Daughter in Law suffering from Anxiety

Doctors don’t know what else to do other than throw antidepressants at their patients and keep raising the dose.

@sears

Because a doctors responsibility is one thing. Prescribe. * do note, I am not talking about a chronic physical genetic illness, I am speaking to unnecessary disease states due to lifestyle.

In the Westernized society people do not want take responsibility for their choices/decisions that have ultimately hurt them and their body, so they rely on a doctor. Well a doctor can not go back into your life and or history and undue what’s been done.
This is why ownership and working with some own closely for support, which will not be a medical doctor is the first step.

Overall lifestyle internal/external needs to be addressed before any pill is ever taken.

And I do truly feel for the person asking the question . Unfortunately it is a prime example of uneducation of one’s own body in our society. Hormones are a chemical in the body. So when hormones are not regulated properly this is a “chemical imbalance”. Just overall sad. I feel for the individuals whom have allowed and bought into the society of a pill for everything. Doctors are just regular humans in a white coat. They should not know more than you about your own lifestyle or body.

But Western medicine has given the illusion that they do which is all a facade. As if anyone took the time to know themselves or their own mind/body, they could keep themselves out of a doctors office.

No I agree there needs to be a life style change but I will say my own daughter suffers from bipolar depression and medication is a must for her. It took many years to find the right combination. Without her meds she wouldn't be alive.

I am referring to run of the mill anxiety and depression. The conditions that bother most of us from time to time. Example: Tell your doctor you haven’t been sleeping well they want to throw a sleep med at you maybe even an antipsychotic like Seroquel. You’re depressed because you hate your job, they want to throw an antidepressant at you. Having hot flashes? They want you to take the notorious Effexor. Pain? More antidepressants, probably Cymbalta. These doctors are horrible and horribly damaging their patients. They aren’t happy unless they’re writing a prescription and drugging people unnecessarily with these physchiatric drugs that can do so much damage.

@sears

This is accurate and spot on.

The worst part about it all is once given a “diagnosis”, that patient will run with that diagnosis as an identity and it gets added into their chart notes/medical history for every other doctor to see.

They suddenly become their diagnosis. Do you think it’s a little bit weird that all of these grown adults are now being “diagnosed” as ADHD. Back when I was growing up it was called taking on too much and not knowing how to prioritize.
GROWN women who have went through life fine as a child/teen and young adult NOW looking for a reason to say they are “overwhelmed”.

You do not have ADHD, it is that you are trying way to hard to live out social norms and move beyond your means. Period.

Anyhow-PCPs are glorified pharmacists and once you get sent to a specialist then you are in even more trouble because they definitely do not look at the body as a whole. You are seperated into parts.

There is a back surgeon whom left his practice as a surgeon because most lower back pain is stress related and he found too many unnecessary back surgeries not working or hurting patients because they needed an entire lifestyle overhaul and NOT a surgery.

@klm67 -

I never reply to someone without asking more questions.

After a few more replies the original person shared that her daughter in law drinks daily, so yes that is not an anxiety disorder on its own that one would need to get hormones checked out.

That is what drinking alcohol daily will do to you. So an SSRI will not typically help someone who makes poor lifestyle choices. It’s called full ownership and HONESTY of help.

You wouldn’t give someone a diabetes medication without thorough counseling on diet and exercise. One can not expect diabetes to just poof and go away with a pill, but most people do.

MANY questions need to be asked before throwing pills at someone whom says they are having panic attacks. Drinking daily will wreak havoc and cause panic attacks. So start there and not a pharmaceutical.

Every one has their own situation. It is not wise to blanket every person whom complains of stress/anxiety and panic with a med.

But so goes Western Medicine and the people whom believe it to be the best thing available to them. To each their own.

@melissa123 The alcohol use certainly complicates this picture of your daughter-in-law. I've known many people who have anxiety disorders or panic disorder who have used alcohol or drugs. I don't know if the alcohol/drug use came before the anxiety or the other way around. At this point that probably does not matter. What does matter is this is a very difficult decision that your daughter-in-law needs to make for herself. She needs help and it's easy to find the "right" help under these circumstances. But, I will tell you that I also know people who have been in recovery for alcohol for many years, are sober, and learned how to manage their anxiety. One of my friends said that she was in therapy for many years and kept "peeling back the layers of the onion" with her therapist.

Has your daughter-in-law been to residential rehab where co-occurring disorders of alcohol use and anxiety disorder are both treated?

No she never was a drinker. I think the anxiety has gotten so bad that she has tried to self medicate. I know drinking is not the solution. I feel for her. I also feel for my son and my 2 grandkids.

@melissa123 Since you wrote that your daughter did not use alcohol in the past and is now using it to self-medicate then the alcohol use could turn into an addiction. That would be a terrible outcome to a series a problems that can be better managed by medical and mental health care. But....she has to want this for herself and stick with it. You can suggest and recommend and provide her with moral support but it's something she has to decide to do on her own.

I feel for your daughter-in-law too and how her anxiety and alcohol use is affecting her and by extension her family. If she wants to save herself first then her family will benefit from your daughter-in-law taking an active role in her own treatment. Here is the metaphor that applies to this situation: Put on your own oxygen mask before you put the oxygen mask on your children.