IAmEnough

Question... and I am going to talk to my therapist tomorrow as well. But is it wise to take meds at the "start" of this ACA work? Or do they just dampen your feelings and then slow your growth? I am really struggling with anxiety now. I took Zolhoff about 5 years ago while I did some counceling for depression. I was not diagnosed as ACA back then. The meds seemed to help take the edge off and then I was able to focus on counceling better.

What is your take on this? I drink very little and it doesn't seem to make things better for me anyway. I want to do what is best for me long term, but damn... this anxiety is overwhelming short term.

Comments?

rock_bottom

all i can say is that if you can achieve a certain balance of medication, you can function just fine, if not better. i have taken an extensive list of medication in my life and although it may have been hard to find the right medications for me, once found, i did just find. don't fear the medication. it is only there to help you.

utopia

i was on medsfor 4 years and it gave me the chance to look at the pain and past of my life without wanting to commit suicide and i slowly walked through it, they change you perception and numb your senses but sometimes i think theyre required to get you you through mental illnesses. giveit a go but always focus on positivity and innerpeace,get to asmany meetings as you can too
peace
toby

Chy

I'd get the advice of your doctor. Drinking on any type of meds can counter-effect the medication.

IAmEnough

Thanks... I want all of your opinions, since I am so new to this. I will talk to my therapist today. I don't want to "slow" my therapy by being numb, but I need to be able to function in life too.

Giving up drinking is not a problem if I go on meds, as I drink little anyway.

I have two issues I am really working on. One is the loss of my 3 1/2 year relationship, and the other is the ACA / Co-Dependency work I am doing. I feel okay about the ACA work and grow, but the loss and guilt of loss is killing me! This comes from my Co-Dependency I know, so the two issues are combined. If I could just come to grips with the loss and guilt of loss, I could better work on myself. I took a look at Coping.org last night. That helped somewhat. Any other ideas?

Blessings...

utopia

one day at a time, sometimes its one second at a time, just focus on the next minute and then the serenity, that will finally come if you regularly go to meetings, and hopefully overflow the borders of the moment when you find peace, you can do it!

IAmEnough

Thanks Utopia, You know... this "one day at a time" stuff is so damn new to me. It makes sense, and everyone tells me the same thing. But I struggle with thinking out long term and being afraid of never being happy.

Funny thing I wanted to share with everyone - I never quite "got" the Serenity prayer. I mean, I have read it many times, but it never had an impact at all. Now I read it and it brings me to me knees. It feels like it was written for me! It is about the only thing that helps me to remember "one day at a time"

About the meds....I saw my therapist and attended an ACOA meeting on Wednesday. I still am clouded by this anxiety of breaking up with my fiancee, but I have decided to forgo the meds. Instead I am trying to learn relaxing skills when I feel the anxiety come on.

Just talking here is wonderful. Is there a chatroom for ACOAs somewhere either at this site or elsewhere?

Blessings

Magichappens

Hey IAM,
Meds are an individual decision. Handling emotions, especially those we bottle up for years, is sometimes overwhelming. I have felt at times like my heart would bust out of my chest and my head would explode. But I chose not to take meds. Not that I would say it was wrong for anyone else. It was just how I wanted to try to work on things. And I can't say that there won't come a time when I feel I need them.

One day at a time, one minute at a time sometimes, I have gotten through a lot of emotional issues, and the extremes have subsided. Having support to get through it has been critical for me. Al-Anon meetings and SR have given me a lot of strength and courage.

However you choose to deal with your recovery, you have support and friendship here. Hugs, Magic

IAmEnough

Magic, you have no idea how good those words feel to me right now!

Blessings

utopia

for me

life isnt happy or calm or peaceful
life isnt sad or chaotic or stressful

life is what i choose it to be, and it was hard for me to learn that a lot of my beliefs and core self was ingrained from my childhood.

my life isnt anything but life itself, life simply is. im not happy i just choose to be.
the "pursuit of happiness" is folly because there is no end of the road.

sorrow and joy are joined and they will be with you all the days of your life, teh deeper your sorrows, the higher your joys will be.

nothing is really real for me, its just is real because i choose it to be, so my life has meaning, and im growing in strength every day to choose life!!!

peace out
toby

Tsar7

I was prescribed meds for severe depression. Instead of taking them I would go walk the mall. I would sleep with my clothes on and pick up donuts at night comming in from my meeting. In the morning when I didn't want to get out of bed, I would start thinking about those donuts and go to the car and drive to the mall.

In my fifth year sober one day I remember not being depressed. Then it became several days in a row. By ten years it was only at Christmass and a few dozen days a year.

Now only depressed a couple of days a year.

guiab

I have had good experiences with meds, although, as rock_bottom pointed out, it sometimes takes a few tries to get a med that works.
For me (anxiety, depression, and ADD), the first depression med did not work well but the second did. It allowed me to see that there was another way of thinking that was not saturated in social anxiety and downward spiraling thoughts.
ADD meds (more recent issue) just made me focus more on resentments and self-centered fear. I decided to work the 12 steps and attend lots of meeting as that goes to the core of my ACOA habits.
Keep in close contact with your doc - and try to be really honest too. I sometimes drifted into saying things I thought he wanted to hear. Now that is classic ACOA.
Good luck and good progress in your recovery!!

dwats

I think medication is fine as long as you do not solely rely on it to get better. You need to do some work that changes the way you think in situations to learn how to get your life back.

GingerM

I think talking to your Psychiatrist is the best way to go. I started taking meds for anxiety years ago, before I had even heard of ACoA. They helped me think better. Most of the therapists I know tell me that even people who aren't going to be medicated for life often do better with therapy while on meds because it helps them THINK more clearly because they aren't awash in FEELING.

My current therapist refuses to see people who are prescribed meds but refuse to take them.

I, personally, made leaps and bounds of progress after starting my meds compared with before.

dwats

Everyone is different but this makes sense to me