So this is my first post here, and hopefully I'm posting in the right section.
My post is twofold, and will be a long one, so here goes. My husband is diagnosed with several anxiety disorders which includes social anxiety, general anxiety, agoraphobia, and PTSD. We strongly suspect complex PTSD as well.
In 2010, we moved from Seward, Alaska to Seattle ,Washington which was a stressful time for us. He had a major breakdown shortly after. We recovered from it and established from the situation and finally was officially diagnosed with the above disorders (with the exception of the complex ptsd).
Anyhow, cannabis became legal in Washington in 2012 and the few studies out there about cannabis was rather limited. But what little research there was, it stated that it could help with PTSD issues. We gave it a try, and wow what a difference!! It has worked well until recently. We're feeling that it's now affecting him in a negative way, in regards to his anxiety levels and its benefits are counterproductive. Earlier this year he had to wean himself off of cytalapram because some of the negative side effects was anxiety symptoms which was one of the things he was diagnosed with! So over time, it was making things worse, not better. We're now wondering if cannabis is having the same affect. So my question is, is there anyone out there who has struggled to stop smoking? What has helped them?
The other question is, is we feel that moving to Seattle was a big mistake. We moved froma town of 3000 to a town of several million. We've read somewhere that those with anxiety and PTSD that one of the suggestions a change of scenery. We're thinking that moving back to a smaller city would be a good thing since living in Seward, his symptoms actually down to a minimum. Our son is now on his own and seems to be doing fine here in Seattle. The biggest challenge is money. Seattle has a huge housing crisis and we pay too much in rent. So a change is needed, but getting out seems impossible. I have no idea of how to approach the situation. Low income housing is getting more difficult to come by and what is available is in neighborhoods that would make things worse for us dealing with his mental health issues.