Anxiety help?

[NewMary83 52]

Hey everyone! So I'm naturally a very anxious person! Years ago I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. They put me on medication that I didn't really like and so discontinued everything. I have been managing for the most part just fine. However since getting a date for surgery and everything becoming more real you know I'm a mess! I have decided to continue on with the therapist that I was seeing for my psych evaluation. I have an appointment wed I know the months and steps I have done to prepare for this are all a good thing! This surgery is the best choice I could make for myself but in moments of weakness I get so worked up! I'm thinking of asking my therapist if maybe an anxiety med would be ok at least to help me get through the next few weeks. I really don't want to chicken out of this surgery!! Anyone else going through something like this?

[Grateful_Love 114]

I'm pretty high strung to begin with and I work in a very anxiety provoking field as a crisis counselor. I'm constantly worried about clients. I find my anxiety gets out of control at night when I have particular cases that I "take home" with me, though not in a literal sense.

A few years ago I started seeing a psychiatrist who prescribed a mood stabilizer, Lamictal. It helps so I don't get too racy at any given point. He also prescribed a low dose anti anxiety med. I find the Lamictal does a pretty good job keeping me even keel and I take it nightly. For those moments when I feel like I am just too "keyed up" I will take the benzo. Probably like..3 times a month on average.

It definitely helps me. I also see a therapist tho, and I think learning my patterns and my triggers has helped more than anything.

I'm still pre-op, but I'm hoping I can maintain my general level of functioning after surgery with the help of these medicines.

Good luck to you. I say..try it out. What's the worst? You've already had the strength to start and stop one bc you didn't like it, so you can always do that again.

[Grateful_Love 114]

Also, I hope it didn't sound like I was minimizing the struggle. Because I'm totalllllly not. There's not just "a pill" that fixes everything and I was soo anti medication, thinking that I didn't want to be on one for my whole life, that it's for weak people, that I just needed to cope etc. However--anxiety is a strange bed fellow. For the longest time I thought I had depression type tendencies because I just couldn't get out of bed, I was afraid if being judged for things, I was afraid that id get into an accident when the roads were bad--all of those things made me not want to "go through" with my day.

It would make me want to stay in bed to avoid everything. I would get ridiculously sensitive. I would get really snappy and feel like not myself. It was terrible. And a part of it is probably depression..but most of it I truly believe was the anxiety. So it is literally debilitating.

Like I said earlier tho--therapy worked miracles. I still have day to day anxieties and I do get worked up sometimes and I do have to recognize when I'm too overwhelmed by xyz, but therapy helped me gain some insight into those things. And sometimes, I really do just need a little "help" in order to get back to a normal level for myself.

Honestly, look into things and talk with your therapist and reach out here. Anxiety is no joke! But it can be mastered for the most part.