Free floating anxiety

[dyslimbic]

How do you cope with 'free floating' ie no discernible trigger anxiety? The kind that take you from ok to feeling mentally and physically drained in a few minutes
and when it's particularly bad has you heading for the bedroom to 'crash out' .

Also is there any connection between anxiety and the use of aspartame?

[tic chick]

i don't know if i ever have had free floating anxiety.

i have had anxiety that just pops up at times after particular thoughts enter my head. i could be having a great day, but if something pops into my head, i start feeling anxious right away.

maybe generalized anxiety is what i think you mean by free floating anxiety.

i had panic attacks starting at age 19 and remaining uncontrolled until i was about 30. this sets you up for chronic anxiety, because you don't know when the next panic attack will come and you dread how you will feel when it does come.

i know a lot of people try coping mechanisms or herbal supplements. my coping mechanism probably was eating or anything else that gave me pleasure.

when i started to try and get a handle on my tourette syndrome, i went to a neurologist who prescribed klonopin for me. it didn't help the ts much, but completely managed my panic attacks and the chronic anxiety that i had about them. i would hate to think of what the last 22 years would have been without that drug. it was bad enough the first 11.

i don't believe in taking drugs for pleasure, but if you cannot manage a normal, daily life, why not take them if they work and are available? there is no heroism in shunning drugs if they give you quality of life.

i think that would be the bottom line for me.

just a few thoughts...
jeannie