Hi Antia,

Thank you for clearing that up I understand what you mean now.

I had been receiving counselling (from school) for 4 years and last year I tried out therapy around January. It did not help much but I was not able to receive the treatment I needed because the price was too much and my therapist was also not a good fit for me. So I had to leave because I couldn’t afford it.

Ever since then, I’ve been trying to relieve my anxiety through self-help books and medication I received from my psychiatrist. But the medications were not helping at all, I’ve been on several (I started medication in August 2019) and none had a positive effect on me. So I recently ended my last medication (which was for anxiety) in May. I still experience withdrawal symptoms from this last medication that I ended despite it being 2 months. The withdrawals at the beginning gave me severe anxiety, but now it’s manageable. The reason I know I’m still experiencing symptoms from withdrawals is because I experience brain shivers (from the medication) and anxiety. The symptoms have gotten a lot better but I feel they aren’t fully gone yet. If you are wondering what the name of this medication is, it’s called Effexor (Venlafaxine) and it’s known for having very long and horrible withdrawal symptoms.

I’m just not sure what to do regarding my anxiety anymore. I do practice self-care when I experience anxious thoughts or anxiety attacks, but my anxiety seems to be there all the time, and I don’t experience bad anxiety attacks anymore unless something big triggers it. It’s really difficult to get treatment, I’d really like to try therapy but it’s so expensive. I’ve filled out forms for therapy that are low-cost or even free, but they never got back to me. Since then I’ve been trying to manage my anxiety on my own by reading self-help books but that’s all I can do for now.

I’m trying to fix my schedule and build a healthy routine by incorporating things that’ll bring me happiness. I enjoy yoga, eating healthy, reading, etc. So I’ve been trying to take things slowly so I can build this routine that’ll benefit me.