I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder when I was 19 -- throughout my twenties, I was told it was pretty severe by multiple healthcare workers, and at 31 I got stuck with the "ADHD" and "(mild) Bipolar 2" labels as well. I always refused medication, but agreed to go on a low dose of atomoxetine when I was 31.
I basically kicked all the symptoms -- plus chronic GI issues, chronic migraines, and sleep difficulties -- in 2020 when I was 32. I hero-dosed magic mushrooms multiple times (I know this is controversial, but it worked for me), and subsequently dramatically decreased the amount of refined sugar, refined flour, processed foods, and alcohol from my diet. I started doing yoga more regularly. I stopped wearing synthetic clothing. I threw out my sunglasses. I started drinking chamomile tea with turmeric and black pepper before bed. I stopped brushing my teeth with fluoride. I spent less time on screens and starting prioritizing getting out in the sun. I ditched unhealthy relationships and met the love of my life and got happily married.
Currently -- very little anxiety symptoms, definitely not bipolar, and don't meet diagnostic criteria for ADHD either. No migraines. No GI issues. Sleep soundly every night. Doing great, basically. I also think I look more attractive than I did five years ago, maybe even a little younger, despite having two kids in the last four years.
Should add that the "GAD" diagnosis came right after I went on birth control pills. I went off them at age 30, but my mental health actually got worse until I did all the mushrooms. I'm guessing nutrient depletion and hormone disruption from BC was a factor.
Absolutely fantastic, sorry for the long journey. But I'm glad you found things along the way that actually worked, even if intermittently. If you're still having any anxiety and or possibly negative thought patterns or whatever a very least invasive way of trying something that is a little safer than the mushrooms(lol, so glad they worked). LDN, low-dose naltrexone tons of books out there on it and even a non-profit group that does tons of education and has three books out on all of the conditions that it has helped people with. Sweetest thing about it is the only side effect at least for me is when I forget to take it, negative reoccurring thoughts that more than likely would cause a little bit of an anxiety start to return (I actually just find them annoying and realize I'm not thinking clearly, but it's kinda like PTSD it's hard to get rid of at times ), and when I take one maybe 2 mg max , magically goes away. I had asked a doctor to give me a script for it for depression and he scripted 50 mg pills times 30 to be used as needed? It's a lot cheaper than getting the mail ordered from China or definitely having them compounded, but if you've got money that wouldn't be a problem I guess. Zero side effects for me and many people. If nothing else you'll have an interesting read if you're interested and I would probably suggest the LDN book volume two by Elsgood, it hits more on the psych conditions as well as many other areas. Book 3 hits on long Covid and additional progress that has been made and all the other areas. I'm
Thank you a lot for sharing, every little bit helps ❤️
If you find it of any help to you don't hesitate to share back, or if you find something else that helps please share, that's how we all learn and realize we might be in the same boat ❤️
Yeah, I know a few women who took it for like half a year and then went off it because they developed mental health issues when they'd never had them before.
I've also heard great things about magic mushroom type approaches. I'm wondering if anything I have in my notes is what you mean by magic mushrooms
I've got notes on Ketamine - a disasosiative not a psychedelic drug....aka mushrooms in the 70’s.
- horse tranquilizer
- “Special K”, hippie heroin
- It opens up the brains neuroplasticity.
- studies are showing that it relieves depression and anxiety immediately.
- It is showing to be more effective thsn the big pharma drugs that are used for depression/anxiety
- Ketamine could probably be addictive if not used properly? ....I’m not sure.
- But you can’t get what is used for this therapy in any store
- Lorna Busch is a holistic psychologist and she is doing ketamine assisted psychotherapy and ketamine retreats. You have to go to the west coast for what she does.
Some places do retreats held in our large room with hotel right next-door that people can actually walk to it. They have the large room so they do their therapy and then as practitioners will be there for different services that they sign up for. So they can do saunas, ionic foot bath, ricky, massage and whatever else offered
Then there's LSD + other psychodelics ...sounds like "they" lied about the harms and it's a cure for anxiety, depression, etc...
I have a handful of posts on my Substack about mushrooms, including details of some of the weirder / darker stuff than can happen on them (Talking to God on Psychedelics) and detailed research on how they can heal and how to maximize healing on them (Psilocybin Tea Recipe).
Ketamine is definitely addictive -- not necessarily physically, but a lot of people become psychologically hooked on it. It can also cause bladder damage if used too frequently and in too high of doses. I think it has its uses as an antidepressant (and it's effective for chronic pain) but it needs to be used carefully and ideally only in clinical settings maybe twice a month max. Not a good idea to give people direct access. Ketamine and LSD both pose a significant risk for psychosis too, compared to psilocybin (magic mushrooms).
Unlike the other two, magic mushrooms are a plant (not synthetic). They are anti-inflammatory, increase neuroplasticity, and in really high doses can reset the gut microbiome (involves purging). They increase your sensitivity and so can be used to identify toxic things in your life that need to be removed. They can also lead to spiritual encounters (e.g. seeing "God") which can have mental health benefits for some people. But at a hero-dose, it's kind of like playing "Am I the Asshole" with God or getting "Christmas Carolled" -- you see your past and present with a more objective lens and see possible futures. People who get the Scrooge treatment can become depressed afterward if not properly supported, and there are anecdotes of people committing suicide after magic mushrooms (albeit rare).
I've also had great results with psilocybin! I have taken cannabis ('microdose' levels) for several years now and it's been wonderful for my GAD, overthinking and overworrying. But it didn't stop the strange deep dark depressions I would sometimes get seemingly out of nowhere. I was gifted some Psilocybe. spp mushrooms to microdose and see if that helped. It sure did and also had the unexpected benefit of stopping my migraines! Now all that's needed is to microdose every few months, no deep dark depressions and no migraines! It is absurd to me that nature should be made illegal, especially when it has so many benefits. Like many psychedelics, it has a much better safety profile than the same pharma drugs I've been prescribed previously that left me worse off and with horrible withdrawal.
Large doses in 2020 (over 5 grams). I've only had one migraine since spring 2020 (and in March 2020 I had one so bad I had to go to the hospital because it triggered cyclical vomiting) and that one cleared up immediately after I ate some liver pate. Here are the details: https://thecassandracomplex.substack.com/p/psilocybin-magic-mushroom-tea-recipe
Followed your link and done a restack. Great article even though I’ve never felt a need to do psychedelic mushrooms. Your research is impressive. I’m so pleased you are healing and in a good place. Knowing our causational triggers is very empowering, even though the reality is a difficult truth to unravel. Blessings to you and yours.
I believe that what we have lost is the ability to decompress from a lifestyle that is over stimulating the brain. I am talking about Mind-Body harmony. We are too caught up in the conflicts that abound in our lives today and we need to retreat into refuges that allow us to relax our body and mind. Chronic stress suppresses the immune system via chronic production of cortisol. Not good. Go fishing! Do yoga. Meditate at your place of worship. Go on a Mind-Body retreat. So many ways to destress are available, we just have to commit to do it regularly. My view.
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve written here. I just believe we’re not all wired exactly the same. So it’s not a one size fits all. But I certainly like your approach to achieving better mental health through mind-body harmony. Practicing yoga, tai-chi, mindfulness, meditation — all wonderful ways to de-stress. I’m not much for fishing personally, or gardening for that matter! But I’ve heard they’re both wonderful ways to de-stress as well! 😉
We are wired from birth by imprinting and our environment as we grow into adulthood. We all have our positives and negatives about life events. I was blessed. I had loving parents and a stress free childhood without vaccines.
You describe my childhood to a tee — but we were vaccinated. Are you suggesting vaccines contribute to anxiety and stress?
Aside from that, childhood trauma can often be caused by an accident or a fall very early in life. The child may be very well loved and cared for, but their brain may be ever so slightly impacted by that fall if it was their head that was temporarily injured. Or the memory of an early accident might leave them scarred in some way that impacts their development in a negative way.
I’m using these two specific examples as instances where nothing too serious occurred. But it may have nevertheless had a serious impact on a developing child that is say, between 1 and 3 years old. No real memories of the accident or incident.
I have read of cases of ADHD — where there is no family history of ADHD, or of family alcohol or drug abuse — that were the result of an earlier head injury to the child.
Vaccines are an invention of the 20th century. They claim that they were the reason we live longer. Wrong. It was because our water supplies became clean and our sanitation system was created.
Well, that sure addresses the instances I raised about the presence of trauma in a very young child. I think it really bothers you that I had such a happy loving childhood and I was vaccinated. Well, guess what? The overwhelming majority of us have been vaccinated.
And so, since you’ve deliberately ignored what I’ve raised here, I’ll ask again. Are you suggesting that vaccines are the cause of stress and anxiety in people?
And I’ll also seize upon your “imprinting” language. I’ve read that we carry DNA imprints from our ancestor’s memories. If so, then there’s plenty of trauma in my ancestry — grandparents and great-grandparents escaping oppression in their native lands to come to America. So I guess that would negate my picture-perfect happy childhood. And I suppose I could attribute any general anxiety I have to pure DNA imprinting.
The last thing I’ll say here is that I am puzzled that someone licensed to practice pharmacy is not very keen on drugs. I’m sure there’s a story there for another day and time.
I've always wondered about this. I am an adoptee. When I was born, I had a port-wine stain (hemangioma) on my upper left forehead. Because I wasn't "perfect," they were worried I would be rejected by potential parents.
So what did "medicine" do? They X-rayed my skull in progressive "treatments." TRUE, it eliminated the port-wine stain, but it left me with a dent in my upper left forehead.
...and I've wondered what this did to my brain. I am left handed (that may be why), and better at English than maths (but maths & logic aren't totally gone, but logic puzzles drive me spare). What else did it do? Is this a contributing factor to my journey through psychiatry and diag-nonsense?
I have had numerous loved ones use “The Journey” type of treatment. This is a word trigger of a childhood trauma. The results were astounding when the trigger was found and the trauma addressed. No drugs, no forever treatments. It does not have to be a massive trauma, but to a child it is a trauma that has not been dealt with, that keeps coming up in adult life and is trying to be repressed, with the anxiety/depression the result. (In my personal experience) https://changesfor.life/meet-the-team/training-2/
Lol. I’ll try and speak your language now. Nah, better yet, I’ll just call you Chauncey Gardner. He’s a character in the classic film “Being There.” Mistaken as a savant by very rich famous people, he makes simple pronouncements in as few words as possible which the ruling elites believe makes him wise. But sadly, he’s a simpleton who cannot read or write. Of course, you CM, can both read and write. But what you convey is simply nothing. I hope you are happy and stress-free and continue to have a life that is devoid of offering as few words as possible in any given situation and never putting your skin in the game for anything. I guess that’s called playing it safe, especially so at an anonymous distance where you can be the armchair critic.
It's funny you say you'll try to speak my language but then you speak yours instead … lol. Funny also, my intention was to shed some light on the topic of anxiety but apparently you like confusion. And not interested in anybody's hope for my own happiness 😊
It would be impossible (for me) to speak your language with so little to go on. I do not prefer confusion and nothing I’ve written would suggest that. Rather, I take a very nuanced view. It’s the little differences that can account for so much. And it’s the broad sweeping pronouncements that can do so much harm. Whatever you may be personally suffering, I wish you ease and comfort and calm in your journey.
It comes back to my original comment you responded to. I think we all are wired slightly differently. And I believe there is a place for prescription drugs in treating many ailments in our brain that therapy and/or a good positive attitude simply can’t cure. This original post conceded as much. It was really well-written detailing all the different types of anxiety and how drugs were often the best treatment in certain situations. But not all. Sometimes holistic treatments are the better course and allow the patient not become reliant on meds.
My single piece of advice to anyone out there is to read, educate yourself, and if necessary, find a new doctor if the one you have is not respecting you, or is offering simplistic answers, or is simply not advancing your best interests. Be your own advocate. That may be difficult for many people who are not necessarily assertive by nature. In that instance, it’s important they have someone who can advocate on their behalf.
It’s almost impossible to achieve a truly pristine EMF environment. I wish more people could experience it—I think they’d be amazed at what might happen.
I was misdiagnosed and mistreated for 35 years with an anxiety disorder. In 2020, I moved into a special home—one carefully designed to exclude synthetic EMF. I had already seen how EMF reduction correlated with the total reversal of my chronic arthritis, so my only goal was to guard against the relentless spread of man-made electromagnetic radiation.
I wasn’t expecting anything more.
But within 30 days of moving in, I realized something shocking: my anxiety wasn’t just better—it was completely gone. Just like the arthritis.
Imagine—35 years on benzodiazepines—ended. It's been over five years. Not one anxiety attack.
Agree that EMF is nocive but that's not the key. I know many who are very happy and they don't live in a space like yours. Again I would prefer living without EMF around me but anxiety, I don't think is linked to it.
I realize it’s difficult to believe—I would have rejected the idea myself for most of the 35 years I spent suffering. But the experiences I’ve had, both personally and professionally, have shown me something undeniable: not only anxiety, but many other symptoms commonly dismissed or misdiagnosed, often trace back to what I now understand as electromagnetic poisoning.
I don’t expect everyone to be convinced by theory. But when symptoms vanish—not improve, but disappear entirely—after reducing synthetic EMF exposure, it's not coincidence. I've seen it again and again in the lives of those I've helped.
A home built from the ground up in a reasonably good location, specifically for that purpose. I’ve designed several for clients and built one for myself.
Everybody is genetically different. My brother in law was a big, strong, health conscious marine. He was given azithromycin for mild bronchitis and dropped dead an hour after he took the 1st dose. Some people die when they eat a peanut. If someone tells you that something is bothering them, it would be wise to believe that it actually IS bothering them and instead of stating as a fact that it is not so, it would be best to add their information to the 'community wisdom.'
how many doors factor into that anxiety? Trauma, cortisol spikes, chi in the brain, there may be many doors that need opening before the anxiety is addressed.
Anxiety nervosa, previously known as neurasthenia, was invented by Freud, just as hundreds of thousands of miles of telegraph wire began to encircle the globe, electrifying our communities on a scale never before imaginable.
I did and I did not understand alot, but strangely came away from it with a sense of awe. The implications of what little I did understand are enormous. I plan to go back and read again. This time slowly - researching terms and processes so I can put it together in my head more coherently.
I think touch starvation is a big cause for modern anxiety. The baby knows how to self-regulate their system because of skin to skin external regulation from a mother. If the baby doesn't get touch, their body never learns to self regulate and this pops up as anxious behavior. I bring it up because AMD mentioned the GABA system and Adam Lane Smith (attachment theory guy) says lack of parental touch can cause someone to switch over to only responding to dopamine and vasopressin while their GABA systems stay muted or offline. This includes Ferber, the "Back to sleep program", replacing breastfeeding with formula, daycare supremacy over motherhood, the whole bag. That would explain people trying to beat down anxiety with drugs and excitement all the time, which we see here.
Looking it up I found this quote:
"Modern day sleep training, as we know it
In the 1980s is when we begin to see our first glimpses of modern day sleep training. Two doctors published incredibly popular books that introduced sleep training ideas and practices that largely shape the current sleep training strategies that are popular today. Around this time, we notice an increase in the medicalization of normal child sleep- in other words, we see normal child sleep and feeding patterns increasingly being labeled as medical problems that require interventions to solve.
In 1985, Dr. Richard Ferber published Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems (7). In his book, Dr. Ferber advocated for a method of sleep training called “controlled crying”, or “graduated extinction”, which is essentially letting a child cry alone for longer and longer lengths of time. Today, we still know this method as The Ferber Method, or “Ferberizing”."
So let's say 'sleep training' became big in 1990. Flash forward until they're 18-25 and that would be 2008-2015 which syncs up with the chart loosely. Basically millennials and onward which matches with benzo demographics. So now you have a cohort of adults who not only can't self-soothe with GABA systems, they are heavily reliant on drugs to hit dopamine highs or to try and overcompensate for weakened GABA reactions (benzos).
From a causal glance there's a million studies showing that GABA activity gets completely torpedoed by lack of grooming and touch in animals and humans alike. Sad, very very sad.
Breast fed my son, on demand, until he eventually pushed me away, about three days before he turned a year old.
Read to my son every night, with one arm round him, until he fell asleep. Or, until I fell asleep, but still holding him close, until he fell asleep, or one of us wriggled.
Fast forward, my son is confident, has lived in different countries, achieved his goals of becoming an incredible artist to an advanced level. He is resilient to disease, loves nature, sunlight and water, of calm mind.
I say all this as, his 3 maternal cousins, non breast fed, left alone in rooms to cry themselves to sleep, fed anti-nutrients, fast food (and I’m not including eggs here), never read to and never left home.
Skin contact, cuddles and recognising mother in every sense from gestation, offers security and is nourishment.
Breast feeding, of course, reinforces everything in the skin contact sentence, most would only recognise from the ‘food aspect’ sadly.
Why do so many men, women, children and so called professionals believe, our disconnection from nature and all its rhythms, are the way forward.
We are all a wonderful creation, we do well to live as ancestrally as the birds and their fledglings do.
Dave, I greatly enjoy listening to Adam Lane Smith’s “I Wish You Knew” podcast. Although, I have to admit, I miss when he and Sarah Dawn Moore co-hosted. Good stuff!
The content of this entire list used to fall under a single designation — “life”. Back before the souls of the many became emptied and broken. Before people believed disappointments and yes, terrible heartbreak, could be eliminated. The pain of being a truly alive human being has given us our greatest and most moving poetry, songs and literature. Let us finally shutter the “research labs” of the madmen who in their ignorance and hubris are erasing the essence of what it is to be human.
My past depressions disappeared when I got busy, exercised and did and found people and activities I enjoyed. My winter SAD went away with a light box.
It was hard to rouse myself but sometimes circumstances wake you up. When my winter SAD was alleviated by the lightbox, I had the energy to step out and get into life again. Just my story.
I recall the feeling, believe me … as if having to drag a heavy anchor around. I think sometimes it’s simply bad habits that hold us down. A great Arab philosopher from the Middle Ages said all habits are bad habits 😆
You have a point. I have not experienced deep depression so I know that other strategies may have to be employed for that. Honestly, since I gained my faith in God, I have handled anxiety and mild depression much better. I’m 77 this year and have been through most of life’s experiences so nothing really surprises me even though it may sadden or frighten me. I paint outdoors. Walk in nature. These are amazing soothers and times to “listen”. Take care. 🙏🏻👍🏻
saw a commercial the other day for an antidepressant specifically designed for when the primary antidepressant "isn't enough." The ad featured some woman talking about how she didn't feel as chipper as she wanted to
funny, cuz all the people I know on multiple SSRIs are zombies, not happy...
Kudos to the author for this very informative and thoroughly article that any layperson — myself included — can understand. I’m sharing a few stories here for anyone who is considering certain meds, both the pros and cons. I genuinely believe in non-drug therapies and it’s wonderful when a person can avail themself of that.
I have been taking Lexapro for over 16 years. It’s been prescribed to me for general anxiety of excessive worrying over-thinking. I think I inherited this from my mom. Lexapro does a fabulous job at keeping me in a very comfortable place. I call it being my best self. No more excessive worry or over-thinking. Always positive, I handle nearly all situations calmly, rationally. And it hasn’t robbed me of my passion. I still speak with enthusiasm. I’m not an unfeeling robot. I’m still me in every sense, just my best version of me.
Now for the downside — and it is a pretty big one. I’ve been robbed of my MOJO — that sense of being on top of my game which was once a very big part of me. Further, there’s no sense of urgency to anything. mention this because I would not recommend this drug for younger people who are just starting out in their careers as well as older adults who are still working. If I were in those categories, I would not be taking this drug. And, it should be noted, this is not a drug you come off of easily. I don’t like using the word “addictive” because it is intended for long-term use.
I was diagnosed with MS, and while I’m very fortunate to not suffer relapses, I no longer hold a job because of the enormous fatigue I suffer. I am convinced — without any evidence whatsoever, other than my own anecdotal account here — that the reason I don’t experience MS relapses is because I’m not worrying and I also handle stressful situations very well precisely because I do take Lexapro! Stress is one of the greatest triggers for an MS relapse.
The author of this article also noted Xanax. I was not able to tolerate this drug. But I have used Valium in very limited circumstances. The first time, 25 years ago when I quit smoking. I took it for just 7 days and it worked like a charm — no withdrawal symptoms from smoking. And no addiction to the Valium. The only other time I will take a Valium pill is when I experience the “MS hug” which manifests in me as having great difficulty breathing. The anxiety of not being able to breathe literally makes breathing even more difficult. Typically, taking an anti-inflammatory does not cut it.
There is only one specific instance that triggers enormous anxiety in me — moving and having to pack. We’ve moved a lot. Ironically, it’s the Lexapro that lulls me into believing I have this under control. But I don’t. I don’t realize how little time I have left, and then as it’s closing in, I’m a complete and total wreck! And I’m not fully packed when the movers arrive! There are a few movers out there all over the country that would include me in their “stories” of people they wished they’d never had to move!
MS being a Zeta potential problem. Could be induced by long use of Lexapro. Can't prove it - just like I can't prove that 30 years of psych drugs "caused" my fibromyalgia, IBS, and chronic fatigue.
www.survivingantidepressants.org has free protocols for safely tapering off of your drug. We've had many people who've been on drugs for decades - who have come off successfully, and realised that what the drug was doing - well. I'll never go back.
It may be too late to reverse MS (please read Doc's articles on DMSO!) but coming off the drug may help with further damage.
Wondering if you felt that your sexual responses were numbed? I tried anti depressants several times and didn’t care for the numbing or making me very sleepy and needing to sleep more.
That’s a hard question for me to answer as I experienced menopause nearly 10 years earlier than the average woman and I was first prescribed Lexapro about 8 years after that. So I was dealing with some sexual arousal issues long before I was prescribed Lexapro. And then, not to complicate things further, a few years later, I was diagnosed with MS which had been in me for quite a while but had not been diagnosed as such. And MS can typically cause some sexual dysfunction. In all these years, I’ve experienced highs and lows sexually and my hunch is that it was not the Lexapro that was the culprit, but more likely menopause and MS that were contributing factors. Fortunately, sexual arousal comes and goes which is a lot better than being gone! And because of the erratic nature in terms of frequency, I think Lexapro has not affected me that way. But I’m very aware that it is a problem for some women.
You mention excess catecholamines (epinephrine, norepinephrine) as the physiological underpinnings of generalized anxiety. Yes!
From my nephrological perspective, the most likely explanation for this is low blood volume (hypovolemia). This is caused by inadequate intake of electrolytes, mainly sodium and potassium.
The sodium-potassium ATPase pump keeps most sodium in the extracellular fluid and potassium in the intracellular fluid. Na and K are equivalent cations and are required to maintain normal extracellular and intracellular volume.
Hypovolemia is unhealthy and eventually leads to syncope, kidney failure and death! The body defends blood volume and organ perfusion by activating hormonal systems to increase sodium retention by the kidney (renin-angiotensin-aldosterone), and increasing heart rate, vasoconstriction, and the contractile force of the heart (catecholamines). With chronic hypovolemia, these systems are constantly switched on. Does walking around on the verge of fainting create anxiety? I think yes.
The demonization of sodium (salt) has been almost as destructive as the demonization of saturated fat. There's no question the broad recommendation to limit salt intake is harming people. Sodium and potassium are absolutely essential for life, and should only be restricted in patients with severe kidney, heart or liver disease.
Hyperinsulinemia causes some salt retention, but also increases catecholamines which is the major link to hypertension. Normal kidneys easily dump excess sodium, so limiting intake in normal individuals is pointless and can cause harm. Patients with endstage kidney disease, glomerular disease, heart failure or liver failure have abnormal sodium retention and must limit intake. Volume status is best determined clinically; most patients I've treated with hypertension are not volume overloaded.
Hyperinsulinemia is the cause of most hypertension and is easily reversible with sugar/carb restriction.
I can't understand how someone can get rid of mental issues with medication. Taking medication blocks the opportunity to discover the real mental causes which are a bunch of wrong ideas in essence. There is nothing special about mental issues that require special medication.
I wouldn't even call them "mental." They are largely emotional, affective (mood) - often caused by poor strategies that worked in childhood (e.g. temper tantrums) which don't work very well in adulthood.
Until one learns to regulate themselves, and find out the sources of their own distress, and EMBRACE them (shadow work) - then there is no healing.
The original idea was that in some cases, anxiety/depression can be so disabling that psychotherapy was impossible. The medications were given to breach those barriers that were preventing therapy from going forward. As the issues that were at the bottom of the mental illness were addressed, the meds were tapered off. At that time [ 1975 ] antidepressants were not given to anyone under the age of 18 because they simply did not work. Forgive me, but I do not remember the mechanism of why that was the case.
It would make sense to have a careful approach as you described above but nowadays is different. The market is too profitable for them not to take advantage of people and put them on the wrong path. If I can speculate why they didn't work on kids below 18 … was because kids rarely understand anything at that age and probably not even when they are older. This is proof the key to get rid of anxiety / depression is not medication.
That may be true, but In my case Tofranil saved my life. In therapy [ 15 yo ] I could not sit upright for more that 5 minutes. I could not walk up even a small flight of stairs. When I would finally put my head down on the arm of the couch, I would immediately drift off into a near comatose state.. In spite of the under 18 'rule' the psychiatrist decided to try as my condition was preventing anything from being done. It did not work. 4 years later now hospitalized in an institution, I was given Tofranil again. Within 6 weeks, I was home and riding my bike 7 miles to a job. The plan was ALWAYS to come off the meds- which I did 4 years later at 23. I had married and pregnant and I was worried about being on the medication. When I called the doctor, he told me I could stop as I had been taking less than the therapeutic dose for 6 months. He was going to tell me when he thought it would not impact my treatment, but since I was worried about the baby, he thought it would be a good idea to stop then. That was my experience.
Overgrowth of candida albicans (yeast) fungus in the G.I. tract (leaky gut & SIBO) causes extreme anxiety. I have been working with the G.I. tract and giving colonics for 20 years and I would say that this is the number one cause of rampant anxiety. (Use of prescription drugs causes exponential growth of Candida)
you don't mention parasites as a possible root cause, but with our ever increasing toxic burdens, our immune systems and lymphatic systems and liver struggle to keep up, allowing parasites (which are ubiquitous on the planet earth and come in many sizes, shapes and forms and are often difficult to detect with tests) to flourish. They can cause a myriad of chronic symptoms, are active in the evening and night, feed on our serotonin and GABA and produce neurotoxins. Mental issues, anxiety, insomnia can result. You would do your readers a great service to do a deep dive on this.
Read your Bibles. Trust God. Live your life by it. And do what is right under all circumstances and let God worry about the results. And trust Him no matter what the results are.
please describe how you got to this point. I agree that giving our entire life to God and living for Him and His glory are the way to the best life, but for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are not deep in their relationship with God and are struggling daily with their symptoms, what would you suggest is the best way to foster a relationship with Christ and also provide useful ways to find relief from your experience?
I will start with a small few lines I remember from a sermon. A husband and wife were driving together and the wife complained to her husband that he did not sit next to her anymore. He looked over at her from the driver's seat and said, "I didn't move"
My story is too long, but for brevity, you can watch 'Child of Rage" on YT and that was essentially my story. Unfortunately the abuser was my own mother and I had no good influence anywhere. My father was as passive as my mother was violent and there was no protection. I was an only child. By the time I was 3, I was having waking hallucinations and was hospitalized with internal bleeding from ulcers. I left home at 15. The rest is just such degradation and horror - you can fill in the blanks as necessary. If the devil would suggest it, I would do it. Somehow I became a Christian, but, I fell away when a promise to God was reneged upon. Since then and for the past 36 years, I have reaped the harvest of my unfaithfulness. I tried every arm of the flesh that I thought would make the pain of God's 'absence' go away. What I actually found was that He hadn't moved. When I realized that it was my idols that had put the distance between Him and I and when I manned up and finally asked Him to do the work that I had been preventing Him from doing - whatever the cost - that's when things began to change.
When you ask for those " who are not deep in their relationship with God and are struggling daily with their symptoms, what would you suggest is the best way to foster a relationship with Christ" I can only offer the Cross. If you are not deep in your relationship with God, then it is your sins that are the cause. God Almighty died on a cross for your sins and only your sins make a mockery of His sacrifice. Any suggestion that God is at fault is akin to blasphemy. The fault lies with us and us ONLY. Tell me - how many of these people who still struggle with their symptoms have confessed deeply entrenched sins and correctly identified themselves as being the reason they do not have friendship with the Savior – willing to forsake anything to rectify the situation?
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."
If you want intimacy with Christ, you must have affinity with Him. You must love what He loves and hate what He hates and if that is not the case, you must ask Him to make it so, no matter what you must go through or go without - even healing. Will not eternity vindicate your choice? Believe me! The presence of Christ is worth anything you have to sacrifice. God hid His face from me for 30 years. I had made a solemn promise to Him in a moment when I had glimpsed His Holiness. I betrayed Him and I do not know why He did not kill me on the spot. I was convinced I had lost my salvation. Nonetheless, I refused to give up the things that God had His finger on. The inner torment was indescribable. I considered suicide more than once. When I finally came to the end of myself and realized the depth of evil that was in me, I justified God and not myself. Despite the horrors of abuse, I was arrogant, deceitful, cruel, proud and self pitying. A victim to the end - like the man who buried his talent and then blamed the lord for his behavior. I see now that the terrible tragedies that have been my life were the tokens of His love. He unclenched my fists one finger at a time - and it hurt badly. I also see that I am evil and only evil and I wish for a deeper revelation of that as it is the only genuine freedom there is because fleeing to the safety of the Saviors arms will please Him the most and to be called the friend of Christ is the greatest thing in this world and the next. God's graciousness in allowing me to return has only been recent and I am left with 3 decades of pieces to pick up and wrongs to make right and pleas for the people I have injured to forgive. But I have returned – repented. Every minute of every day of my apostasy, I spit in His face. I essentially said that His sacrifice for me was in vain and blamed Him for the very chastisement that I had brought upon myself. Like Jonah – crying under the gourd - really believing that death was preferable to just doing what he was told. God will not be mocked. Tell those brothers and sisters to move over across the seat. Ask them who is really not being the friend. Are they living in Egypt? Do they eat from a pig trough? God will wait, but He will not come get them. That, they must do for themselves.
I relate all this so that hopefully I will get some sort of a hearing. Your question is the only one that matters and I felt honored to have the podium, so to speak, to answer from my heart. God loves you, but will not depart from His holiness and purity to accommodate anything that defiles, no matter how innocent you believe it to be. . True Christianity is the only toil that will bear fruit unto eternity. Being a true Christian means that you live on a cross, dying daily that Christ will shine through your broken soul and body. That is our job as Christians. Richard Wurmbrand was once by the side of a dying prisoner who asked in his last breaths" Who is Jesus Christ?!! What is He like?!" Wurmbrand was desperate, knowing he did not have time to explain, but he blurted out, "He is like me!" Horrified, he realized the enormity of his statement and it proved a searching incident for the rest of his life. Could I do the same? The church is in a frighteningly backslidden state and there is little to none of the kind of preaching and teaching that produces disciples such as Paul had. The spiritual starvation is real. But it is not an excuse. We have the Bible and we will be judged accordingly. But, just so you know that I know - the devil is reading this and waiting to throw it all in my face at some opportune time.
1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
4Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
5And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
17For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
18For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
19And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
20(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
21And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
22But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
,23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
25See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
26Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
My stepmom, a believer and a wise woman who’s been through a lot of tragedy, once said “all anxiety is ultimately a lack of gratitude and lack of trust in God”
My sister, a believer and wise woman who’s been through even more tragedy, told me once in a moment of deep sorrow and confusion about how to move forward in my shattered life, “our lives are not our own; our lives belong to Christ; we must live for Him, do His will, give Him glory”
I’ve been through a fair bit of tragedy myself, and these two sets of comments have carried me through some dark moments.
But the biggest source of comfort, wisdom and truth is scripture. Yes, we need to read it every day and seek the Lord every day in His word
Amen. We have all been through challenges in life and our only hope is Christ. Below is one of my favorite scripture.
Philippians. 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ,
3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
I agree! But what about the people who do this and still suffer from depression, anxiety and mental illness? I don’t understand that when the fruits of the Holy Spirit are joy and peace...etc. God tells us 365 times in His word to not fear or do not be anxious. It’s a Spiritual battle.
I don’t believe that mental illness is a chemical imbalance. It’s never been proven. As a nurse, I’ve had conversations with psychiatrists about this...their answer is “it’s a gray are.”
The book “Spiritual Depression, It’s Causes and Cures” by D. Martyn Lloyd Jones might be of help to some people.
A lot of it is diet and lifestyle. And MAYBE a lack of faith. And a lack of doing what the Word says. James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [therein], he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. "
After my mother's death, due to the urging of my doctor, I went to see a psychiatrist. While grieving, he put me on Xanax, klo opin and an anti-psychotic. After a year of taking more and more of these benzos, I decided to end my life. When that didn't work out, I was admitted to a mental hospital. While there they completely cut me off of any benzos and my psychiatrist quit returning my calls. I was forced off cold turkey. I spent the next 3 years in anguish. Three years of hospital stays, various diagnoses, and ECT. Not once did anyone mention benzo withdrawal.
I think that's one reason way back when, people wore black arm bands and the grieving period was generally accepted as a year. During that year, one processes good memories, but after roughly 6 weeks, the bad ones also start processing. I've noticed people get irritable and even nasty around that time. We need to all remember that grief is a process and takes longer than most now accept. Grief is not mental illness.
Looking back I feel like I should've known this. I never lost anyone close to me before that time, so I think I should be grateful. Unfortunately what made things worse was that I was reliving abandonment from when I was 8. Still, I wish I had never gone to see that doctor that day.
That's horrible. Grief is a human experience. It’s hard but we have to go through it. I’m so very, very sorry you went through this. These so called health professionals were despicable and, frankly evil.. 🙏🏻🙏🏻
I’m sorry you were so abused. Psych drugs, which I was originally prescribed for insomnia, also made me feel suicidal. I was given a bipolar 2 diagnosis. I’m now 10 years off all meds and not even neurotic.
Thank you for your response! I'm currently tapering off the psych meds I was put on. Its been 1 1/2 years since I started (tapering). Another 2 or so years to go. Im very sensitive to the withdrawal effects and even a 10% decrease can make me unreasonably irritable. My son just turned 5 and he doesn't understand so I'm very cautious.
I’m sorry you went through this. I found myself working as a nurse in the Preop/PACU of an ECT unit (my background is ICU of many years) not Psychiatry. ECT is brain damage..where is the outrage against this? Where are the human rights activists? One of the best books I’ve read about ECT was “Doctors of Deception, What they don’t want you to know about shock therapy” by Linda Andre. (I got it at the library). She is an “ECT survivor”, the corruptness of ECT and psychiatry will disgust and sadden you.
Another website is ECTjustice .com (stories about ECT survivors).
Dr. Peter Breggin, a renowned Psychiatrist at www.Breggin.org writes on ECT and brain damage and the truth about psychotropics. I believe he has a substack as well.
I hope you are healing mentally! Stay strong and stay far away from “those doctors of deception” if you’re able. It’s a dark hole to get out of.
Thank you for your response. I'm very curious as to how I compare to others who've gone through ECT as well. During benzo withdrawal it seemed that no one understood why I was having medicine resistant depression and anxiety. So the next step was to continuously perform ECT on me for 3 years. So strange.
I have symptoms of early onset Alzheimers . My neurologist told me it was just severe ADHD after CT scans were coming back "normal".
I think Im more angry at doctors for putting me on antipsychotics and benzos tobegin with. I spent the last 13 years isolated from people in general because I could not for the life of me unscramble my brain long enough to have a common conversation with any of them. I would let the awkward silences build until they walked away, and I didn't care.
I am getting better. I have hope for my future. I would love to be part of a change that is so badly needed in the mental health industry.
Antidepressants are often prescribed with anxiolytics to treat anxiety and other mental health conditions. Study just released shows that longer you’re on an antidepressant, the more your risk increases for sudden cardiac disease.
Thank you for the follow-up! I always am reminded to reflect on the medications I’ve been prescribed! I think it’s only through remaining open to new advancements, new studies and findings — especially negative ones! — that we take care of ourselves to the best of our ability, armed with the knowledge we’ve gained. I wrote a long-ish reply to this post where I detailed my 16+ years taking Lexapro — mostly pluses, but also detailing the minuses and why I would NOT recommend this drug for many others who are younger than me and working. I’ve been comfortable in my decision to remain on this drug — but reading about sudden cardiac death did not exactly sit well with me. So I genuinely appreciate you’re sharing this study.
Thank you for sharing this. Did the Danish study take into account any other factors, or was it just concentrated on taking anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds? I ask this because otherwise, this study is purely anecdotal and un-scientific in terms of other factors that might have been present? Anything from poor circulation, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and a hundred other co-morbidities that may have contributed to this sudden cardiac arrest? It’s possible that most others taking those drugs did not have a specific factor that might have contributed to their cardiac incident?
In any event, you’ve given me a lot to think about. My very first reaction is that I’ve been living my best self because of the anti-anxiety med I’ve been taking for 17 years. It’s even helped me with handling and managing my auto-immune illness with very successful outcomes. They say life has trade-offs. I’m inclined to think I’m better off for having lived better this long than suffered with anxiety and an auto-immune illness that would have had far worse negative outcomes for me. But it’s easier for me to say as a woman in her mid-60s. I’d certainly be looking at this from a different perspective if I were younger.
Thanks Diane for this comment! I looked at what appears to be the original study and it looks like they did:
“When adjusting for age, sex and comorbidities, psychiatric disorders were independently associated with SCD, with a HR of 2.31 (2.19 to 2.43, p<0.001), and HR was highest among patients with schizophrenic disorders, with a HR of 4.51 (3.95 to 5.16, p <0.001).”
My daughter had anxiety which became panic attacks. The dr kept upping her ssri and added a quick acting med…but wasn’t helping. I googled ‘what can cause panic attacks’ - and celiac disease popped up. Sure enough - her blood test was screaming positive. She noticed a difference within a week of going GF. Doctors need to think outside the box…..I am not a DR but figured out the cause of her issues plus my husband’s. Thank you God. She is finally off the meds!
When I see so many medically compliant people (Australia is the most medically compliant place in the world, methinks!) I bite my tongue, because I want to ask:
Did it occur to you that your wife should try to give birth the normal way (through the vaginal canal) instead of just scheduling her first birth as a C-Section?
Did it occur to you that reducing your carbs might be better for you than Wegovy - particularly since you've had 4 hospital visits for gastro since I've known you?
Why do you want to take a flu shot? It's last year's strain! (I actually said this, whoops, didn't bite my tongue on that one)
Did it occur to you to try keto to see if it helps your fatigue and pain? (or weight loss or diabetes)
OH! You had an awful fall, I'm so sorry - what blood pressure medicines are you on?
I have a bloody tongue around these compliant people.
I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder when I was 19 -- throughout my twenties, I was told it was pretty severe by multiple healthcare workers, and at 31 I got stuck with the "ADHD" and "(mild) Bipolar 2" labels as well. I always refused medication, but agreed to go on a low dose of atomoxetine when I was 31.
I basically kicked all the symptoms -- plus chronic GI issues, chronic migraines, and sleep difficulties -- in 2020 when I was 32. I hero-dosed magic mushrooms multiple times (I know this is controversial, but it worked for me), and subsequently dramatically decreased the amount of refined sugar, refined flour, processed foods, and alcohol from my diet. I started doing yoga more regularly. I stopped wearing synthetic clothing. I threw out my sunglasses. I started drinking chamomile tea with turmeric and black pepper before bed. I stopped brushing my teeth with fluoride. I spent less time on screens and starting prioritizing getting out in the sun. I ditched unhealthy relationships and met the love of my life and got happily married.
Currently -- very little anxiety symptoms, definitely not bipolar, and don't meet diagnostic criteria for ADHD either. No migraines. No GI issues. Sleep soundly every night. Doing great, basically. I also think I look more attractive than I did five years ago, maybe even a little younger, despite having two kids in the last four years.
Should add that the "GAD" diagnosis came right after I went on birth control pills. I went off them at age 30, but my mental health actually got worse until I did all the mushrooms. I'm guessing nutrient depletion and hormone disruption from BC was a factor.
Absolutely fantastic, sorry for the long journey. But I'm glad you found things along the way that actually worked, even if intermittently. If you're still having any anxiety and or possibly negative thought patterns or whatever a very least invasive way of trying something that is a little safer than the mushrooms(lol, so glad they worked). LDN, low-dose naltrexone tons of books out there on it and even a non-profit group that does tons of education and has three books out on all of the conditions that it has helped people with. Sweetest thing about it is the only side effect at least for me is when I forget to take it, negative reoccurring thoughts that more than likely would cause a little bit of an anxiety start to return (I actually just find them annoying and realize I'm not thinking clearly, but it's kinda like PTSD it's hard to get rid of at times ), and when I take one maybe 2 mg max , magically goes away. I had asked a doctor to give me a script for it for depression and he scripted 50 mg pills times 30 to be used as needed? It's a lot cheaper than getting the mail ordered from China or definitely having them compounded, but if you've got money that wouldn't be a problem I guess. Zero side effects for me and many people. If nothing else you'll have an interesting read if you're interested and I would probably suggest the LDN book volume two by Elsgood, it hits more on the psych conditions as well as many other areas. Book 3 hits on long Covid and additional progress that has been made and all the other areas. I'm
Thank you a lot for sharing, every little bit helps ❤️
If you find it of any help to you don't hesitate to share back, or if you find something else that helps please share, that's how we all learn and realize we might be in the same boat ❤️
The pill made me consider suicide. I had no life issues whatsoever and have never been suicidal before or after them.
Yeah, I know a few women who took it for like half a year and then went off it because they developed mental health issues when they'd never had them before.
Meghan Bell, Just to clarify; was this LDN you are referring to? Thanks.
What pill? LDN? Thanks.....
It was 50 years ago. As I recall, it was a high progesterone type.
So it wasn't Low Dose Naltrexone? Thanks for clarifying......
I've also heard great things about magic mushroom type approaches. I'm wondering if anything I have in my notes is what you mean by magic mushrooms
I've got notes on Ketamine - a disasosiative not a psychedelic drug....aka mushrooms in the 70’s.
- horse tranquilizer
- “Special K”, hippie heroin
- It opens up the brains neuroplasticity.
- studies are showing that it relieves depression and anxiety immediately.
- It is showing to be more effective thsn the big pharma drugs that are used for depression/anxiety
- Ketamine could probably be addictive if not used properly? ....I’m not sure.
- But you can’t get what is used for this therapy in any store
- Lorna Busch is a holistic psychologist and she is doing ketamine assisted psychotherapy and ketamine retreats. You have to go to the west coast for what she does.
Some places do retreats held in our large room with hotel right next-door that people can actually walk to it. They have the large room so they do their therapy and then as practitioners will be there for different services that they sign up for. So they can do saunas, ionic foot bath, ricky, massage and whatever else offered
Then there's LSD + other psychodelics ...sounds like "they" lied about the harms and it's a cure for anxiety, depression, etc...
Watch "How to Change My Mind" on Netflix
(55 min)
I have a handful of posts on my Substack about mushrooms, including details of some of the weirder / darker stuff than can happen on them (Talking to God on Psychedelics) and detailed research on how they can heal and how to maximize healing on them (Psilocybin Tea Recipe).
Ketamine is definitely addictive -- not necessarily physically, but a lot of people become psychologically hooked on it. It can also cause bladder damage if used too frequently and in too high of doses. I think it has its uses as an antidepressant (and it's effective for chronic pain) but it needs to be used carefully and ideally only in clinical settings maybe twice a month max. Not a good idea to give people direct access. Ketamine and LSD both pose a significant risk for psychosis too, compared to psilocybin (magic mushrooms).
Unlike the other two, magic mushrooms are a plant (not synthetic). They are anti-inflammatory, increase neuroplasticity, and in really high doses can reset the gut microbiome (involves purging). They increase your sensitivity and so can be used to identify toxic things in your life that need to be removed. They can also lead to spiritual encounters (e.g. seeing "God") which can have mental health benefits for some people. But at a hero-dose, it's kind of like playing "Am I the Asshole" with God or getting "Christmas Carolled" -- you see your past and present with a more objective lens and see possible futures. People who get the Scrooge treatment can become depressed afterward if not properly supported, and there are anecdotes of people committing suicide after magic mushrooms (albeit rare).
I've also had great results with psilocybin! I have taken cannabis ('microdose' levels) for several years now and it's been wonderful for my GAD, overthinking and overworrying. But it didn't stop the strange deep dark depressions I would sometimes get seemingly out of nowhere. I was gifted some Psilocybe. spp mushrooms to microdose and see if that helped. It sure did and also had the unexpected benefit of stopping my migraines! Now all that's needed is to microdose every few months, no deep dark depressions and no migraines! It is absurd to me that nature should be made illegal, especially when it has so many benefits. Like many psychedelics, it has a much better safety profile than the same pharma drugs I've been prescribed previously that left me worse off and with horrible withdrawal.
Yes!! Magic mushrooms seem to work miracles for migraines! I had them for my whole life .... migraine free for almost five years now because of them!
How did you treat the migraines? Microdose daily or a few large doses eventually led to the stopping of the migraines?
Large doses in 2020 (over 5 grams). I've only had one migraine since spring 2020 (and in March 2020 I had one so bad I had to go to the hospital because it triggered cyclical vomiting) and that one cleared up immediately after I ate some liver pate. Here are the details: https://thecassandracomplex.substack.com/p/psilocybin-magic-mushroom-tea-recipe
Followed your link and done a restack. Great article even though I’ve never felt a need to do psychedelic mushrooms. Your research is impressive. I’m so pleased you are healing and in a good place. Knowing our causational triggers is very empowering, even though the reality is a difficult truth to unravel. Blessings to you and yours.
You took control of your life…as we all should.
I believe that what we have lost is the ability to decompress from a lifestyle that is over stimulating the brain. I am talking about Mind-Body harmony. We are too caught up in the conflicts that abound in our lives today and we need to retreat into refuges that allow us to relax our body and mind. Chronic stress suppresses the immune system via chronic production of cortisol. Not good. Go fishing! Do yoga. Meditate at your place of worship. Go on a Mind-Body retreat. So many ways to destress are available, we just have to commit to do it regularly. My view.
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve written here. I just believe we’re not all wired exactly the same. So it’s not a one size fits all. But I certainly like your approach to achieving better mental health through mind-body harmony. Practicing yoga, tai-chi, mindfulness, meditation — all wonderful ways to de-stress. I’m not much for fishing personally, or gardening for that matter! But I’ve heard they’re both wonderful ways to de-stress as well! 😉
We are wired from birth by imprinting and our environment as we grow into adulthood. We all have our positives and negatives about life events. I was blessed. I had loving parents and a stress free childhood without vaccines.
You describe my childhood to a tee — but we were vaccinated. Are you suggesting vaccines contribute to anxiety and stress?
Aside from that, childhood trauma can often be caused by an accident or a fall very early in life. The child may be very well loved and cared for, but their brain may be ever so slightly impacted by that fall if it was their head that was temporarily injured. Or the memory of an early accident might leave them scarred in some way that impacts their development in a negative way.
I’m using these two specific examples as instances where nothing too serious occurred. But it may have nevertheless had a serious impact on a developing child that is say, between 1 and 3 years old. No real memories of the accident or incident.
I have read of cases of ADHD — where there is no family history of ADHD, or of family alcohol or drug abuse — that were the result of an earlier head injury to the child.
Vaccines are an invention of the 20th century. They claim that they were the reason we live longer. Wrong. It was because our water supplies became clean and our sanitation system was created.
Well, that sure addresses the instances I raised about the presence of trauma in a very young child. I think it really bothers you that I had such a happy loving childhood and I was vaccinated. Well, guess what? The overwhelming majority of us have been vaccinated.
And so, since you’ve deliberately ignored what I’ve raised here, I’ll ask again. Are you suggesting that vaccines are the cause of stress and anxiety in people?
And I’ll also seize upon your “imprinting” language. I’ve read that we carry DNA imprints from our ancestor’s memories. If so, then there’s plenty of trauma in my ancestry — grandparents and great-grandparents escaping oppression in their native lands to come to America. So I guess that would negate my picture-perfect happy childhood. And I suppose I could attribute any general anxiety I have to pure DNA imprinting.
The last thing I’ll say here is that I am puzzled that someone licensed to practice pharmacy is not very keen on drugs. I’m sure there’s a story there for another day and time.
Vaccines are russian roulette. Not everone experiences bad outcomes But when you are unlucky you do. See eg. covidmythbuster.substack.com
I've always wondered about this. I am an adoptee. When I was born, I had a port-wine stain (hemangioma) on my upper left forehead. Because I wasn't "perfect," they were worried I would be rejected by potential parents.
So what did "medicine" do? They X-rayed my skull in progressive "treatments." TRUE, it eliminated the port-wine stain, but it left me with a dent in my upper left forehead.
...and I've wondered what this did to my brain. I am left handed (that may be why), and better at English than maths (but maths & logic aren't totally gone, but logic puzzles drive me spare). What else did it do? Is this a contributing factor to my journey through psychiatry and diag-nonsense?
Thanks for bringing up head injuries.
I have had numerous loved ones use “The Journey” type of treatment. This is a word trigger of a childhood trauma. The results were astounding when the trigger was found and the trauma addressed. No drugs, no forever treatments. It does not have to be a massive trauma, but to a child it is a trauma that has not been dealt with, that keeps coming up in adult life and is trying to be repressed, with the anxiety/depression the result. (In my personal experience) https://changesfor.life/meet-the-team/training-2/
Ask any parent of a child injured by vaccines if it contributes to anxiety and stress.
You would be surprised how similar we are wired but some have figured that out while others haven't yet.
Yes! And we are definitely overstimulated by our exposure to worldwide tragedies!
I watch Johnny Carson reruns are on TV. It's so amusing to hear him talk about the same things 40 years ago that people are complaining about now.
We have to choose to get off that hamster wheel. Glad you and I have :)
I totally agree but I would say there is no need to stress ourselves in the first place. It's a simple decision, very simple.
That is overly simplistic thinking.
Lol .. there is rarely something good in life that comes from complexity.
Lol. I’ll try and speak your language now. Nah, better yet, I’ll just call you Chauncey Gardner. He’s a character in the classic film “Being There.” Mistaken as a savant by very rich famous people, he makes simple pronouncements in as few words as possible which the ruling elites believe makes him wise. But sadly, he’s a simpleton who cannot read or write. Of course, you CM, can both read and write. But what you convey is simply nothing. I hope you are happy and stress-free and continue to have a life that is devoid of offering as few words as possible in any given situation and never putting your skin in the game for anything. I guess that’s called playing it safe, especially so at an anonymous distance where you can be the armchair critic.
It's funny you say you'll try to speak my language but then you speak yours instead … lol. Funny also, my intention was to shed some light on the topic of anxiety but apparently you like confusion. And not interested in anybody's hope for my own happiness 😊
It would be impossible (for me) to speak your language with so little to go on. I do not prefer confusion and nothing I’ve written would suggest that. Rather, I take a very nuanced view. It’s the little differences that can account for so much. And it’s the broad sweeping pronouncements that can do so much harm. Whatever you may be personally suffering, I wish you ease and comfort and calm in your journey.
It comes back to my original comment you responded to. I think we all are wired slightly differently. And I believe there is a place for prescription drugs in treating many ailments in our brain that therapy and/or a good positive attitude simply can’t cure. This original post conceded as much. It was really well-written detailing all the different types of anxiety and how drugs were often the best treatment in certain situations. But not all. Sometimes holistic treatments are the better course and allow the patient not become reliant on meds.
My single piece of advice to anyone out there is to read, educate yourself, and if necessary, find a new doctor if the one you have is not respecting you, or is offering simplistic answers, or is simply not advancing your best interests. Be your own advocate. That may be difficult for many people who are not necessarily assertive by nature. In that instance, it’s important they have someone who can advocate on their behalf.
It’s almost impossible to achieve a truly pristine EMF environment. I wish more people could experience it—I think they’d be amazed at what might happen.
I was misdiagnosed and mistreated for 35 years with an anxiety disorder. In 2020, I moved into a special home—one carefully designed to exclude synthetic EMF. I had already seen how EMF reduction correlated with the total reversal of my chronic arthritis, so my only goal was to guard against the relentless spread of man-made electromagnetic radiation.
I wasn’t expecting anything more.
But within 30 days of moving in, I realized something shocking: my anxiety wasn’t just better—it was completely gone. Just like the arthritis.
Imagine—35 years on benzodiazepines—ended. It's been over five years. Not one anxiety attack.
Agree that EMF is nocive but that's not the key. I know many who are very happy and they don't live in a space like yours. Again I would prefer living without EMF around me but anxiety, I don't think is linked to it.
I realize it’s difficult to believe—I would have rejected the idea myself for most of the 35 years I spent suffering. But the experiences I’ve had, both personally and professionally, have shown me something undeniable: not only anxiety, but many other symptoms commonly dismissed or misdiagnosed, often trace back to what I now understand as electromagnetic poisoning.
I don’t expect everyone to be convinced by theory. But when symptoms vanish—not improve, but disappear entirely—after reducing synthetic EMF exposure, it's not coincidence. I've seen it again and again in the lives of those I've helped.
Thank you for sharing what happened Keith. It's interesting how different things help different people.
What kind of special house blocks EMF?
A home built from the ground up in a reasonably good location, specifically for that purpose. I’ve designed several for clients and built one for myself.
I totally agree that EMF can affect the physical body. But anxiety is related to how we feel. It's triggered by our thoughts, nothing else.
This is not only my experience, nor just Rosalito's as she shares in this 60 second video clip from our recent video, but many others as well: https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxE86_xmxicUS5zcTsnjGA2B64zsb3vRk5?si=3ThmKIiYcoQywlx-
I totally respect your opinion but it doesn't mean it's the truth.
Yes, likewise.
yes, and if your cortisol is firing, your thoughts are sticky, you are spiralling up - this can be biological as well.
And the physical body has nothing to do with how we 'feel'? Let me introduce you to an organ. It's called the brain.
Let me rephrase it ... Anxiety is related to our interpretation of reality. You can feel pain but that doesn't mean you have to feel anxious about it.
Everybody is genetically different. My brother in law was a big, strong, health conscious marine. He was given azithromycin for mild bronchitis and dropped dead an hour after he took the 1st dose. Some people die when they eat a peanut. If someone tells you that something is bothering them, it would be wise to believe that it actually IS bothering them and instead of stating as a fact that it is not so, it would be best to add their information to the 'community wisdom.'
I'm not advocating ignorance just the opposite. Tell them where the key is. Keep it simple and truthful.
The key depends on what lock you are trying to open.
There is not one key, not one door - but many doors and possibilities.
Ergo - "the key" depends on so many other factors.
How many keys do you need to open the lock called anxiety? I hope you are not trying to turn one lock into multiple ones ...lol
how many doors factor into that anxiety? Trauma, cortisol spikes, chi in the brain, there may be many doors that need opening before the anxiety is addressed.
The right key, the right door.
Anxiety nervosa, previously known as neurasthenia, was invented by Freud, just as hundreds of thousands of miles of telegraph wire began to encircle the globe, electrifying our communities on a scale never before imaginable.
Coincidence? I don't think so: https://romanshapoval.substack.com/p/freud
Neurasthenia is a physical condition of the nerves.
"The Invisible Rainbow"
Exactly! I take it you've read it?
I did and I did not understand alot, but strangely came away from it with a sense of awe. The implications of what little I did understand are enormous. I plan to go back and read again. This time slowly - researching terms and processes so I can put it together in my head more coherently.
I think touch starvation is a big cause for modern anxiety. The baby knows how to self-regulate their system because of skin to skin external regulation from a mother. If the baby doesn't get touch, their body never learns to self regulate and this pops up as anxious behavior. I bring it up because AMD mentioned the GABA system and Adam Lane Smith (attachment theory guy) says lack of parental touch can cause someone to switch over to only responding to dopamine and vasopressin while their GABA systems stay muted or offline. This includes Ferber, the "Back to sleep program", replacing breastfeeding with formula, daycare supremacy over motherhood, the whole bag. That would explain people trying to beat down anxiety with drugs and excitement all the time, which we see here.
Looking it up I found this quote:
"Modern day sleep training, as we know it
In the 1980s is when we begin to see our first glimpses of modern day sleep training. Two doctors published incredibly popular books that introduced sleep training ideas and practices that largely shape the current sleep training strategies that are popular today. Around this time, we notice an increase in the medicalization of normal child sleep- in other words, we see normal child sleep and feeding patterns increasingly being labeled as medical problems that require interventions to solve.
In 1985, Dr. Richard Ferber published Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems (7). In his book, Dr. Ferber advocated for a method of sleep training called “controlled crying”, or “graduated extinction”, which is essentially letting a child cry alone for longer and longer lengths of time. Today, we still know this method as The Ferber Method, or “Ferberizing”."
So let's say 'sleep training' became big in 1990. Flash forward until they're 18-25 and that would be 2008-2015 which syncs up with the chart loosely. Basically millennials and onward which matches with benzo demographics. So now you have a cohort of adults who not only can't self-soothe with GABA systems, they are heavily reliant on drugs to hit dopamine highs or to try and overcompensate for weakened GABA reactions (benzos).
From a causal glance there's a million studies showing that GABA activity gets completely torpedoed by lack of grooming and touch in animals and humans alike. Sad, very very sad.
Breast fed my son, on demand, until he eventually pushed me away, about three days before he turned a year old.
Read to my son every night, with one arm round him, until he fell asleep. Or, until I fell asleep, but still holding him close, until he fell asleep, or one of us wriggled.
Fast forward, my son is confident, has lived in different countries, achieved his goals of becoming an incredible artist to an advanced level. He is resilient to disease, loves nature, sunlight and water, of calm mind.
I say all this as, his 3 maternal cousins, non breast fed, left alone in rooms to cry themselves to sleep, fed anti-nutrients, fast food (and I’m not including eggs here), never read to and never left home.
Skin contact, cuddles and recognising mother in every sense from gestation, offers security and is nourishment.
Breast feeding, of course, reinforces everything in the skin contact sentence, most would only recognise from the ‘food aspect’ sadly.
Why do so many men, women, children and so called professionals believe, our disconnection from nature and all its rhythms, are the way forward.
We are all a wonderful creation, we do well to live as ancestrally as the birds and their fledglings do.
Thanks for your post, I whole heartedly concur.
I always liked the European ideal of the child sleeping with the parents until breastfeeding is over.
Ferberizing is cruel, and as you suggest, eliminates touch from the equation.
Dave, I greatly enjoy listening to Adam Lane Smith’s “I Wish You Knew” podcast. Although, I have to admit, I miss when he and Sarah Dawn Moore co-hosted. Good stuff!
The content of this entire list used to fall under a single designation — “life”. Back before the souls of the many became emptied and broken. Before people believed disappointments and yes, terrible heartbreak, could be eliminated. The pain of being a truly alive human being has given us our greatest and most moving poetry, songs and literature. Let us finally shutter the “research labs” of the madmen who in their ignorance and hubris are erasing the essence of what it is to be human.
My past depressions disappeared when I got busy, exercised and did and found people and activities I enjoyed. My winter SAD went away with a light box.
How wonderful…and no side effects! 😄
It was hard to rouse myself but sometimes circumstances wake you up. When my winter SAD was alleviated by the lightbox, I had the energy to step out and get into life again. Just my story.
I recall the feeling, believe me … as if having to drag a heavy anchor around. I think sometimes it’s simply bad habits that hold us down. A great Arab philosopher from the Middle Ages said all habits are bad habits 😆
You have a point. I have not experienced deep depression so I know that other strategies may have to be employed for that. Honestly, since I gained my faith in God, I have handled anxiety and mild depression much better. I’m 77 this year and have been through most of life’s experiences so nothing really surprises me even though it may sadden or frighten me. I paint outdoors. Walk in nature. These are amazing soothers and times to “listen”. Take care. 🙏🏻👍🏻
May Our Lord bless you always 🙏
Wonderful! Beautiful soul.
You can get side effects from overuse or incorrect use of a light box.
However, the side effects pass as soon as you correct your light use.
it's crazy to me how even the normal ups and downs of human existence have been pathologized to favor drug pushers!
So evil. Honed in on human conditions to capitalize in the worst manner adding to their woes for profit.
saw a commercial the other day for an antidepressant specifically designed for when the primary antidepressant "isn't enough." The ad featured some woman talking about how she didn't feel as chipper as she wanted to
funny, cuz all the people I know on multiple SSRIs are zombies, not happy...
Abilify. It's a neuroleptic that also hits serotonin receptors. (hint, Seroquel does, too, and Zyprexa to a lesser extent).
Neuroleptics are marketed as "antipsychotics" but they really are anti-brain.
Adjunct therapy to "treatment resistant depression" is a marketing ploy.
The best solution is to come off the drugs and find out who you really are.
ONLY you can adjust your mood, not your doctor, not your therapist, and not your partner, either.
perfectly said
Kudos to the author for this very informative and thoroughly article that any layperson — myself included — can understand. I’m sharing a few stories here for anyone who is considering certain meds, both the pros and cons. I genuinely believe in non-drug therapies and it’s wonderful when a person can avail themself of that.
I have been taking Lexapro for over 16 years. It’s been prescribed to me for general anxiety of excessive worrying over-thinking. I think I inherited this from my mom. Lexapro does a fabulous job at keeping me in a very comfortable place. I call it being my best self. No more excessive worry or over-thinking. Always positive, I handle nearly all situations calmly, rationally. And it hasn’t robbed me of my passion. I still speak with enthusiasm. I’m not an unfeeling robot. I’m still me in every sense, just my best version of me.
Now for the downside — and it is a pretty big one. I’ve been robbed of my MOJO — that sense of being on top of my game which was once a very big part of me. Further, there’s no sense of urgency to anything. mention this because I would not recommend this drug for younger people who are just starting out in their careers as well as older adults who are still working. If I were in those categories, I would not be taking this drug. And, it should be noted, this is not a drug you come off of easily. I don’t like using the word “addictive” because it is intended for long-term use.
I was diagnosed with MS, and while I’m very fortunate to not suffer relapses, I no longer hold a job because of the enormous fatigue I suffer. I am convinced — without any evidence whatsoever, other than my own anecdotal account here — that the reason I don’t experience MS relapses is because I’m not worrying and I also handle stressful situations very well precisely because I do take Lexapro! Stress is one of the greatest triggers for an MS relapse.
The author of this article also noted Xanax. I was not able to tolerate this drug. But I have used Valium in very limited circumstances. The first time, 25 years ago when I quit smoking. I took it for just 7 days and it worked like a charm — no withdrawal symptoms from smoking. And no addiction to the Valium. The only other time I will take a Valium pill is when I experience the “MS hug” which manifests in me as having great difficulty breathing. The anxiety of not being able to breathe literally makes breathing even more difficult. Typically, taking an anti-inflammatory does not cut it.
There is only one specific instance that triggers enormous anxiety in me — moving and having to pack. We’ve moved a lot. Ironically, it’s the Lexapro that lulls me into believing I have this under control. But I don’t. I don’t realize how little time I have left, and then as it’s closing in, I’m a complete and total wreck! And I’m not fully packed when the movers arrive! There are a few movers out there all over the country that would include me in their “stories” of people they wished they’d never had to move!
MS being a Zeta potential problem. Could be induced by long use of Lexapro. Can't prove it - just like I can't prove that 30 years of psych drugs "caused" my fibromyalgia, IBS, and chronic fatigue.
www.survivingantidepressants.org has free protocols for safely tapering off of your drug. We've had many people who've been on drugs for decades - who have come off successfully, and realised that what the drug was doing - well. I'll never go back.
It may be too late to reverse MS (please read Doc's articles on DMSO!) but coming off the drug may help with further damage.
Wondering if you felt that your sexual responses were numbed? I tried anti depressants several times and didn’t care for the numbing or making me very sleepy and needing to sleep more.
That’s a hard question for me to answer as I experienced menopause nearly 10 years earlier than the average woman and I was first prescribed Lexapro about 8 years after that. So I was dealing with some sexual arousal issues long before I was prescribed Lexapro. And then, not to complicate things further, a few years later, I was diagnosed with MS which had been in me for quite a while but had not been diagnosed as such. And MS can typically cause some sexual dysfunction. In all these years, I’ve experienced highs and lows sexually and my hunch is that it was not the Lexapro that was the culprit, but more likely menopause and MS that were contributing factors. Fortunately, sexual arousal comes and goes which is a lot better than being gone! And because of the erratic nature in terms of frequency, I think Lexapro has not affected me that way. But I’m very aware that it is a problem for some women.
and men. It hurts them even more.
I've found that women can let go of their sexuality a little easier than the men.
You mention excess catecholamines (epinephrine, norepinephrine) as the physiological underpinnings of generalized anxiety. Yes!
From my nephrological perspective, the most likely explanation for this is low blood volume (hypovolemia). This is caused by inadequate intake of electrolytes, mainly sodium and potassium.
The sodium-potassium ATPase pump keeps most sodium in the extracellular fluid and potassium in the intracellular fluid. Na and K are equivalent cations and are required to maintain normal extracellular and intracellular volume.
Hypovolemia is unhealthy and eventually leads to syncope, kidney failure and death! The body defends blood volume and organ perfusion by activating hormonal systems to increase sodium retention by the kidney (renin-angiotensin-aldosterone), and increasing heart rate, vasoconstriction, and the contractile force of the heart (catecholamines). With chronic hypovolemia, these systems are constantly switched on. Does walking around on the verge of fainting create anxiety? I think yes.
The demonization of sodium (salt) has been almost as destructive as the demonization of saturated fat. There's no question the broad recommendation to limit salt intake is harming people. Sodium and potassium are absolutely essential for life, and should only be restricted in patients with severe kidney, heart or liver disease.
X ) I vh
My understanding (I’m an internist) is that salt sensitivity is mostly in those with insulin resistance. Your thoughts?
Hello Adam,
Hyperinsulinemia causes some salt retention, but also increases catecholamines which is the major link to hypertension. Normal kidneys easily dump excess sodium, so limiting intake in normal individuals is pointless and can cause harm. Patients with endstage kidney disease, glomerular disease, heart failure or liver failure have abnormal sodium retention and must limit intake. Volume status is best determined clinically; most patients I've treated with hypertension are not volume overloaded.
Hyperinsulinemia is the cause of most hypertension and is easily reversible with sugar/carb restriction.
I can't understand how someone can get rid of mental issues with medication. Taking medication blocks the opportunity to discover the real mental causes which are a bunch of wrong ideas in essence. There is nothing special about mental issues that require special medication.
I wouldn't even call them "mental." They are largely emotional, affective (mood) - often caused by poor strategies that worked in childhood (e.g. temper tantrums) which don't work very well in adulthood.
Until one learns to regulate themselves, and find out the sources of their own distress, and EMBRACE them (shadow work) - then there is no healing.
Thank you CM for this comment.
The original idea was that in some cases, anxiety/depression can be so disabling that psychotherapy was impossible. The medications were given to breach those barriers that were preventing therapy from going forward. As the issues that were at the bottom of the mental illness were addressed, the meds were tapered off. At that time [ 1975 ] antidepressants were not given to anyone under the age of 18 because they simply did not work. Forgive me, but I do not remember the mechanism of why that was the case.
It would make sense to have a careful approach as you described above but nowadays is different. The market is too profitable for them not to take advantage of people and put them on the wrong path. If I can speculate why they didn't work on kids below 18 … was because kids rarely understand anything at that age and probably not even when they are older. This is proof the key to get rid of anxiety / depression is not medication.
That may be true, but In my case Tofranil saved my life. In therapy [ 15 yo ] I could not sit upright for more that 5 minutes. I could not walk up even a small flight of stairs. When I would finally put my head down on the arm of the couch, I would immediately drift off into a near comatose state.. In spite of the under 18 'rule' the psychiatrist decided to try as my condition was preventing anything from being done. It did not work. 4 years later now hospitalized in an institution, I was given Tofranil again. Within 6 weeks, I was home and riding my bike 7 miles to a job. The plan was ALWAYS to come off the meds- which I did 4 years later at 23. I had married and pregnant and I was worried about being on the medication. When I called the doctor, he told me I could stop as I had been taking less than the therapeutic dose for 6 months. He was going to tell me when he thought it would not impact my treatment, but since I was worried about the baby, he thought it would be a good idea to stop then. That was my experience.
Overgrowth of candida albicans (yeast) fungus in the G.I. tract (leaky gut & SIBO) causes extreme anxiety. I have been working with the G.I. tract and giving colonics for 20 years and I would say that this is the number one cause of rampant anxiety. (Use of prescription drugs causes exponential growth of Candida)
you don't mention parasites as a possible root cause, but with our ever increasing toxic burdens, our immune systems and lymphatic systems and liver struggle to keep up, allowing parasites (which are ubiquitous on the planet earth and come in many sizes, shapes and forms and are often difficult to detect with tests) to flourish. They can cause a myriad of chronic symptoms, are active in the evening and night, feed on our serotonin and GABA and produce neurotoxins. Mental issues, anxiety, insomnia can result. You would do your readers a great service to do a deep dive on this.
Yes.
Read your Bibles. Trust God. Live your life by it. And do what is right under all circumstances and let God worry about the results. And trust Him no matter what the results are.
As a person who was destined to spend their life in a psychiatric ward, I attest that you are absolutely correct.
Galatians 2:20
please describe how you got to this point. I agree that giving our entire life to God and living for Him and His glory are the way to the best life, but for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are not deep in their relationship with God and are struggling daily with their symptoms, what would you suggest is the best way to foster a relationship with Christ and also provide useful ways to find relief from your experience?
I will start with a small few lines I remember from a sermon. A husband and wife were driving together and the wife complained to her husband that he did not sit next to her anymore. He looked over at her from the driver's seat and said, "I didn't move"
My story is too long, but for brevity, you can watch 'Child of Rage" on YT and that was essentially my story. Unfortunately the abuser was my own mother and I had no good influence anywhere. My father was as passive as my mother was violent and there was no protection. I was an only child. By the time I was 3, I was having waking hallucinations and was hospitalized with internal bleeding from ulcers. I left home at 15. The rest is just such degradation and horror - you can fill in the blanks as necessary. If the devil would suggest it, I would do it. Somehow I became a Christian, but, I fell away when a promise to God was reneged upon. Since then and for the past 36 years, I have reaped the harvest of my unfaithfulness. I tried every arm of the flesh that I thought would make the pain of God's 'absence' go away. What I actually found was that He hadn't moved. When I realized that it was my idols that had put the distance between Him and I and when I manned up and finally asked Him to do the work that I had been preventing Him from doing - whatever the cost - that's when things began to change.
When you ask for those " who are not deep in their relationship with God and are struggling daily with their symptoms, what would you suggest is the best way to foster a relationship with Christ" I can only offer the Cross. If you are not deep in your relationship with God, then it is your sins that are the cause. God Almighty died on a cross for your sins and only your sins make a mockery of His sacrifice. Any suggestion that God is at fault is akin to blasphemy. The fault lies with us and us ONLY. Tell me - how many of these people who still struggle with their symptoms have confessed deeply entrenched sins and correctly identified themselves as being the reason they do not have friendship with the Savior – willing to forsake anything to rectify the situation?
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."
If you want intimacy with Christ, you must have affinity with Him. You must love what He loves and hate what He hates and if that is not the case, you must ask Him to make it so, no matter what you must go through or go without - even healing. Will not eternity vindicate your choice? Believe me! The presence of Christ is worth anything you have to sacrifice. God hid His face from me for 30 years. I had made a solemn promise to Him in a moment when I had glimpsed His Holiness. I betrayed Him and I do not know why He did not kill me on the spot. I was convinced I had lost my salvation. Nonetheless, I refused to give up the things that God had His finger on. The inner torment was indescribable. I considered suicide more than once. When I finally came to the end of myself and realized the depth of evil that was in me, I justified God and not myself. Despite the horrors of abuse, I was arrogant, deceitful, cruel, proud and self pitying. A victim to the end - like the man who buried his talent and then blamed the lord for his behavior. I see now that the terrible tragedies that have been my life were the tokens of His love. He unclenched my fists one finger at a time - and it hurt badly. I also see that I am evil and only evil and I wish for a deeper revelation of that as it is the only genuine freedom there is because fleeing to the safety of the Saviors arms will please Him the most and to be called the friend of Christ is the greatest thing in this world and the next. God's graciousness in allowing me to return has only been recent and I am left with 3 decades of pieces to pick up and wrongs to make right and pleas for the people I have injured to forgive. But I have returned – repented. Every minute of every day of my apostasy, I spit in His face. I essentially said that His sacrifice for me was in vain and blamed Him for the very chastisement that I had brought upon myself. Like Jonah – crying under the gourd - really believing that death was preferable to just doing what he was told. God will not be mocked. Tell those brothers and sisters to move over across the seat. Ask them who is really not being the friend. Are they living in Egypt? Do they eat from a pig trough? God will wait, but He will not come get them. That, they must do for themselves.
I relate all this so that hopefully I will get some sort of a hearing. Your question is the only one that matters and I felt honored to have the podium, so to speak, to answer from my heart. God loves you, but will not depart from His holiness and purity to accommodate anything that defiles, no matter how innocent you believe it to be. . True Christianity is the only toil that will bear fruit unto eternity. Being a true Christian means that you live on a cross, dying daily that Christ will shine through your broken soul and body. That is our job as Christians. Richard Wurmbrand was once by the side of a dying prisoner who asked in his last breaths" Who is Jesus Christ?!! What is He like?!" Wurmbrand was desperate, knowing he did not have time to explain, but he blurted out, "He is like me!" Horrified, he realized the enormity of his statement and it proved a searching incident for the rest of his life. Could I do the same? The church is in a frighteningly backslidden state and there is little to none of the kind of preaching and teaching that produces disciples such as Paul had. The spiritual starvation is real. But it is not an excuse. We have the Bible and we will be judged accordingly. But, just so you know that I know - the devil is reading this and waiting to throw it all in my face at some opportune time.
1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
4Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
5And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
17For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
18For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
19And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
20(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
21And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
22But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
,23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
25See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
26Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29For our God is a consuming fire.
My stepmom, a believer and a wise woman who’s been through a lot of tragedy, once said “all anxiety is ultimately a lack of gratitude and lack of trust in God”
My sister, a believer and wise woman who’s been through even more tragedy, told me once in a moment of deep sorrow and confusion about how to move forward in my shattered life, “our lives are not our own; our lives belong to Christ; we must live for Him, do His will, give Him glory”
I’ve been through a fair bit of tragedy myself, and these two sets of comments have carried me through some dark moments.
But the biggest source of comfort, wisdom and truth is scripture. Yes, we need to read it every day and seek the Lord every day in His word
Amen. We have all been through challenges in life and our only hope is Christ. Below is one of my favorite scripture.
Philippians. 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ,
3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
I agree! But what about the people who do this and still suffer from depression, anxiety and mental illness? I don’t understand that when the fruits of the Holy Spirit are joy and peace...etc. God tells us 365 times in His word to not fear or do not be anxious. It’s a Spiritual battle.
I don’t believe that mental illness is a chemical imbalance. It’s never been proven. As a nurse, I’ve had conversations with psychiatrists about this...their answer is “it’s a gray are.”
The book “Spiritual Depression, It’s Causes and Cures” by D. Martyn Lloyd Jones might be of help to some people.
A lot of it is diet and lifestyle. And MAYBE a lack of faith. And a lack of doing what the Word says. James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [therein], he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. "
After my mother's death, due to the urging of my doctor, I went to see a psychiatrist. While grieving, he put me on Xanax, klo opin and an anti-psychotic. After a year of taking more and more of these benzos, I decided to end my life. When that didn't work out, I was admitted to a mental hospital. While there they completely cut me off of any benzos and my psychiatrist quit returning my calls. I was forced off cold turkey. I spent the next 3 years in anguish. Three years of hospital stays, various diagnoses, and ECT. Not once did anyone mention benzo withdrawal.
I think that's one reason way back when, people wore black arm bands and the grieving period was generally accepted as a year. During that year, one processes good memories, but after roughly 6 weeks, the bad ones also start processing. I've noticed people get irritable and even nasty around that time. We need to all remember that grief is a process and takes longer than most now accept. Grief is not mental illness.
Looking back I feel like I should've known this. I never lost anyone close to me before that time, so I think I should be grateful. Unfortunately what made things worse was that I was reliving abandonment from when I was 8. Still, I wish I had never gone to see that doctor that day.
What doesn't kill me makes me stronger.
That's horrible. Grief is a human experience. It’s hard but we have to go through it. I’m so very, very sorry you went through this. These so called health professionals were despicable and, frankly evil.. 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Thank you for your response and understanding. I appreciate that
I’m sorry you were so abused. Psych drugs, which I was originally prescribed for insomnia, also made me feel suicidal. I was given a bipolar 2 diagnosis. I’m now 10 years off all meds and not even neurotic.
Thank you for your response! I'm currently tapering off the psych meds I was put on. Its been 1 1/2 years since I started (tapering). Another 2 or so years to go. Im very sensitive to the withdrawal effects and even a 10% decrease can make me unreasonably irritable. My son just turned 5 and he doesn't understand so I'm very cautious.
I’m sorry you went through this. I found myself working as a nurse in the Preop/PACU of an ECT unit (my background is ICU of many years) not Psychiatry. ECT is brain damage..where is the outrage against this? Where are the human rights activists? One of the best books I’ve read about ECT was “Doctors of Deception, What they don’t want you to know about shock therapy” by Linda Andre. (I got it at the library). She is an “ECT survivor”, the corruptness of ECT and psychiatry will disgust and sadden you.
Another website is ECTjustice .com (stories about ECT survivors).
Dr. Peter Breggin, a renowned Psychiatrist at www.Breggin.org writes on ECT and brain damage and the truth about psychotropics. I believe he has a substack as well.
I hope you are healing mentally! Stay strong and stay far away from “those doctors of deception” if you’re able. It’s a dark hole to get out of.
Thank you for your response. I'm very curious as to how I compare to others who've gone through ECT as well. During benzo withdrawal it seemed that no one understood why I was having medicine resistant depression and anxiety. So the next step was to continuously perform ECT on me for 3 years. So strange.
I have symptoms of early onset Alzheimers . My neurologist told me it was just severe ADHD after CT scans were coming back "normal".
I think Im more angry at doctors for putting me on antipsychotics and benzos tobegin with. I spent the last 13 years isolated from people in general because I could not for the life of me unscramble my brain long enough to have a common conversation with any of them. I would let the awkward silences build until they walked away, and I didn't care.
I am getting better. I have hope for my future. I would love to be part of a change that is so badly needed in the mental health industry.
Thanks again for reading! Take care
Antidepressants are often prescribed with anxiolytics to treat anxiety and other mental health conditions. Study just released shows that longer you’re on an antidepressant, the more your risk increases for sudden cardiac disease.
We need to start rethinking mental health — and our mental reality in general: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/antidepressants-cardiac-death-and
"Mentally Ill" people die 10-20 years sooner than other people.
NOBODY considers the role of the drugs in this.
Thank you for the follow-up! I always am reminded to reflect on the medications I’ve been prescribed! I think it’s only through remaining open to new advancements, new studies and findings — especially negative ones! — that we take care of ourselves to the best of our ability, armed with the knowledge we’ve gained. I wrote a long-ish reply to this post where I detailed my 16+ years taking Lexapro — mostly pluses, but also detailing the minuses and why I would NOT recommend this drug for many others who are younger than me and working. I’ve been comfortable in my decision to remain on this drug — but reading about sudden cardiac death did not exactly sit well with me. So I genuinely appreciate you’re sharing this study.
Thank you for sharing this. Did the Danish study take into account any other factors, or was it just concentrated on taking anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds? I ask this because otherwise, this study is purely anecdotal and un-scientific in terms of other factors that might have been present? Anything from poor circulation, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and a hundred other co-morbidities that may have contributed to this sudden cardiac arrest? It’s possible that most others taking those drugs did not have a specific factor that might have contributed to their cardiac incident?
In any event, you’ve given me a lot to think about. My very first reaction is that I’ve been living my best self because of the anti-anxiety med I’ve been taking for 17 years. It’s even helped me with handling and managing my auto-immune illness with very successful outcomes. They say life has trade-offs. I’m inclined to think I’m better off for having lived better this long than suffered with anxiety and an auto-immune illness that would have had far worse negative outcomes for me. But it’s easier for me to say as a woman in her mid-60s. I’d certainly be looking at this from a different perspective if I were younger.
Thanks Diane for this comment! I looked at what appears to be the original study and it looks like they did:
“When adjusting for age, sex and comorbidities, psychiatric disorders were independently associated with SCD, with a HR of 2.31 (2.19 to 2.43, p<0.001), and HR was highest among patients with schizophrenic disorders, with a HR of 4.51 (3.95 to 5.16, p <0.001).”
Here’s the link for reference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39438152/
Glad it made you reflect!
My daughter had anxiety which became panic attacks. The dr kept upping her ssri and added a quick acting med…but wasn’t helping. I googled ‘what can cause panic attacks’ - and celiac disease popped up. Sure enough - her blood test was screaming positive. She noticed a difference within a week of going GF. Doctors need to think outside the box…..I am not a DR but figured out the cause of her issues plus my husband’s. Thank you God. She is finally off the meds!
We know ourselves better than the docs.
When I see so many medically compliant people (Australia is the most medically compliant place in the world, methinks!) I bite my tongue, because I want to ask:
Did it occur to you that your wife should try to give birth the normal way (through the vaginal canal) instead of just scheduling her first birth as a C-Section?
Did it occur to you that reducing your carbs might be better for you than Wegovy - particularly since you've had 4 hospital visits for gastro since I've known you?
Why do you want to take a flu shot? It's last year's strain! (I actually said this, whoops, didn't bite my tongue on that one)
Did it occur to you to try keto to see if it helps your fatigue and pain? (or weight loss or diabetes)
OH! You had an awful fall, I'm so sorry - what blood pressure medicines are you on?
I have a bloody tongue around these compliant people.
I’ve heard/read from nutritional psychiatrists that the worst foods for anxiety are gluten, carbohydrates, sugar and caffeine.
so many people with anxiety are just chasing sugar spikes.