Depression, Fear and Anxiety

[Oats]

I get really paranoid and agitated out of the Blue, while we are directly commanded not to be paranoid and in fear.

I take medicine but it doesn't help, I still get crazy thoughts and hear voices, its really frustrating because they cause me to be in a bad mood all of the time....

I was supposed to have therapy, but no one ever called back, I dont have perfect habits, I need to work on some of those,

What should I do? :bigfrown

 

[Caroline Vigilante]

Dear Oats: Thank you for your honesty and open heart. I am always amazed how transparent and true some people can be...thank you, it is always humbling to those around you First, pray. Jesus can heal all things...by his stripes, we are healed Isaiah 53.5 Phil 4:13 I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Stand on those scriptures, tape them to the fridge -- so you see them every time you eat. As we all eat physically, we all need to nourish our bodies spiritually with The Word of God. Take one step forward doing this and God will take 1000 steps toward you to pull you through this. Secondly, try taking B-Complex twice daily. B vitamins help boost your mood amazingly -- it has helped me a lot. Just make sure you take the B's with food as sometimes it can get you a little queasy...but not if you take it with dinner and/or breakfast Hugs, Caroline <><

 

[coolstorybro]

Therapy in the long run is your best bet but takes a while to start benefiting (months to years) so try calling some other places that will actually return your calls and really try to find a therapist that will work for you. keep in mind that most people go through many therapists before they find the one that works for them so don't give up on that front.

What drugs are good for is the short term. So talk to your doc and try different doses for your current meds and if they still don't work switch to different ones and keep trying to find a dose and combination of drugs that will even you out till the therapy can kick in. (then get off the drugs) But this process can again take months so you need to be persistent which is a huge pain the anus.

As far as SSRI anti depressants go, don't stay on them for more than a year. Most doctors are more than happy to keep there patients on them for decades which is likely why people hear such bad things about them.

And don't trust general practice doctors, a monkey in a lab coat could do their job better than they and they have no clue what the meds they prescribe actually do. soooo get a psychiatrist who knows their stuff if you don't have one.

This is the stuff I've learned over the past year when i was going through Anxiety/depression stuff and dealing with medical "professionals".

 

[Scandinavian27]

I have struggled in the past with anxiety and intrusive thoughts, and quite honestly, the only thing that helped me was complete faith and prayer in Jesus' name. I don't knock therapy at all, as some people can really improve by having someone to console in and bounce ideas off. However, It just didn't help me at all. I also wouldn't recommend medication, mate, no matter how tempting you think the benefits would be. Because in truth, meds do nothing to help your improvement, they just suppress the pain and are actually detrimental to getting better because you're not dealing with your problems. God bless you!

 

[Caroline Vigilante]

I agree with Scandanavian -- drugs are just a bandaid. Sometimes needed but the FIRST thing we should all do is run to Jesus and let Him take over....

 

[Christ_empowered]

OK, I'm pro-meds for severe problems, because I have severe problems and taking meds has made the difference between being completely dependent on my parents and visibly crazed and being a functioning member of society. I also do talk therapy, which helps tremendously, if you can find the right therapist. My therapist is a Christian, so I trust him more than I would some random person who isn't a believer.

Do talk to your doctor. Sometimes they'll come up with things that you wouldn't think would help. For instance, I was on a full dose of an antipsychotic for my Bipolar I disorder. I started hearing voices and experiencing paranoia. My shrink added a cheap, old SSRI antidepressant, and voila! The voices died down, the paranoia subsided, and my social phobia got better.

In general, I agree that you shouldn't stay on antidepressants too long. However, there are exceptions. For instance, I have recurrent Psychotic Depression. I'll probably be on an antipsychotic+antidepressant for a long, long time; its that or try your luck with lithium or electroshock.

So please, talk to your shrink. If your mental health system is set up anything like mine, they can also hook you up with therapy, sometimes for free. The drugs aren't perfect, but if you have severe mental illness they can make all the difference. Now that I'm medicated properly, therapy is more effective and my stress level has gone down since I'm out and about doing stuff in the world, so my symptoms have improved beyond what you'd expect from meds alone.

Last but not least, do have faith. It took me a long time to realize that God is interested in my mental health, but I'm convinced that He is. I pray for strength and the ability to overcome obstacles. I personally feel that God led me to my current shrink and therapist.

 

[Christ_empowered]

oh yeah, and tell your doctor if your medication is causing depression. I've personally found that Depakote and Seroquel did that to me; some people find that the antipsychotic I take makes them sad. It really depends on brain chemistry, I guess. I think antipsychotics have a reputation for putting people in a bad mood ("dysphoria"), but a lot of times its because the dose is too high, its the wrong medication for the patient, or it means that the patient has underlying depression/anxiety that isn't being adequately treated.


You said you have schizoaffective, right? You might want to see if you could switch meds entirely. Not everybody with schizoaffective takes an antipsychotic, and sometimes you can do just fine taking a low dose antipsychotic along with something else (like Depakote+low dose Risperdal).

Also, some antipsychotics are worse than others. Haldol is notorious for making people sad. Thorazine tends to make people sad at higher doses; sometimes all you have to do is lower the dose. The newer drugs--Geodon, Abilify, Zyprexa, Seroquel, etc.--can help depression and anxiety, especially when you add in an antidepressant.

 

[Oats]

oh yeah, and tell your doctor if your medication is causing depression. I've personally found that Depakote and Seroquel did that to me; some people find that the antipsychotic I take makes them sad. It really depends on brain chemistry, I guess. I think antipsychotics have a reputation for putting people in a bad mood ("dysphoria"), but a lot of times its because the dose is too high, its the wrong medication for the patient, or it means that the patient has underlying depression/anxiety that isn't being adequately treated.


You said you have schizoaffective, right? You might want to see if you could switch meds entirely. Not everybody with schizoaffective takes an antipsychotic, and sometimes you can do just fine taking a low dose antipsychotic along with something else (like Depakote+low dose Risperdal).

Also, some antipsychotics are worse than others. Haldol is notorious for making people sad. Thorazine tends to make people sad at higher doses; sometimes all you have to do is lower the dose. The newer drugs--Geodon, Abilify, Zyprexa, Seroquel, etc.--can help depression and anxiety, especially when you add in an antidepressant.

I take Zyprexa...doesn't work

 

[Richy graven]

Depression,fear and anxiety are nothing.These are the creation of our mind.These things damage our body.So we should avoid depression and fear and don't think anything we just care our health.

 

[Christ_empowered]

hey man. The way I look at it, there's "mental illness" and then there's "severe mental illness." I have severe mental illness. Odds are pretty good that I'll be taking at least 1 medication (probably an antipsychotic) for years to come, possibly forever.

If zyprexa isn't working, talk to your doctor. It could be a dosage issue. You might need a different antipsychotic. You may be someone who doesn't respond to antipsychotics (about 30ish% of people w/ psychotic disorders won't respond to an antipsychotic), in which case you could be put on depakote or lithium or some other psychiatric medication.

Hallucinations, agitation, and paranoia are really, really not something you want to allow to take over your life. Some people do recover w/o meds (I think 30% or so), and therapy can really help improve your life and may decrease or eliminate your need for meds.

Please talk to your prescriber, pray, and keep the faith.

 

[Lewis]

In some people medication is the only way to go, you must remember sometimes God will not do miracles on some people, I have a bipolar disorder, it runs on my dad's side of the family and from what I can see about 10 of us have it, and there might be more. But anyway sometimes you might have to be on medication for years, there is just no way of getting around it in some people. Lithium works for me and I started taking Zoloft when it first came out in the early 90's along side the Lithium. My disorder started to turn around when I read Dr Kay Redfield Jamison's book the Unquiet Mind, she is the leading authority on bipolar problems in the U.S. well really the world, she did some crazy stuff in the past being that she is bipolar too, I would suggest this book to anybody who has a bipolar disorder. This book will give you a full understanding of it as well as what can be done. You will see yourself in her, she even went out and bought a horse one time while living in an apartment and as well as trying to commit suicide. but anyway with the help of God after reading that book I began to get a better grasp on this disorder. Also Dr. Kay is a Christian. You can read about her in the below link. The stuff she was doing I would say hey that's me, throughout the book. I learned from her that when our bipolar brains are scanned when we are on the manic side. The colors are much more pronounced, she said like a Christmas tree very bright and vibrant. but when we are on the down side our brains color activity is very dark blue's and green's. These bright colors is over activity of the brain, and boy do I know about that, feelings of being super human, and racing thoughts that will not slow down. You feel like a super being, but on the downside the dark blue's and green's you don't want to get out of bed or interact with people. Just little stuff like that made me begin to understand my illness. And that it is not my fault it was handed down to me. But it becomes my fault when I don't treat it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Redfield_Jamison

 

[Daniel55]

Depression, fear and anxiety are the old things that are the part of psyche and that remains with human unless they are sorted out.

 

[Lewis]

Depression, fear and anxiety are the old things that are the part of psyche and that remains with human unless they are sorted out.

''''''''''''''''HUH''''''''''''''':o

 

[Kitit]

Depression normally have to face to the person who have the burden of free times and most of the times all alone. The best solution to remove the depression is be busy in your life.