Hi, I'm a sufferer with anxiety and it's bed fellow depression on and off over the last 20 odd years, this is my 5th relapse due to abusing alcohol whilst on anti D's.
im looking for reassurance that one of the condition is to exaggerate issues or problems you had prior to becoming ill?
Alcohol is a depressant so it would effect you even if you were not taking anti depressants.
What did you want reassurance about?
Hi sarah, I know re alcohol what IU was trying to say is that I may as well have not taken my maintenence dose of anti depressants because of the drinking, I was cancelling out any benefits and also become vulnerable to relapse, which has happened.
I have identified a number of areas I cognitively need to change as I keep a diary now when I relapse so I learn more each time, and my long term goal is to be medication free.
To re phrase my question does anyone else find they get stuck and obsessed with pondering issues which wouldnt have bothered them much or cause any anxiety previously?
ps.. Im not drinking anymore!
That's great because you seem to have great insight into your issue Yes most definitely. I worry about things i did not do previously, I think thats part of the anxiety issue. Its what worry is. I found metacognitive therapy (MCT) really worked well for me in terms of cognitive patterns and processes. Having a worry if a type 1 thought, worrying about your worry ie "why am i worrying about the worry" is type 2 according to MCT. For me that is the reason that some people do not end up with an anxiety illness, because they do not have the type 2. They accept type 1 as a 'worry' and allow it to run its course.
self medication of alcohol for depression happens a lot. It is a hard habit to break but if you can stop the drinking you will feel all the better for it.
Richard
Cheers Sarah, yes I've been here a few times and I'm currently doing an online self help course on worry as I am a worrier normally, it's called "What Me Worry" and it's a great modular course with tasks built in but I will also look into MCT.
Ive always had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol it since my teens and realised that my weekly routines revolved around the evenings I would drink and if I didn't have enough in to get me hammered on the three nights I did drink I would get uptight, I was useless over weekends so it took tole on relationship with my wife and kids as I was "grumpy" so whilst I'm not going to abstain completely I'm going to get help to change it to a healthy relationship once I'm feeling much better, in the meantime I'm not drinking.
If I find I can't then it's full stop, I did it with smoking and whilst I get tempted to have a cig every so often I know full well if I have one I'll buy a packet, I still say I smoke just not had a cig for 15 years!
Im currently having obsessive thoughts about me wanting to leave my wife and getting stuck in having that internal dialogue with myself trying to convince myself not to (we've been married 22 years) send gave our issues, she has an obsessive cleaning issue and also gets very "grumpy" and I'd forever telling me I don't help her (i do loads but have always said I won't be drawn into her obsessive cleaning) so we've had loads of arguments in the past and I was going to suggest a trial separation on the whole to get her to realise exactly how much I do for her, I've left a few times but always go back (same day) because I want to go back after calming down ..... I could go on but I'm now feeling incredibly guilty and have it swimming around my head obsessively so I have to block the urge to analyse it. The thoughts are anxiety provoking and I also know I'm obsessing about it which drives me crazy.
I know it's part of my condition and it will settle down to a healthy thought process as I start to recover again, but when I'm in the grips of an attack the logical part of me goes west and I seek reassurance.
Any how there you go, I couldn't have written that yesterday.
Nice chatting Sarah.
neil
I see. Well good for you for recognising the alcohol problem and dealing with it. The thing is with thoughts, once you engage them then they become even more annoying, 'loud' and apparent. Have you thought about not arguing with the thoughts, just allowing them to 'be' in the mind? Just because you're having them it does not mean you will act on them, they are harmless. I undertand your predicament, one of mine was 'i will panic when my partner comes home' and i would argue and agnoise over this thought, why i was having it and so on. In the end i realised it was just a thought, like thinking the sky is green. Although it provoked my anxiety, it was just a statement that was neither true or false. This really helped me. X