Stress Center Peer Support

When you have your anxiety under control??? I am always looking for an answer as to when this all started. If I can't put a finger on knowing that, how will I know when this is REALLY under control????

I am working the program - more slowly than I should, I am sure. But don't know if there is really any improvement yet. I wake up anxious, stay anxious all day and have horrible, horrible, DP/DR symptoms. These seem to be my biggest issues - and can't get them under control. I have tried 4 or 5 Anti-depressants, none of them work, and my doctor just seems to want to keep trying more. What does seem to work is Xanax, but of course, afraid of dependency on them and the doctor won't renew them as it has been 4 months on them.

Looking for support on when do you know this agony ends???

Sue,

This might sound flippant but... you will know your anxiety is under control when you don't feel like you HAVE to know it is under control. I know, I know... easier said than done. However, if you can, step back a bit and observe yourself... right now it seems that you are obsessing a bit over all the details: WHEN did it start? HOW much longer? Will it EVER end? Just the tone of your questions is anxiety producting? By asking yourself these questions over and over you are telling your mind that THIS is the worst that could happen or Omg, what if THAT happened? Then your mind starts watching for those very things. After all you just put your intellingent mind on high alert for those very things. And, guess what? Your magnifcent mind starts to find evidence of the worst. See how the cycle starts?

The program works. Start finding evidence, every day, of everything that is going right that day. Look for ANY little scrap that shows you are making progress. Praise praise praise yourself for every thing you do. I wrote all my victories down on my calendar. A couple of times I even sent myself a greeting card when I had a particularly big breakthrough. I couldn't depend on other people to pat me on the back so I started doing it myself! (yes, it felt wierd at first. LOL) But, the good feeling totally overshadowed the wierd.

Keep relaxing, keep slowing your thoughts, and start catching yourself when you get all caught up in it.