And the Winner Is...

And the winner of the first Reality of Anxiety Giveaway is...

Beth, A.K.A messymama!

Random Entry Selected: 1
Odds of Winning: 3 in 11
Entry Data: 3, messymama


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Congratulations to Beth for winning the giveaway! A free copy of The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook is on its way to her doorstep. I've asked her to answer a few questions so we could get to know her a little better.


How old are you?
 
I'm 29.

How long have you struggled with anxiety?

I have struggled with anxiety for the last seven years, since my daughter was six months old; but even as a child I was really high strung and scared a lot of the time.  I thought it was normal.


What are your triggers?
 
My triggers are varied - anything related to dying or health (the Swine Flu has been a big problem lately); any time I have to be alone for longer than a few minutes; thoughts of taking/needing medicine; having to sit still or be in crowds; heavy storms and lightening.  Those are the main ones.

What is your biggest help in managing your anxiety?

I see a therapist once a week and that has helped tremendously to manage my anxiety.  Also, researching it, finding out I am not alone in some of my more strange fears, and becoming educated on anything to do panic attacks has really helped me.  The things that help me manage it daily are praying, talking things over with my husband, your 10 steps, and pushing myself to do something - exposure therapy of some kind, even sitting in my room - for at least fifteen minutes.  My motto is "I can do ANYTHING for fifteen minutes" and it really works.  Learning to not let the anxiety take me surprise has really helped my life calm down.  I look for it, I even wait for it, so that I can be ready for it.  Oh, and one more - I have a handheld Tetris game that goes wherever I go.  I use it in long lines, before bed, whenever I am needing a mental vacation.  Just knowing it's there has been a tremendous help.

If you could say one encouraging thing to someone who is having a hard time with their anxiety, what would it be?

"You are NOT alone - you're not alone in your symptoms, in your struggles or in your fears. You are not a monster, you are not a freak, you're not someone who deserves to be unhappy.  You are creative, with a powerful imagination, and you are sensitive, which means you are the best friend, the best lover, the best mom or dad, the best daughter, the best wife or husband - you are a powerful person and you can live life to the fullest."  That's the message I think every one who struggles with this needs to hear to be encouraged. 

Thanks to everyone that entered. If you didn't win, don't worry, there will be more giveaways to come. Stay tuned to join the monthly challenge this Thursday!

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Comfortable in My Own Skin

Well I went to the wedding today that I have been stressing over ever since I got the invite. At first I didn't know if I would even go but after all of you commented about how I should go, I knew I had to. I didn't want to let all of you down. I was really really scared and I knew it would be hard but I also knew I would regret it if I didn't go. While I was getting ready I was listening to a song, "Addicted" by Kelly Clarkson. In the song she says "I know I let you have all the power" and that really hit me. I thought, for all the worrying and thought that I am putting into what could happen, I am really giving up my power and giving it to everyone I am worrying about.

I also thought about the quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."


So I went with that in mind along with a few reassuring positive statements to help me feel a little more confident.

Another thing- when I am nervous about some event, I always want to buy a new outfit to wear to it because wearing something new just makes me feel more confident for some reason. I think its a girl thing. So I was really wanting a killer outfit. But honestly, I knew it wasn't a good time for such a splurge and so I decided instead I would try really hard to be comfortable in my own skin. This meant wearing something I already had in my closet. That doesn't mean that I didn't spend all morning curling my hair and getting ready :)

When I got there I was immediately greeted by the groom's sister who is a dear friend of mine from high school as well. It was soooo good to see her! She and her parents were genuinely thrilled to see me too! It was very sweet. I saw and reconnected with a handful of people that really meant a lot to me growing up.


The ex boyfriend that I was sure would be there and I had spent so much time worrying over the inevitable confrontation...wasn't even there. The only one there from his family was a little brother (whom I have always felt hated me) and his new wife (I wasn't invited to that wedding go figure). It was awkward at first and I said hello and just ignored them the rest of the time. I was decorating the groom's car when this little brother and his wife came out to talk with me and catch up. And even though it was awkward when I first saw him and my thoughts were racing about him judging me, at this moment, I didn't care at all. We caught up and I felt genuinely happy to be me, happy to be where I was, and not caring a bit what he thought about it.


I left feeling very proud of myself and happy that I didn't give in to the fear because the rewards of those I got to see and hug and smile with really made it all worth it. So thank you for motivating me to go!

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Last Chance to Enter Giveaway!

For all of you procrastinators out there- today is the final day of the Reality of Anxiety's first giveaway so get to it! Entering is easy and if you win (winners will be randomly selected by a 3rd party drawing service) you will recieve a free copy of The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne. As I have said in the past, this book has been the greatest help to me personally in learning to manage my anxiety. The tools found in its pages can bring you so much clarity and peace. I highly recommend it for anyone suffering from any kind of anxiety or fears.

So how do you enter? You can do any of the following (each one you do will be a separate entry so you can enter up to three times):

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Subscribe to the Reality of Anxiety blog via rss or email (email me to let me know if you do this, or if you are already subscribed)
2. Leave a (only one per person) comment at the end of this post telling me what the biggest help has been to managing your anxiety or something related to anxiety that you would like to see a future post about.
   
3. Create a post on your blog with a link back to The Reality of Anxiety 

ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY 11:59:59 PM (MST) ON Sept 25, 2009.

SELECTION OF WINNERS:
One Grand Prize winner will be selected from all eligible entries. To be eligible to win, comments must be relevant, appropriate, and substantive relative to the blog topic at hand. The winner will be notified by email and also featured on the blog.

ELIGIBILITY: Giveaway open to individual legal residents of the 50 United States. This Giveaway is void outside the United States.



Can't wait to hear from you!

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Announcing Monthly Challenges

This has been such an inspiring month for me. Not only did I launch the blog's first giveaway and started our group forum, but I came up with another idea that I am so excited about and I can't wait to start. 

I was talking with a reader who mentioned that she couldn't find the motivation to work on her anxiety on her good days, but then on her bad days she couldn't focus enough to go through a workbook and hammer out the details. 

I can totally relate with this because on the good days, you just want to enjoy them and not think about the anxiety. However, just because I am having a good day, week, month, or even year, that doesn't mean that you are too. And I want to be helping even if I don't have a personal experience from the day to share. I want the blog to be more interactive, more than just a place to come and read about me. I want to work together to help each other grow stronger. I figure its like exercising- you are always more motivated to do it when you have someone to do it with!

So I came up with a plan of doing a monthly challenge. This would be a topic, learning concept, or exercise that we could all focus on for the month to become better educated and prepared for when those bad days come. We can start with the basics and work our way up from there. I know that everyone is in a different place on their road to recovery, but it doesn't hurt to start over and re-evaluate ourselves and really spend time on the process of healing.

I plan to have down-loadable worksheets and other help aids that I find.

We can talk about our experiences from the monthly challenge on the group forum, sharing what we did that worked, or what didn't work, what "ah hah!" moments we have about ourselves and what we are struggling to understand.

Each month I will feature readers on the blog who are participating in the challenge. The list goes on. Who knows, maybe there will even be some giveaways based on participation.

Remember, if you don't have your health, you don't have anything! So even if you are super busy, I think it'll be a really great investment of your time.

Stay tuned because the first month's challenge will begin on October 1st, a week from today. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Is this something you would be interested in doing?

Don't forget to enter the giveaway- it ends tomorrow!

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"Why do you look for the living among the dead?"

The following post comes from my friend Bill from Hope and Healing Dynamics. Being on his own journey, seeking peace of mind, he has much to offer and I so love what he has to say. You can see he has a button on the right sidebar  (Freedom! From Panic and Anxiety) that will take you directly to his site if you come back later and can't find this post. Thanks so much Bill for sharing your "ah hah!" moment with us.

In the midst of desperation, have you ever exclaimed either of these to yourself or someone else?

“I just want to be the way I used to be!”

“I want to be my old self again!”

I know I sure have. And they’re probably the most common verbal expressions of pain and frustration I hear from anxiety and mood disordered clients. Actually, the whole concept makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? I mean, who wouldn’t want to return to a time of identity and comfort when all is unhinged, barren, and cold. Well, some six years ago something occurred quite unexpectedly that awakened me from futile dreams of the past.   

I had been in the throws of anxiety, depression, and desperation subsequent to some very distressing family situations six months prior. And instead of working toward a valid peace grounded in the present, I became obsessed with rekindling an internal fire that had been fueled by wishes and myths. Yes, I was grasping at what I believed to be the most accessible measure of familiarity and stability. And it made perfect sense to adopt the watchword, “I just want to be the way I used to be.” But, out of nowhere, something occurred that would forever change my perspective.

Okay, so there I was, one taut mass of mind and flesh pacing around my apartment on a steamy summer afternoon. And in the midst of all the agitation a quotation from, of all things, the Bible pervaded my being. Now, I was raised in a Christian home; however, I was not a Christian at the time, nor am I now. Nonetheless, a scene from The Book of Luke, Chapter 24 became a part of me. You may know the story. It seems Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and a woman named Joanna went to Jesus’ tomb with spices for his body. Well, when they got there the stone at the entrance to the tomb had been rolled away and the body was gone. Needless to say, they were puzzled and frightened. And as they pondered what they’d seen, two men appeared to them, posing this amazing question…

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

Bam! The power of the query struck me like a bolt of lightening right between the eyes. And I immediately turned inward, asking, “Bill, just why are you looking for the living among the dead?” The truth of the matter was, what I’d been looking for no longer existed; and hadn’t for decades, if ever. So, with the introduction of that huge dose of reality, why would I choose to waste my time desperately pleading for history? Wow, the inquiry was that powerful!

If you can relate to any portion of my quest for comfort, I’m going to suggest that you ask yourself what I now call “the question of the angels” the next time you’re in the abyss of struggle and desperation. I mean, don’t you think it has the power to trump our natural inclination to rummage through a million yesterdays in the quest for relief in the immediate? Now, don’t misunderstand; the past is significant, forming so much of who we are today. However, it’s only relevant within the context of how we became who we are, a reference for decision-making, and the sweetness of reminiscence. Yes, there’s just no way we’ll ever live and grow, today, if we’re planted in depleted soil.

Does any of this make sense to you? Well, don’t short-circuit your mind just now, trying to make perfect sense of it. Just swirl it around for the next day or so and see what comes together. However, in the end, I believe adopting this personal philosophy will open so many doors for you.

Please, ask yourself…

“Why am I looking for the living among the dead?”

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15 Tips for Eating When Nauseous

Over at the group forum I found out that having issues with eating while feeling anxious is more common than  I originally thought. If one of your symptoms from anxiety is feeling nauseous, than naturally food does not sound appealing. However, if you are having a hard time where your anxiety is extremely high on a daily basis, you could be worried about the effects of what not eating can do to you.


I face this issue constantly. At first it made me feel really guilty because I figured I was doing more harm to myself. But over time I have learned to listen to my body and follow its lead. For example, I have said this before and I'll say it again. Unless you have an eating disorder like Anorexia, your body won't let you starve. It is always looking out for its self preservation which is why you have the anxiety to begin with- your body senses a danger of some kind. (I am no doctor, so if you do starve, please don't haunt me).


I learned this lesson in a different way when I was pregnant. All my life I have tried to gain weight unsuccessfully. When I found out I was pregnant I was really worried I wouldn't be able to gain enough weight. However my body knew what needed to be done and I was able to gain 30 pounds. This let me know that when I am not pregnant, my body is doing what it needs to, and if gaining weight isn't one of them, than maybe I should accept my normal as ok.


So anyway, onto what I want to share. When your feeling sick but feel like you need to eat something, here are some helpful tips:

The first tip is one I've figured out on my own.

1. I like to sip on Ensures when I am really anxious and nauseous because for some reason its easier to drink than eat. Ensures are considered meal replacements and are full of good stuff for your body. I personally like the chocolate flavored ones.

These next tips are for nausea in general. Found from thebody.com. "If nausea tends to occur at breakfast, try to take it easy in the morning and have already prepared foods on hand for when you're hungry. Try breakfast bars, dry toast or re-heat oatmeal that you prepared the night before. Consider not cooking breakfast as seeing and smelling food in the morning can trigger nausea.Consider the following tips to help manage nausea. These suggestions have worked for others."

2. Leave dry crackers by your bed. Before getting out of bed in the morning, eat a few and sit in bed for a few minutes.
3. Sip cool, not cold, carbonated drinks, like ginger ale, 7-Up, Sprite or cola. (make sure its caffeine free as that can aggravate anxiety)
4. Try some peppermint, chamomile or ginger tea -- they may calm the stomach.
5. Avoid hot, spicy, strong-smelling and greasy foods that might upset your stomach.
6. Eat foods at room temperature or cooler; hot foods may add to nausea.
7. Try using capsules of ginger root powder, available at health food stores. Ginger may reduce symptoms associated with motion sickness, like dizziness, nausea and vomiting.
8. Fresh ginger, lightly cooked or juiced with fruits or vegetables like carrots or apples, is great to add to the diet, and may be as effective as dried ginger.
9. Try the BRAT Diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast).
10. Prevent dehydration during bouts of nausea by drinking small amounts of clear and cool beverages every fifteen minutes or so. Then gradually work your way back up to normal eating by taking small sips of water every several minutes. Increase the intake until you can tolerate a small meal.
11. If you vomit, replace fluids with broth, carbonated beverages, juice, Jell-O or Popsicles.

This next tip comes from following my sister's advice of making every bite count. I wanted to make sure that when I could eat, it was something that would give me energy and nutrition so I could keep up with my child. So I did some research to see what foods could help the most. I found this:

12. "To get an energy boost, eat a snack with 200 to 2,000 mg of tyrosine, like 8 ounces of plain low-fat yogurt (656 mg); 1/3 cup of dried soy nuts (850 mg), or 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese melted on bread (1,314 mg)." For more info on tyrosine read the entire article here.

I found the following information in this article helpful as well:

13. Eat slowly: Rather than chowing down on foods, take nice and small bites so that you don't build up more nausea. Eat more frequently throughout the day if you have to, but be sure to not eat such heavy meals for your body may have a hard time digesting it.

14. Resting with your head elevated: If you're lying in bed, be sure to keep your head elevated simply by placing two pillows on top of one another. If you don't want to be lying down, simply sitting up, rather than leaning will also do the trick.

15. Avoid brushing your teeth: It's not such a good idea to brush your teeth when you're feeling nauseous because having your mouth open for a while can really start to upset your system again. It's safe to brush your teeth when your nausea has greatly decreased.

Hope these are useful. Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway!

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Is it possible to LOVE your Anxiety?

So much of our time is spent running from our anxiety. Doing anything to avoid it. And when it appears, fighting it and trying to ignore it. We all hate our anxiety. We talk about it all the time, about what a burden it is to us and our families. About how we just want to be normal and rid of this horrible plague in our lives.

But what if we tried to love it instead?

I came across this blog post from a fellow blogger named Anxiety Girl that really takes this and turns it upside down. Its about learning to love our anxiety and look for ways to bring it into our lives instead of avoiding it. It makes sense because we do need to face our fears and the more we do, the less the anxiety will become. So I wanted to share with you her post because I think its so awesome! Thanks Anxiety Girl for sharing this wonderful insight!

What are you willing to risk?

"So, I've been talking about this weekend treatment group I attended in November with Reid Wilson – a world renowned psychologist who specializes in treating anxiety disorders. Something he asked right from the beginning was, what have you avoided or given up as a result of your anxiety? And, now, what are you willing to risk to gain those things back?

So much of the work is a change of attitude and asking the question every time anxiety arises – what am I willing to risk? If I’m feeling anxious one day & someone asks to meet for coffee – am I willing to risk that I might feel anxious & that they might notice? Because, choosing NOT to go because of something that MIGHT happen will only strengthen the anxiety. Choosing to have someone else join us or having an out is still avoidance and strengthens the anxiety as well.

The second piece of that attitude shift is learning to love my anxiety – to get excited that I’ll have another opportunity to practice with feelings of anxiety and doubt/uncertainty. That’s a hard attitude shift, but the only way to win. As Dr.Wilson said, we’ve been worshipping at the altar of anxiety for far too long – We bow down and plead – “Please anxiety, I’ll do anything – just please don’t make me feel edgy & out of control – I can’t bear it”. The shift also encompasses changing your relationship with anxiety. When you begin feeling nervous – perhaps the adrenaline is flowing through your chest, your heart is pounding and you’re telling yourself that bad things are about to happen - you can talk to your anxiety & ask it to make the symptoms stronger. If you’re going to feel symptoms anyways, why not surprise the bully and invite anxiety to take it’s coat off and stay a while.

Something I loved about the weekend was Reid’s “Anxiety Disorders Game” that we played during lunch and night time breaks. We all got score cards and were able to earn points by doing some of the following:

*Deciding what anxiety provoking event we would enter and following through.
*Truly wanting anxiety to show up and asking for more when it did (with an understanding of why we were practicing this way).
*Extra points could be scored for every minute you asked for more anxiety and you got your wish.

A fly on the wall might have overheard people planning their practices like this:

“Well, I think I’m gonna go to lunch, keep changing my order & maybe spill my drink on purpose. I hate drawing attention to myself, so that should make me really uncomfortable. Afterwards, I’ll probably ride in the big elevator and try to make myself hyperventilate.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna go driving around the city, try to get lost & then find my way back. That should get me good & panicky. You do have your cell phone on, right?”

“I’m going to ride in the back of someone’s car with the windows up, heat on & the music blaring. I think that will trigger my claustrophobia and earn me some bonus points.”

On Sunday, during our lunch practice, I drove myself on the downtown expressway for a meal at Elmo’s Diner (delicious!). Reid reminded me that once I got to my destination, and knew where I was, I would probably feel comfortable. Since the weekend was about working with anxiety, discomfort and doubt, he encouraged me to try & think of ways I could make myself more uncomfortable. I was also looking for ways to score more points in the game.

So, as I sat down at the counter, ordered and found myself happy and making small talk with local folks, I remembered what Reid had said. Then something came to mind. Part of my anxiety is feeling embarrassed about it. Oh shit, I thought, as I pulled out my “Self Help for People with Panic Attacks” book and read it at the counter while eating my lunch. As I read, I made sure that the cover was very visible to all those sitting at the counter and to those waiting in line. I thought about how I had encouraged a person with social anxiety to skip through the mall as a practice and how this was just as hard for me.

I put the book down at one point, asked the couple sitting next to me at the counter for advice on the menu. Scoring a few more points, I thanked them and decided to order something else, letting go of the thought that they might be thinking, “Why did she bother asking?”

Coming back from lunch, I put my points on the board, grabbed a prize out of the basket (scotch tape!) and settled in to talk about my experience and learn from the experiences of others. The signs posted around the room reminded me that these were my road maps for the anxiety journey ahead.

I want this anxiety.
I want this doubt and uncertainty.
I can handle this.


What's holding you back? What are you willing to risk in your day to day life? And, what are your road maps?"

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Anticaptory Anxiety coming right up!

When I was in high school, I was madly in love with this boy. I would do anything for him. We dated on and off for about 4 years. Problem was, I never felt good enough for him no matter how hard I tried. For example, I dressed a certain way that wasn't really me because that's what he liked. I never felt like his family accepted me either. But I was pretty obsessed with him. My whole world revolved around him. When he broke up with me my junior year, I was devastated. I had never felt so rejected in my whole life. It hit me pretty hard. One time he hooked up with my best friend. That also was devastating to me because they were the only two people in my world. I was able to forgive him because he had such a hold on me but I never spoke to my friend again. That was so sad to loose that relationship. Ever since I have had a really hard time making friends with women. He and I eventually got back together for about a year until he went on a mission for our church and I started dating my husband who made me realize that I was good enough just the way that I am. We are equals, and that is such a liberating feeling. I am no longer constantly trying to gain acceptance.

Man just typing this post out is making me feel anxious.

Anyway, about 5 years ago we were visiting my parents for the holidays and I saw this same guy from high school at church where he met my husband. I knew he would be there and the whole day I was just sick about it. I didn't want to see him. It was so horrible that I spent half of the church service in the bathroom expecting to throw up.

Now, 5 years later, I have a wedding to go to next weekend. The wedding is for an old mutual friend of ours from those high school years. I don't know for sure if he will be there, but there is a really good chance that he and his new wife, and his entire family will be. I really want to go to support my friend and his family because they are very dear to me, but I am freaking out about seeing him there. It just brings back all those horrible feelings of rejection and I am pretty sure they hate me since I broke up with him to date my husband. I already RSVP'd that I would go. But I am not looking forward to it and I feel like I need to buy a new outfit and get all gussied up to look my best and thats annoying too. Although I wouldn't mind a new outfit :) Just looking at the wedding announcement brings on the butterflies.

I know the day of is going to be really stressful and my anxiety will be bad. So, does anyone have any tips for me? To go or not to go, that is the question...

Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway!

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Some Link Clarification

I apologize to all my feed readers who tried to use the links that I had put in to see the new forum that aren't working. This is my first time administrating such an application and its hard to know what you are seeing vs. what I am seeing. I have had two readers tell me different links are or are not working. So I think I have fixed them on the website, but in order to use them you would have to visit the website. So I will include the link here for you in case you are having problems from your feed reader as well. 

 

Here is the link that should work:

http://pub42.bravenet.com/forum/3544681799/

If this doesn't work for some reason, let me know. The wrinkles will get worked out soon, and thanks for your patience!

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Upgraded the Forum

I couldn't take the ads, they were driving me crazy. So I upgraded the forum. I organized it so it is much better, more user friendly I hope. 

I added categories to separate areas for general discussion, news, medication, and the blog. More to come.

All you have to do is go to the forum, click on the forum title you would like to post under, and either start a new post, or click on a reply button from a current post. If you have any questions on how to use the forum, let me know.

Take a second look, (or maybe your first) I think you'll agree its pretty sweet! I have really enjoyed hearing from those who have already posted. I think its so important to come together and help each other.

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Check Out the New Discussion Forum

I've been wanting a way to have some sort of discussion section of the blog so that we can come together as a community and talk with each other about what works for us, or just to sympathize with each other, or talk about whatever we want. For awhile I was thinking of doing a Facebook Fan Page but I was hesitant because a lot of people would rather be anonymous as opposed to having their friends and family able to view their anxiety posts. So I found a forum that we can use. I've started a couple posts for people to introduce themselves and talk about what your triggers are, but feel free to start your own post topic. Right now its a free program so its ad supported and the categories are limited. But if this is something that takes off and you are interested in it, I will upgrade to a better non ad version. 

So what do you think? You can click here to go to the forum, or there is also a button at the top of the home page that will direct you there.

And if you haven't already, don't forget to enter the giveaway!!!

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Introducing My First Giveaway!!!!

 

I have some exciting news. I am announcing my very first giveaway on the Reality of Anxiety! This is the first of hopefully many giveaways to come.

I am really excited to announce that one lucky reader can win a free copy of the book The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne. As I have said in the past, this book has been the greatest help to me personally in learning to manage my anxiety. The tools found in its pages can bring you so much clarity and peace. I highly recommend it for anyone suffering from any kind of anxiety or fears.

So how do you enter?

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Subscribe to the Reality of Anxiety blog via rss or email (email me to let me know if you do this, or if you are already subscribed)
2. Leave a (only one per person) comment at the end of this post telling me what the biggest help has been to managing your anxiety or something related to anxiety that you would like to see a future post about.
   
3. Create a post on your blog with a link back to The Reality of Anxiety 

ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY 11:59:59 PM (MST) ON Sept 25, 2009.

SELECTION OF WINNERS:
One Grand Prize winner will be selected from all eligible entries. To be eligible to win, comments must be relevant, appropriate, and substantive relative to the blog topic at hand. The winner will be notified by email and also featured on the blog.

ELIGIBILITY: Giveaway open to individual legal residents of the 50 United States. This Giveaway is void outside the United States.

If you have any questions feel free to email me. I can't wait to hear your entry ideas!

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Health Care Debate

Did anyone watch the President's address to Congress last night about the Health Care Plan he has come up with? I thought it was extremely interesting.

One of the reasons I still have to work is because my husband's job doesn't offer insurance for their employees, but mine does. When we made the switch to using my company's insurance, I was really interested in getting the short term disability coverage until I saw a warning that said it didn't cover anxiety disorders. When I had my last week long anxiety battle, I had to take the whole week off sick because I could hardly function. So I was really disappointed that anxiety wasn't covered in the short term disability insurance plan. So I didn't get it. Luckily my company has offered unlimited sick time so I will just stick with that. But I think its rare for companies to offer that now a days.

While we were switching the insurance over, my anxiety meds cost me 40 bucks a month without my insurance. With it, its only 10 dollars a month. (just for the Zoloft). I can't imagine someone that doesn't have health insurance and living with anxiety (which I am sure there are many many people out there in this situation) getting by. I'm sure they suffer more than anyone because they can't afford treatment, whether it be doctor visits, therapy, medication, whatever. 

So I am excited for the idea of changing how the system works. I know there are many pros and cons and the debate could go on forever and people feel very passionate about this subject. But I am just glad its changing because I don't think it can get much worse than it currently is.

What are your thoughts on the health care system as it is and how has it affected your treatment? What do you hope to see change?

 Aimee

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