I am weaning off Cymbalta and am looking for ways to relieve anxiety naturally and well possibly drug-free. I need some solutions on what you guys do to relieve tension and anxiety. Anxiety, when I am alone, hits me like a freight train, so I need some suggestions. How do you deal?

Exercise is good. Endorphins are almost an instant hit to anxiety neurochemicals.

Hydrotherapy (hot/cold treatments) will also give you a jolt and clear your head.

I was also alone for most part because I had to have my parents help care for my child....This is coming from someone that was in obvious miss direction for a simple diagnosis in the beginning....I had to take a break from school, my own biz to reset my brain and let rest start healing process now moving into rehabilitation...... Cymbalta is not for anxiety it is an antidepressant and mood stabilizer which also suppose to help physical pain...It made me sick and added more depression and anxiety turned into panic with no warning. I stopped cold turkey after less then a week....So I was then back on the emotional up and down roller coaster until I got in with psychiatrist last week...I am now on Pristiq 50mg and valium....I had anxiety before this accident so I had to switch anxiety meds around because change in Central Nervous System.

To answer your question **focus on the positives reverse the negative thoughts as soon as that thought starts**....redirect yourself to another focus point of anything(Hot showers,folding clothes,coloring etc)Meditate,Focus on inner peace(you and moving forward)no one else can do this for us....they can only help.I know your first round of meds were bad but you will have troubles to do recovery without reversing you thoughts....sorry but it is reality...sucks very much but life is a great thing and the person you will become after this life changing time will make you a better person(Not saying you were a bad person)You need to be patient with your self(I know very frustrating)but GREAT benefits!This is all going to come together when you accept the changes(inner peace)Know that you are not alone....we all knowing our condition is actually a blessing(might not seem like it)Trust me from afar it is!!!I hope you take this in a helpful way and understand this in a positive way.

Here is what I have picked up from MD's that had went a long way with me...
I have noticed that these MD's that just got on my team give words of encouragement examples:"Do not look back"(psychiatrist)"Do not over do it"(physiatrist)"You have to do this, we can help"(Neurologist).....These short self-hypnosis involving autosuggestion really work for me

It depends on the specific nature of your anxiety. Different forms of treatment work well for different conditions. The first step is to get a clear understanding of the specific type of anxiety you are dealing with. Is it panic? Phobias? Generalized anxiety? OCD? These all require slightly different approaches.

This page will give you good basic descriptions of the various types of anxiety disorders:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topic...rs/index.shtml

This book is a good place to start for getting a general overview of anxiety:

http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Fear-C...cing+with+fear

One rule of thumb for any type of anxiety is to go toward what you fear rather than avoiding it. The more you avoid a feared situation, the more you will feed your anxiety. By contrast, by facing your fears, you habituate to them, just as wild animals habituate to humans when they're always around them (like in the national parks). This strategy works best for phobias, panic disorder, and some types of OCD. The form of treatment that uses this approach is called Exposure-Response Prevention (ERP).

Meditation and deep breathing are good practices to develop, though I think it is unlikely that you can fully manage anxiety with meditation--unless you're very good at it.

Most forms of anxiety treatment also use some element of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which consists of identifying "thinking errors" that feed into your anxiety (such as overestimation of risk, black-and-white thinking, hyperresponsibility, etc.). Therapists will often combine CBT and ERP in treating anxiety.

In brief, my big three are:

Mindfulness meditation and mindfulness practice. By practice I refer to day to day (or minute to minute) where I introspectively acknowledge feelings of anxiety in a non-judgmental fashion.

Yoga. I'm just a beginner but find it helpful.

Massage therapy. I go at least once a month.

Hi Consider;

Im going to sound lame but I talk to myself to calm down. I know food with Ltriptophane --eating turkey,peanuts or pumpkin seeds. I know I get anxiety mainly from pain--I recently bought magnesium which I think is really helping. I take it after dinner. I think previous posts are more insightful then mine but thought I throw in my 2 cents for what its worth. Im sorry your suffering and I hope you find something that works to help!!

Light~
Yoga and massage is good but not with a neck injury from what I been told...I have C1-C5 bulging and cannot do anything that is working neck.I thought I had read before that Consider had got shots in neck from bulging?I don't know if I am correct...If not disregard

I got shots in the neck for my neuralgia, it really made a difference with the headaches!

I had also got the cortisone shot yesterday for bulging disk in C1-C5

Good point on the yoga. On massage therapy, a good (licensed) massage therapist can evaluate neck issues and either avoid that area or adjust therapy as needed. That said I'd check with the MD or PT you may be working with to get their recommendation.