Quote (IrishGoddess69 @ Oct 29 2010 01:00am)
Thanks for the info and tips, Rob - I agree with this from personal experience. Fruits, certain fish, clean water and exercise = good health. Stress is a silent killer. The older you get, the more you need to learn about ways to de-stress.
Taking a lot of meds is stressful for the organs that need to process all that stuff out. I'm not a nurse, but I do know that much.
I went through a year of having major panic attacks (they called it panic disorder) as an undergrad in college, and they first put me on Xanax. It worked, but knocked me out cold for about 2 hours after each dose. As I got better (fewer attacks to no more attacks) and the dose was lowered, it still made me sleepy all the time. I was then put on Klonapin, and that was fine. It didn't knock me out like Xanax did, and it did help with keeping the panic away. Btw and fyi - panic attacks SUCK. If you've never experienced one, be VERY grateful!!! I'm sooooo glad I don't have that problem anymore!
Good night, and thanks for the help and info, guys.
When I was younger I had a few panic attacks. What caused them? no idea, but I do empathize to those that have them. As I grew older, they dissipated to where they no longer occur. I have my own possible theories on what caused them, but that isn't always the best thing to do is to self examine ourselves too much as we can often find symptoms for everything except what may be causing the problem.
In my case, I have a light case of Crohns (not sure if there is such a thing as "light" case but) which has forced me to take aggressive action to maintain my health. Dr's gave the run around to the point of wanting to pull my hair out, shuffling me from Dr to Dr. Personally, I think its because no one Dr wants to take responsibility for something like Crohns, so they pass the buck on someone else. One "medication" that was attempted to be pushed down my throat was Enbrel, which I utterly rejected. So I did some research and saw one treatment was the use of corticosteroids - namely prednisone. When I looked into this, I found that the liver process this into prednisolone - that actual active ingredient that reduces the inflammation with far fewer side effect simply because the liver isn't as involved as much as it would be with the former. As a result, I managed, without having a Dr shoving unneeded medications down my throat, to control this autoimmune system disorder quite effectively.
As mentioned above, I eat very well, exercise 4 times a week and don't allow the little things to stress me. The prednisolone I take about 3-4 times a year for about 2 1/2 weeks until the symptoms subside. As far as I can tell, no side effects has stricken me with this medication - no water retention, no weakening of the vascular system, etc. I still take Klonapin to relax my stomach from the discomfort. This medication is very effective for many things, not just anxiety. In the past few years, I've actually began to strength train and have seen vast improvements in my overall health. I wouldn't consider myself athletic, but on the lines of very fit for my condition and age (45). The real funny thing was when I brought up the prednisolone treatment to my Dr, she had never even heard of it. She literally had to look it up in her book. How sad is that when the patient has to inform the Dr of a possible treatment? - in my case that works.
Another thing to consider is our weight. Smoking cigarettes doesn't help either. Most importantly, listen to your body. If it needs rest, then rest. What makes having any kind of long term condition difficult is the outside world pressuring you to do more than you are capable of doing. Do what you can, maybe push a little but not too much. There is a happy medium between doing nothing and doing everything+. Do research and more research on everything from diet to medications to control whatever may be ailing you. Find a Dr that will work with you, not preach to you. I will not see a male Dr, their egos get int he way of, what would be otherwise good for the patient, in favor of control and keeping knowledge from you. Many Doctros do not want you to know how to treat yourself or even care about things like diet and whatnot. I call these Doctors pharmaceutical pimps - beware of them.
So if anyone was wondering where I knew the above information from, it was from my own experiences. I practically had to become a pharmacist, nutritionist and physical therapist all wrapped up into one to control the condition that was bestowed upon me.
No matter what the condition any of us may have or get, its not impossible to at least control and sometime reverse that condition - in my case control.
Today is a good day, nothing to do but lounge in my PJs
Hope everyone's day has been a good one,
Rob