Help for anxiety. Finally getting it.

[Always *]

Ok so I've had to deal with anxiety for years ever since high school. I finally told my person at school who deals with my accommodations for another disability and because I explained such classic anxiety problems she recommended that I talk to one of the counsellors in the office. So I will.
I know I do not want meds. I always hate them. It's a personal thing. I don't want to be reliant on a pill to make me normal and I've gotten by for years without it. Now I'm just at the point where I don't want a dead car battery to = personal death any more.
I'll tell my boyfriend and bestie but and that's it.
I still feel like I'm not deserving of help cause I don't think I can legitimize that something isn't right.

[Philomath]

Hi,

I am glad you are finally getting help. I know from my own experience that getting help is a difficult thing to do.
I understand your views on taking a pill and not wanting to rely on them to make you normal but they exist to help people with issues and there is no one saying you would have to take the pill forever. The pill could be taken for a pro-longed period of time (probably a year or so) and then (with the doctor's permission) you could start lessening the doseage and then eventually be without it.
The meds are to help with balancing chemicals in your brain.
If you are strongly against taking pills, you could look into removing certain foods from your diet. Do research about what foods can cause anxiety to be more severe and then try to (with the help fo the counselor possibly) create a food plan where you do not eat those foods and see if that helps some.
Anxiety is very treatable and you deserve the help.
Everyone deserves to feel as normal as possible.
Hopefully this helps.
Take care.

[Always *]

I have nothing against meds. I know they're the best choice for a lot of people. But its not what I want. I also have adhd and meds didn't really help then either. It just stressed me out cause it was another thing to worry about. I like the ideas of changing my diet and trying other things likev that first.

[Ennui.]

Hey,

If they suggest medication, you can make it clear that you don't want them. I had to go through years without medication because my parents didn't believe in it so I always had to say "Nope, no meds, try other things." In the end meds are helping me now but that aren't for everyone and whoever you speak to should respect that.

You can also tell them if you have tried anything in the past to recover from this anxiety, so they will get a better idea of what they may or may not be able to do to help you better.

Be honest with them, though, because that is how you will get the most help.

Everyone is definitely deserving of help though! You deserve to get better.

-Dez

[Always *]

Thanks so much to the both of you for being so supportive.

I guess at this point I am just so dubious about how a counsellor will even help me because it's not like I'm unable to function properly. But I also spent most of Sunday lying about crying, then sleeping for 9.5 hours then falling asleep yesterday at 8:00 and wanting to sleep right now again (also 8:00 PM) and that's not a normal sleeping pattern for me, I don't sleep that much. It makes it hard for me to get anything done when all I want to do is sleep and then I spend the rest of my time worrying endlessly about every... last... thing... Even though I can't really even tell you what the problem is (I seriously tried justifying a situation where my car not being able to start a few days ago would lead to a series of events which would leave me being unemployed, homeless, and starving... in retrospect, that's hilarious, but still)... So I can definitely see how it affects my life but I've also channelled it to be super organized, detail oriented, and solution oriented and a get-it-done kind of person, so even though it sucks sometimes I guess I try to make it ok because I've used it in "good" ways