What do you guys think?

[lewdoginsidethevan]

Hi All!
So I haven't been on the site in a while and my anxiety has gotten out of control. I wanted to ask you guys what you have had the most success with? And ask about my symptoms. I have had social anxiety forever! Ever since I can remember. I am now 37. I just had a baby boy and my fiancé and I are really struggling with money right now. And not just because of the pandemic, but because I hadn't planned on having kids and now I am responsible for 3 instead of just me who I could barely take care of anyway. But I am trying to get myself together. I am going back to school, which is a huge trigger for me. But am excited to get on a path to better our situation. But, I am SO stressed out. All the time. My fiancé says I am always on the breaking point. I feel like I am ready to pop at any moment. Either with anger or so quick to get depressed. Its like I am a wound up rubber band walking through a forest of knives. I realized that I've been stressed out in my dreams too, I remember nights where I am dreaming but actually thinking to myself wow I am stressed out and anxious in my dream, what the hell?! I also quit drinking 6 months ago and that has been very hard for me after a 20 year love affair with alcohol. I loved drinking, it was my go to band aid for SA. But it got so bad I was downing a fifth of whisky and took days to recover. Anyway, sorry for the long post but just trying to give a sense of where I'm at. So my questions are, do you guys think medication would help? I've never taken any meds and am scared of the side effects but I have to do something. What have you guys had success with medication wise? And what other things have you all had success with? Also do you think this added stress could be do to quitting drinking? I have been sober 6 months but maybe my body and mind is still trying to figure out life without booze? I just really must do something before I snap. Any thoughts welcome, thanks

 

[Miserum]

Hi All!
So I haven't been on the site in a while and my anxiety has gotten out of control. I wanted to ask you guys what you have had the most success with? And ask about my symptoms. I have had social anxiety forever! Ever since I can remember. I am now 37. I just had a baby boy and my fiancé and I are really struggling with money right now. And not just because of the pandemic, but because I hadn't planned on having kids and now I am responsible for 3 instead of just me who I could barely take care of anyway. But I am trying to get myself together. I am going back to school, which is a huge trigger for me. But am excited to get on a path to better our situation. But, I am SO stressed out. All the time. My fiancé says I am always on the breaking point. I feel like I am ready to pop at any moment. Either with anger or so quick to get depressed. Its like I am a wound up rubber band walking through a forest of knives. I realized that I've been stressed out in my dreams too, I remember nights where I am dreaming but actually thinking to myself wow I am stressed out and anxious in my dream, what the hell?! I also quit drinking 6 months ago and that has been very hard for me after a 20 year love affair with alcohol. I loved drinking, it was my go to band aid for SA. But it got so bad I was downing a fifth of whisky and took days to recover. Anyway, sorry for the long post but just trying to give a sense of where I'm at. So my questions are, do you guys think medication would help? I've never taken any meds and am scared of the side effects but I have to do something. What have you guys had success with medication wise? And what other things have you all had success with? Also do you think this added stress could be do to quitting drinking? I have been sober 6 months but maybe my body and mind is still trying to figure out life without booze? I just really must do something before I snap. Any thoughts welcome, thanks

I think you're taking the right steps by going back to school and quitting alcohol. I think this will not only benefit you, but your kids and fiancé as well. Additionally, I think adjusting to life without booze will take time too; there seems to be a learning curve that comes with a drop of vice (in your case, alcohol). That was a major coping mechanism which you now can't resort to. It will take time to learn how to deal with stress without it.

Things that have helped me with my anxiety, but haven't completely cured it... yet:

• Through self-analysis and reading, discovering and living my life according to sets of personal principles that I deeply value.
• Finding strong people (mentally, physically) to draw inspiration from, look up to, and emulate.
• Pursuing personally meaningful activities.
• Discarding toxic people (up to you to decide where you draw the line regarding people's behavior toward you).
• Realizing that any benefit derived from changes made to how I live and think will take a significant amount of time. Trying to undo something like three decades of negative thought patterns is challenging work and can seem insurmountable at times.
• I try to live my life according to my signature below.

It's a work in progress.

 

[mismeek]

I also think you might be overloading yourself. You should definitely try to carve out time to do something YOU like to do. 3 hours to take a walk play video games or maybe an instrument. Something relaxing. Even if it's at 3am, its important to decompress. I struggled through grad school so much because I wasn't taking time for myself.
Also theres nothing wrong with trying medication. I've been on it for about 15 years now and it's done wonders. Its just really hard to find what works for you. It's not going to be a flip of the switch change. You have to give it a few months and let side effects (not all are severe or constanr) wear off. Remember you're changing the chemical make up of your brain so of course that is going to have an effect on your body. I went through 13 or 15 different meds before I found the perfect one for my body. Stick with it!