How Mother Found Her Helper

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  Posted By: TX_Cari @ 02/13/2009 3:57:14 PM

  As a person who has been on both sides of the issue, prescribed anti-anxiety drugs and an abuser of anti-anxiety drugs, there is a very easy analogy to make. There are people who do not understand the relief a person who really needs these medications get, but I bet you all at one time have had a prescription for pain medication. Pain medication is also abused regularly, however when you took it because you had a legitmate medical reason, did you get "high" from your Vicodin? No! It simply made your pain easier to bear and made you feel more like yourself before the pain. It's exactly the same with people who need anti-anxiety medication.

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  Posted By: cbaker31222 @ 02/12/2009 11:38:00 AM

  I don't think all these drugs should be painted with the same broad brush. Paxil, for example, honestly saved my life when I was suffering from severe clinical depression. It is NOT a pill you can just pop anytime you are stressed, but rather is taken once a day. Pills like valium and xanax are a different story because they can be abused based on the "take as needed for stress" prescription. So some people treat them like a street drug for that reason.
  
  However, for people who genuine panic attacks, these drugs are very necessary. Anyone who has ever had or witnessed a true panic attack knows it is absolutely horrifying and no person should be made to suffer like that if there is a way to control them.
  
  Let's be careful about condemning all these drugs for all uses, and calling them all "anit-anxiety" drugs.
  
  I would not be here today if it were not for Paxil.

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  Posted By: CCKC in PA @ 02/12/2009 10:38:34 AM

  My story is a bit different from what i read here; I started self-medicating four years ago with alcohol and found myself with an alcohol problem. Unfortunately i was arrested for two DUIs in a very short period of time and entered into a prgralm that included counseling. My counselor, after several sessions, referred me to the clinic's psychaitrist who, after another several sessions, diagnosed me with Bi-Polar 1 disorder. I do not define myself as "I am bi-polar," but I will very reluctantly say "I have bi-polar disorder." The general feeling is that if you claim a mental illness (which anxiety and bi-polar are), you are somehow less valued as a person--there is something "wrong with you." Which there is! I am on a combination of Cymbalta, Geodon, Focalin, Ambien and Ativan for my bi-polar and anxiety and sleep problems. I will be facing a short period in jail for my DUI transgressions, and my biggest fear is that they will stop or change the medications that have been working well for me. i can say that my mood have leveled off, I'm not as manic as I used to be (3 hrs of sleep a night, several high-level projects going on at once, taking care of three kids and foster kids, volunteering at the school, writing for the local paper, freelance writing for magazines on the side, etc.). I've curtailed ,my activities and am much more able to devote time to my social relations on a real level, not just a "get 'er done' level. I know that what i did was wrong (DUIs) but frankly when your brain is going through a manic phase rational thought goes out the window. Trust me on that. I can look back on the things I've done in the past and realize where the manic behavior fit in. Thank God I have a loving and supportive family that realized that the "good" parts of Mom were still in there. By the way, my pain and horror at going through the manic and depressive stages of bi-polar made my 17 year old daughter come to me and confess that she thought she had the same problem.. We did not hesitate to get her into a psychiatrist, and she was also diagnosed with bi-polar. Neither of us want to live with the medications for the rest of our lives (she is on depakote and serequil, so we are being treated differently as to our own problems). But the reality of not having the chemical help to balance us--to help us reach our full potential--scares me