Anxiety

[bburtner@moran]

Anyone suffer from anxiety,or GAD?Been battling it for years now,it has hindered me in many ways.Pressure at work mainly,come friday at closing time it seems to subside a bit,but come sunday eve,wow it comes on like gangbusters! Been at the same job for 41 years,purchasing agent thankless work...Can not retire yet,another 6 years Lord willing...Brian

 

[ButteMT61]

Been in that trap for years. I wish I had an answer. Some things have helped.
Diet. Eat better. Eat less
Exercise. I've lost 30+ pounds and it does help.
See someone you can talk to. I'm not taking drugs (occasionally I do use a sleep aid) but I have. Too many side effects.
Take a 15-20 minute break during the day (if you can) to listen to some calming music. I have a lot my doc plays during my acupuncture sessions. And I wear an eye mask to keep out light.
Try acupuncture. My doc is a mix of Eastern & Western medicine and is fantastic.

All those things are helping me. But it's no cure. I still suffer wildly, depending in the day. I completely sympathize and empathize. I've admitted myself to the hospital to get tests as I was sure I was having a heart attack, stroke, aneurism. It's no fun. I wish you luck.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Not exactly. Depression was my nemesis. The closest thing to a cure I have found is a diet supplement called Sam E . This is a substance everyone has in their body but most of us can use more of it. Very good for the nerves, also it is the only thing that will repair and regrow worn joints. It also cures liver disease.

In Europe Sam E is the most used remedy for depression and the like.

A friend suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome, I thought the Sam E would help heal her hands and relieve the pain. She tried it and it worked. After a few months she stopped taking the Sam E. Her husband told me "man I got to get her taking that stuff again. Was she ever a lot easier to live with". Ha ha ha ha. She was taking it for her joints which it helped, but at the same time it made her less nervous and anxious and put her in a better mood.

I don't know if it will help you but it can't possibly hurt. It is not a prescription you can buy it at health food stores and some pharmacies. Walmart stocks it. It is expensive but if it works for you it's worth it.

You need to take it for a few weeks to see if it will work for you. The effects can be subtle. I took it for a week and asked myself if it was doing anything? I thought about it and answered, no I don't notice any effect at all. I just sort of feel normal.

Then I asked myself when was the last time you felt normal for 7 days in a row. The answer was never.

After taking it for several years the effects seem to get better and more pronounced over time. In other words you should notice relief in a week or 2 and if you keep taking it, will keep getting better and better.

I noticed an improvement after a week but I had to look for it. After 3 weeks the pains in my knees and back went away which surprised me as I had had problems there for years. The Sam E worked on my knees and joints and I suppose on my liver as well although I never had a problem there that I know of.

Worth a try as it can't possibly hurt you and it might do you a lot of good.

 

[ButteMT61]

FWIW, I tried Sam E and many other "magic pills". Some natural, some Rx. The natural stuff never worked and the Rx all had side effects. There's no shortcut. And believe Mel I tried to find one.

 

[bburtner@moran]

Thanks folks,I am obsessive about what I eat,same weight 160#at 60 years old,well next week 9/28 yikes I am getting old,heath wise so far so good,except for some osteopenia(low T level caused that)comes with getting old.I have not even taken my handmade kayak out this season,or gone trout fishing,or upland hunting,tried to get back into B&W medium format photography,bought a Hasselblad Super Wide C for landscape&architecural photos the camera sits in its case.Maybe its another mid life thing,but its eating me up..

 

[Stanley Doble]

Have you guys tried drinking? How about smoking dope? It seems to work for my friends.

 

[bburtner@moran]

Nope! don`t drink at all,and don`t smoke dope.

 

[ButteMT61]

Very little alcohol and no dope. Dulling your mind doesn't work. It might be fun for a minute, but no way to go.

 

[Aerojoe]

For me it is always amazing that somebody can be self-conscious that he/she is anxious or depressed. I came from a place where you are not thought to have these kind of feelings. I mean, in school, college or at work, you're not allowed to leave because you feel anxiety or you are depressed. If you do, you would be kicked out at once.

Then, suicide is a completely taboo topic. When somebody commits suicide here, nobody talks about it. They'll tell the guy died after an accident or an illness if they have the chance.

Then you go to the north of Europe where they actually have suicide statistics and their rates are high, and it is amazing how seriously they take when a student or a worker says they are anxious or depressed. They take action pretty fast.

 

[Aerojoe]

Very little alcohol and no dope

Never too late to start friend I don't do dope either. Whenever I smoke weed, I get sleepy in a matter of minutes. [huh]

 

[Feraud]

I have not even taken my handmade kayak out this season,or gone trout fishing,or upland hunting,tried to get back into B&W medium format photography,bought a Hasselblad Super Wide C for landscape&architecural photos the camera sits in its case.Maybe its another mid life thing,but its eating me up..

There's your problem..get that kayak out on a river and do some fishing!
I feel your pain, my wife has anxiety issues and it can be tough to manage. Keep on truckin'!

 

[Tomasso]

Whenever I smoke weed, I get sleepy in a matter of minutes. [huh]

Some folks use it as a sleep aid.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A warm cup of Ovaltine is a lot cheaper.

 

[Aerojoe]

Some folks use it as a sleep aid.

I see the point lol You put a joint on my lips and I'm snoring in a couple of minutes. At any time.

A warm cup of Ovaltine is a lot cheaper.

I don't think we have it around here. I haven't too much trouble to sleep but if I did, I'd prefer the joint than a pill aid. I'm pretty sure the pill is made of opium. I bet weed is healthier.

 

[Canadian]

I agree. Ovaltine makes sense. I also enjoy herbal mint teas, fruit teas, etc. I no longer drink, but having exotic teas in the house makes it easier for me to have a calming, yet exotic drink.

Tom

 

[bburtner@moran]

You guy`s brighten up my day!

 

[Aerojoe]

I actually drink different teas too. Instead of taking painkillers or any kind of pill aid, I drink lime tea. I need 2 or 3 cups but since it is harmless, no problem with the dose.

 

[Feraud]

The best hot coco ever to sooth nerves or relax with on a snowy day..

 

[sheeplady]

I tend to have an anxious personality, particularly when it comes to certain personal things and I can go really off kilter and get into these really anxious and foul moods for it, blow my role in how bad things are out of portion, get really fatal about my own self-worth, etc.. Part of it is that I wasn't modeled a reasonable way to deal with my own mistakes as a child, which had to do with the emotionally volatile and unstable environment I grew up in.

What is helping me now is therapy. I see a social worker therapist (she takes my health insurance) and one of the exercises I am doing is called a mental scale. Whenever I start to get upset at myself, I think of how bad the thing is on a scale of 1 to 10. 10 is really really bad, 1 is really really good. I'm supposed to choose a number, think through why it is that number, and comparative things I would place at that number. Then I am supposed to place the current thing I am anxious about in the context of the rest of my life, on that scale 1 to 10 of how my life is going overall. I've only started working on this, but it does seem helpful and by the time I'm done thinking it through I've gotten through some of the worst of it. It also distracts me from my fatal imaginings that I tend to get into.

For instance, if I am going to be late to a meeting, I sit back and evaluate how bad that is on my scale. Then I compare how bad that is to some of the things that could possibly happen to a person. I might rank being late to a meeting as a 2, maybe a 3. Rather than berating myself on end about how I could have left the house earlier, how bad it will look if I walk in late, etc. etc., I just say to myself, it's only a 2. And right now my life is pretty much a 1, which means I am incredibly lucky. It works for me.

I know a lot of people are highly critical of the value of therapy, but if you go into it with goals in mind and really do your homework, I think it can be a hugely positive thing in your life. I've only gone to about 4 sessions, and my life has already improved greatly. Although, I think one of the reasons why it is helpful to me is my problem is a totally in my psyche (I need better life strategies) rather than chemical (having an issue caused by brain chemistry).

 

[randooch]

A warm cup of Ovaltine is a lot cheaper.

Brian, if you can, pay a visit to a nutritionist. So many ailments are diet-related. And at the risk of having my head bitten clean off, I respectfully disagree with an Ovaltine recommendation. See why below:


Here is Ovaltine’s ingredient list:

Sugar, Alkalized Cocoa, Whey (from Milk), and 1.5% or Less of: Salt, Carrageenan, Mono- and Diglycerides, Artificial Vanilla Flavor, Yellow 6, Red 40, Blue 1. Vitamins and Minerals: Magnesium Oxide, Dicalcium Phosphate, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Vitamin E Acetate, High Chromium Yeast, Ferrous Orthophosphate (Iron), Biotin, Zinc Sulfate, Niacinamide, Vitamin A Palmitate, Copper Gluconate, Vitamin B5 (Calcium Pantothenate), Vitamin B1 (Thiamin Hydrochloride), Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride).

Similar to Nesquik, the first ingredients are sugar and cocoa. Whey is the liquid left over from the process of turning milk to cheese. The water is then evaporated and a powder is left over. The mono and di-glycerides act as an emulsifier to keep all the elements of the powder mixed together. Artificial vanilla flavor is much cheaper than real vanilla, and who knows what’s in it and how it is created.

Then a triumvirate of artificial colors that have been show to cause hyperactivity and other issues in kids. Just lovely. Perhaps this is where the “rich” chocolaty color comes from…

The rest is a long list of added minerals and vitamins that are so much better when begotten from real foods, such as fruits and vegetables, instead of a powder added to milk in the morning.

A serving is defined as 4 tablespoons, and contains 18 grams of sugar. That’s three and a half teaspoons. Thankfully you can choose to use only 1 tablespoon or two instead.