The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
Off and on I have problems with anxiety. It started with the death of my AH boyfriend several years ago. I was put on medication a benzo and now my doctor wants me to get off of it. I deal with an AH sister and her abusiveness. I've had injuries that triggered it. When it happens I don't want to get out of bed. I want to sleep and wake up with things ok. But they're not.
I think trying to get off the meds is also making me more anxious, scared, irritable and just feeling crazy. I feel like I don't deal with life very well. Can you get to a place of peace?
You are invited to my place of peace anytime you want only you need to make changes and you do that by doing what we have done...Look in the white pages of your local telephone book for the hotline number for Al-Anon and call it as soon as you are able. Find out where and when we get together in your area and come as quickly as you can. That is a "First Thing First". Bring your undivided attention and find a chair. Sit down and listen with a wide open mind and you will find the help we have found.
It isn't that easy cause it sounds like you have been messed up by alcohol and drugs (yours) and it will take courage and determination to get thru the process. If I could do it you can also. Our program of recovery is world wide and has aided millions of victims of the disease of addiction to find sanity and serenity.
You have been victimized and it isn't permanent if you do what we have done. We started to find the place of peace with the realization and awareness that "We were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable" That sounds like where you are at right now right? That is our first step.
Welcome to the board and the MIP family there are many here willing and able to help. Keep coming back (((((hugs)))))
Cindy - I too welcome you to work the program and live in each day without worry of the future or the past. When we are focused on those, we often aren't dealing or living with the current. There is so much to 'see' and 'do' and 'be' in the moment - it's worth going to any lengths to seek peace, joy and happiness.
If you are seeing a professional and have any concerns, certainly get another opinion. If you are satisfied with your provider, trying something different may not be so bad.
Join us - why not? Glad you are here - keep coming back!
(((Hugs)))
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Practice the PAUSE...Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you are about to react harshly and you will avoid doing and saying things you will later regret. ~~~~ Lori Deschene
Sometimes we need more help than Alanon and need professional help. What I know about benzo's I learned from my mother and my XAH. They are highly addictive. I would suggest you work with a trained specialist in regards what is best for your health. My mom still has issues and has transferred her meds to something else. My XAH is definitely triggered his drinking worse.
My therapist shared with me that Anxiety was fear of the unknown. That helped me a great deal to look at things differently in regards to anxiety that I honestly wasn't even aware I was suffering with it. I worked with him and used a therapy called EMDR (eye movement MR and of course the rest eludes me) which is used to treat PTSD/trauma of past events. It helped me deal with a LOT of past, present and future stuff it's a really weird therapy and I can't explain how it works just that it does.
Anxiety is very real and it is very hard to cope with, for me pills only mask the issues so I did make the decision to deal with the straight up issues I had going on. Now at least when I start to feel anxious I now can say oh .. hmm .. yup .. got you I know what you are.
Big hugs .. keep coming here too because just getting basic life skills is a huge help. S :)
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Faith minus vulnerability and mystery equals extremism. If you've got all the answers, then don't call what you do "faith". - Brene Brown
"Whatever truth you own doesn't own you" - Gary John Bishop
Thank you for sharing. I too deal with a lot of anxiety. I do not take any meds for it. A lot of times I don't want to get out of bed or see anyone. But I know my anxiety will only build if I don't. As I will then feel bad about myself for missing work or just not being productive in some way. Don't get me wrong I have days when I don't do anything but read, watch TV and snuggle. But I feel better about those days when I'm in the right head space just relaxing. Then I actually get something out of them. Last week was a very hard week for me my anxiety was very bad I had trouble just breathing. From the moment I got up till I went to bed at night. I find when I am having bad anxiety I isolate and just get cough up in my thoughts and then I end up reacting to things I normally would not. I ended up snapping a few times. After I realized I was in a rut I knew there was only one thing that could help me and that was to get it all out. So I went to a F2F meeting shared and then came home and told my AHBF how I was feeling. He hugged me and told me he was having a lot of anxiety as well. I swear I took a deep breath released and then for the rest of the weekend I felt really good. I know all these things going on in my head were just me overthinking and that I needed to get them out of my head. Weather I say them aloud or write them down they will pass. I also watched this really good video on YouTube called "Anxiety Hibernate, Adapt or Migrate". That helped as well. I find that trying to understand whats going on with my anxiety helps me over come it. Anyways I hope you feel better and just remember it will pass.
I don' t have much to add to the good suggestions already offered. I just wanted to welcome you to this board and say that I hope you'll keep coming back to share your feelings here. I hope you'll feel much better soon. ((((hugs))) TT
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Surround yourself with people and elements that support your destiny, not just your history.
Ftf alanon mtgs will be a great start
To your recovery journey.
Benzos scare me, my sister was put
On them after six years of methadone
treatments. Neither can i see works any
magic. She still has anxiety and panic
attacks and needs meds for that too.
Hi Cindy, just a side note to what everyone else has said- I was put on a benzo when i was 19 for anxiety and resisted stopping it for a couple of years thinking I truly wouldn't be able to handle the anxiety. In retrospect I was addicted to them and taking them with alcohol, always running out early too so my GP was adamant that I needed to stop.
In the end it was pretty easy; I told the doctor I wanted to do it SLOW and we did; took me about 6 weeks to taper off and quite honestly I never really thought about wanting them again after that which was a HUGE surprise. I imagined i'd crave them forever and be an anxiety ridden mess tbh. It was just good not to have to feel guilty or worried about it anymore. I didn't have a fabulous program like al-anon to help me deal with my messed up coping strategies or relationships with the many and various alcoholics in my life back then either.
Working the al-anon program has probably been the most effective anxiety management tool I have ever used, far more effective than any drug. Learning to live in the now and not in what happened yesterday or this morning or what might happen in a few hours has been a life-saver, learning to forgive myself and move on when i mess up or even when I am in the middle of pitching a fit...the list goes on and on. I'd so strongly encourage you to start attending meetings, and start working the program (with a sponsor if possible) and see how quickly the anxiety begins to lift when you have some proper tools to deal with it.
Hugs, and welcome btw!!!
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If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see? (Lewis Caroll)
