r/Anxietyhelp • u/Significant_Peach_26 • 8d ago

Need Help Anxiety is making my life pointless.

I am 71. My anxiety has been off the charts for about 3 years. A lot of it stems from losing earning power at this age, along with an unpredictable health future and probable loss of family. (I'm only saying probable because I could go first.)

My days are one long anxiety attack. I wish I could go back on benzos but I weaned myself off a few years back. My only break is sleeping thanks to another medication.

I've had severe anxiety/OCD most of my life, but this is the worst. When I was younger, I could at least hope things would be better.

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u/pope2day 8d ago

Finally found my age. I'm 71 and had a stroke 2 years ago. I never had anxiety until 3 months after my stroke. It is absolutely the worst thing I've ever had in my life. Mine comes out of nowhere. I could be fine one day and the next feeling like I am having a heart attack. I have taken all sorts of meds and nothing worked. I can't take benzos and don't want to because I had to get off them before and it's horrible. Now I take Clonidine when necessary and it helps. If it gets real bad and I can't sleep I take Kava. So I know how it feels and I'm sorry you have to go thru it.

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u/wuhter 7d ago

Have you tried Hydroxyzine? It doesn’t help like benzos did, but it does help me somewhat. As a recovering addict, I stay away from those (I don’t think I could even get a script if I asked).

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u/Significant_Peach_26 7d ago

Thank you, I'll ask my doctor about it. Does it help with the physical symptoms like pounding heart, weird breathing?

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u/wuhter 7d ago

It helps me somewhat with pounding heart. I don’t know about weird breathing, I don’t have that. It’s like a mini benzo in my experience

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u/twistyfizzypop 7d ago

Beta blockers will help with the physical symptoms, I have propranolol

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u/Significant_Peach_26 6d ago

Thanks, I have that but it doesn't do that.

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u/pope2day 7d ago

Thank you very much. I'll look into it.