Medication V No Medication

[sol1107]

I was "forced" to try Zoloft, Atarax, and Gabapentin (why???). My latest PCP, lucky number seven, gave me Welbutrin for my anxiety attacks. This time, it worked. My PTSD stemmed from denial of events that happened. After a week on Welbutrin, I was in that strange state of sleep where you can hear everything around you, but you still don't know what's real. I went to bed watching Frasier on Lifetime, and apparently through the night, some movie came on. My therapist tried for a long time to make me accept what happened and embrace it instead of lying to myself and making up different scenarios. Well, a line from the movie was, "Stop lying to yourself!"

Next day, I woke up, completely at peace and fully rested. I hadn't had a good night's sleep for years until then. Maybe it was the medication, or maybe I was ready to help myself instead of relying on jackasses with degrees in canned response. Either way, the Welbutrin is still working, and even my marriage is recovering.

 

[Wagon]

I have gone the no drugs route as that I have probably done enough drugs for recreation already.

So I went the diet and exercise route. I'm fine tuning this and discovering new things all the time.

1. Low cortisol diet
2. Quit drinking. One leads to the other actually. Lower cortisol levels reduced anxiety to a point where I no longer felt so manic that I needed to drink.
3. Exercise and weight loss. Further balances brain chemicals.
4. If I am depressed, feeling down or even anxiety ridden, a hot fiery spicy dinner seems to flush the brain quite nicely. Affords me a decent nights sleep.I have to corroborate the reasons why for this with some literature, but there may be something there. (Could it be panic attacks can be solved by carrying around a jalapeno pepper in your pocket? who knows?)

And of course all the little tricks you pick up a long the way from here and elsewhere to take down the stress levels. Important is to keep fighting and keep learning. At the end of the day we are all different with different beasts. We all will have to find our own way. But you have to keep on trying to find that way to make it work. Never rest on your laurels. This ain't Hollywood.

Peace
Wagon

 

[vikingr12]

I was "forced" to try Zoloft, Atarax, and Gabapentin (why???). My latest PCP, lucky number seven, gave me Welbutrin for my anxiety attacks. This time, it worked. My PTSD stemmed from denial of events that happened. After a week on Welbutrin, I was in that strange state of sleep where you can hear everything around you, but you still don't know what's real. I went to bed watching Frasier on Lifetime, and apparently through the night, some movie came on. My therapist tried for a long time to make me accept what happened and embrace it instead of lying to myself and making up different scenarios. Well, a line from the movie was, "Stop lying to yourself!"

Next day, I woke up, completely at peace and fully rested. I hadn't had a good night's sleep for years until then. Maybe it was the medication, or maybe I was ready to help myself instead of relying on jackasses with degrees in canned response. Either way, the Welbutrin is still working, and even my marriage is recovering.

The doc has me on high does of Gabapentin. It's used for a number of reasons. For me, it was mostly leg pain associated with getting hit while trying to run for my life. It is the only med I've tried that deals with the cramping and nerve pain. But it is also used for epilepsy (900 mgs) and some other metal conditions I know not of. At about 600 mgs 3 times a day it will make you sleepy and kinda tired. Sort of a mild tranquilizer effect which sometimes I appreciate. Other times I don't.

I wish I could take the SSRI's. They just don't seem to help at all. Zoloft gave me chemically induced hallucinations. They were actually quite colorful to watch.