Is giving in to medication a weakness?

np

This is great. I much prefer this approach to medication. I’ll follow your research and do it myself. Thanks

Hi Loz, thanks for you input. It sounds like you have had some challenging times, but doing better now.(if I’m reading it right) It certainly seems to be a rollercoaster, and one people largely have to ride on their own as I find GP’s and other professionals are guessing a lot of the time. Definitely going to try meditation.

A few years ago, I had an issue with my Anxiety and rather than listen to me, my managers decided they knew better. I ended up getting to the point where I was crying so much that I was hitting myself in the head, I suppose I was trying to make the crying stop, I'm not certain. It's something I've never done before, so I decided to go to my GP and have a chat to them about anti-depressants. I tried Sertraline but switched over to Citalopram a few months later. The Sertraline made me feel like a zombie, I can't really tell with the Citalopram as a few weeks after I switched to it, I had a motorcycle accident.

Both drugs 'evened' me out and I stopped trying to hurt myself. It did what it had to do at a time that I needed it. But after my accident, I developed PTSD and found that I couldn't tell what was symptom and what was side effect. The management situation had been dealt with (sort of) and I knew that I could deal better with my counselling if I knew what was going on. It took several months of withdrawal to come off them.

I had another situation with management last year, not quite the same, however because of me PTSD counselling and subsequently finding out that I may be on the spectrum, I am in a stronger position than I was, both in understanding how I'm affected by certain situations at work, and also how to deal with them. It means that I don't feel the need to return to the Anti-depressants as I know I can deal with them through other means such as meditation, diet (one day I'd like to include exercise but I'm quite squishy and jiggly at the moment so that is going to take some additional poking and prodding).

I knew someone years ago whose Anxiety was caused by a chemical imbalance. For her, medication was a necessity. For me, it stopped me from hurting myself and numbed me down until I could deal with it in other ways. It has it's place. They can have some severe side effects and it can be trial and error to find the one that offers the right balance. I don't really go for homeopathic remedies as I think if they had medicinal uses, they would simply be referred to as medicine. 

Ethan said:

Even when I moved city/job because I wanted to, my anxiety (no excitement, no optimism, no looking forward to it) was overwhelming and my brain/feelings just shut down to manage it

I can remember being really into moving ,nice house nice area a really positive change and feeling happy,but looking back the IBS flaring up , the chest pains and the tiredness,  was my body showing the anxiety that i was not dealing with.  

all started with a book called "Zen without Masters"  which is very light hearted

i read several buddhist books  and watch you tube videos on Zen sitting meditation, teachings of alan watts, shunryu suzuki zen( videos and book ) ,   Charlotte joko beck ( videos and books ) . I use breath following and counting breath and labelling thoughts and somedays mantra ( "saa", "taa", "naa", "maa").  I have added walking meditation and living mindfulness from Thích Nhất Hạnh . 

also studied Bankei teachings  which was hard to put into practice, but great guy

i also read marcus aurelis and "the Dao/Tao" and Zen Koans which I find impossible

i created a walking one ( "sponge", "bob", "square" ,"pants" if my mind is  a mess ). Each time u put a foot on ground u say one of those words 

the key is to practice everyday without failure even if it is just 5 mins. I started with 10min then 20min then 30mins. by year 2

Zen sitting meditation is very tough   (shunryu suzuki zen( videos and book ) ,   Charlotte joko beck ( videos and books ))

all started with a book called "Zen without Masters"  which is very light hearted

i read several buddhist books  and watch you tube videos on Zen sitting meditation, teachings of alan watts, shunryu suzuki zen( videos and book ) ,   Charlotte joko beck ( videos and books ) . I use breath following and counting breath and labelling thoughts and somedays mantra ( "saa", "taa", "naa", "maa").  I have added walking meditation and living mindfulness from Thích Nhất Hạnh . 

also studied Bankei teachings  which was hard to put into practice, but great guy

i also read marcus aurelis and "the Dao/Tao" and Zen Koans which I find impossible

i created a walking one ( "sponge", "bob", "square" ,"pants" if my mind is  a mess ). Each time u put a foot on ground u say one of those words 

Is this something you make up yourself or do you follow someone on YouTube or similar. Gotta, be worth a go!

@aidie, what sort of mediration do you do? I have done my research and have found how to do transcendental without the hefty price tag. (Instead of bringing it back to the breath, you bring it bsck to your mantra). 

I just don't have the attention or patience to practise but I suppose you need to train your brain.

I use Insight Timer but haven been on for a while.

I currently use an app from the States, but was wondering about Headspace. What do you use? 

i defeated ( reduced as low as u can get ) my anxiety and pushed away my growing depression using a daily meditation practise. It has taken me 2 years approximately. I am not the only one in this forum who has found these methods useful.

just saying 

If I had unlimited money, it would only a total lack of imagination that would be any stress - every problem can be engineered out - a wonderful life.

I've been seriously ill for many years and they've tried them on me - Beta blockers just felt like a broken accelerator cable - no go when needed    Tranx just messed me up in lots of ways.

I've come to the conclusion that all of them are just like painting over rust on a car - you're not fixing anything, just modifying the symptoms - and maybe adding a load of side effects too for a giggle.

It's root cause analysis that's required - and maybe some difficult decisions.

I don't believe taking pills is a weakness - just something you need to go into with your eyes wide open.

Absolutely 100% believe, like you, that it is not a weakness. I tried without pills for 6 months and was soon back in hospital. For me, they have helped. Like my Core Values, I believe it's about balance.

They do say" Money the root of all evil", it does give you more choice ,but the making of the choices is the hard part,  again anxiety.

Just take children, give them everything they want, everything they ask for . see how they turn out.

I have seen more pain through the love of money than the lack of it ,and more kindness though the lack of it than the love of it.

Brings it all back to balance.

Going back to the original point ,not all meds make you dopey, beta blockers ,serotonin can be useful, 

I would agree with you that the over use of tranquilizers is wide spread and common ,but i still maintain the use of medication is not a weakness  

Give me a pile of cash and I'll try that experiment for you - I'm pretty confidant that I can eliminate all stress from people's lives. 

I think maybe in terms of autistic triggers you can minimise them. But you can't eradicate anxiety completely from life. That's unrealistic! 

Yes the triggers are your own reaction to it that is the secret ,[you can't escape your self ],that is the problem i have a very low tolerance ,i am fine with my children and wife ,really laided back and understanding .When i was young my mum would say you can't care about everything but i do .  Selfishness ,greed  etc in people do really annoy me.i suppose that is partly down to lack of empathy. 

Unknown said:

But as soon as you "walk away" from it, something else will come along to take its place.

Why?     That's rather pessimistic.    If you truly understand your triggers you can create a life that erases or minimises them.    It may be a shepherd on an island or a hobo on a beach or carving wood for a living - but if you deal with the problem, there are no symptoms.

So even when you want to get away from it, you can't.  

I used to go walking on the tops near my house, it was bliss, just a handful of dog walkers on a busy day. Then a tea shed popped up and now the world and his wife are there every weekend, dropping litter and driving their cars up so they can have a brew with a view.

I've learned through CBT you can't eradicate anxiety and stress, you just have to learn to tolerate it. 

In response to Plastic you can walk away from stress and anxiety and I think it's useful if you can make changes which have a posite impact on your life.  But as soon as you "walk away" from it, something else will come along to take its place.