I was diagnosed with GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) with a side of depression about 4 years ago. I believe the depression was brought on by GAD and it seems to have receeded for now. As long as I take my medication I seem to be alright.

I try to pamper myself on anxious days. Try to be a little nicer to myself, maybe a lil treat I save for certain times like these. I will also crawl into bed, read a book or even sleep if needed. Unfortunately since I am also going back to college, this isn't always feasible, but I still try to do something for JUST me... makes me feel a little less worried, stressed, and anxious.

I have been hearing about an Indian herb called Ashwaghanda that's supposed to work really well for anxiety and insomnia. I just ordered it from Amazon. It was only about $4 (around $9 with shipping charges) for 100 pills. I just read about it in Womans World this week, but I had read about it before. Anyway, it's worth a shot. I'll let you know if it helps.

Originally Posted by ladywyyn:
I was diagnosed with GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) with a side of depression about 4 years ago. I believe the depression was brought on by GAD and it seems to have receeded for now. As long as I take my medication I seem to be alright.

I try to pamper myself on anxious days. Try to be a little nicer to myself, maybe a lil treat I save for certain times like these. I will also crawl into bed, read a book or even sleep if needed. Unfortunately since I am also going back to college, this isn't always feasible, but I still try to do something for JUST me... makes me feel a little less worried, stressed, and anxious.

That sounds great.....except for I have a 5 year old and 7 year old. There is NO way i'm going to be able to crawl back into bed, lol.

Hey guys, man oh man am I glad I came across this thread. I've been suffering from GAD for a number of years and have had occasional panic attacks. I've started going to a therapist recently, and luckily I have Medicaid so it's free. It does help to have someone guide me, but I still suffer. Seems to me that the worst of the anxiety comes after my period, which happens to be these last few days. I starting taking a B vitamin complex this morning and am hoping that it starts to work. My therapist also believes I suffer from low grade depression, which I wouldn't even hesitate to deny. Insomnia has also been a problem, I take Melatonin for it, but some nights it just doesn't work at shutting off my thoughts. I've been working at meditation to calm my racing thoughts and it does seem to help a little, though I've only been doing it a couple days now so it may help more in the future. I sure hope so, I'd love some relief. I go to a psychiatrict nurse practitioner next Monday, and am anxious to hear what she has to tell me. Back before I started having babies, my doctor prescribed me Xanax and just having the bottle around seemed to ease the anxiety, just like the rest of you said.

Sorry, I'm sure that much of what I said was no help at all, but it sure did feel good to vent about it.

Originally Posted by Eurydice:
Honestly, I've found I use food as a way to avoid the near-constant worrying I have when at school, or whatever. It feels like my one reprieve sometimes. Recently, CBT has been helping in some more mild situations. Meditation has helped a lot in the past--the trick is to convince myself to stop aimlessly worrying and sit down and not think for a length of time. It's like I think that my anxiety is somehow helping the situation and I'm worried about letting it go. :dizzy:

This is SO me. I'm almost 40, and I've had anxiety off and on for years. I had some success back in the 90s with Paxil, then I'd go into "remission" for awhile, I guess you'd call it. When I started this lifestyle change back in May, gradually I was right back to my MOST anxious frame of mind within a couple months. I really have come to understand that I have used food as a coping mechanism for it, probably forever. A few weeks ago I had a major, expensive plumbing emergency, but I had to wait till after the holiday weekend (3 days) to find out from the city if it was going to cost me $1,500 or $6,000 and all the while water was coming out of the ground between my house and my neighbor's. I was literally a wreck. I was actually able to imagine the numb/calm that would have come over me if I ate 2 Big Macs. I didn't do it, but it left me so aware of the fact that food, my MAIN coping mechanism, has been taken away and now I'm pretty much flapping in the breeze.

When the anxiety first started creeping back in, I talked to my doctor about possibly starting back up on some Paxil or something else. She said she prescribes it every day and has nothing against it, but since I was doing so well losing weight and Paxil can cause gains, she suggested I tried this 6 week cognitive behavioral therapy boot camp thing. I have learned about conscious relaxation and some techniques like masking, etc, and I think if I continue with it it will be of some help. But I haven't taken meds off the table, I'll know when and if it's time.

Best wishes to everyone who goes through this, it really pretty much just sucks. But I haven't given up on searching out different coping skills (I'm really ramping up the exercise routine and it seems to be helping) and am hopeful that I will be able to keep it under control for now.

Edited to add: :hug::hug::hug: