Thank you so much for all the great advice! I knew I could count on you guys for some helpful recommendations.
Jenna, how much of the magnesium supplement do you take daily? Do you get the powdered form at health-food stores? I definitely want to try this. I think I'm also going to pick up some Vitamin B supplements. I've heard the the B's are real good for stress.
Kim, thanks for the tip about the book. I'm going to pick up a copy of
Hope and Help for your Nerves from my local library tomorrow. I called the circulation desk today, and they put a copy on hold for me.
Jackie, I may very well ask a doctor for some type of medication on a short-term basis if the magnesium or Vitamin B supplements don't help. A medical clinic just started bringing a van up to my tiny rural hamlet once a week at our little market. They have a sliding scale, which is so cool.
Stormster, sometimes I wonder if I have a chronic form of PTSD, myself. Do your symptoms come and go...are they worse for a period of time, and then they level out for months? Funny you should mention thinking that you had had MS. That's exactly what I thought I had a couple months ago when my hands and feet started tingling.
Stinky Kitty, did your anxiety attacks just seem to go away on their own a few years ago? That must have been so hard on you as a child, to have anxiety attacks. Childhood's hard enough as it is...
Tara, like you, I've suffered on and off with depression for years. But the anxiety is relatively new, within the past year or so. My adrenalin starts pumping, and I cannot get it to stop. I start getting chest pains and PVCs. I have a friend who's taking Effexor ~ I'm going to call her and find out more.
Everyone, thank you so much for the great suggestions! It sounds like Yoga has been a godsend for all of you. There is a Yoga instructor who lives in my neighborhood...I'm going to contact her this week. I've always assumed I couldn't do Yoga because my spine is fused from the base of my neck down to my sacrum (I had scoliosis as a child). But it dawned on me today that maybe my neighbor could teach me some techniques that don't depend on a flexible spine.
