|
 
Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! Please  login or  register to post messages and view our members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, encrypted messages, file attachments, board customizations, and much more!
|
Anonymous #1
Unregistered
|
 To medicate or to try and cope?
#8636879 - 07/15/08 08:33 AM (4 months, 18 days ago) |
|
|
I've struggled with pretty debilitating depression and anxiety since I was a child.
I'm now 19 and feel like I have lost the last few years of my life because of the way I feel. I can't seem to hold down any sort of job because I get so fucking anxious just to go to work. I had a full-time job for a whole 3 days and each night I would feel so empty and hopeless that I'd bawl my eyes out.
It's such a struggle to even use the telephone unless I'm calling a close friend. I usually check phone numbers for a minute or two before I call, and I rehearse what I will say through my brain. I feel like there is something stopping me from being the person that I feel I am deep down; kind, caring, intelligent...etc. I really struggle to ever say anything nice about other people, especially my family. It's like I'm embarrassed by showing affection. I'm horribly self-conscious, which doesn't match up with my personality. There is so much more I could ramble on about.
Premature ejaculation.
Self-medication.
Avoidance.
I was prescribed Paroxetine when I was 16, but I didn't finish off my course, as I felt that it didn't really help the depression and only eased my anxiety slightly. For the first month or two my sexual performance was incredible, but that has gone to shit nowadays, which is stopping me from ever getting intimate with girls, which never used to be a problem. I'm not whether I should give medication another go or to just keep toughing it out. Any advice?
sorry about the disjointed and rather incoherent post, i'm in a bit of a rush.
|
 soulcircus
 
Registered: 05/09/06
Posts: 1,261
Last seen: 1 day, 18 hours
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: Anonymous #1]
#8638098 - 07/15/08 02:10 PM (4 months, 18 days ago) |
|
|
hi
i might be able to help you out.
if you wanna PM me or something, though it might give away your identity but only personally.
first thigns first is that,
from personal experience
medication doesn't help
depression and anxiety are there for a reason and trying to alter your brian chemistry to "get out" of it only build the unconscious psychological pressure causing it.
secondly
self- medicaton can be a pretty crucial factor
any form of self medication is like another form of escape and can make it more difficult for your system to naturally solve the problem.
so i would lay off any drugs for the meanwhile at least.
i think pre-mature ejaculation and avoidance are like side affects, so they will sort them selves out along with the psychological aspects.
Edited by soulcircus (07/15/08 02:23 PM)
|
 boxcarguy07
Registered: 04/25/07
Posts: 2,040
Last seen: 9 minutes, 48 seconds
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: Anonymous #1]
#8639120 - 07/15/08 05:59 PM (4 months, 18 days ago) |
|
|
first thing's first...
what type of foods do you eat on a regular basis?
--------------------
"Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
|
never.never.land
Pirate
Registered: 05/11/08
Posts: 571
Loc: Anywhere the wind blows
Last seen: 3 months, 1 day
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: boxcarguy07]
#8639193 - 07/15/08 06:17 PM (4 months, 18 days ago) |
|
|
Personally, I feel that trying to cope is better than self-medication.
|
sunflower
gleaner
Registered: 08/19/06
Posts: 257
Last seen: 1 hour, 5 minutes
|
|
Do you exercise?
|
Anonymous #1
Unregistered
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: soulcircus]
#8639241 - 07/15/08 06:29 PM (4 months, 18 days ago) |
|
|
I feel like at this time in my life I'm willing to cover things up so that I can make the best decisions for my life, not based on my anxiety. Right now I have to call a friend who may have a job offer for me in an I.T consultancy firm. This could be a pretty major chance to make a lot of money and start to sort out my future, yet i'm so hesitant to call, as soon as I got his message my stomach sunk.
I exercise vigorously three times a week and have a pretty well-balanced diet. Any foods in particular that I shouldn't eat? I'm in good shape apart from my lungs, from smoking pot.
|
boxcarguy07
Registered: 04/25/07
Posts: 2,040
Last seen: 9 minutes, 48 seconds
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: Anonymous #1]
#8639417 - 07/15/08 07:16 PM (4 months, 18 days ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Anonymous said:
I exercise vigorously three times a week and have a pretty well-balanced diet. Any foods in particular that I shouldn't eat? I'm in good shape apart from my lungs, from smoking pot.
The exercise is good of course.
As far as diet, you should shoot for a low omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. Anywhere from 1:1 to 4:1, anything above that is when scientists say problems start to occur.
Things to avoid or eat less of are any kinds of grain, especially corn or products that use corn ingredients,
and grain-fed meat and eggs (even organic meats and eggs are grain-fed).
Foods to get more of are things like hemp seeds, fish high in omega-3s, and grass-fed animal meats.
Lots of green leafy vegetables of course and fruit.
We are told that grains are healthy and to eat plenty of whole grains, but grains are not healthy at all.
Read some of these:
http://www.texasgrassfedbeef.com/focusing_on_nutrition.htm
especially
http://www.texasgrassfedbeef.com/brain_function_and_food.htm
The more I read about omega3 to omega6 ratios the more I believe that this is the first thing that should be observed and corrected before anything else is tried, except of course in the case of an emergency.
--------------------
"Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
|
never.never.land
Pirate
Registered: 05/11/08
Posts: 571
Loc: Anywhere the wind blows
Last seen: 3 months, 1 day
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: sunflower]
#8640008 - 07/15/08 09:23 PM (4 months, 18 days ago) |
|
|
Was that directed at me or OP? Me yes I exercise.
|
 daytripper23
Wanker
Registered: 06/22/05
Posts: 1,792
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: Anonymous #1]
#8640052 - 07/15/08 09:32 PM (4 months, 18 days ago) |
|
|
my piece of advice would be not to turn your back entirely on the idea of medication, just because the philosophies of contemporary psychiatry are fucked.
|
backfromthedead
Activated
Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 3,590
Last seen: 4 months, 5 days
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: Anonymous #1]
#8640130 - 07/15/08 09:50 PM (4 months, 18 days ago) |
|
|
Seriously. Get a doc to prescribe you some xanax. Take it when you are your worst and gauge how well it works for you in those situations. It worked as a last resort for me. Public Speaking in college. I wasn't really comfortable being on it all the time as it kinda slows you down. I would put some in my wallet and know that it was there... Just that effect was enough to make me feel more relaxed. Maybe no meds... IDK. Worked for me.
--------------------
|
Anonymous #1
Unregistered
|
|
I think I am going to get a script of something. I can live with the depression, I feel like I've been that way since I can remember...but it's the anxiety that I really need to deal with, it's been fucking up my life for way too long and I can never seem to shake it. I need to distance myself from this for a while I think. Any recommendations in regards to specific medication?
|
beneath
Registered: 10/30/07
Posts: 883
Loc: The un-united kingdom
Last seen: 12 minutes, 24 seconds
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: Anonymous #1]
#8641640 - 07/16/08 08:39 AM (4 months, 17 days ago) |
|
|
If you can get an antidepressant that works for you then you can take that and while you feel better take all the necessary steps to improve your lifestyle and do the things that depression is stopping you from doing.
What I'm saying is, you can take an antidepressant and learn new coping skills, delve deep into the reasons you are depressed and come to some sort of conclusion, you can then come off the anti depressant.
Sounds good in theory but most antidepressant have fucked up side effects, the only one that works for me that I've tried is mirtazapine, it helps me sleep, eat, and eases the depression while i sort out my life.
i had to take mirtazapine because i was so depressed i couldn't shake it or even move for that matter, i was so depressed and stressed out it was physically painful, but i had schizophrenia symptoms and stuff too.
If you could find one that helps you then why deny that little bit of extra help? all of what I've said though relies on finding one that works for you.
|
backfromthedead
Activated
Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 3,590
Last seen: 4 months, 5 days
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: Anonymous #1]
#8641710 - 07/16/08 09:06 AM (4 months, 17 days ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Anonymous said:
I think I am going to get a script of something. I can live with the depression, I feel like I've been that way since I can remember...but it's the anxiety that I really need to deal with, it's been fucking up my life for way too long and I can never seem to shake it. I need to distance myself from this for a while I think. Any recommendations in regards to specific medication?
If your depression is caused by your anxious reaction to your environment, like mine was... Xanax. I've experimented with Kava, St. John's Wort, Valerian Root, and Passion Flower also. Some success. But for an 11 week school semester I was taking like up to a mg of Xanax a day. Prescribed by a doc. Getting things done. I saw a doctor in Seattle after being prescribed Fluoxetine then Zoloft with little effect on my anxiety. He said with a smirk, "Nobody has ever given you Xanax...??"
Shit works. Like I said, even when you just know you have it with you. Scary addictive. But be responsible with it and its not a problem.
Public Speaking was not a problem. People take it when they are nervous on airplanes... I say test it out. A lot of doctors will probably think its a bad idea. Because its been abused by idiots. I had a girlfriend once that was into snorting it... That and Oxy. Fuck her. But you, sir... Xanax is what I'm saying. Works is what it does. It is what it is. Its worth a try in my mind. Especially if its like that 'debilitating I don't want to even stand in line at the grocery store' kind of shit that you seem to be talking about...
--------------------
|
soulcircus
Registered: 05/09/06
Posts: 1,261
Last seen: 1 day, 18 hours
|
|
hmmm, no i really don't agree with medication.
theres no covering up so that you can deal with it in the future.
now is all there is.
|
Anonymous #1
Unregistered
|
|
Quote:
backfromthedead said:
Especially if its like that 'debilitating I don't want to even stand in line at the grocery store' kind of shit that you seem to be talking about...
It's funny that you should say that, I get people to stand in line for me all the time. Haha. It's pathetic. One of the worst things is just how damn incoherent I get in social situations. Give me a pen and some paper and I can tell you exactly what I mean and then elaborate it some more, yet face-to-face I stutter, say the word 'like' too many times and just 'freeze up' in general.
The more I think about it, the more I see that I have missed out on in life from this sort of shit. I'll get down to the docs tomorrow hopefully.
I'm thinking about a short-term xanny script for the next three-four weeks whilst the effects of an SSRI start to kick in. I don't have overly fond memories of Paxil though.
|
backfromthedead
Activated
Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 3,590
Last seen: 4 months, 5 days
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: Anonymous #1]
#8645305 - 07/16/08 11:55 PM (4 months, 17 days ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Anonymous said:
Quote:
backfromthedead said:
Especially if its like that 'debilitating I don't want to even stand in line at the grocery store' kind of shit that you seem to be talking about...
It's funny that you should say that, I get people to stand in line for me all the time. Haha. It's pathetic. One of the worst things is just how damn incoherent I get in social situations. Give me a pen and some paper and I can tell you exactly what I mean and then elaborate it some more, yet face-to-face I stutter, say the word 'like' too many times and just 'freeze up' in general.
The more I think about it, the more I see that I have missed out on in life from this sort of shit. I'll get down to the docs tomorrow hopefully.
I'm thinking about a short-term xanny script for the next three-four weeks whilst the effects of an SSRI start to kick in. I don't have overly fond memories of Paxil though.
The SSRIs are shit, imo. I've been on Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro, and Paxil. What worked better for me, strictly for anxiety, was an alpha blocker. Hytrin. Because of the Panic like symptoms. I was told that its what is used in the treatment of PTSD with War vets. It stops the anxious reaction. I went through a lot of domestic violence issues as a kid fueled by Alcoholism. Turned me into a nervous wreck. I know how you feel. I was pretty hopeless at a couple different points in my life. Because of the almost uncontrollable anxiety that I feel you are experiencing to some extent. Be informed when you approach a doctor. And really be Truthful. If you are convinced that the Depression does not need to be treated, and is a result of the anxiety... Tell him/her. In my experience they all want to treat the depression instead of the anxiety, which in my mind was/is the cause. Its important how you present, imo. Once something starts working for you you'll feel 100% better about your situation. Try to accept where you are and who you are at this point and move forward. Don't judge yourself so harshly. We all learning. Living and such. Find your self respect and know that you will get out of 'this.' Peace.
--------------------
|
Anonymous #1
Unregistered
|
|
Thanks a lot man, I really appreciate everyone's input. I'll put together a better response later tonight when I have the time.
|
WhiskeyClone
Not here
Registered: 06/25/01
Posts: 13,826
Loc: Longitudinal Center of Ca...
Last seen: 12 hours, 19 minutes
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: Anonymous #1]
#8646580 - 07/17/08 11:22 AM (4 months, 16 days ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Anonymous said:
Quote:
backfromthedead said:
Especially if its like that 'debilitating I don't want to even stand in line at the grocery store' kind of shit that you seem to be talking about...
It's funny that you should say that, I get people to stand in line for me all the time. Haha. It's pathetic. One of the worst things is just how damn incoherent I get in social situations. Give me a pen and some paper and I can tell you exactly what I mean and then elaborate it some more, yet face-to-face I stutter, say the word 'like' too many times and just 'freeze up' in general.
The more I think about it, the more I see that I have missed out on in life from this sort of shit. I'll get down to the docs tomorrow hopefully.
IMO, you will continue to miss out on life until you learn to do the things you are afraid to do. Medication is avoiding the problem. You've created monsters out of nothing, and they'll continue to be monsters, drugs or no drugs, if you continue to sidestep these parts of life. Fear determines what you want and don't want to do, but it does not determine what you can or can't do.
Give yourself permission to screw up, to be awkward, to trip over your words. Forgive yourself for everything you do, constantly. Every time you give into fear, the problem grows, and every time you don't, it shrinks. You can act in spite of fear, and when you do, monsters like this fade until you can see they were never there at all.
--------------------
-oOo-
"My children," said an old man to his boys scared by a figure in the dark entry, "my children, you will never see any thing worse than yourselves." As in dreams, so in the scarcely less fluid events of the world, every man sees himself as colossal, without knowing that it is himself. The good, compared to the evil which he sees, is as his own good to his own evil.
~ R.W. Emerson, "Spiritual Laws"
-oOo-
|
daytripper23
Wanker
Registered: 06/22/05
Posts: 1,792
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: WhiskeyClone]
#8646901 - 07/17/08 12:58 PM (4 months, 16 days ago) |
|
|
Quote:
WhiskeyClone said:
Quote:
Anonymous said:
Quote:
backfromthedead said:
Especially if its like that 'debilitating I don't want to even stand in line at the grocery store' kind of shit that you seem to be talking about...
It's funny that you should say that, I get people to stand in line for me all the time. Haha. It's pathetic. One of the worst things is just how damn incoherent I get in social situations. Give me a pen and some paper and I can tell you exactly what I mean and then elaborate it some more, yet face-to-face I stutter, say the word 'like' too many times and just 'freeze up' in general.
The more I think about it, the more I see that I have missed out on in life from this sort of shit. I'll get down to the docs tomorrow hopefully.
IMO, you will continue to miss out on life until you learn to do the things you are afraid to do. Medication is avoiding the problem. You've created monsters out of nothing, and they'll continue to be monsters, drugs or no drugs, if you continue to sidestep these parts of life. Fear determines what you want and don't want to do, but it does not determine what you can or can't do.
Give yourself permission to screw up, to be awkward, to trip over your words. Forgive yourself for everything you do, constantly. Every time you give into fear, the problem grows, and every time you don't, it shrinks. You can act in spite of fear, and when you do, monsters like this fade until you can see they were never there at all.
Medication is not necessarily as you describe it though.
If medication is a philosophy of using substances, plants or drugs, as tools; I don't think many people here at the shroomery can or will doubt the benefits of this approach. Most of us do not trip just for shits and giggles.
The most important thing to realize, is while it is easy to see that substances are often used in the manner that you describe, this particular issue arises entirely from the person himself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I believe it is much more dangerous of a pitfall to seek an ideal of pure substantiality, or to assume a habit of blaming substance. Its kind of a like a bastardized eastern ideal.
I know many people like this.
The chief pragmatic issue of this discipline:
Attachment(the buddhist concept) is bastardized to instead mean addiction
The ideal of Enlightenment becomes the ideal and pursuit of purity, or true substantiality (the illusion of permanence.)
Quote:
God willing, we will prevail, in peace and freedom from fear, and in true health, through the purity and essence of our natural... fluids.
No, I do not think this is what whiskey is saying,  . Only that health should not be mistaken as purity.
In practice, medication can very easily become a debilitating attachment. But again, this attatchment arises completely from oneself. I am not at all claiming to have overcome this, I don't consider myself very enlightened, only I have become aware of my suffering to an extent to know this.
We can also have attatchment to television, different kinds of foods, shopping, etc. Everything Whiskey said about facing fears I completely agree with, but this has nothing to do with substance or substances. While medication could conceiveably make this much harder, if you use them wisely they can be great allies as well!
I won't go into a medication/shamanic philosophy, I only wished to establish that medication is not "bad". Plants and substances are dangerous and profound, so don't mistake what I am saying as medication is "good" either.
Some herbs are almost what I would consider completely safe though. Chamomile, St. John's wort, passion flower, valarian root, and many teas are all something I would go as far as to recommend (read up of course). Grow your own! They are subtle, but there is virtually no danger and they really are effective. Learn from these experiences, and you will develop your own shamanic philosophy.
Edited by daytripper23 (07/17/08 01:17 PM)
|
WhiskeyClone
Not here
Registered: 06/25/01
Posts: 13,826
Loc: Longitudinal Center of Ca...
Last seen: 12 hours, 19 minutes
|
Re: To medicate or to try and cope? [Re: daytripper23]
#8647245 - 07/17/08 02:21 PM (4 months, 16 days ago) |
|
|
I didn't mean to discount medication's usefulness as a tool. I'm not sure what you mean about purity being confused with health; I am not against drug use. They can be useful catalysts but they don't fix problems IMO. I suffered from anxiety and depression for years, and I made no progress until I began to address my fears directly instead of trying to circumvent them... I wasted a lot of my life trying to find a way around it instead of through it. If fear is the issue, you just can't avoid that process in you hope to ever be free. The OP's last post worried me because it sounded like "ok, I'll get a script, case closed, thanks folks." I just hope that's not the case. The original question was "medicate or try and cope", and if those are the two approaches being considered, the answer is obvious to me.
--------------------
-oOo-
"My children," said an old man to his boys scared by a figure in the dark entry, "my children, you will never see any thing worse than yourselves." As in dreams, so in the scarcely less fluid events of the world, every man sees himself as colossal, without knowing that it is himself. The good, compared to the evil which he sees, is as his own good to his own evil.
~ R.W. Emerson, "Spiritual Laws"
-oOo-
| |
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit 
Reply 
Quote 
