Long story short. I´m suffering from chronic Anxiety (GAD, Agoraphobia, Panic Attacks and mild OCD) for some time.
For the last years i tried many different natural supplements with little or no relief. About prescription drugs i only take Alprazolam in low dosages when needed which i avoid at all costs and even that isn't a miracle. I feel some relaxion but those damn thoughts are still there.
Main problem is the anticipatory anxiety. As soon as i know i have to go somewhere or doing something out of the routine a million thoughts shows up and i imagine the worst possible scenarios. Usually the more time i'm in the situation, the anxiety gets more managable. But now, a curious fact. As soon as the "complicated" situation is over, i feel like the superman. Anxiety completely vanish and i feel the "normal" me like i could face everything on earth in that moment. I feel really happy and relieved.
I'll give an example. Even today, after the lunch i had a dental appointment which was causing me a lot of anticipatory anxiety. During the morning i had to do something else which usually causes me anxiety too and i had to avoid it. Went to the appointment and as soon as the Doctor said "It's done" i really forgot what anxiety was. I felt really well and happy. And guess what. After, since i was feeling so good, i decided to do the other thing i avoided in the morning and it was a piece of cake. No anxiety at all. Usually this feeling remains at full strength for a couple of hours but it's still notorious for the rest of the day until i fall asleep. Then it seems to reset during the night and i wake up the "old" me.
I know this a complex matter and i'm not hoping for a "miracle" supplement or cure because honestly i really don't believe one exists but i hope someone can help me understand what happens with my body to feel so good after these situations. I'm sure there's a chemical reaction... Some hormonal change or something. Maybe it's a start to understand where should i focus to fight the anxiety. I'm starting to suspect it could be related with serotonin but honestly i hope it would be something else because the last thing i want to take is a SSRI.
For the last years i tried many different natural supplements with little or no relief. About prescription drugs i only take Alprazolam in low dosages when needed which i avoid at all costs and even that isn't a miracle. I feel some relaxion but those damn thoughts are still there.
Main problem is the anticipatory anxiety. As soon as i know i have to go somewhere or doing something out of the routine a million thoughts shows up and i imagine the worst possible scenarios. Usually the more time i'm in the situation, the anxiety gets more managable. But now, a curious fact. As soon as the "complicated" situation is over, i feel like the superman. Anxiety completely vanish and i feel the "normal" me like i could face everything on earth in that moment. I feel really happy and relieved.
I'll give an example. Even today, after the lunch i had a dental appointment which was causing me a lot of anticipatory anxiety. During the morning i had to do something else which usually causes me anxiety too and i had to avoid it. Went to the appointment and as soon as the Doctor said "It's done" i really forgot what anxiety was. I felt really well and happy. And guess what. After, since i was feeling so good, i decided to do the other thing i avoided in the morning and it was a piece of cake. No anxiety at all. Usually this feeling remains at full strength for a couple of hours but it's still notorious for the rest of the day until i fall asleep. Then it seems to reset during the night and i wake up the "old" me.
I know this a complex matter and i'm not hoping for a "miracle" supplement or cure because honestly i really don't believe one exists but i hope someone can help me understand what happens with my body to feel so good after these situations. I'm sure there's a chemical reaction... Some hormonal change or something. Maybe it's a start to understand where should i focus to fight the anxiety. I'm starting to suspect it could be related with serotonin but honestly i hope it would be something else because the last thing i want to take is a SSRI.