I've suffered from anxiety my entire adult life, and one thing that really jumped out at me from Dr. Amesien's book was his description of the comorbid anxiety. In particular, the way it took two forms- a manic state in which he overestimated his abilities in a frenzy and a paranoid state in which he worried that others were conspiring to unmask him as a fake.
That, to a T, describes the state of my anxiety. For example, sometimes I latch onto an idea like a software or a music project and my enthusiasm grows like compound interest (and beyond my means to achieve it). This hyperexcited state might get my creative juices flowing, but I can never sustain it long enough to actually produce anything. (And when you're writing software or composing music, you've got to be patient enough to have direction and iron out your mistakes, hence why my accomplishments in these realms have been minimal). I get worked up to the point of feeling like I'm going to explode and feel like I need alcohol in order to calm down enough to actually do anything. We all know how that turns out...
On the other end of the spectrum, there's the paranoid anxiety. For months I suspected at times that people at work were conspiring to fire me for underperforming. Every time a door was closed with a conversation going on behind it, I assumed I was being sized up and plotted against. I felt lucky to make it through the day and couldn't wait to drown my sorrows in 4-5 beers when I got home. As long as I was drunk I didn't have to worry about it.
I'm throwing this out there because Dr. Amesien specifically stated that the baclofen resolved his underlying anxiety as well as his alcohol use. I'm particularly interested in finding out whether the above descriptions strike a chord with anyone here and whether bac has helped with both positive and negative types of anxiety issues for them.
Hopefully, bac will get me on a more even keel. As things stand now, I can barely stand the intensity of being sober.
Cheers!
That, to a T, describes the state of my anxiety. For example, sometimes I latch onto an idea like a software or a music project and my enthusiasm grows like compound interest (and beyond my means to achieve it). This hyperexcited state might get my creative juices flowing, but I can never sustain it long enough to actually produce anything. (And when you're writing software or composing music, you've got to be patient enough to have direction and iron out your mistakes, hence why my accomplishments in these realms have been minimal). I get worked up to the point of feeling like I'm going to explode and feel like I need alcohol in order to calm down enough to actually do anything. We all know how that turns out...
On the other end of the spectrum, there's the paranoid anxiety. For months I suspected at times that people at work were conspiring to fire me for underperforming. Every time a door was closed with a conversation going on behind it, I assumed I was being sized up and plotted against. I felt lucky to make it through the day and couldn't wait to drown my sorrows in 4-5 beers when I got home. As long as I was drunk I didn't have to worry about it.
I'm throwing this out there because Dr. Amesien specifically stated that the baclofen resolved his underlying anxiety as well as his alcohol use. I'm particularly interested in finding out whether the above descriptions strike a chord with anyone here and whether bac has helped with both positive and negative types of anxiety issues for them.
Hopefully, bac will get me on a more even keel. As things stand now, I can barely stand the intensity of being sober.
Cheers!
These things, at least, have been my personal experience, your mileage may vary.
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