I have anxiety too.. I've tried every anxiety pill under the sun and honestly, they didn't help. What helped most was just being able to recognize the warning signs so I can try to deescalate it before it gets out of control. I remove myself from the situation, take deep breaths, try to slow my thoughts down, and (I wouldn't recommend this) have a smoke.

my anxiety is awful... xanax helps... but now i'm hooked so i wouldn't recommend it... if i don't take it i freak out in about a 1.5 days... it's the only thing that has helped me though as far as meds go

B-complex and NAC are good for anxiety, I believe. Also, learning and practicing breathing techniques and going to a therapist or counselor to help learn coping skills and how to change your thinking/behavior pattern. Getting enough sleep also helps because you're better able to think and reason when you've had an adequate amount of sleep. If you absolutely must, there's always medication. I take Valium and unlike some other people on the board I've never become addicted or dependent on anti-anxiety medication and have had no negative side-effects. I would not recommend it alone or long-term though. It should be used as an aid in conjunction with therapy or counseling.

I drink kava tea as well but for me I feel that lemon balm tea works better.

I don't have any tendency toward anxiety, but I went through a period of anxiety last year.  After trying a bunch of things, even including a useless doctor's appointment, loading up on B-vitamins helped.  Since I started taking Bs more regularly, the anxiety stuff disappeared.

uS - What is this magic potion of which you speak?

  Since I started taking Bs more regularly...

I read that as "BS" at first, haha.

Oooo, lemon balm, eh? We've got some growing just down the street.... I'll have to try that.

I LOVE lemon balm! I definitely feel a change when I drink (or smell) lemon balm. It puts me in a much happier and optimistic mood and calms me down a lot.

jomamma I hear ya.  I took antidepressants and a few anti anxiety meds for years and finally got off all of it in 2008.  All that stuff did was cause horrible side effects and I felt flat all the time.  I had to get off Effexor very very slowly (over nine months) and still went through horrid withdrawal symptoms (seeing double, shaking chills, nausea and diarrhea).  In fact there is a petition out there on the internet signed by thousands reporting the withdraw effects of that stuff.  Cymbalta is the same thing with a few chemicals added.

My only meds are bioidentical hormone replacement (not made with animal materials) and synthroid for thyroid issues that are too severe to resolve with herbs.  The hrt is because I had my ovaries and uterus removed at a young age and can not function without hrt.  It has been a living hell since I had my ovaries removed.

But even before that I have had anxiety for years.  Much of it for me I attribute to my personality and genetics.  I am extremely introverted and shy and have an avoidant personality disorder and it has been a lifelong struggle for me to work and be social and function in a society that is loud and outgoing.  I am also someone who feels like she has to be on top of things and I worry way too much.  I am a perfectionist and it drives me mad.  It is hard for me to let the little things go.  But the chemical changes from surgical menopause, and also having thyroid issues for many years has contributed to my anxiety.  I always feel like I am going to jump out of my skin, cant stand to be in my own skin sometimes.  I sleep very little no matter how tired I am.  I feel like I have to keep moving all the time.  My therapist gave me some meditative cds to listen to and work with but I havent touched them yet due to trying to keep up with college coursework and my job.  5am to 6am is my one hour a day I can take a break.  i should be meditating right now.  I do take a B complex supplement as well as calcium/magnesium/ergocalciferol and a vegan dha/epa supplement.  Other than that my diet is very healthy and I exercise every day (when I am not sick to my stomach which has been a lot since starting college again).  Exercise helps my anxiety for sure.  It seems that I can run much longer distances at a time when I am really at a stressful place in life lol.  But stress is taking a toll on my body.  Still I refuse meds.  I think people are way overmedicated these days. I work in medical records and it boggles me how much medication people are on.  Even small children.  I am not talking about the chronically ill, I am talking about people coming off the street to the emergency room for minor problems.  Current medications is a required piece of information in a patients health record.  On the other hand, I have no good advice other than exercise or meditation as to how to deal with anxiety.  If it is of a chemical nature (thyroid, hormones off, etc) correcting those imbalances might help.  When my estradiol (main form of estrogen in humans) is low my anxiety is much higher.  Most doctors will not test hormone levels though.  I saw a naturopathic doc to test my sex hormone levels and because I had severe bone loss and symptoms of surgical menopause she agreed.  My levels were very very low, testosterone, progesterone and estrogen (estradiol, estriol especially).  Finding a hrt I could tolerate was another story...

starlaxxx where you addicted to xanax?

i take it right now and am def addicted, thankfully i am only at 1/4 a bar per day right now (.5 mgs)

if i don't take it my head feels detached from my body it's insane

Fear, which commonly manifests as anxiety, is tricky. Like mercury...very hard to put our fingers on it. One thing is for sure: anything we do to remove fear strengthens it. Any pill we take, any escape at all that we use simply makes fear return in a different way, stronger. That is why those who treat it with drugs are worse after a year than when they first started. There is a dependent on anything we use to alleviate fear and that very dependence is a stronger form of fear, right?

What is the cure then? What is the solution to any complex problem? Observation. It was not until I realized that there was simply no escape, not through doctors, or drugs (whether illegal, OTC, or prescription), or through relationships, that I sat still and observed, and thus no longer had to be hospitalized out of fear.

It is like Amy's symptom of her head being detached from her body. I have had lots of these, too many to mention and bore you with, but now I see it as interesting. I literally went mad many times over it all. But when we see a problem is interesting, and are clear that no other human or drug could fix it for us, we sat and observe it. Unintentionally, through direct observation without escape, the problem changed.

Commonly I see recommendations of addictive medications, smoking, drinking, taking walks, religion, talking with a professional, putting on music, all sorts of things. I have tried all of these. These are all very common today. But none of these cure fear. All of these strengthen fear. On that we must be clear or our problem progresses, deepens, strengthens. Once we are clear about this, and confident and interested in the problem, interested in exploring and learning about who we are, not running away from it, then the problem becomes beautiful, mysterious, even fun. Until then it is a constant miserable struggle, deepening sorrow within us and thus in our relationship with the world.