Get advice from smart people on medical procedures

[Munson]

No personal experience with Xanax, but my FIL took it for a short while (long story), and it wigged him out a bit.

The cardio adventure sounds like quite an experience. Hopefully they get you in sync soon so that you can start feeling positive about it all. The holter thing is a royal pain, and I was unhappy wearing that shtein for just one night.

I ended up needing a xanax not long after that post, had a bit of a panic episode. Kicked in after about 20 minutes and definitely helped. I don't take a lot of medications on purpose, so the .25 still felt strong. They gave me .50 of valium (or something like it) while I was in the hospital and that was enough to almost knock me out.

Yeah, whatever that palpitation was on Friday is not something I want to experience again. The Holter was a pain trying to sleep with it all hooked up, but I'm happy as hell I had it on so they can either tell me I'm scaring myself or tell me it was just a palp as the hearts trying to heal (Or, I guess, tell me i had another bout of SVT and they need to go back in)

[smeags]

Hope you get well soon muns

[phattymatty]

i'm not a downer person in general but xanax is the real deal. don't drive on it. .25s should be fine and just mellow you out but i've seen many people turn into zombies on too much.

[Munson]

i'm not a downer person in general but xanax is the real deal. don't drive on it. .25s should be fine and just mellow you out but i've seen many people turn into zombies on too much.

Yeah that's what i'm a little worried about, but doctor told me .25 up to three times a day as needed, so hopefully it'll just keep me mellow and not knock me for a loop too much. Last night was my first time and I was a little out of it, but not too bad. Just hope I'm able to teach on it. Also hope it calms my nerves enough that just one is enough to get me through teaching.

Hope you get well soon muns

Thank you sir

[rjs246]

So you're anxious about the drugs you've been prescribed for your anxiety? Jesus Christ go to a therapist already.

[General_Failure]

I never thought I'd reach the point in life where I tell somebody they should smoke up, but here we are.

[smeags]

Smoke pot

End

I never thought I'd reach the point in life where I tell somebody they should smoke up, but here we are.

See, sound advise coming from two smart people. 

[Eagaholic]

I would still call that doobious advice.

I hope things are settling in better for you now, Munson. Although it might seem obvious, I'd add to Mattys advice not to drink at all with xanax.

People often get good results from meditation/stress reduction breathing excercises. The key is to do it regularly, not just when you feel like you need it. In your case though it might be good to go to someone with expertice to learn from (i.e. if there is anxiety/panic potential it is possible to trigger it by becoming more aware of what is going on inside, but other techniques bypass this).

[Geowhizzer]

Yeah, I'd agree that drinking and Xanax is a bad combination.

And if the anxiety is that bad, get some professional advice to help you find ways to deal with and manage it, even if it is just someone that you can talk with and unload on.  And remember, we all have issues we struggle with on a daily basis - you are not alone in that.

Best of luck with all this.

[SD]

I have OCD, which unfortunately comes with bad anxiety. I take medication to control my anxiety, but it's not always enough.

I meditate 3-4 days a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. The only problem with meditation is if your anxiety is too bad no matter how hard you focus/concentrate you won't get any benefits. This is the link I use, it's a beginners guide. Deep breath through the nose, hold, out the mouth, then repeat. Amazing the places your mind will go through meditation. Only drawback is some of the times you'll fall asleep.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNumcjOvHHw

[Rome]

You know someone with OCD didn't name the condition.  If they did it would be in the proper alphabetical order of CDO.

And I definitely have a touch of it myself especially in my professional life.  Disorder drives me nuts at the office and my co-workers are all disorganized as hell.  Their cubicles are all a mess - papers and files everywhere, just cluttered as can be.  Makes my skin crawl, to be honest.  I don't see how you can get any work done with clutter everywhere, but again, that's just my issues.

[Sgt PSN]

I don't think OCD actually has anything to do with needing things to be organized and orderly. It's more of a behavioral disorder that causes people to do awkward things like open and close the fridge 3 times before taking something out or putting it away.

You're just a neat freak, commonly known to the medical community as being extremely anal.  Now, if you constantly clean and organize everyone's desks for them, then you'd have OCD. But then you probably wouldn't have a job as I'm sure your productivity would take a nose dive while you clean and organize all day.

[SD]

There's no partial OCD...I see so many people say "it drives me nuts when things are out of place I'm so OCD". No, you're not OCD you just have quirks.

I count numbers in my head all day every day. I add numbers up constantly. My bad number is 3, so when I look at the clock and the 3 or 4 digits can be added then divided by 3 I assume something bad will happen. Same goes with random numbers like street addresses and license plates. This is all day every day. It's bad when it comes to my sports teams and worse when it comes to relationships. I've had OCD since I was 14. Just got back on meds this past year because the older I get the worst I'm getting. The accompanying anxiety is hell. my condition is worse during the winter months.

Dealing with what I did when I was in the military just made it all worse. PTSD farging blows. Yeah I deal and all that but if I could trade a limb for having no more mental problems I'd take that trade in a heartbeat. I feel bad for anyone who deals with this shtein.

[phattymatty]

yeah I don't pretend I have OCD because I never want to kill myself if a picture frame is crooked but i can't concentrate on anything if shtein is dirty. like if i'm eating with someone and they spill something on the table I can't stop looking at it until I clean it up myself. and i can't leave the house if my bed is not made. i use a dust buster about 5 times a day. it just started like 5 years ago or so. probably one of my better habits actually. cocaine makes it even worse.

[Sgt PSN]

And my anxieties have made a reappearance over the last few days. Doc put me on Zyban back in December. After a few days I really leveled back out and felt normal. The anxieties and panic attacks gradually became less frequent. Then on Monday they started coming back and hung around for 2 or 3 days. Nothing terrible, no where close to as intense as they were before, but they were still there.  Now I'm back to normal.

One thing I've learned through all of this is just how bad the VA is with mental health issues. When I went to my Doc back in December and told him about it, he asked if I wanted to see a shrink. I said sure...might as well talk to someone who specializes in this stuff. They couldn't get me an appointment until the middle of Feb. 2 months you gotta wait to see someone.  Apparently they have 1 shrink who comes in once a month for like 2 days.  I assume he's running his own practice the rest of the time. They did tell me that if my condition worsens and I can't wait that long to call back and they'd get me in with a private shrink who doesn't work for/with the VA. Luckily I didn't need to.

The day of my appointment comes and I'm heading to the clinic and had to stop off for gas. This put me a few minutes behind, so I gave the clinic a courtesy call to let them know I'd be like 5 minutes late. Girl tells me that the shrink called out sick and they're rescheduling his appointments and they'll call me later in the day with a new appt. It's in farging May. Unbelievable. Luckily for me, I'm pretty sure my issues are very mild in comparison to the shtein that a lot of Vets deal with. Even when my anxiety was at its worst, I was still mostly functional. But good farging god, 4 months will have passed since I complained about the issue before I get seen by someone. No wonder 22 vets commit suicide every day.