Anxiety medication?

Less caffeine. Less internet. Yoga (seriously). Get a massage once a month.

I am kind of one of those crazy anti-medication people, but I was on Lexapro for a while. Then another doctor switched me to Cymbalta, which made me feel what MightyMouse described above -- I basically didn't give a shit about anything. I need my edge, a little bit, to be able to do my job well and be a decent parent -- basically, to be me. So I made my way off of it with a lot of help from the lifestyle changes you suggested.

I cut myself off from caffeine after 3 p.m. (used to be 7 p.m.; I'm finally learning.) I took up Bikram yoga, which is really a helluva workout if you can stand the heat. I do that once or twice a week, which is about all I can handle physically and financially. I'm dealing with a lot of challenges and stressful situations in my life, but I've found that I can handle them with less anxiety when I stick to as much of a routine as possible.

 

Honestly, have you considered smoking pot?
I wouldn't recommend smoking pot before going to work, but it certainly is relaxing and something you can do in the evenings.

 

Yeah, I quit caffeine. That helped a lot.

 

It can be hard for journalists to dial it down, particularly if you've spent any length of time on a high-pressure, competitive beat. It seems we're used to multitasking, being constantly on duty. That certainly takes a toll.

I have a prescription for clonazepam, a generic anti-anxiety medication that can be taken as needed. It's supposedly not addictive, and I rarely take it. It works well on the physical symptoms of anxiety, like racing pulse and shaky hands. That said, my mom took it several years ago and found it made her symptoms worse.

I've also discovered that just getting outside in fresh(ish) air and sunshine has been remarkably useful for both low-level depression and anxiety. So does working out, and generally being around people.

Have you tried channeling that anxiety into something more concrete? Making up lists of direct actions you can take to resolve the cause of the anxiety can make it seem much more manageable -- no medication necessary.

 

A general physician might not be the place to go.

I thought I needed some sort of medicine because I was always wound way too tight, with fight-or-flight impulses on overdrive.

That tended to serve me fairly well, early in my career, because I was driven and extremely tuned to my surroundings. But, it began to take its toll. And when I married, adopting a 10-year-old daughter and producing a son, too, the pressures of life began to increase and become much more than I could handle. I was tearing myself apart, from the inside out, trying to do all I thought needed to be done in addition to some sort of journalistic holy quest to find the ultimate stories and images.

So, mainly because drinking enough beer to allow myself enough peace to sleep was making me fat and stupid, I went to my physician and he put me on a fairly stiff dose of Cymbalta.

Unfortunately, it gave me the sweats and shakes, making things worse. It turns out that the side effects were almost as bad as what we were trying to fix. I stuck with the drug for six months because my doctor said that things might stabilize. They didn't, and he switched me to a low dosage of Lexipro, which seemed to have no effect. A few folks have told me since then that, if the dosage of mind-altering drugs is high enough to actually do anything, there very well might be fairly significant side effects. I'm not sure the drugs do much to reduce the core source of the anxiety.

I've finally gained some relief through a bit of counseling and other work. The main point of which was to gain a more realistic perspective of my place in the overall scheme of things and to develop a less self-centric approach to life. At first, it was difficult to understand that I was not responsible for just about everything and the things that other people did around me weren't necessarily directed at me. It was work, though, and required a bit of searching honesty and the dropping of a few of the self image-protective shields I had built over the years.

My attempt to live a physically more healthy lifestyle has probably helped, too. A physically unhealthy body helps to create its own forms of stress.

Growing older has probably also helped in the mellowing process.

And, I still kind of suck at it, sometimes. A week ago yesterday, I was going through Trinidad, Colo., on a spur-of-the-moment road trip and was in a McDonalds for breakfast. The soda machine was on the blink and they also totally screwed up my very simple order of a sausage McMuffin. I caught myself in the old pattern. I mean, "How could they do that to me?" Jacked me up for a good hour. But, that's better than the whole day, as it might have a few years ago.

 

i would put in a word for meditation. it's not easy and you have to meet it halfway, and you shouldn't expect instant results. but i found that it helped with work-related stress a great deal.

a little googling should turn up places near you that are low-cost, if not free, where you can get started. once you develop a practice, it costs nothing at all. it just involves carving out a half-hour or so to sit in quiet.

 

Whoever said don't rely on your GP to regulate these meds is golden. Shit can get out of hand way too quickly, and you need a specialist who knows what to watch for.

 

There's a school of thought that many alcoholics are, at least at first, self-medicating anxiety and other issues. I self-medicated, after a fashion, for about 6 years before seeking help for my anxiety, which I think is typical for a lot of men.

 

Depending on the state in which you live, cannabis tincture. I shit you not.

 

A high school friend of mine who was the biggest germaphobe I've ever met who also had a bad case of OCD claims that pot has cured him of it.

I haven't seen it in person, but I have no reason to doubt his claims.

 

I have anxiety. It can be bad.

But I'd rather deal with it without medicine than have to steal deal with it ... and deal with potential side effects of medicine.

To a certain extent, I think all of us still left in journalism have anxiety of some form. My boss sent out an e-mail a few days ago that started, "I know you guys are all stressed out."

 

Some of the medicines have a lot of side effects. Some don't. If it's something you're dealing with on a regular basis, I would tell your doctor, "I need something that has minimal side effects." I think typically, anti-depressants have a lot more side effects than "anxiety medication" although there are some drugs that I think are supposed to help both issues (Paxil).