Anxiety, Medication, and Confusion

[shivermetimbers]

I am an anxious person. I used to think it was normal. People say that anxiety is the only thing that motivates us to do anything. That may be true but I think that my anxiety might be starting to interfere with my life. I am on several medications. Seroquel to put me to sleep, Buproprion (which as it was explained to me is supposed to be an anxiety medication which was originally used to help people stop smoking), Lamictal (a seizure medication that was prescribed to me to treat bi-polar hyper mania), and a low dose of Xanax. I hate the Xanax. It does help with my anxiety attacks but I always feel like I've been stricken with a severe case of amnesia after taking it. It makes me feel hot and shaky and I tend to say or do things I normally wouldn't. I feel like my anxiety is consuming me. Like it's all I think about. I spend all day trying to combat or prevent the event of a panic attack. My attacks make me feel sick. I'm afraid, but I can't ever pinpoint exactly what it is that I'm afraid of. I hear about triggers. Focus on your triggers and analyze your way through the fear. I can't chase down the cause. Sometimes I think its the medication having an adverse effect on my thought processes. Sometimes I think its separation. Being away from people I care about. Sometimes I think its an irrational fear of failure, or that I've done something wrong that I'm yet unaware of. Sometimes I think its my diet, or the weather or the position of Venus relative to the earth.. I'll chalk it up to anything if only it will lead to a way to make it stop. I'm willing to work at it. I'm willing to make serious life changes. Severe changes in mentality. But I don't know how to start or what to do.

Someone else feels this way. I just want to know how you cope. Without drugs.

[SWM]

hello

thanks for sharing that. my heart goes out to you. i really can understand that desire to be free from fear and to not be dependent on medication. you are taking a quite a few psychotropic medications, while i do not agree with all medication and the way they are prescribed, do continue to take them until you have made significant changes in your life to be able to reduce them. and seek further advice when you do reduce.  

you are taking quetiapine? this is an anti-psychotic not a sleeper. have you experienced psychotic symptoms for which you may have been prescribed quetiapine? there are much better sleepers which are just sleepers.

your main problem now is your anxiety, yes? some questions for you:

how old are you? how long have you felt htis way?
what do you do to relax? how often?
what exercise do you take? how much?
what is your sleeping pattern?
how is your diet?
do you use alcohol or other psychoactive drugs that are non prescription?how much?
do you drink coffee, tea, or carbonated drinks with caffiene?

there are some great books avalilable for selp help. dr chris williams has a number of books. there is the overcoming series which have an overcoming anxiety book.

there are a number of free downloadable books and audio resources on the overcoming website

http://www.overcoming.co.uk/single.htm?ipg=8024
edit: the free books form the above link seem to have been removed.

the following link has some great free downloadable workbooks. http://www.nnt.nhs.uk/mh/content.asp?PageName=selfhelp


and you might try meditation. tai chi and yoga are good ways to get into meditation if you find it difficult to concentrate.

there are some useful articles @ http://icbt.biz
 
a few things to get you started there.  
 

[shivermetimbers]

First the answers to your questions:
(forgive my ignorance) Quetiapine I assume is Seroquel. I say it is to put me to sleep but that is actually just a nasty side effect. I literally CANNOT function after taking it. The reason that it was prescribed is unclear to me. A psychosis is involved but I'm not sure of the details. In actuality the I'm not sure what sort of behavior denotes "psychotic behavior."

I am 21 years old and these feelings have persisted for years although medication has only recently been introduced to my life. I'm not a big fan. I turned the medication down for a long time.

I go to school from 7:30AM to 10AM and then I work from 10AM to 7pm and am asleep by 11pm. Relaxation consists of not running around.

I recently started going to a gym. I go 3 times a week.

I try to sleep from 11pm to 6am every night.

I try to eat well. Lots of protein and veggies. Not always good about eating healthy though.

I used to drink alcohol(throughout the week) and smoke marijuana(everyday all day) regularly but have stopped both (aside from a few beers on father's day) as of a month ago.

Caffeine is a regular part of my diet.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer some of my questions. As soon as I am not at work I will certainly look at the links you have provided me with. Any information on the drugs that I'm taking would be appreciated.

[SWM]

i was looking at the info in the overcoming.co.uk link and it seems they have removed the free books.
instead try this link which has some great free workbooks http://www.nnt.nhs.uk/mh/content.asp?PageName=selfhelp

First the answers to your questions:
(forgive my ignorance) Quetiapine I assume is Seroquel. I say it is to put me to sleep but that is actually just a nasty side effect. I literally CANNOT function after taking it. The reason that it was prescribed is unclear to me. A psychosis is involved but I'm not sure of the details. In actuality the I'm not sure what sort of behavior denotes "psychotic behavior."

yes, quetiapine is the chemical in serquel. here is some information i put together about psychosis http://psychologyforum.us/schizophrenia-and-psychosis/brief-introduction-to-psychotic-disorders/msg58/#msg58
 

I am 21 years old and these feelings have persisted for years although medication has only recently been introduced to my life. I'm not a big fan. I turned the medication down for a long time.

young men between the ages 18 - 25 are most at risk of developing such problems. many people do recover. no matter what the doctors tell you about your mental health, believe this one thing from me, you can recover.

I go to school from 7:30AM to 10AM and then I work from 10AM to 7pm and am asleep by 11pm. Relaxation consists of not running around.

you have a busy life. time to relax properly is important in decreasing your anxiety levels.

I recently started going to a gym. I go 3 times a week.

I try to sleep from 11pm to 6am every night.

excellent.

I try to eat well. Lots of protein and veggies. Not always good about eating healthy though.

i can appreciate that, at least you are aware and are trying.

I used to drink alcohol(throughout the week) and smoke marijuana(everyday all day) regularly but have stopped both (aside from a few beers on father's day) as of a month ago.

cannabis can cause a lot of the psychotic syptoms. if you are experiencing mental health problems "keep off the grass". a couple of beverages on the odd occasion will not do much harm.

Caffeine is a regular part of my diet.

caffeine increases you stress levels, drinks with caffeine and lots of sugar are diuretic and so you are dehydrating yourself and needing to drink more to replace lost fluids, (if that next drink is another caffinated drink thats further mental stimulation) anything more than a spoon full is a lot of sugar, many carbontaed soft drinks can have the equivelant of between 5-15 spoons of sugar. (if you are taking antipsychotics your probablity of weight gain and risk of diabetese is increased anyway) drink water when you are not thirsty. ie when you walk past a tap or go the fridge, have big glass of water. recomended amount is at least 2 litres of water a day. any imporvement is good.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer some of my questions. As soon as I am not at work I will certainly look at the links you have provided me with. Any information on the drugs that I'm taking would be appreciated.

no problem. information about drugs best place is the british national formulary. http://www.bnf.org/bnf/
this site is used by all health care professionals in the united kingdom. as a guest you are allowed fifteen minutes to browse. you might have to register or get yourself a copy from the library. (the BNF is also in book form and it is the prescribing doctors bible)

[shivermetimbers]

All of the information you provided is INFINITELY helpful. I have had the mindset that I should try my best to get AWAY from the anxiety that I feel. The sickness in my stomach and pounding of my heart. My irritability towards the people around me. Every thing that I have seen here though is telling me rather to OBSERVE and actively cope with the anxiety I feel, and that my avoidance is possibly worsening the symptoms that I experience. I also realized that while I do have panic attacks they aren't the same thing as my "anxiety flares." This is silly but every time my mobile phone rings my stomach churns and my heart pounds. I'm really afraid of what the person on the other line is calling about. I don't know why. I always attributed those feelings as feelings of panic. They aren't though. Panic (as it is described in the information given me) is the fear of PHYSICAL HARM not just irrational social queerness that causes my personal discomfort. I can't thank you enough for this step in the right direction. I will certainly read into the drugs that I'm on and see if I can work with my doctor on kicking some out of the picture. I can't imagine that these medications are good for my liver. I understand that sometimes medication is necessary but I would like to live my life under my own influence rather than the external influences of chemicals. Do you have any information on natural supplements that might help? Tea or vitamins or certain foods that I could incorporate into my diet?

[SWM]

thanks for the kind words.

yes, avoidance reinforces the inability to cope. the more you avoid the less you will feel able to cope with.

you may also be interested in reading the work of mary ellen copeland, she has an interesting life much of she was diagnosed as bipolar affective, she recovered and developed a model of recovery which many health professionals are now teaching to their patients. i would say go the library rather than paying for books from the tons of internet sites wanting to sell stuff. there is also a video of mary talking about her recvery on youtube.

part 1 (named as part 2)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6xMN57K0xU[/youtube]
part 2 (named as part 1)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOH5fps4Vpo[/youtube]



natural remedies are not very reliable unfortunately. things like vitamin and mineral supplements will help cod liver oil and omega3 supplements are good for mental health. the bnf also has a section on herbal remedies nad supplements.

[shivermetimbers]

I can't use the bnf. I'm in the U.S. and in order to register your country needs to be on their list. And mine is not.  It's ok though I suppose I could purchase it. I'm going to take advantage of the information to be found in literature pretaining to the issues that I'm having.

[liza123]

You need to take very good care of yourself and do something about your problem before it gets worse. When I read your post, the first thing that came to my mind was MJ(not saying that both your cases are same!). The first step is to recognise and accept the problem(which you have done!) and then, to do something about it. 

[liza123]

I do not know if this will help you. But, chamomile tea is said to have a calming effect. If you take this tea with honey before going to bed, you might be able to sleep well. My advice(I am not an expert!) is that you should try reducing the medication and taking alternative/natural remedies. You are young now. The side effects of these medication may take its toll during later years. Take care

[shivermetimbers]

Hi liza it's nice to meet you! I appreciate your concern and it is shared by myself I assure you. I'm very worried about what these medications may be doing to me internally. I'd like to try and break free from them but I'm worried about what course my mind will take sans the chemical influence. I will try chamomile tea and honey and see if that helps. Thanks for the tip!!