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Frustrated


12 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
SSRI  Selective seratonan re-uptake inhibiters are made from tryptophan. A chemical released from milk when it is scalded. Heated to almost boiling point, about 175 degrees. I believe tryptophan is available from health-food stores as is 5HTP
SSRIs are selective in how they work is why what works for one person may not work for another. They also do not work on dopamine. TCAs do. TCAs can be hard on people with cardio problems. So it is advisable to talk to your doctor if you have any cardio problems. 
Oddly enough one of the reasons SSRIs are first line is that it takes a lot to commit suicide with them due to the fact of there high tolerance. Not so with other drugs. Another case of protecting the majority at the expense of the minority.

SSRIs work better for serious Depression and serious OCD. Not so on mild cases. Placebo was found to work just as well which suggests that mild cases could be treated by CBT if the suggestion that a pill (placebo) is working. Then a person should with CBT techniques be able to treat mild mental conditions such as GAD, SAD, and mild OCD with thought realigning toward the positive and away from the negative. In the case of unrealistic thoughts, they need to be challenged to bury them.

Davit.
12 years ago 0 195 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Davit,
 
You're right in that OCD can be a positive thing. I get asked all the time by family members what year certain events happened, etc. OCD also helps me in the gym. I workout nearly everyday. Tonight I did yoga. Just finished, in fact. I bought a new DVD because I was becoming bored of the ones we already had.
 
Going to put some great effort into filling that bag with positive thoughts all the way to the top and leaving the bad ones on the bottom. Yoga helps build the positives. I know you already know the nature or identity of my bad thoughts, so I won't repeat them, again, but it was hard getting rid of them/it today. Like you said, the benzos help close the bag, but do not create good thoughts.
 
I've given a little more thought on trying a new med again. My wife has even mentioned it to me this go-around. I was doing so well for nearly 2 weeks and then, bam! - back to the negative. I am just so scared of Paxil. I bet people act this way a lot in that they're afraid to try a new med. But perhaps the old med (triavil) is not doing the trick anymore.
 
I saw my MD last week when I was feeling good, and he felt no reason for a change, and he even cautioned me against Paxil. But I know you have said positive things about it. I am afraid of the weight gain, sluggishness, electrical impulses and other things I have heard.
 
OK, time to get off this thing and get a good night of sleep.
 
Thanks again,
David
12 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Wrestler

Repetition, just like weight training. You can not get negative thoughts out of your memory but you can bury them with enough positive to make them harder to access. Like a shopping bag. put a little negative on the bottom and then fill it up with positive. When you dip in the bag what are you going to get first. Problem is that if you don't keep putting positive in you will eventually get to the negative. So if you are too tired or it is the end of a stressful week you can expect to get to the bottom of the bag and "bam" there is a negative thought you don't want just waiting for you. Benzos temporarily close the bag making no thoughts accessible. But they do not build positive thought. That you have to do. The more positive thought you can get in your bag the longer of a stretch before you get to the bottom again. The other thing you need to do is discard negative thoughts like rotten apples when you get one. This is a positive action and helps to bury those negative thoughts. OCD is not a bad thing if you can use it to build positive repetitively.

Posts are for anyone who can get something out of them.

Davit.
12 years ago 0 195 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Davit, Thank you. I needed what I just read. I realize that most of my panic and OCD comes from succumbing to my negative thoughts when I and in OCD mode. I know it was intended for healthyself, but it opened my eyes too.
 
I have had a whole bunch of times in my life where I am doing something, and then all of a sudden, my mind drifts into a pattern of thought that something really bad is going to happen to me or that I will think of something really bad. I set myself up for it.
 
My wife always asks me, how come you're able to help me with every problem I have and make them better or help me realize how to make them better, but you corner yourself with problems all the time and feel helpless? I always wonder this as well.
I have built my body to be a very strong looking person on the outside. I have great discipline in the gym and all that, but ask me to take a class at school or let go of my anxieties for ten minutes, and it becomes like an impossible task.
 
I've always been sensitive. My father was sensitive.
 
I need to learn how to make the positive thoughts in my head dominate the negative ones.
 
OK, sorry for invading this post, but Davit's words brought this out of me.
 
Thanks,
David
12 years ago 0 1853 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Davit, thank you for sharing such wonderful insight.  You have indeed come such a long way in your personal journey and your posts are invaluable on this site.  
 
Healthyself,  I hear there is hope in your voice/post and I am happy that you are able to see more clearly today.  Working through the CBT program is challenging but very rewarding once you learn how to change your perspective for the better. 
You begin to realize more easily how illogical some of your thoughts can be.  
Hope you can enjoy some tasty omelettes this morning
 
Thinking of you, 


Vincenza, Health Educator
12 years ago 0 13 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Davit, you have done it again.... thank you.  I am grateful you are here.  I like the straight shooting.    It helps me to see! 
You are correct, I have negative thoughts coming at a pretty good clip.   Some days it is so hard to see, hard to get out of my own way.... I will keep doing the work, and work a little more on the negativity.    
I really like  'it is here again but it does not have to be'.   Going up on the wall tonight.   Thanks, still hoping you put up a shingle...  (one you get compensated for ; ) 

Healthyself


12 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Healthyself.

If you read the definition of CBT you will notice the theory is that we are controlled by our thoughts not our surroundings. Our surroundings trigger our thoughts and our reaction therefore is a combination of thoughts built up over the years. I put this in a post but it seems to have disappeared. Now if this theory is right (I believe it is) then if you have built a collection of negative thoughts over the years they will dictate your reaction. EG. Life sucks. So now some one cuts you off in traffic and it triggers a reaction based on your thoughts about it. (this happens fast thank God.) What is your reaction. "I could have been killed" or "that was close, good thing I was watching" Both will cause you to put on the brakes as a reaction. But one will cause you to fear driving more than the other. 

Okay now if you have negative thoughts governing your reactions life really will start to suck. And it would seem you have some negative thoughts.
If you tell yourself something bad will happen when you do something, enough times, you will soon fear doing it incase it really does happen.

So the ten questions is to help break this cycle of negative thought.

What is the worst that can happen? Not what is the worst thing that is going to happen.
So back to the beginning, "is it true?" If it is not true then there is no worst that could happen.
If it was true then why would you be challenging it?

Seems like you are standing in a life boat looking for a floaty.
CBT does work, there are many forms of it but basically it is about changing negative (thoughts and actions) to positive. Would it not be better to have positive thoughts to every situation so that our surroundings, no matter how bad can have a positive reaction. Even in fight or flight mode a positive thought will shut it down where a negative one will keep it going. 
Positive would be "it's here again but doesn't have to be". Negative would be. "it's here again and I'm going to be sick." Give panic a logical reason to go away and it will. Give it a reason to stay and it will also.

I'm not surprised you don't want to do this. Why would you want to change something you have lived with for how many years? Hell if it was easy where would the accomplishment be? If it was easy none of us would be here.

Davit.

PS. Breaking eggs? You do have a choice, you can have them raw or you can have a nice omelette with mushrooms and cheese.
12 years ago 0 13 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Well, I just really feel off... i  have been been writing down every anxious thought I can notice this:  I have a lot of stinkin thinkin going on.  Writing it out does not seem to do much else but make it all worse... awesome right?  SO now I am on to the challenging aspect of the plan, and I get to the end of the 10 questions and it is asking me to think about the worst thing that can happen... really??   That is my problem, I think about the worst thing that can happen and live there so I am confused... someone help me out here.....  So it seems like you start out ok... asking if it is true, then by then end I am again thinking about the thing that got me into the mess I am in (anxiety)   Since I know this stuff works.... I mean it is really the only thing studied that helps people..... what am I missing???  Because this is just making me more of head case than was when I started....   are we breaking eggs to make an omelet?   Oh, and BTW I really do not want to be doing this.... how bad is that???  But I am doing this and holding on  like it is the last floaty and I am in the titanic......   Jeez.  Yikes and WTH??  arrrgggggggg! 
Heal Thy Self.

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