Yes but it takes time and a lot of effort on your part.

I find if you think two much about it that will stress you out just take it a day at a time and set your self some goals and make yourself achieve them

It will disappear with more confidence, just remember, people have hang us of their own going on and are not totally focused on you

Do something to day to start on the road of deleting this worry from your life and start enjoying it instead.

In the past few years anxiety has taken over my life. I’ve always had a touch of anxiety but could always overpower it before. That is not the case anymore. The anxiety makes it very hard to socialize. I really want to socialize and used to really enjoy it. I feel like I do not have any friends anymore because of my anxiety and it makes me depressed. This seems to create a snowball effect.

The depression and anxiety is up and down. I have the highs and the lows, but lately I’ve been having more lows than highs. It is becoming unbearable. I’ve tried Zoloft before but it made it worse. I’m scared to try another prescription medication.

My question is, if you have had experience (good or bad) with a certain prescription medication and/or herbal treatment, could you give me some advice? I’m open to almost anything.

I should add that I do the typical things for depression such as working out, taking vitamin D3, getting enough sleep, fish oil, etc. The only thing that seems to be lacking from this approach is the social aspect, which is something I cannot avoid at this point.
Ginny Jin, I agree. I would rather stay away from prescription meds because of the risks and side effects, but I’m desperate at this point. I’m ready to have my life back.
Effie Hogarth, your website link didn’t work
Thanks for the great answers. I wish I could choose all 3, as they were all very helpful. I am going to choose ginny jin’s answer because I think I will use her advice the most.

Update: My boyfriend did some research and bought me kava kava and rhodiola rosea. I have some black cohosh and will try that if these others don’t seem to work. If all else fails I will try another antidepressant.

I take Spirulina (google it). This is a Superfood they give people in hospices to give energy. It was recommended to me by a health professional. For mood try St John’s Wort. Black Cohosh is good too.

For me – Prescription medication = liver damage

don’t know.

but since the first and maybe the second are already approved for other human problems/diseases, your doc could prescribe them to you now, if he/she felt it was appropriate.

I’m not asking this for people to tell me to google it, or to see my gp.
I’m asking for people with experience in their own lives for advice and knowledge. I don’t want a list of symptoms of a website, I need to know if I relate to actual living breathing people.

And treatment – is it true that medication should only be as a last resort? You wouldn’t recommend it? And the medication itself – is it only available in tablet/pill format? I can’t swallow pills (N)
=/

Thanks.

I’m actually kind of nervous right now talking about my anxiety so I’ll just say this: I swear to god, I experience every symptom on the list. When I still had to take gym class in elementary, I would absolutely refuse to do it because I thought I would look stupid and my classmates would make fun of me. I get so nervous talking in front of a large group of people or giving presentations and will purposely fake sick to miss class for an entire week if I have to just to avoid it. In school, when I forget what class I have first (our periods rotate on even and odd days) or I’m late, I’ll skip them because I don’t want to walk in to the wrong class or be the center of attention for 5 seconds. I avoid using public bathrooms when someone else is in there because..well, I don’t want them to hear me pee and think that I pee weird or something. I know that’s completely ridiculous, but it’s just something I can’t help. I always avoid calling people on the phone or making small talk with a cashier at a store or talking in front of people I don’t know because what if I say something stupid or embarrassing? I’m constantly worried about what other people, even strangers, think of me. I can’t go out without these negative thoughts. I remember doing something very embarrassing in 3 grade and I still think about it every now and then and get mini-Panic Attacks. If there’s a possibilty of being teased or critizied, I’ll avoid it. The less contact with people who will judge me, the better. It’s funny too, because I read mel’s answer above mine and she said she’s known as the "loud and crazy one"…and it’s the same with me. I’m actually pretty outgoing and I know lots of people were suprised to know that I have social anxiety and am intensely self conscious. It’s almost like I have two personalities: the normal me and the me with social anxiety.

As for treatment..it’s different for everybody and every situation. Some people find exposure therapy or cognitive therapy works for them and others don’t. Personally, I found exposure therapy to help lesson the anxiety for some things but for others, not so much. I refused to take medication for my anxiety, so now I’m learning to deal with the more stressful things in a healthy way. I think you should explore all your options first, try them and if they don’t work, then go for medication. I’m not sure if they have to be in pill form but I know when I was taking Prozac, it came in a liquid form and I took that because I have trouble swallowing pills too. (That’s another things I’m anxious about, actually.)

Anyway, best of luck to you. I highly recommend exposure thearpy, because I know that helped me a lot.

For me, a few milligrams of Diazepam twice a day on school days (where my anxiety actually noticeably affects my life) works alright. My prescription is 5mg twice a day, but once I was in a bad mood and took 15mg at once. I had a mood lift about a half an hour later and a confidence I don’t normally experience for about 3 hours after that… then just mild anxiety for the rest of the school day.

I’m going to see a psychologist that will hopefully be able to teach me how to teach myself not to need the medicine anymore. I hope it helps. If therapy doesn’t work, I see myself popping Hydrocodone and Benzodiazepines when I’m older.

i’ve had a mild case of social anxiety for years now and feel like its time to get treated for it. I don’t fear going out into public but when i do i get shaky, cant sit still, sometimes i lose coordination. I want to get treatment but would like it to be descreet. how can i go about in doing this? where do i go? i am under my parent’s medical coverage with Kaiser and i don’t want them to find out that im going to get treatment for this. will they find out? will this be on my medical record?

This is not uncommon and it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with you. You shouldn’t be ashamed of it or embarassed about it. You need to go ahead and talk to your parents about seeing a counselor. Usually, the Company doesn’t handle its own insurance clams. They hire a company to do that. It will be on your medical records, but it isn’t mental illness and the company they work for probably won’t see it anyway. This is just anxiety and a counselor can help you get over it. Good luck!

I might be going to the doctors (although I am really nervous about it) to talk about social anxiety. My sister has been about her social anxiety but said that they barely helped her and the medication is pretty useless as well as short term.

What has worked for you? What medication have you tried? Is there anything I can get without having a prescription?

Cheers!

I have generalized anxiety disorder and have pretty bad social anxiety as well (ha, as well as post traumatic stress) so I know a little bit about coping.

Medication, especially in the short term, is not always the most helpful thing. I took cymbalta for a while and for the first week, as with most anti-anxiety drugs, it makes your anxiety worse before it gets better (which for some people, is too much to handle). For me the best thing has been going to counseling. For someone with anxiety, it’s hard to talk about what exactly is going on but going to therapy helps you understand for yourself and learn methods of coping.

So yes, I’ve been on medication, but I think the best route is a combination of therapy and medication. For me, the therapy helped more than the medication. You can’t get any sort of anti-anxiety medication that actually works without a prescriptions. When it comes to mental health, they’re cautious about medication because sometimes it can make a person’s situation worse.

I think I have social anxiety disorder. I only have made about 5 friends since I started high school, but they are all really good ones. Anyways, is there any way to treat social anxiety disorder without going to a psychiatrist, or taking meds or anything?

don’t lie to yourself, and face the world.

that’s what I did.

i believe i have social anxiety disorder. Whenever i am the center of attention (giving a speech or something like that) i almost always get very red in the face, my heart rate increases a lot, my thoughts are not clear, and my voice trembles.

i have researched this disorder for some time and everywhere i look i see stories that it is a horrible disorder, it can ruin peoples social lives, and drugs are needed to HELP this disorder.

i need to know if it is possible to psychologically overcome this disorder. I am only 18 years old, and i dont want to go on anti-depressants and what not, i just want to try and overcome this disorder.

has anyone ever heard of someone that overcame social phobia without the use of prescription drugs?

My friend does little projects to help herself overcome her problems. For instance, when she goes out to eat, she’ll show up a half hour or so before anyone and sit by herself at a table. Sounds stupid, but she’s so shy–this is a VERY hard thing for her to do.

She finally got a job at a retail store part time and is forced to speak with people and give advice on purchases.

It can be overcome in little steps—you just have to find what works for you.

i believe i have social anxiety disorder. Whenever i am the center of attention (giving a speech or something like that) i almost always get very red in the face, my heart rate increases a lot, my thoughts are not clear, and my voice trembles.

i have researched this disorder for some time and everywhere i look i see stories that it is a horrible disorder, it can ruin peoples social lives, and drugs are needed to HELP this disorder.

i need to know if it is possible to psychologically overcome this disorder. I am only 18 years old, and i dont want to go on anti-depressants and what not, i just want to try and overcome this disorder.

has anyone ever heard of someone that overcame social phobia without the use of prescription drugs?

A friend of mine had the same problems as you are having when you have to publicly speak etc. He overcame it by joining a Public Speaking Club, a Debating Club and a Poetry/Writers Club! He got so used to speaking to people it was no longer an issue and he never took pills in any form for it. I hope you can overcome it naturally as you want to. Best wishes. uk