Living without meds
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Living without meds
| Fri, 08-18-2006 - 2:23am |
I would like to know how many of you don't take meds and how you live without it?
I don't take meds, only rarely when I get extra panic and if anxiety has been high for few days. Other than that I cope without meds and doing fine working on my mind through self-help books and methods like meditation and autogenic traning.

Glad to *see* you, Zel. You look great! I, too, would like to know about this training. I haven't taken any antidepressants for 4 years & only take a klonopin when needed.
Meditation daily & belly breathing
I have found that meditation & yoga work well for me.
Sheri Ann
I don't take meds at all and seem to do ok most of the time. Some of the things that work for me are staying very hydrated!! I drink lots of water and NO caffeine, I take vitamin supplements, and exercise.
I have trouble sticking to an exercise program so try and alternate different things like yoga, bellydancing, and pilates. The big no fail is walking, I prefer to do this outdoors and get some fresh air.
Of course coming to this board is a big sense of support, talking to average people with the same problems is more comforting than therapy for me. The most effective thing for me has been meditaion/prayer and affirmations. I listen to affirmations on my ipod when walking and repeat them outloud (what must my neighbors think..LOL) By doing this I hope to focus on the positive and rebuild my self esteem.
Lisa
Autogenic training (AT) is a technique that teaches your body to respond to your verbal commands. These commands "tell" your body to relax and control breathing, blood pressure, heartbeat, and body temperature. The goal of AT is to achieve deep relaxation and reduce stress. After you learn the technique, you can use it whenever you need or want relief from symptoms of stress, or you can practice it regularly to enjoy the benefits of deep relaxation and prevent the effects of chronic stress.
Autogenic training consists of six standard exercises that make the body feel warm, heavy, and relaxed. For each exercise, you get into a simple posture (sitting in a comfortable chair or reclining), concentrate without any goal, and then use visual imagination and verbal cues to relax your body in some specific way.
You learn each exercise by reading about it or watching a teacher, then practicing it for a few minutes several times a day. Learning the exercises, either from an instructor or on your own, usually moves at a slow, steady pace, taking 4 to 6 months to master all six exercises.
Without regular practice, autogenic training is not likely to have an effect. For this reason, only those people who are motivated and committed to learning it are likely to get any benefit from AT. However, for those who master the technique, it works, and it can be an effective treatment for chronic stress.
The way AT works is not fully understood, but its effects on the body are measurable. Experts believe that AT works in ways that are similar to hypnosis and biofeedback. The exercises allow communication between the mind and the body, allowing you to influence body reactions that cannot normally be controlled, such as blood pressure, heartbeat, and body temperature.
Just when I was about to get into describing what AT is there was post no. 6 describing it.
But I want to add few things about it. First of all, to get a good benifit from it, it must be learnt from some proffesional and not in the books. I myself went to an AT school which was taught by a psychiatrist.
AT is a wonderful techique but I lack consistency. I do it for months regularly (and it's effective if you do it at least five times a day) and then I get fed up of it and don't do it for ages.
I don't know if it is the case in the U.S. but here in Europe many hospitals have this technique for patients with phychological problems.
But I tought it in a much better place, a private AT school: this psychiatrist went to the very ends of human posibilities, and she even figured out how to control present with this technique including mental images into AT to get what she wants. I tried it and I'm sure now, without a doubt, 100% that it works. For example, I did AT and included mental images for getting more money, I didn't know where the money would come from but in three months I got a promotion which was impossible to get!! I am sure it was because of it.
Anyway, about AT itself, it's origins are from a hypnotist who discovered how all hypnotised people sense the same thing: warmness and heaviness of the body. So over the years he and his colleagues worked on this technique which is in a way self-hypnosis and discovered endless benefits. It is proven by a science that AT works.
My teacher said that this technique can cure illness, any kind, mental, physical. Just when I was starting learning AT she said how a guy with cancer came to her to show her doctor's report the cancer is in reduction. Amazing, ha?
I would definitely recommend it. I just wish I'm more consistent in it :)
Cool. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who's coping without meds. I got an impression that many women here take meds on a daily basis.
I have Xanax 0.25 mg, but only for extreme panic or anxiety that doesn't go away for few days.
P.S. Is that your cat? :)