Medication and counselling

@Sdmcl

Hi! I am sorry you're feeling a bit worried about asking medication from your doctor. When it comes to taking only medication without therapy, unfortunately, I am not sure, even though I have tried both. There have been times with and without medication with counseling for me, but I didn't really think about the effects together or by itself. medication and therapy to me have very different effects on me, and I cannot compare. Again, I think I can understand your anxiety about asking for medication for your anxiety. not that I have had this expereince but being taken wrong has always scared me, becuse I don't want to look bad or don't want to get hurt by being told something hurtful like a warning... I don't like being mistaken of my intentions... and it worries me frequently when I can tell that a certain situation could bring that up.

Hi @Sdmcl both Medication and councelling has its own benefifits. Not every person responds to treatment the same way.

I don't have personal experience of it, but I know a lot of people who find that medication helps their anxiety, and I know a lot of people who felt worse after counselling and gave it up. I imagine your doctor probably knows this, too, and I'd be very hopeful that he'd go along with your plan.

Both medications and counselling can involve trial and error, I think. You might have to try several medications before you find one that works well for you, and you might have to try several counsellors before you find one who works well with you.

I hope you've found that listeners here understand your feelings about these things and are helpful. If you'd ever like to chat with me, feel free to send me a message.

@Sdmcl

@Sdmcl Hi there :) I think that everyone responds to treatments differently, and its okay to say that you've found counselling doesn't work for you. Personally I found that a combination of medication and counselling was helpful, but I know people who have just found they got benefit from one or the other. Maybe talk it through with your doctor if you are worried what they might think. I hope you find what works for you! :)

@Sdmcl

Hi there. It sounds like the anxiety is really impacting you on a regular basis - not fun! Hopefully you will find something that works out well for you. Since you mentioned pain medication, I wanted to point out to you that many pain management medications (and many medications in general anyway) might come with side effects that could increase your anxiety. I am not sure if you have looked into that, but it might be worth checking out. The very large insert that comes with a medication for the pharmacy is going to have very detailed information about all of the side effects you might experience. Also, as a therapist, I wanted to say that counseling defintiely does often make people feel worse...in the beginning. While you may not feel it works out for you in general, and that is ok, I wanted to say that when we are busy digging up lots of painful or unhelpful feelings and thought patterns, it actually is kind of natureal for people to feel worse before they get better a lot of the time. Of course the end goal is to help someone feel better long term, but going through the past and the present to understand ourselves and our experiences and how they might be negatively contributing to our best life today is not always a very pleasant process. In a lot of ways, it is not meant to be. In my opinion, the key is to get to the other side and release those feelings and thought patterns to be more self aware and all around happier. Good luck in finding the best thing that works for you.