Bless your heart sweetie! I KNOW how you feel! I have been on 1 mg of xanax 3 times a day for almost 3 years now and I HATE having to be on meds, but I cannot function without it! I tried to get off of them for 2 days and I thought I was going to die, have a heart attack or just pass out and die!

If I had to give up my xanax, I would seriously consider ending it al, as my life would not be functional at all!

When we have anxiety, then add everyday life situations to it....it makes it double trouble, so I feel your pain! Take the xanax when you need it and when you don't just keep it on hand! With starting a new job and having issues where you live, your anxiety isn't going to get any better till life chances some!

You will be in my prayers dear! GOOD LUCK!

I have found that my anxiety lessens when I do excerise for an hour a day before I go to bed. Have you ever considered switching from Xanex to another drug to see if it helps decrease your anxiety?

Thank yall for replying... it just feels better knowing there are others in similar situations... I can't wait until sept 1st, going to start seeing a therapist once my insurance kicks in. Hopefully my anxiety will be at bay.in a few months... thanks also for your prayers you are in mine as well! Day by day... just breathe... ahhh..

Have you tried valerian root?

You may be a very good candidate for Neurofeedback.

Have you thought of seeing a therapist for this?? Check this website:
www.bcia.org. Find a practitioner and see what you can do for yourself through this avenue.

Anxiety...been there...done that...there's a ton of hope on the other side of this.

it looks like youre trying very hard to dig yourself out of that hole. i think therapy will be very helpful. as for getting out of your moms place, a very wise decision. it's best to be around as many positive psople as possible and if she cant be that for you then its best to move out! i miss the hell out of my lady too, but day by day, one foot in front of the other, we can get better and better. good luck!

I had a 3 day wake sleep eeg done a couple years ago, modules all over my scalp. Was that what you were talking about john? And yes, it is day by day... sometimes I just feel like what's the point. Everything in my life just seems like obstacles

Hang in there. Anxiety is awful and I wish I didn't have this problem. I woke up this morning anxious and not knowing why and this causes me to be more anxious...I do believe we must take one step at a time and soon we will be better.
You are in my prayers.

Actually, Neurofeedback can do a number of things:

In it's purest form, Neurofeedback is a training tool.

You will get an audible or visual (or both) "signal" from a computer that is monitoring your brainwaves...for frequency and amplitude...that are being converting into a form of audio/visual stimulation...whereby you can "redirect" your thought processes...toward something more settling.

As you know, Amanda, the best way to stop a panic attack is to keep one from ever happening.

We go about our day to day lives, unaware of our brain activity and Neurofeedback can help to raise our cognition of the fact...that our brain has a life of it's own, in a number of way...totally unconscious to us.

Your implicit (fear and emotion) memory runs beneath our consciousness...but anxiety is a non-descript type of tension (and I believe pain) that carries no voice, but definitely carries impact upon our being.

Doesn't it seem bewildering when we have a panic attack or anxiety?? It can seem unreal, can't it?

There are a number of reasons as to why there is anxiety. Meds are fine, but there's a problem with them...they work...and when they work, we cease to work, on the things that caused us our anxiety to start with.

Make sense?

Yes, does make sense. What scares me the most about the xanax is I am completely aware I'm dependent... my sis said her biggest fear would be that when i was done weaning I would just go get more, which I did.. it scares me to think and know I can not go through a day without it. I don't even feel the effetcts of the medicine anymore. I know one day I will not have this medicine anymore... I know this is a personal. obstacle I plan on dealing with by the end of the year. A good friend of mine who you'd never expect has anxiety told me he has been prescribed xanax for TEN years, something got mixed up this weekend at the pharmacy and he had to go cold turkey... he is 33 and said it was hard for him to explain to his mom why he was sick... and mad at the dr for prescribing him it for so long... thats when I realized I need to take this seriously and get out of this xanax fog. Panic attacks ate unreal, that's why people who don't get them.can never understand.

I've been taking Xanax for about 4 yrs. now. I take 1 mg.'s 4 x a day; two to sleep. Though some days I don't take any, except for sleeping. I have a lot of anxiety problems. I don't like having to use a drug to help me live a some what normal life, though the benefits of it, to me, anyway, outweigh the negative.

I just recently went w/out any for a couple of days and went into withdrawal's. It was one of the worse experiences I've ever had. This does make me think about finding an alternative.

I hope things get better for you. I know what you're going through. Hang in there. See a Therapist, and work on CBT.

I wish I had better advice....I can only say that I was a special education teacher with a long, long career when I became severely ill with multiple chemical sensitivities....I got worse and worse, and then anxiety hit, so hard and fast, I never knew it existed like that. Then I nosedived into physiological depression and spent 2 1/2 years in hell, and almost died....very physically and mentally sick. During that time, they had no choice but to put me on something for the anxiety...I could not tolerate any antidepressants (I tried 7 and had 7 severe reactions with one dose only. So, I was put on Ativan. And guess what, that was 8 years ago and I am still on it....fought the battle of saying I would get off soon, wanted off, still want off....but my life has been nothing but major stress....parents breaking body parts, contracting emphysema, diabetes, pancreatic cancer, and finally, my Dad has Alzheimer's and I'm doing a good bit of the caregiving 7 days a week. Never mind all the crap with the rest of the family, it goes on and on. Can I get off my Ativan? Heck, no. I'm now 61 years old and would love to be off it so I wouldn't be straddled to the time confinements, etc., but do I see in the foreseeable future a break in time when I'm not going to be anxious? No. I've resigned myself that this is probably a life thing with me. I see it as needed for a disorder (GAD) just like another med. I am dependent. Of all the people I know, I would be the last person you would think this would ever happen to. In my other life I dealt with spec. needs high school kids since 1972 and did it just fine, along with being a leader and running many other things. No more. But I feel blessed because what would I do if there were no such thing as this medication? Benzodiazephines are horrible, horrible to get off of. Maybe one of the worst there is. But I want to say this to all of you who are young and suffering with this....do not give up getting off it. If I were that young, I'd fight like crazy to do it. The key is you have to be under the care of a physician, and literally shave off a tiny piece of your med, take the rest for a few days or a week, the shave another, and so on. And still you can have effects. Just be careful and get a good physician who is practiced in doing this. God bless you and I hope it all works out.

Beckeroo