No Medication For Me

[Estelle]

I have no desire to use medication, talk to a doctor or a therapist. Luckily no one recommends any of this to me, whether they don't care or they just think I'll refuse, which I will. I want to take my own approaches that don't result addiction or anything like that. Things I do currently are drinking any herbal tea I can get my hands on, going for ridiculously long walks, going on here... Any suggestions for anything else? I may want to try meditation if anyone who does that wants to suggest anything.

[kev]

Ridiculously long walks is a good start. Exercise is one of the more effective ways to deal with anxiety. My only other suggestion is to mix it up with short, vigorous exercise. The "runner's high" is not a myth.

Other than that, I've got nothing.

[Paper Moon]

Hi Estelle,
I agree with you about medication. I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing… it clearly helps a lot of people and that is the main thing. But it seems like sometimes it is used as the one and only option… and therefore it gets overused.
Medication can sometimes become a crutch and I would rather try and initialize change myself, with things like exercise, therapy, or just trying to expose myself to new situations/people as much as possible. So I would only take medication if it was a dire but temporary situation.
Do you think though that herbal teas are a bit or a middle ground? Their whole point is that they too have substances that can help to lessen depression or anxiety (like medication)… yet because they are “natural” or not “concentrated”… I (and many people) tend to see them more like a supplement. No different than taking vitamins or having a balanced/healthy diet.
I’m curious to know what herbal teas you’ve tried. I’ve tried St. John’s wort… but would like to know about others. Can you suggest any?

[Edwin]

Medication is the only option when you want some serious relief.

Apart from medication, any substance which improves your cognitive abilities and decreases stress will have a certain benefit. These include but are not limited to:

- Magnesium (-glycinate/taurinate)
- Omega-3 fatty-acids (EPA)
- Zinc
- B vitamins

[nothing to fear]

Originally Posted by Edwin

Medication is the only option when you want some serious relief.

not really. medication doesn't always even work to the point where you have serious relief. we/i also don't even know what Estelle's specific problems are, but any meds i have gotten for the purpose of helping my SA, or that claimed would also help my SA, did not give me a major amount of relief.
unless it's benzos (or amphetamine, but i'll disclude that since it's very rare they are given out for social anxiety), a lot take weeks to show any effects in diminishing someone's symptoms.

i can't imagine it being the only option, too. unless we are talking about medication for schizophrenia or other very severe mental illnesses where it is a clear chemical imbalance and any therapy of any kind won't offer any relief.
for SA if we are talking long-term then probably one of the most effective forms of treatment is CBT and exposure.
(i'm not against medication at all, since i do use it and and there are a lot of cases where it will be very very helpful, i just despise how it is prescribed by doctors and how treatment in general is given to patients with mood disorders/mental illnesses in general.)


reading about and learning how to do CBT would be helpful in battling your negative thoughts related to anxiety and/or depression (whatever your main problems are). you can do it yourself or with the help of a therapist as well.

[arthur56]

assuming you have SA, refusal to take mads suggests you are too proud and arrogant, IMO

as part of recovery you also need to accept advice on CBT, relaxation and to learn coping skills, you perhaps would also refuse to accept any advice on these subjects

[RockiNToM]

Why is this even in the medication section? Seems like an arrogant statement to me.

[MavenMI6Agent009]

Originally Posted by RockiNToM

Why is this even in the medication section? .

Agreed. I think this should be moved to the coping section.

[Cast Away]

I dont understand why you are against meds. As far as addicting goes, its unusual to have a addiction problem to meds that are therapeautic and provide results.

[Ash09]

I'm sorry to say that I don't think your going to get anywhere without therapy or medication, this is a serious mental disorder it's not going to be cured by herbal tea or meditation.

[Cast Away]

Originally Posted by Ash09

I'm sorry to say that I don't think your going to get anywhere without therapy or medication, this is a serious mental disorder it's not going to be cured by herbal tea or meditation.

100% agree, dont be scared of meds, we all got dealt a bad card in life but help is out there so dont sit there in agony.

[Estelle]

to be dependent on medication is not necessarily getting through it yourself or learning how to cope, it's taking meds when you feel pressure but without them you'll be stuck and won't know what to do because there was no true personal effort. I don't think I have it severely, I'm mainly looking for ways to relax. I try to deal with my anxiety by confronting the problem, without meds, and afterwards if i still feel anxious i need a way to cool down and relax. Maybe I could have reworded it, but we all have unique cases and sometimes secondary disorders that accompany sa that would make it harder to deal with. I'm not saying I don't need these things, but I feel fine without them for now and would like to stay that way if I can. Some people do have will power and don't need help every single step of the way. Sorry if you feel I've shunned your methods but if I can't do it on my own I may have to look into them anyways.

[Estelle]

oh and thanks for the support, telling me I can't possibly do it without all of these things when some people already have

[TigerLilyie]

I'm on the same boat with you girl! I like natural things. It's better! I like how you go out for walks. Exercising really helps!!! I've found yoga to be relaxing. I should start doing that again.

[TigerLilyie]

I also believe that in serious cases--people may have to take medications. I just think a lot of people do not seek out the therapy to fix the problems. (I know I did for years) I feel better, and healthier now that I do not take medications.

[bowlingpins]

Good for you, you won't have to worry about side effects and any long term risks associated w/ taking psych. meds. Therapy works just as well as medication for depression and anxiety according to many reports. The most commonly used therapy is CBT. Here's a good book on CBT, recommended by a psychiatrist I know.
http://www.amazon.com/Cognitive-Beha.../dp/0470018380

ps. not sure if you are against self therapy too since you mention you don't want to see therapists in your post...

[ChrissyQ]

Selftherapy.org free audio tapes VERY helpful! Closest to CURE that i've seen !
also the site linked on my signature read 8 pages very helpful can CURE!

[Estelle]

Originally Posted by arthur56

assuming you have SA, refusal to take mads suggests you are too proud and arrogant, IMO

as part of recovery you also need to accept advice on CBT, relaxation and to learn coping skills, you perhaps would also refuse to accept any advice on these subjects

Actually, what I asked for were suggestions for relaxing, which would include coping, so I would gladly accept those. I just don't want to talk to a therapist, at least not before I ask others who are dealing with it about what works for them. I may find it hard to express my exact problems to a therapist or doctor and would have to go through trial and error to see which meds would actually work for me. That all sounds very exhausting and would probably add more stress, and at the moment I couldn't keep steady appointments due to the fact that I moving to Toronto. Meds aren't always the only option.

[Estelle]

Thanks for the help everyone, I hear about CBT so much I'll probably get into that. I didn't even know what it was a few days ago.

[Phibes]

Originally Posted by kev

Ridiculously long walks is a good start. Exercise is one of the more effective ways to deal with anxiety. My only other suggestion is to mix it up with short, vigorous exercise. The "runner's high" is not a myth.

Other than that, I've got nothing.

Excellent point! I'm in the process of saving for an new bicycle so that I can do some exercise which is fun. And also, with walking you're limited to a certain speed so pretty much if you're walking down the st and another person is coming your way you cant really avoid the possible greeting and then having to be polite and say something back but if you're on a bike you can just go really fast past them.