Social anxiety disorder blog

Social anxiety experience: Melissa

2011-10-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

Why I admire this fellow social anxiety sufferer:

She's done this video about her battle with the SA disorder. She has shown her face basically to all of the world, talking about something that is still a "taboo". I'm thinking: Writing this blog is sometimes too much of an exposure to me. What if someone recognized me? Fear of appearing weak is a part of social anxiety disorder symptoms. My psychiatrist may not think I am weak because I'm afraid of people, and afraid of talking about that fear, but what about the other people? Another paranoid thought: What if my psychiatrist actually thinks I'm weak too but is too professional to admit it:)
She not only is able to go to work, but is working with costumers. Yes, she's working in costumer service. I'm thinking: Ruuuuun, run for your life! I would rather sweep the streets than have to do with real, living people.
One of her triggers for anxiety attacks was riding the train. Now she's going to work by train.
She's doing group therapy.
She kind of looks like Lourdes:)

Anxiety attacks and lifestyle influences

2011-10-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

When I first started writing my Social phobia anxiety blog I was so determined to turn my life around. I was going to do whatever it takes because I clearly remember how desperate I was for this to stop.

People who don't suffer from social anxiety disorder just cannot imagine what it's like to live with this constant fear.

I'm closer than ever to the thought that SAD is a chronic disease. For some reason I was predisposed to it, and then something in my life happened and I got "sick" with SAD.

Just like some people have an untreatable infectious disease that always flares up when their imune system goes down or it's "that time of year" when for some reason it's worse or they become exposed to the infectious agent again...

That's what it looks like to me now. It gets better for a while... but it can return at any time.

I guess I've just wanted too much for get cured for good, just to live my life like all the other people. I forgot I have to take good care of myself and be generally more careful with some stuff and the way I live my life.

Oh, yes: I remember I was seriously thinking to quit drinking coffee.

But then I went to the psychiatrist and she said coffee has nothing to do with my nervousness. And I DO love a good cup of coffee. Creamy cappuccino. Strong black homemade coffee. Got a coffee machine from my sister (who believes I'm a coffee addict, and she might be right).

Listen to me, I am just coming up with excuses...:)

Anyway, I don't know if coffee is really an anxiety attack in a cup. But it's one of the rare things I can control in my life right now, so quitting coffee is on my list, again.

Below is a cute Belgian guy explaining the connection between panic attacks, anxiety and caffeine. (I just love the accent and the way he says "coffee":))

He has some sort of program for managing panic attacks, which I'm too broke at the moment to purchase. One more lifestyle factor that probably contributes to my anxiety I will have to deal with:/

Controlling Your Emotions Before They Control You

2011-10-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

Stumbled upon this video not ready to face this morning. Can't make myself go out of the house.

I have found a bar of Xanax I left sometimes last year "for rainy days" (and completely forgot about it) but I refuse to take it unless absolutely necessary.

I don't know how I found myself in this mess (again) although I can recognize some patterns.

First thing is, I am not skilled at managing my emotions - so when things around me get too demanding and ugly, I lose that little bit of control I have over them. My people skills are pathetically inadequate for dealing with jerks, fools and addicts. Yeah, plus I'm so positive as you can tell.

The monster is back!

2011-10-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

No, no, no, NO again!

Not again. That's all I can think of now.

It's been a year since I stopped taking Lexapro and - for a while - didn't even thought of popping a Xanax.

Didn't need them; didn't want them.

I was "cured" of panic and anxiety attacks, not turned into the extrovert. I'm fine with that.

All I wanted is to live a normal life, really.

But the old beast was not killed, just chased away. Spent time lurking in the darkest corners of my mind when I was particularly stressed or tired.

Recently, she shown her ugly face again. Came out of the blue. Sneering openly at me. Threatening. She knows me so well. Knows I'm afraid of her.

As always, it attacks when I'm most vulnerable, and have no available resources to fight back.

So, what now...?

I can laugh at this now

2011-03-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

I just had to post this screenshot (it's an article with usual advice on social anxiety, go out more and socialize bla-bla - but check the comment!), it had me laugh out loud & it's how I feel sometimes too:

Stopping Lexapro or how Cipralex just got the dear john letter

2010-11-29T02:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Lexapro,

I'm leaving you tomorrow.

It was lovely knowing you, but I have to find my own way now.

It was long in the making anyway. Time to stop prolonging it and to say good bye!

You were there when I needed help and I'll never forget that. I feel like a stronger and wiser person now because of our (more or less) successful, almost three year long relationship.

Wish me luck now!

Overcomming shyness

2010-10-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

Dr. Paul Vehorn, a psychologist and talk show host, gives some "self-improvement tips" on "overcoming shyness" in a video below.

He thinks that "shyness is a natural emotion which can be difficult to overcome since it is based on insecurity".

If shyness is a natural emotion, then why it has to be overcame in the first place? And I've never bought into that insecurity/low self-esteem connection with social phobia.

Is this just another case of confusing shyness and social anxiety?

Or, do you also think that being shy is - selfish?

Are we all overcompensating?

This is a transcript of the talk:

Overcompensation doesn't mean that you're a CEO of a major corporation and you're being paid too much.

It may mean that it's your way of overcoming shyness.

This is Doctor Paul author of Boomer Girls, a Boomer Woman's Guide to Men and Dating, and let me tell you about shyness.

Often people overcompensate for what they really are and sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes people are very, very shy.

They may be very talented but for some reason in their past they have had a put down of some sort by some people, or one person that doesn't allow them to come out of what otherwise would be a shell. Then they go within.

Now sometimes people overcompensate for that by doing something gregarious.

Where as, a very famous comedic actor, who I will not mention but he overcame a seriously handicapped childhood, through poverty, and now one of the most entertaining humorous around. He overcompensated for his lack as a child.

Now we're looking at people who are shy. We find sometimes, men who overcompensate by being body builders. They overcompensate for that shyness by being macho.

That often times, is relevant to insecurity.

Overcoming that shyness, by overcompensating can be as bad or worse than the shyness itself.

Accept people for what they are and they'll accept you for who you are. Shyness comes from within, not from without. People are willing to listen to what you have to say, willing to feel comfortable with you only if you feel comfortable with them. So that's what shyness is all about, kind of a selfish thing, so don't be selfish. Offer yourself to others.

This is Doctor Paul, may your fantasies of today be your realities of tomorrow.

What is Paxil?

2010-09-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

Did you got SSRI drug Paxil (brand name for paroxetine) for your social anxiety?

Do you know about Paxil's interactions, how it works, and what exacly Paxil is?

In short:

Other commonly prescribed drugs for social anxiety are Lexapro (or Cipralex), Xanax.

Social anxiety: You are not alone!

2010-09-21T02:14:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share this:

55 people from 13 countries - all having social anxiety - are in this video.

Just imagine how many people are silently suffering every day - maybe even closer to you than you'd think, not having the nerve to admit they have it. Because it's embarrassing!:(

Remember: You are not alone!

Celebrities with social anxiety

2010-09-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

Kim Basinger, Barbra Streisand and Ricky Williams shared their experiences with social anxiety and issues like excessive shyness, agoraphobia, perfectionism and stage fright:

Image via Wikipedia

Kim Basinger:

My hands were shaking. I was sweating so profusely, I could not move. I made it to my car and remember getting the keys in the ignition, cranking the car up, taking the back roads to my home and parking. I didn't leave the house for six months.

When I came to Hollywood, I could wear a bikini, but I was in misery because people were looking at me. So I wore baggy clothes and I watched other girls get the big parts and awards. I used to go home and play piano and scream at night to let out my frustrations. And this lead to my agoraphobia.

Fear has been something I've lived with my entire life, a fear of being in public places - which lead to anxiety or panic attacks.
I stayed in my house and literally cried every day.

Image via Wikipedia

Barbra Streisand:

I couldn't come out of it... It was shocking to me to forget the words. So, I didn't have any sense of humor about it. You know, I didn't make up words... Some performers really do well when they forget the words. They forget the words all the time, but they somehow have a humor about it. I remember I didn't have a sense of humor about it. I was quite shocked.

You know, I can't remember my good reviews. I remember negative ones. They stay in my mind. So, that says a lot about my upbringing or, you know, a feeling of self-worth when I was younger. Now, I can sort of look at it and see that's kind of funny. But, you know, it is true even today.

During my last tour, when I kicked off my shoes and said whatever I wanted, I actually enjoyed myself. Performing is not about perfection. I could never perform live if it were. For me, it is about raising the money to do good in the world. It's about self-acceptance. It's about believing that I am enough.

Image via Wikipedia

Ricky Williams:

I've never been a really outgoing person, but I was never afraid to go out and have a good time. When I was (drafted to) New Orleans it got to the point where I didn't want to leave my house. I didn't want to go anywhere. I didn't want to go to the grocery store. I didn't go out on dates. Occasionally, I'd go to dinner, but that was probably the extent of it.

I hit rock bottom after my second year in the NFL. I was 22 years old, I had all the money I could ever imagine, I had the opportunity literally to go anywhere in the whole world and do anything I wanted. But for some reason, I couldn't leave the house. I hated being at airports, where everyone recognized me and was going to try to come up to me and say "Hi." I was just deathly afraid of it.

I understand that a lot of people, especially men, look up to me because of my profession, so I have a chance to reach out to people and let them know what I have been through and how treatment have made my life so much better.
If my story can help even one person to seek help, it will feel as though I scored the game - winning touchdown.

I seriously need to get off Lexapro

2010-08-22T22:42:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm officially freaked out now.

I am taking Lexapro almost as long as this blog is up: that would be... let's see... three years already?

I love Lexapro. I really do. It helped my SAD. It helped *me* when I was completely out of options, and almost hopeless.

Since Lexapro kicked in, I could just go on with my life, not thinking about this social anxiety stuff.

No fears, no tremors, no sweating, no ruminating endlessly. I just felt... so normal.

In the end, I almost forgot about that black dog on my shoulder.

I didn't feel like writing this blog either - or visiting every day, sometimes multiple times a day "my" SAD forum like I used to - or reading a bunch of overcoming social anxiety books and ebooks and cure social phobia DVD's I've bought - - - all that talk about social phobia... Ah. Wearing me out.

Didn't want to remind me.

It was not my problem any more.

Because when I pop that little white pill in the morning, I am free.

Dude, you just had to go and wake me up, ha?

When having anxiety becomes an anxiety disorder?

2010-08-11T07:06:00.000-07:00

What is a difference between having anxiety and having an anxiety disorder?

Relaxation exercises to do at home

2010-08-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

anti-anxiety exercises

What are the best ways to fight anxiety when you're at home, alone? These are the exercises to do to elicit relaxation response without the need for drugs:

Deep Breathing Exercises
Visual Imagery Exercises
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Yoga and meditation

Deep breathing is something so simple and beneficial, yet you're most likely misusing it!

When we are anxious, we tend to breathe shallow, fast, in the chest. What we need to do to relax ourselves is just the opposite of that: deep, slow breathing from the abdomen.

Visual Imagery is also something you're already doing without even realizing it. But if you suffer from anxiety you're doing it all wrong:)

Change your visualizations from anxiety-inducing to soothing inner imagery.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation are exercises where you deliberately tense your muscles to mimic the stress response and than relaxing them progressively.

Meditation and yoga exercises are great for practicing mindfulness.

When you learn to be completely present in this very moment, and are not dwelling on past or worrying about the future - only than can you give anxiety the boot - for good.

If anxiety is all in our mind, we can then use our minds to fight it!

If the mind and body are connected, we can start with relaxing the body to soothe our minds and banish anxiety!

Escitalopram review

2010-05-08T05:02:00.000-07:00

Escitalopram review by anticenaguy based on his personal experience.

Xanax (alprazolam)

2010-05-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

Xanax is an alprazolam drug your doctor can prescribe for anxiety or panic attacks when on therapy for social phobia.

In this short video, Doctor of Pharmacy Nisha Rana will tell you what you need to know about this common anti anxiety drug.

In the following post, you can read more about Xanax for social anxiety.

Pharmaceuticals: Xanax

Alternative medicine for anxiety: Acupuncture

2010-04-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

Acupuncture and herbs can be used as alternative medicine for anxiety.

Beta blocker Propranolol: anti phobia pill?

2010-03-31T05:56:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Researches in Amsterdam say a new pill designed to regulate blood pressure - beta blocker called Propranolol - could help millions who suffer from phobias or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Propranolol targets the part of the brain called Amygdala, which process information that helps you learn and respond to fear, easing the association of particular memory to a particular sight, sound or smell.

Concretely, can beta blockers help those suffering for social anxiety?

This is a citation from Wikipedia considering the use of beta blockers for social anxiety:

"Improvement of physical symptoms has been demonstrated with beta-blockers such as propranolol; however, these effects are limited to the social anxiety experienced in performance situations."

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Is this an anti-phobia pill? Or changing people's personality?

SSRI drugs dangerous?

2010-03-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

In this video about dangers of taking SSRI drugs, Dr. Gary Kohls once again advises against taking SSRI drugs.

His arguments against SSRI drugs are based on the fact that SSRIs may be:

dangerous
addicting
brain altering

And once again, although I can't say I agree completely with his anti drugs views, it's something I will keep in mind when going off Lexapro.

Nutrition when trying to get off SSRI

2010-03-08T18:25:00.000-08:00

Another short video from Dr. Gary Kohls, talking about nutrition for brain health.

He goes through nutrients that can help patients trying to get off SSRI and remain mentally healthy when off SSRIs.

I'm not sure if I can agree with him on all his anti-drugs views, but there's no denying that you can't be emotionally and behaviorally healthy without neurologically healthy brain.

Just look at these brain nutrition facts below!

The brain has a highly active structure:

- it's only 3 % of your body weight, but it consumes 20 % of oxygen

- brain uses 20 % of your body's energy from glucose for itself

- heavy consumer of vitamins, minerals, amino acids

Brain takes that nutrients to manufacture brain neurotransmitters. All the 60+ of them!

For instance: for our brain to produce dopamine and epinephrine - natural antidepressants - we have to eat tyrosin and phenylalanine, and to make serotonine - foods rich in tryptophan.

We have to eat foods that have those amino acids, or supplement them.

Nourish your brain!

Link between mood and nutrition?

2010-02-15T05:53:00.000-08:00

I believe there is certainly a link of some kind between what you eat and your mental status. I can see it everyday: how a period when I don't bother to monitor what and how I eat always get followed with a period of low energy and bad mood, sometimes even "spiced" with dreaded anxiety attacks.

The lesson is always the same, although I always seem to forgot it when I feel fine: obeying mindfulness in everything. Mindfulness in what I think, what emotions are affecting me, what nutrients or anti-nutrients I put in my body.

I found this video of Dr. Gary Kohls discussing about the connection between one's nutritional and mental health.

Social fear

2010-02-08T18:01:00.000-08:00

This video is made by social phobia sufferer Kristina Petersen.

It shows how it looks to have those kind of fears, where everything around a phobic sufferer is blurred, unsecured, frightening... And the only thing that can rescue her is the same thing she fears the most...

Dedicated to all the people with social fear.

Chamomile for social anxiety

2010-01-18T23:26:00.000-08:00

Continuing with a series of posts about natural supplements for social anxiety, and having listed herbs like valerian, indian ginseng, and passion flower, it would be impossible to skip chamomile.

What a modest and hardworking plant! Chamomile has been used for treating a vast variety of health problems: from anxiety, insomnia, skin infections and rashes, to digestive upset… Although chamomile was a popular herbal cure from ancient times - as with majority of other herbal cures -modern medicine still has not given her final words on chamomile’s effectiveness.

My personal opinion is, though, that chamomile has been proven useful by so many people so many times, I just don’t want to wait for modern medicine to pack it in a pill and claim it “safe”. Whatever “safe” is. Is Cipralex I’m prescribed “safe”?

Anyway, I digress…:) I make a cup of chamomile tea when I feel a need to calm down or have problems sleeping, and it works! One doesn’t have to always pop a Xanax to prevent an anxiety attack in the making.

Taking chamomile in form of a chamomile tea is the most usual, but chamomile can also be taken in capsules, liquid extracts, tinctures and topical creams.

The following are recommended daily doses for an adult: 1 to 4 cups of tea, 15 ml of tincture three to four times, 400 to 1600 mg of capsules in divided doses, 1 to 4 ml of liquid extract - three times.

There is not enough scientific evidence to recommend use of chamomile in children.

Avoid the use of chamomile if you’re pregnant or nursing because chamomile may act as a uterine stimulant or even lead to abortion. If you’re allergic to plants in the daisy family, chamomile is not for you.

There are a number of potential interactions with medications and other dietary supplements.

If taking chamomile supplements along with drugs like benzodiazepines, barbiturates, narcotics and some antidepressants, drowsiness may occur. The same is true if combining chamomile with alcohol.

If you suffer from bleeding disorders ot take drugs that may increase the risk of bleeding (blood thinners, ibuprofen, naproxen), don’t use chamomile. Pass on chamomile if you’re taking medications that affect blood sugar or blood pressure.

Side effects of using chamomile include serious allergic reactions (anaphylaxis, throat swelling and shortness of breath), skin allergic reactions such as eczema, and vomiting when taken in large doses.

Going off Lexapro...?

2009-12-17T14:59:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking about going off Lexapro (Cipralex) for a time now.

I've heard horror stories from people on various health forums about terrible withdrawal symptoms they're going through when stopping Lexapro.

I hope we all know that it's not wise to try to withdraw from a prescription drug cold turkey. "That's it. I'm not taking this any more" attitude is foolish and maybe even dangerous.

Dr. Gary Kohls talks in this video about some of the better solutions for getting off medications - safely and effectively.

Cause of social phobia?

2009-11-20T06:34:00.000-08:00

Hm, I don't know what to think about this video.

Is it really possible that mercury poisoning can contribute to development of social anxiety disorder?

There is not - as far that I know - the cause for developing social phobia, but rather a combination of "causes" that may, or may not lead to developing social anxiety in one person but not the other. Genetic causes - or at least that's what I've heard most often - are mostly blamed for all kinds of anxiety disorders - including social phobia.

Author of this video says:

We don't know the exact amount of mercury we actually got vaccinated with, or what our bodies can really handle from other outside source in our environment. Mercury is a toxin in all forms and since we have proof of exposure AND proof of symptoms, it should be looked at more thoroughly. PLEASE download and spread this video.

I've read a lot lately about mercury poisoning - it's a hot topic - and I have a lot of dental fillings:(

Plus I was thinking about getting a vaccine against swine flu, but now...:/

However, I will continue to examine other causes of social phobia.

Gosh, I have never heard before that shyness is one of the symptoms of mercury poisoning!

Lexapro medication review

2009-11-09T09:48:00.000-08:00

Lexapro or Cipralex is a brand name for Escitalopram, SSRI antidepressant approved by FDA in 2002.

How Lexapro works, why it is prescribed for, and some common side effects of this AD drug are explained by a pharmacist in this video:

Information in this video is intended to supplement, not substitute for the expertise of your physician. Always consult your doctor before using Lexapro.