been able to come to some decisions about your own health and what you want to do with it. There is a difference to me between withdrawing for solitude and listening to my HP and myself without the interference of others and isolating because the disease has affected me. In withdrawing for listening purposes, I feel relief and a sense of rightness about being quiet and non-distracted. In isolation, I am in turmoil and wanting to get away from the everybody and everything because I don't want anybody near me.
The withdrawal/retreat into solitude is healing for me. In isolation, my thoughts and emotions keep spinning out of control. I don't know if you've had these experiences, too, but did want to share what happens for me.
As an aside - I thought my medical insurance costs were high and paid much less than the premium demanded were awful. After reading yours, I'm grateful for what is mine to pay. One of the upsides to your insurance carrier not covering those visits might be that managed health care can't interfere with the number of visits you really need for the therapy "to take" (words borrowed from my clinical psychologist friend.)
Much support for you as you continue working your program and making choices that are healthy and beneficial for you with the help of your HP.
