Posted by ayuda on January 22, 2003, at 11:39:48
In reply to How do you know if you have GAD?, posted by Ilene on January 22, 2003, at 9:24:12
> GAD is "general anxiety disorder," right? How is it different from regular anxiety? How do you know you are anxious and/or generally anxious? Seriously. I am so far from normal I don't know whether I would recognize it.
>
> Do ADs or mood stabilizers help? Are there any drugs specifically for GAD?Ilene --
Like you, I am so far from "normal" that I may be wrong in this, but from my experience, I think that the difference between regular ol' anxiety and GAD is that GAD is not situational, it is constant and obsessive and about almost every aspect of your life, and you have physical as well as emotional reactions often.Such as, you can have anxiety about flying, and every time you think about flying or fly you have anxiety, including panic attacks, but otherwise things don't cause that level of anxiety, or every once in a while you get anxious about the future, but it isn't obsessive and can be related to a certain fear. I tend to think of those as "normal" and not obsessive.
I think of GAD as more an approach to life -- tending to approach almost everything with a heightened level of anxiety, worrying about possible negative outcomes for many of life's tasks, the inability to stand-up for oneself or take a risk or be confrontational because of shaking, increased heartbeat, worry, fear, etc. Or also the inability to just let your life "happen" but to want to control everything because otherwise you will panic if everything does not go "perfectly."
I make these distinctions from the observations of suffering from GAD, then going on medications that make me feel more "normal" in my response to situations that would cause extreme anxiety without the medications. So I distinguish between how I normally react, and how I react while on meds -- like I said, may be right, may not be, but I hope this helps.
As for meds, some of the SSRIs now purport to cover GAD as well, such as Effexor XR and Lexapro. I can personally attest that they do, at least for me. There are other medications that only treat GAD, though since my main diagnosis is depression, my doctors have never treated the GAD alone (except in childhood, when I was on "kiddie tranquilizers"). I've taken Ativan (lorazepam) for anxiety, but that is not considered a maintenance drug by some doctors.
I hope some of this helps. Anxiety is not fun -- I know that is an understatement, but I encounter people, even doctors, who don't understand that you can't just get over a situation on your own, that you have no mechanism for it, because your anxiety has you on edge all the time.
Good luck with your treatment!
poster:ayuda
thread:137024
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030119/msgs/137044.html