Getting treatment for Social Anxiety

[STR8UP]

Originally posted by Sazuki
The people who have classified 'social anxiety' as a sort of inborn or naturally untreatable disease, are in my eyes MATERIALISTIC CRIMINALS. I don't care if they are well-intentioned or not.

You obviously have never suffered from social anxiety, and as such I don't think you have room to make such a bold statement.

So please, explain to me how it is that someone who is raised around others who have ansolutely NO problems whatsoever as far as anxiety or social anxiety goes, can turn out to be the opposite? Your "nurture" theory holds little weight in explaining how ONE person in a family of six managed to get stuck with feeling like he is always under a spotlight, while the others live completely free of these feelings.

At least in my case, it isn't some kind of traumatic experience or learned behaviour that caused my problem. It is a CHEMICAL IMBALANCE in the brain that an anti-depressant helps to correct.

There is also a thing such as morals and ethics in this world. Is making money a bad thing? NO! But creating an army of western zombies high on their prainpill supply is very unethical and immoral to me. It's dehumanizing.

This statement shows me that not only do you not know what it is like to suffer from social anxiety, but you also don't know what these medications are all about.

I don't walk around like a zombie. I walk around happy to be ME. I walk around without constantly having to overanalyze each little word or action to make sure I don't say or do the wrong thing. I feel NORMAL. I feel HEALTHY. I no linger feel like I am different from everyone else. It GREAT!

When you patch that up with some pills you are robbing yourself of true growth. It's the quick fix mentality. It's cowardice, it's escapism, it's running away and hope it never catches up with you.

Again, you are not talking from knowledge of the product, but of a general prejudice towards medication. The fact is, SSRI's have the potential to CORRECT the problem. It isn't just an expensive bandage.

 

[undesputable]

Originally posted by STR8UP
I only take the clonazepam as needed. I don't think you can build much of a tolerance taking only 4-5 (.5 mg) doses per week. I'll tell you what though....that stuff does the trick if I am stressed, anxious, or can't sleep I pop one of those suckers and it's smooth sailing.

oh yea thats not that much. Ive never been prescribed to them but i got some from a friend. when i was doing them i started with one 1mg and that would feel great for up to 5 or 6 hours. then in just a couple of weeks i would take the same and the desireable effects of not giving a **** about anything would last like 30 mins. I dont suffer from anxiety so i decided to put it down. It also had a couple of bad side effects, like it would make my pecs or biceps or hamstrings spasm, but it wasnt that bad. Oh and they would also make me forget so much ****.

benzos get a bad rep because its supposedbly as hard to get off them as heroin and harder than cocaine. i had absolutly no problem, even my friend who was taking like 4mg of xanax everyday for like a month had no problem to get off them. i guess the addiction builds up in the long term.

 

[Bible_Belt]

THE DRUGS MADE BY BIG PHARMA HAVE SAVED MORE LIVES THAN ANY OTHER THING IN MEDICAL HISTORY

They also kill about 100,000 Americans every year, ten times the number who die from illegal drugs. If you add medical mistakes with bad reactions to prescribed drugs, doctors and their pills are the leading cause of death in the United States.

 

[treefingers]

Like I said drugs are dangerous. In fact I am surprised they aren't MORE dangerous than they are considering the complexity and difficulty in making them. But the GOODS far far far outweigh the BADS. Go to africa and see all the people dying of malaria, TB and AIDS because they aren't able to get any medicines which would treat and in some cases cure their diseases then come back here and tell me you want to live in a world free of pharmacueticals.

 

[treefingers]

The people who have classified 'social anxiety' as a sort of inborn or naturally untreatable disease, are in my eyes MATERIALISTIC CRIMINALS. I don't care if they are well-intentioned or not.


--- Oh I see, you know everything and anyone that doesn't agree with you is a CRIMINAl? Man! you must be stalin reincarnated or something....



There is also a thing such as morals and ethics in this world. Is making money a bad thing? NO! But creating an army of western zombies high on their prainpill supply is very unethical and immoral to me. It's dehumanizing.



--Who are these zombies you speak of? Do you mean people on SSRI's who are depressed and what not? You do realize that these people made a CHOICE to take these medicines(they weren't forced) right? You make it sound like they are out to force feed us pills and turn us into robots or something.


The western world has lost touch with the true spirit of medicine. It merely seeks to 'relief' the pain. Patch up the wounds with some expensive bandage, and hope it lasts long enough (and hope no one starts asking questions).



-- They seek to relieve the pain because we aren't smart enough to know what the cause and cure is for a lot of disease. The next best thing is to relieve the symptoms so the person can try and lead a normal and rewarding life.


From your own unhappiness and disease there is so much personal knowledge to learn from, so much deep insight to gain from.



-- I can tell you have never been around someone who is so ****ed up from a stroke that they can't take a piss by themselves. They don't sit around thinking "gee wiz this stroke has brought me so much enlightenment and wisdom. I am so glad I had it!"


When you patch that up with some pills you are robbing yourself of true growth. It's the quick fix mentality. It's cowardice, it's escapism, it's running away and hope it never catches up with you.



-- NOBODY FORCES ANYONE TO TAKE MEDICINE. IF YOU WANT TO SUFFER THEN GOOD FOR YOU, BUT SOME PEOPLE DON'T. AND THEY HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO GO THE "NO PAIN" ROUTE BECaUSE IT'S THEIR LIFE AND BODY NOT YOURS. YOU CAN'T SEEM TO ACCEPT THIS. YOU SEEM TO WANT EVERYONE TO BE A MASOCHIST/MARTYR WITH YOU.


And yes, there are many ailments that cannot be treated simply by yourself, but 'social anxiety disorder' is NOT one of them!


-- That may have been the case FOR YOU. That doesn't mean that is the case for everyone.

 

[djbr]

What I find interesting about these "drug industries" bashers is:
People today live A HELL LOT MORE than 100 years ago.
Yet they say that these things are fvcking us up.
->>> Results are the best proof there is.


BTW, STR8UP, props to you. I relate to what you said about SA. Seems like I have this thing too, but I will try some other things before trying drugs. Congratulations!

 

[STR8UP]

Just by the way I feel I can tell that this medication is not simply masking symptoms.

Before the meds I functioned pretty well in life through learning to cope with my anxieties and avoiding situations that would trigger them. I would always wonder why everyone else seemed to be comfortable around other people, while I was shaking in my boots worrying what everyone else was thinking of me.

It's pretty disconcerting to always have to feel like an outsider in life. To feel like you have something to add to a discussion but unable to open your mouth for fear of ridicule. To feel like everyone's eyes are burning a hole in you when you walk into a crowd. To be uncomfortable waiting in line at the grocery store. To always be awkward around women.

If I can take a little blue pill everyday that causes the seratonin in my brain to stay where it needs to stay for a longer period of time which effectively cures my anxieties and helps me to lead a normal life, I would say that there IS a medical condition with my brain that causes me to be different than others. I take the pill for 12-18 months, my brain learns to do on it's own what the pill has taught it to do, and I wean myself off of the pill and go about my life. Pretty simple.

 

[al77]

Originally posted by STR8UP
I take the pill for 12-18 months, my brain learns to do on it's own what the pill has taught it to do, and I wean myself off of the pill and go about my life. Pretty simple.

I agree. Lets wait about a year. Please report back if you will feel fine without the pill, i.e. much better than how you feel now without the pill.
If it cures you I will get loaded with that pill immediately.

 

[T Money]

Well STR8UP, i'm about to hop on the medication train. I'm younger, i'm 21. But I feel that if I don't do something about it, it will just get worse. Because I don't see my problem getting any better.

I pretty much have the same conditions you do, having a hard time engaging with new people.

Or if someone is just sitting there talking, I won't have anything to add to what they said I just say like "yeah" etc.

And it's burdening my social life, as well as my love life.

 

[Bible_Belt]

The placebo effect is a very real aspect of medications that are supposed to generate intangible results such as positive feelings.

http://www.srmhp.org/0201/media-watch.html

 

[T Money]

Well yeah but you can't actually TELL your doctor to give you the sugar cubes, or else you'd know.

So how do you go about applying the placebo effect without you knowing it?

I would be down to try it before the actual meds, but if there's no way I can tell, then...

 

[Bible_Belt]

So how do you go about applying the placebo effect without you knowing it?

That's the catch-22, you can't. But surely you can see that all of these people for whom the placebo effect is working had the power within themselves to get better before they ever took any meds. People with anxiety and depression can usually help themselves better than any pill can help them.

 

[undesputable]

Originally posted by T Money
Well yeah but you can't actually TELL your doctor to give you the sugar cubes, or else you'd know.

So how do you go about applying the placebo effect without you knowing it?

I would be down to try it before the actual meds, but if there's no way I can tell, then...

they do double blind tests for testing drugs...neither the patient nor the doctor knows which is the placebo and which is the real thing. Maybe participate in one of those experiments.

 

[ShyRyder]

Originally posted by Sazuki
I think the pharmaceutical industry are mostly unethical criminals. They steal many years of genuine growth and happiness from people - leaving them with an empty soul and pockets. Fvck them all.

ha ha My Nigga

Medication is like a flash light, it can show you where you need to be but its just a flash light it can't take you there. If your ok with using an invisable crutch then I'm happy the meds are working out for you. They say life is about the journey you might miss out on alot taking short cuts.

Bless

 

[Duffty]

Originally posted by STR8UP

At least in my case, it isn't some kind of traumatic experience or learned behaviour that caused my problem. It is a CHEMICAL IMBALANCE in the brain that an anti-depressant helps to correct.

In my case, I learned to become SA. For me SA was caused by environment, I was not able to make friends in university and a social disaster. Have problems forming friendship/relationships. Maybe parenting had some effect on my poor social skills.

About 2004 Nov I learned about SA from internet and books, I have most of the the described sympton. To get ride of SA it requires working on social skills and thinking patterns. SA makes you think the worst in social situation, so to eliminate NAT there are tonnes of exercise to do to get better at social situation and get ride of "negative automatic thoughts".

There are also genetic tendency for SA and medication helps.

I believe SA is treatable but some people believe they have SA when they are simply bad at socialise.

 

[thefonz]

I used to be like that too.....afraid to pick up a phone and order a pizza, afraid to go downstairs from my room and have to talk to my mother, it sucked. Every social event I went to was a disaster and I wanted to die.

I was as bright eyed as you when I first started taking zoloft. I thought it was a miracle in bottle when it kicked in after 2 weeks. But you've been on it now for about 2 months or so? By now you've discovered that it doesn't work ALL the time, there are days when the fear comes back. What will you do on the days it doesn't work? Start taking more of them like I did? Congratulations, you're now offically an addict. I loved it but it truly was a fantasy world. You fear having anxiety because of your past experiences with it and zoloft helps you run away. Yes, social anxiety is a very devistating existance but you must learn to accept it and deal with it on a cognitive level. Accept it, just like a man born with one leg must accept that existance. However, unlike the one-legged man this is very treatable. You have to work to change your thoughts though. That really is the key to social anxiety, research this stuff......it's all over the web.

 

[GirlCrazy]

The wife and I are both taking SSRI's to quit smoking. We quit cold turkey a few weeks ago, and after a couple of days we were being total aszholes to each other. Right about the time I put my arm around her and she screamed "don't touch me!" is when we went to the doc and asked for help.

He put me on Lexapro and the wife on Prozac, and gave us both Ativan for those murderous moments we will feel. Today is our 14th day on the SSRI's, and tomorrow is our stop date!

The sh1t is already working for my cigarette cravings, but the downside is that I don't crave anything. Food, sex, smokes, coffee, nothing. No craving for anything whatsoever.

Also, I feel like Mister Rodgers, and it's made me realize that a small bit of anxiety / angst is probably a good thing.

It'll all be worth it to kick the nicotine monkey (and not getting fat doing it).

Better living through chemistry!

 

[STR8UP]

Although I would agree that a little bit of anxiety is a good thing, I would much rather be the calm, cool, and collected person I am now with the meds than I was before.

Being on Zoloft has made me realize just how much anxiety I had to begin with. I would always worry about the stupidest, most trivial sh!t. People would look at me like I was crazy when I would wig out over something ridiculous. Until the meds kicked in, I just thought that was normal!

The side benefit to the anxiety reduction is that I don't get NEARLY as worked up over business issues. In the past my blood pressure would hit the roof, so much that my eyes would feel like they were going to explode out of my head. It's nice to be able to work through a problem without having to feel like you want to kill someone.

I know what you mean about losing the cravings. I lost about 10lbs (good thing) from lack of appetite. My sex drive dropped to pretty much zero, but once I started taking Gingko it kicked back in enough to justify staying on the meds. Haven't lost my iced tea craving though, don't think that's possible.

 

[Caesar20]

how long have you been taking anti-depressants before they kicked in?

 

[STR8UP]

how long have you been taking anti-depressants before they kicked in?

Full effect took 3-4 weeks, side effects lessened within 6-8 weeks.

It seems like I am starting to lose the effect to an extent. I am going to ask my doc about increasing the dosage to see if it kicks back in.

Not to promote meds, but so far this stuff has helped me tremendously. Hopefully it continues to do so and eventually I will be able to get off them.