Hello everyone,
I was diagnosed a few months ago with PD. The first month I dealt with it pretty well. However over the last month I've been experiencing anxiety that is affecting every aspect of my life. It has shattered my self confidence and I'm just not myself. I'm curious to know if anyone else has experienced something similar and how you addressed it.
thanks
vega
Hello Vega
Very sorry to hear about your anxiety as I know how crippling it can be and makes PD symptoms much worse. I briefly tried medication but it made me very ill so I stopped and asked to be referred for cognitive behavioural therapy. I am not in the UK at present but know you can ask to be referred for CBT on the NHS although you might have to wait awhile for it. What s new there then?!
I had 6 one to one sessions and, with the help of strategies and lots of humour , I managed to look at the situations in a different way. I won t pretend it s easy but changing the way you deal with situations and the way you think changes your brain chemistry and can calm you down. Since treatment I now fly on my own albeit a short flight and can calm myself in most stressful situations. I feel I have benefitted from CBT and have avoided medication which is difficult to come off. The psychologist I saw said CBT had been proved as effective ,if not more so, than drugs.
Hope that gives you some food for thought
good luck
samdog
I had some mild anxiety in the mornings after breakfast, so cut out my morning cup of coffee. It has helped somewhat. I don't feel the feeling well up in me like I used to. Admittedly, I was dx nearly a year when I did this.
A friend of mine had anxiety after dx, and went on beta blockers and that has worked a charm!
His explanation is that anxiety is a chemical imbalance. Coffee exacerbates the symptoms of it. The beta blockers fix it.
Reading some of the positive blogs around might also help. I have a few links to them on my website.
Sorry I could not be of more help. Good luck!
My anxiety, early on, was about the future... what lay ahead... I wrote a living will (advance medical directive), a regular will and sorted my possessions (easier to do when still mobile and relatively dexterous). That all helped a lot. It allowed me to put the future behind me and live in the present.
Hi Vega...........I am sorry you are having the anxiety it really is horrible and i understand what you are going through. I don't get it all the time and it does not follow any pattern but when it happens i keep near to the loo!!!! joking apart i do find when it happens i feel lightheaded and tearful and i have found it best for me to get out in the air, go for a stroll, meet up with good mates, put on some dance music,anything that distracts you from that feeling. I had a bad day last week and put on some line dance music and just went for it!! I have always enjoyed all sorts of dancing but now i feel a bit like ive been plugged into the mains if i attempt a cha -cha !!! so do something that you enjoy, talk about it with understanding mates and keep smiling matey....you are not alone, honestly. Best wishes to you.
Hi Vega,
I've had recent problems with anxiety attacks and at first I dealt with them using a small dose of Lorazepam, which I found very effective. However, wherever I can, I look for non-drug ways of dealing with things, and I came upon the Buteyko breathing method. It was developed in the 70's by a Russian doctor/scientist, who developed it for self-help in dealing with asthma attacks. It also works for congestion and anxiety. I had never heard of it before, but it apparently has a lot of adherents who give training courses in the UK, Australia, US, etc. etc. You can learn the basics by watching YouTube videos for free though (which is what I did). Some of these short videos are by Dr. Artour Rakhimov who explains it very well. It's worth a look anyway....
take care, M
