Social Phobia

I have been taking Clonazepam 0.5 mg TID for 18 years. My psychiatrist retired and I had to look for another provider. Both nurse practitioners insist that I get off the drug, tapering slowly. This medication was prescribed for my major depression with anxiety disorder post psych hospitalization.
Tapering has not gone well. I am down to 2 tabs daily soon to go down to 1.5 daily.
I was doing fine until the tapering. I am 73, I am looking for quality of life, not quantity. I live in a very social senior living community but I am not happy here. My husband is supportive but is very active in the common. I am lonely, we have no family nearby……all live in other states.
What I need help with is finding a provider who will prescribe the low dose of Clonazepam that I’m on. My social phobia has gotten worse and I spend much of my time in our small apartment with no ambition to exercise, socialize, get outdoors. I need help. The providers are telling me I need to get off Clonazepam because it causes brain shrinkage, Alzheimer’s, and susceptibility to falls. The government us swooping in on benzodiazepines just like they did opiates.
#Anxiety

Slight vent////

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So, as people who have read past posts of mine know, I have social anxiety. Pretty bad social anxiety at that. I was diagnosed at the age of 4. I've talked about my fear of big crowds and of people with my parents before. While my youngest brother was listening.

Normally, I wouldn't have thought much about it. But an incident at Mcdonalds one day made me regret talking about it when he was around.

We were at Mcdonalds, and this one happened to have a play place. My other brother, the middle child, wanted to play there and at first, my youngest brother did as well. But the second my youngest brother saw how many people were in there, he freaked.

The thing is this has never happened before. My youngest brother is always the first to want to go into the place. Sure, you might think he might have social anxiety as well, but he hasn't done anything like that ever since. He started complaining that 'oh there are too many people in there' though that has never bothered him before, and 'oh I want to go home'.

Kid even started crying. My other brother was so mad when my male guardian, the only one with us as my mom was at work, said he couldn't go in and took us home.

And who got in trouble for my youngest brothers little fit? Me. I did. When we got home my male guardian looked at me and asked me why I had spoken about my fears. Like excuse me? Because you're my father and you should know how I feel? He told me not to talk about it in front of my little brother again because apparently it was my fault that he acted that way because I hadn't known my brother was listening to our conversations.

Thats not the only time something like that has happened. I've also told my parents about my gender dysphoria and how I felt more like a guy, youngest brother was listening, claimed to be a trans girl once (I know he's not now as he keeps talking about how he's a boy and doesn't want to be a girl) and again, guess who got in trouble for simply talking about it. Me. The look my male guardian gave me made me feel bad I told him about my feelings.

I told a past therapist about it but all she did was say 'okay' and seemingly shrugged it off. Thats why I wanted to talk about it here. My male guardian is good about helping with my physical health but is pretty emotionally neglective towards me. But I just needed to get this off my chest as its been really bothering me.

#SocialAnxiety #Depression #Anxiety #SocialAnxietyDisorder #SocialPhobia #neglect #MentalHealth #emotinalneglect #MightyTogether

ADHD And Comorbidity www.theminiadhdcoach.com/adhd-comorbidity
In general terms, Comorbidity is used to define two or more conditions that coexist in an individual simultaneously.
Treating one condition will not cause the symptoms of the other conditions to resolve as well, meaning both conditions need to be treated concurrently to manage the patient in a better way.
Recognizing comorbid conditions early on is important to recognize the prognosis and accurate management of any disease.
The same goes for ADHD comorbidity.
It is now established that around 60-80% of people with ADHD might have one or more similar conditions impacting their mental health.
These mental disorders might show through signs of depressive symptoms that can lead to different types of illnesses such as comorbid bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, comorbid psychiatric disorder, conduct disorder, and such.
So despite a doctor treating you with ADHD medications, you might not feel entirely better due to the existence of said comorbid conditions.
For the sake of easier understanding, lets group ADHD comorbid conditions into three main groups:
Learning Disorders
Children with ADHD might have varying degrees of difficulty in school or learning at a pace comparable to other children their age.
While ADHD symptoms might be contributing to this learning difficulty, often up to 45% of these children might be experiencing a comorbid condition that is keeping them from learning at a normal pace.
This could result in a childhood depression that will eventually affect them as they grow into adulthood.
A learning disability does not necessarily mean an intelligence deficit, it can simply refer to a decreased ability in one or more areas of learning, including reading, writing, speaking and understanding.
Some common learning disabilities that coexist with ADHD include:
Dyslexia: difficulty reading words
Dysgraphia: difficulty writing
Dyscalculia: difficulty doing calculation
According to research, boys with ADHD have a higher chance of up to 65% of developing learning difficulty, while girls with ADHD have a 57% risk of having a learning disability.
This could also be related to autism spectrum disorder where people that are affected by it are having a hard time learning and focusing on a certain task.
Children with ADHD having comorbid disorders need a multidisciplinary approach from a psychiatrist and occupational therapist along with teachers who are trained to help them.
A doctor could help by giving the child ADHD medications that are aimed to minimize the symptoms of ADHD, while occupational therapy can help the child overcome his challenges by devising ways that he can learn despite having them.
It is often a bumpy road to good results, but it's always possible with the right amount of determination.
Conduct disorders and mood disorders constitute a major portion of ADHD comorbidities.
These are more common in adults with ADHD but can also present in children with the disorder.
Common symptoms of Mood-related or conduct disorders include: Low mood, Persistent fatigue, Loss of appetite despite being physically healthy, Lack of interest in activities, Anti-social behavior, Repetitive bursts of sudden anger or sadness, Meltdowns,Unexplained irritability, Irrational feelings of guilt,Sleep disturbances and an Increased sensitivity to certain sounds or light.
People with ADHD often present with a myriad of symptoms and no two individuals will necessarily have the same symptoms.
It’s important to recognize these signs and symptoms early on so they can be managed from the beginning.
Conduct or mood disorders that are more likely to present in childhood include,Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Depressive/Dysthymic Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
The most common of these happened to be ODD, with a prevalence of up to 41% in children with ADHD(10).
Mood disorders that are more common in adult ADHD include, Major depressive disorder, Bipolar disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Substance Abuse Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Psychiatric Disorders, Conduct Disorders, Anxiety disorder, Comorbid Disorders, and Panic Disorder.
The most common of these happen to be anxiety disorders, with up to 47.1% prevalence in adults with ADHD.
Among anxiety disorders, social phobia is the most with a prevalence of 29.3%.
Given the stats above, it's safe to say that people with ADHD are more likely to develop mood or conduct disorders than those without ADHD.
In light of this fact, doctors and caregivers should pay close attention to patients with diagnosed ADHD and offer routine analysis to rule out the presence of other psychiatric disorders.
It is also important that ADHD treatment should be monitored to avoid substance abuse by the affected person.

Slight vent////

As I said above, I don't know how I got so lucky. In what way might you ask? Well, to put it simply, my relationship.

My current relationship it's the longest I've been in. a year next month. And I don't know how they still want to be with me.

I have ADHD, Depression, Anxiety (social), Gender dysphoria, Pedophobia, Abandonment issues (Anxious attachment style), and trust issues which can make relationships hard for me. I get easily attached to people, with that lingering feeling that I'm going to be abandoned. Not very fun.

I've had people (mainly friends) just randomly stop talking to me with no reason. And I mean like, most of my friends ever.

My first relationship was pretty toxic, but I stayed with that person because I felt reliant on them. My next relationship went pretty well until they broke up with me and decided then that everything was wrong with me.

So going into this relationship was slightly scary for me. But I am very, very glad I did. I would not change a single thing about my partner. They love me, for me. We are both aromantic which is nice because I don't feel forced to be romantic. We are both Lgbtq in some way which is also very nice.

We are long distance, very long distance, but they still find time to talk to me. We talk almost 6 hours a day when I'm at school. I know them, they know me, and we respect each other. We understand each other's problems and whenever I need reassurance or validation (which I see myself needing a lot of) I know I can reach out to them.

I feel pretty emotionally neglected by my male guardian, which I hate to admit as he tries so hard to make sure I'm healthy, but is just not very good at helping with my emotional problems and always tries to change the subject or say "Well I know exactly how you feel because ....." and I hate saying this but that doesn't help me at all? Is that okay? Or am I asking for to much?

But I know I can turn to my partner for any emotional validation I need. I've never felt that way with someone.

#Depression #SocialAnxiety #SocialAnxietyDisorder #SocialPhobia #Pedophobia #ADHD #abandonmentissues #trustissues #neglect #MentalHealth #MightyTogether #GenderDysphoria

Hello everyone, I posted a question yesterday and it seemed to do pretty well so I decided to ask another.

This time I will be asking about books (Who doesn't love a good book every now and then?)

What's your favorite book/book series? (Again, don't feel pressured to answer)

I'll start

I am a huge fan of the series Warriors (Warrior cats) and Wings of Fire as I can relate to some of the characters and in my opinion the books are actually well written.

#MightyTogether #Depression #SocialAnxiety #SocialAnxietyDisorder #SocialPhobia #MentalHealth #ADHD #Pedophobia #Paranoia #trustissues

Vent////

So I sometimes take online "Do you have -" quizzes just for fun. I never take them seriously (I am not a self-diagnoser) and I recently took a "Do you have abandonment issues quiz" because I was bored. I got "You Most Likely Have Trust Issues."

I sat there for a couple seconds before I announced to myself, 'I have both.'

Which also led me to think 'Its not noticeable.'

If you were to ask one of my parents if I had trust issues or abandonment issues, they might say no. They blame my lack of communication with strangers on my Social Anxiety.

I've talked about this before I think, but I don't like to talk to people because I fear being abandoned. I currently only have 1 friend and a partner who I talk to as I'm to nervous to branch out. Because 1, I am afraid that I will be ghosted again like every other friend in the past 2, I don't trust many people and 3, i am just nervous about starting conversations.

But here's the truth. I mask most of my feelings around my parents. I only recently told them about my Paranoid thoughts. Are they taking it seriously? Oh of course not.

When my mom encourages me to make new friends I just tell her "I'm just to nervous." not about why or about that fact I don't want to deal with more pain that comes with being abandoned. I really can't. And I don't tell anyone because I don't want to seem like some selfish, self-centered trans kid who wants attention from everyone because I can't get my gender right.

I'm lost. I've been feeling less and less emotions lately. When I laugh, I don't understand why. It just seems like a thing I just do without thinking to cover up my pain. And then i find myself going on and on about my life like this and I start to feel bad. Like I'm just taking up space on the platform.

#abandonmentissues #SocialAnxiety #SocialAnxietyDisorder #SocialPhobia #trustissues #Depression #LGBTQ

Hello everyone I hope you all are at least doing okay today.

I, a lot of the times in person come off as rude, mean and un-understanding. Which sure I might be un-understanding sometimes, but I never try to be rude or mean.

I just have abandonment issues and really bad social phobia/Social anxiety. I am not good at holding conversations but also have trouble stopping them. I always try to reach out to people I have talked to before. Might be a simple "Hi" or "Hi how are you" but I am just afraid to losing them again. Losing friends again.

But the conversations are always awkward because I have no idea how to hold them. I don't want to push people away. I don't want to lose people. I don't want to be alone.

Anyone else understand this? Like I mean feel the same way? Any tips on controlling the fear?

Thank you for reading and if you comment for commenting.

#SocialAnxiety #SocialAnxietyDisorder #SocialPhobia #abandonmentissues #CheckInWithMe

My name is leena am from sudan and if you don't know sudan it's a country in east Africa and currently in wa*r i have been diagnosed with #Depression #Anxiety #SocialPhobia #PTSD recently because of the wa*r am safe now we had to leave Sudan it was a horrifying experience but i lost some people a dear friend of mine and i still can't see or hear her voice without my heart breaking

Please pray for me and pray for sudan