i think there is very good evidence that anxious people are predisposed through genetics, but anxiety is a learned behavior. i.e. we panic and then start becoming more and more fearful of inane things until there is a long list of things we can't do. i think cbt is the way to go. i bought a cognitive behavior therapy book called "panic attacks workbook: a guided program for beating the panic trick" by dr. carbonell. it cost me $12 on amazon and is GREAT. warning. it is about facing your fears and desensitizing to your panic symptoms so if you can't face the fear and would rather keep trying meds then don't get that book.that sounded condescending but i didn't mean for it to be. i was just explaining what the book is about.

Good luck!

So I did that about three months ago. I completely got off effexor and I didn't even taper like I should have. I am sooo happy that I finally got off everything. I feel better than I did on the medicine. Let me explain though the first two months of getting off were hard on me. I started birth control the same month and didn't taper, so should have it a lot easier. For the first two weeks, felt different, like kinda nautious, weird brain zaps, weird little things, but nothing I coudlnt handle. After than, I felt my anxiety come back before the medine and then I was agitated, emotional and kinda down. After reading all the withdrawal symptoms and feelng the weird things of your body getting off it made me realize that no matter how hard I will never put medicine in my body again. I am so glad that I got off, I refused to be dependent on medicine for the rest of my life. So just rememeber you are going to be more emotional, agitated, and anxious for a couple months, but it passes. You can do it, I did it and I am so glad I did. I will never get on medicine again, I liked effexor when I was on it, but just dont want mybody dependent on a chemical. Message me if you have any questions cause I just got off effexor.

and Iloverabbits, I completely agree with what you said. It is true and we are so much more in control of our anxiety and panic attacks than we realize.

Good luck with doing it that way and please let me know how it goes.I have taken klonopin for 17 yrs and they told me i have been on it for so long that i will have to take it for the rest of my life cause i am 51 and the withdrawls could kill me i so want to get off the med and see how i feel i dont know what feeling normal is anymore.
Good Luck!!

Good luck! I will hopefully be there soon. Good thing you tapered down, cold turkey is not good.

good for you! i too agree that anxiety is largely a learned behavior. there are many external influences that trigger excitement.

for me, anything mechanical, electrical, or electronic excites system to a various degrees. especially computers. but, since i work with computers so much, it is important for me to recognize their influence on my nervous system and allow time for my system to destress from it.

i do that by being in nature without music, etc. it is very good for me.

I'm still having Anxiety for sure, don't get me wrong. But I am going to see if it was caused by the Effexor before I go on anything else. I am not against going on meds, i just really hoped that it would work again for me and it didn't =(
Feeling pretty dizzy today, but just powering thru it. BLAH

I so agree that anxiety is learned behavior, a knee-jerk reaction of the reactive mind to external stimuli. If we learn to tune out external BS and, indeed, meditate, listen to soft music, sleep properly, the rest of the world be damned.

I vigorously exercise, and it exhausts me to the point where I can't help but sleep at night! Popping a couple Valerian tablets helps too.