Posted by omega man on June 9, 2002, at 2:31:57
In reply to MAJOR Benzo responder...what best A.D's?, posted by jay on June 8, 2002, at 5:38:08
being pre-disposed to anxiety means benzos basically....AD's make me anxious too..although I have wide enough experience to use AD's for many other reasons which help my life and have a knock on effect in reducing anxiety long term..
I had to learn the hard way I was hooked on benzos for eight years....Uk Pdocs decided to stop me and the withdrawal made me ill for three...I still need them now..but I realized that much of my anxiety was irrational thinking and a misunderstanding of me in my relation to life...but how to explain that ??
I spent my three years withdrawing doing intense study on the nature of the brain, and the theosphy of practically every major life subject you'll see in a university library...
I had to learn to use my mind properly..and while I realize my amygdala may be the size of walnut..and needs some help I also realize that adjusting my life and hobbies and relationships and what I do for a living...eating exercise etc has more profound effects on stopping it swelling up.....especially how I react to events...
benzos would be just great without the addiction cycle....
but why are they addictive ?
the brain produces GABA anyway...not enough in our case perhaps...perhaps its the lovely floaty effects on the body that induce addiction..
Chemically at the moment there are few options..although omega 3 helps my anxiety by creating the space for me to remember my anti-anxiety CBT training ....sometimes life will throw too much at me and beat me into a jumpy wreck...but its better to wait for that to happenas benzos cannot be used safely all the time...so thats when I reach for trazepam....(I would recommend that as it does not induce pleasure craving like Xanax)..in fact the grogginess of trazepam...makes it only usefull for when anxiety is driving you beyond other relief..
until we get something that helps anxiety safely..and let you live life like how you want...it means living to how you need to..
I found I use lots of non-drug strategies to keep the need to take benzos right down to perhaps two to three times a week...many times I don't need them for months..like summer...but mostly being involved in activities with other anxiety sufferers helps us to get thru it all by relying on each other rather than the drugs..
poster:omega man
thread:109142
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020602/msgs/109237.html