Why does my friend's anxiety make her see disturbing images she knows aren't real?

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I suffer from anxiety disorder and have been on SSRIs. At the moemnt I refuse to take them. All I can say is that medication for physciatric disorders can change the state of your brain/mood, but I don't know that they really help in the long term.
 
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Let's stop messing about with her life doing armchair diagnoses. She should see her doctor.
 
jcsd said:
I suffer from anxiety disorder and have been on SSRIs. At the moemnt I refuse to take them.
At the moment? How long have you been off? I usually go as much as ten months before a stressful event triggers an attack.


SSRIs have their downsides, but the decision that keeps coming up is that you have to balance your quality of life. Are the side-effects of being on an SSRI better than not being on it? Each person has to make that decision.

All I can say is that medication for physciatric disorders can change the state of your brain/mood, but I don't know that they really help in the long term.
Do you mean they don't help even if you stay on them? They sure do. They continue to counteract the chemical imbalance.
 
You can minimise side effects of SSRI's by careful dosing. For example when you start taking them don't immediately take the recomended dose but build up to it slowly and the same deal when you come off them. Since I have to do this every year, I've gained a deal of understanding of how to deal with unwanted side effects. There are also different SSRI's that no doubt will effect you differently so if one isn't working try something else. There are also alternatives to SSRI's, which may also aleviate side effects.

Side effects I no longer get after self dosing: Hot flushes, dizzy spells, nausea. Took me about two years to learn to dose myself effectively.

Here's a Positive side effect I've noticed, decreased shyness(mostly I talk to complete strangers a lot more than I normally do) It's not all bad, and for me the alternative is hibernation, what would you pick? As said already the ends may justify the means.

jcsd said:
I suffer from anxiety disorder and have been on SSRIs. At the moemnt I refuse to take them. All I can say is that medication for physciatric disorders can change the state of your brain/mood, but I don't know that they really help in the long term.

Well that's what counselling is for, you can change your levels of seratonin in the brain, but that won't change your motivations, attitudes and life situations that lead to certain disorders, particularly anxiety disorders. If you feel the drug doesn't work on it's own, then get therapy as well, if you can do without them then that's great. I'm the opposite therapy can and never will work, although I'm told it's a great way of learning to cope, I had to learn that for myself though, and without medication I failed miserably.

Everybodies different, drugs are bad for some a life saver for others.
 
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DaveC426913 said:
Let's stop messing about with her life doing armchair diagnoses.

...

Do you mean they don't help even if you stay on them? They sure do. They continue to counteract the chemical imbalance.
You'd rather mess about her life doing armchair prognoses? :rolleyes:
 
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Mickey said:
You'd rather mess about her life doing armchair prognoses? :rolleyes:
My comment didn't address what the OP should do at all, it's merely discussion. The OP should not take any of this as advice - except "get her to her doctor".
 
DaveC426913 said:
My comment didn't address what the OP should do at all
You said drugs help, if you stay on them. You're saying that if the OP's friend goes on medication, that she should stay on it, because it will help. That's an armchair prognosis. You really have no idea if it will help.
 
Mickey said:
You said drugs help, if you stay on them. You're saying that if the OP's friend goes on medication, that she should stay on it, because it will help. That's an armchair prognosis. You really have no idea if it will help.

Of course not, let's reiterate first port of call is your Dr, everything else is anecdotal and/or speculative, might be helpful might not; we're all guilty of either arm chair prognosis, prescription or personal observations. As I said in the first post I made, go see a Dr, he'll hopefully recommend a specialist, the rest is just a little bit of advice that may or may not be useful, feel free to mention a pinch of salt here.

At the end of the day we're all trying to be helpful, and that's never a bad thing if we define our observations merit and recommend the alternatelly obviously better step, have I mentioned a trip to the Dr.:smile:
 
Mickey said:
You said drugs help, if you stay on them. You're saying that if the OP's friend goes on medication, that she should stay on it,
Nope, don't put words in my mouth. I'm saying that, independent of the advice to the OP, I know for a fact from personal experience that it helps in the long-term - (though that does not mean it helps everyone).

It would be foolish for anyone (including you) to interpret a discussion of long-term effects as pertaining directly to the OP's question, since, duh, they'd first have to get on the meds.
 
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