Anxiety for Amateurs

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, counselor nor a specialist.  The things I say in here are not for medicinal purposes.  I have found that writing helps ease my anxiety and the symptoms that go along with it.  This is not meant to harm, offend or piss anyone off.  These are MY thoughts and feelings and I've added some comedy relief.  This is the way I am dealing with anxiety.  It has been said that laughter is the BEST medicine, although I've had to take Lortabs in the past so I tend to disagree. But anyways...grab a seat, a Xanax, do some deep breathing and enjoy yourself.

So when I first was told I had GAD in the ER, I was told to set up an appointment with my regular doctor.  When I finally did, all she did was tell me about medication she could put me on and if you remember, at first I declined.  I asked her what else could I do to stop panic attack and she told me Xanax.

She did tell me that therapy would help but one thing she didn't tell me to do.  READ ABOUT IT!

Fast forward to another ER trip I took.  It was in August 2013.  This time I went in because it felt like someone was sitting on my chest and it felt like I had a lump in my throat.  Here we go with another EKG, a chest xray, vials of blood and a cup of pee.  Nothing but anxiety!

I told one of the nurses that I had been reading about it and she stopped me and said "There's your first problem, you shouldn't read about it.  You should talk to your doctor."

Since was reading BAD?  If I had not read about anxiety, the symptoms and whatnot, I would have taken thousands of trips to the ER and shoveled Xanax left and right.  

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  Nobody could tell me anything about anxiety but I was being advised NOT to read????  The ER doctor couldn't tell me anything about anxiety either and he told me to talk to my doctor as well.  As I said before, I asked her questions and she didn't know anything either.

Some of the best information I've received has been to reading.  I've read information from Mayo Clinic, WebMD, Anxiety Centre and other sites.  No, you can't go self diagnosing yourself from these sites, but if you've taken as many trips to the doctor and had ER visits like I have, then these sites are helpful.

My doctor told me I needed to talk to a therapist to help me.  At first I didn't want to because I was fully expecting the therapist to tell me that I had to talk to my doctor.  Finally I break down and agree to go see someone.  

What happened?  Come back tomorrow and I'll fill you in on that hot mess of a situation.  But in the meantime, don't read anything.  Chances are that you'll find some useful information and won't have to give up that copay.....