Answered questions(4)
I'm a 395 pound recovering alcoholic and afraid I'm going to die. Should I get bypass surgery?
I need gastric bypass surgery. I am very obese and I want gastric bypass surgery. My sleep apnea is bad. My heart is a ticking time bomb. I have panic attacks and I am terrified of hospitals. I am 26 years old and I am also an alkie. I am 13 months sober. I weigh 395 pounds. I work at home and I get scared in public places. I am scared I going to have a heart attack one day soon unless I do the surgery. I think I damaged my heart with cocaine. My blood pressure is really bad. I need to do this but I can’t do it. I haven’t even talked to a doctor yet. If I am really tranquilized with Ativan or will I be OK and not get a panic attack. I am sober so I never take pills.
Read answer →How Do I Get Over Social Anxiety?
I am a successful founder of an internet startup (my profile here is "fake" sorry). I have been struggling with social anxiety. One of the many paranoias I live with daily is that everyone can tell I am uncomfortable. I guess you can call it a vicious cycle. I am behaving a lot more reserved (and sometimes hostile) towards people than is good for me. I particularly despise groups and their dynamics. (I can't even tell you why I feel that way.. I had loving parents and benefited from a great upbringing). A close friend of mine has suggested I try Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT). Apparently ACT really helps with keeping anxieties in check over a long-term, but I do wonder whether a counselor can overcome the threshold of my mental defenses (I have a good BS detector). Isn't Cognitive Behavioral Therapy just another form of manipulation? Maybe I just don't like people and should learn to live with it, just improve my social skills (to better conceal my dislike of people). What do you suggest, will ACT change me and make me more sociable or can I achieve similar results by getting a simple job at Starbucks to learn better social skills?
Read answer →Should I Take Medicine for Panic Attacks? I Have a History With Addiction.
I have been having a really hard time for the last few months with social anxiety and panic attacks. I have always been shy but this is something very different. My doctor is recommending a couple of different anti anxiety medications (I forget the names) but she said I would become dependent on them If I started using them and I wouldn’t be able to stop very suddenly. This really worried me, because I have had problems in the past with addiction. My doctor does not know of my past with addiction. I am not sure if I should tell her either. I am worried that if I tell her about my past she will be reluctant to prescribe me with certain medications and I want to be the one to decide what I should use based on the best available medical advice. Should I be very worried about using anxiety medications that have a risk of abuse if I have a history of addiction? Am I right in thinking that if I tell my doctor she may be reluctant to prescribe to me?
Read answer →What Works for Panic Attacks?
I get panic attacks sometimes but my doctor says I do not have panic disorder. He recommended that I try biofeedback to learn to control my body at the onset of an attack and that by learning to relax my body as anxiety builds I’d be able to stop panic attacks before they really get started. Is biofeedback an effective treatment for panic? It sounds a little bit crazy, actually, but I will try anything that might work.
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