[GreyGoose]

When people say "I've had anxiety for 2 years" or "my anxiety has been really bad for 2 years" are they talking about constant anxiety that ocurrs every day of their lives and lasts all day and every day or are they talking about anxiety that comes maybe 2-3 times and lasts for just a few days during those two years?.

I would have bouts of anxiety (usually due to some trigger event) that would last for weeks or months at a time where I was almost totally incapacitated and the anxiety was with me from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed. Then it would dissapear for a few weeks or months only to rear it's ugly head again and last for another few weeks or several months.

Is this what people mean when they say "I've had anxiety for 2 years"?. Is it an EVERYDAY thing that you have to live with (ie; chronic) or does it just pop up every now and then?. I can't think of any other way to ask this but I'll try again...

Do you wake up every morning with anxiety and go to bed every night with anxiety and has this lasted for a minimum of 6 months to a year or longer and you can't cope without medication and/or therapy?.

Here's another way of looking at it...

John has anxiety problems. Sometimes certain things will trigger him and he'll worry himself into a frenzy until he feels like a bundle of nerves. Sometimes John looks up symptoms on the internet and becomes even more fearful that he has some incurable disease that will never be detected. John wakes up anxious every morning and goes to bed anxious every night. One day John gets a new job and as he works at his new jobs and starts meeting new people, his mind is less focused more and more on his "disease" until finally he completely forgets about it and figures that if it did'nt kill him by now, then it's not going to kill him at all.

Jane is a different story. Unlike John who has bouts of trigger-induced anxiety, Jane's anxiety is always constant and never seems to go away without medication. In fact, she has begun to just see herself as a "nervous person". Several months after her anxiety had struck particulary hard and she had been on medication for several months, Jane decided to try to go off of her medication to see if she had been "cured". She was not cured and quickly begantaking her medication again. Jane knows that this a chronic, life-long disease and that unless she stays on the medication for the rest of her life, she will always have anxiety (at somelevel) until the day she dies.

So which are you?

[Parker10]

Make that 17 years - and I can answer with a YES, ALL DAY, EVERYDAY ! During the last 2 years of that 17 year stint with anxiety/panic, I was on a med that would give me about 4 good hours a day........and I thought that was wonderful ! Then I got on the right med, with the right therapy, and it has been gone for 15 years. I had to work HARD in the therapy tho, a 6 weeks stay in a psych hospital........2 different therapists each twice a day, group sessions, and to overcome the agoraphobia, I had to leave the SAFETY of the psych unit on outings several times a week, until I got to the point I was beggin TO go out, not beggin NOT to go out. Did I mention it was HARD WORK ? Even after the new med started working, I was not CURED. It took away the constant 24/7 anxiety/panic, but I had built up 17 years of STINKIN THINKIN, I had to retrain my brain to think rationally. I read great books, became affliliated with a great Support Network called ABIL (Agoraphobics Building Independent Lives), and each day I got better. Then I might have a day of little or no progress, or even a day where I took a step back, but that did not stop me from working HARD. I wanted a life........and I got it !

I still take medication - and have explained about it somewhere in the Drug section. I took a special test called a "sodium lactate infusion" that showed beyond a shadow of a doubt I would need medication for the rest of my life. (You can read about this test in a book called "Panic Disorder:What you Don't Know May Kill You" by Dr. William D. Kernodle. .......he was the psychiatrist I saw who got me on the right meds , and the therapists who worked with me, were his employees). And I dont CARE if I have to take medication every day of my life - because like a diabetic, I cannot function without my medication.

[GreyGoose]

Thank you Parker for validating my suspicions that I might have to be on meds for the rest of my life.

I had previously believed that you were supposed to just pop a pill whenever your nerves were "bad" or when you were having a "bad day" but I can see clearly now that this is not some cold or flu that you get over in a week or two but a chronic, life-long and potentially debillitating illness. Thank you for showing me that.

It appears then that anxiety is something that people have to live with every single day of their lives and although there may be good and bad days or few symtoms/less symptoms, it is always there at some level bubbling beneath the surface and waiting for a trigger event to make it come out in full bloom so it can torment you.

I drank a defac this morning (Sanka) and shortly thereafter, I could just barely feel the anxiety simmering inside of me waiting to come out. I took an Ativan and have been calm, happy and relaxed ever since. It's like someone gave me my life back. I even mustered up the strength to bring my goat in the house and give her a bath in the tub (I MUST be crazy, huh?!...lol). Tonight we are having grilled hot dogs and burgers out on the grill as well as potatoe salad and baked beans, I want to make thye most of whatever time the good Lord has given me by helping other and trying to enjoy life myself a little from time to time.

Well, I'll talk more later ((((((((((HUGZ))))))))))))

[jmo531]

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[chitown]

I can say yes as well! Everyday in one way or another. The triggers only make it worse. It never disappears for me. Some days are better than others. It is getting better with work and meds. It can get better and bearable. It will take some time to work on it, but thanks to help of a T or a Pdoc or both it is getting to a point that the anxiety is not noticable. It is there, but you can do it. You can make it thru.
Greygoose. you have been very helpful to me in the past and if there is ever anything I can help you with please ask!

This disorder is not fun, but you can get thru it. I have found that knowing that I am not alone helps me more than anything. Just knowing that I am not a freak or unusual.(well, I am a little unusual LOL)
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