I am drug free and will stay drug free forever!

Just 3 years earlier, I was a Personal Trainer, had a zest for life, was energetic , an optimist and I was a VERY strong Born again Christian BUT I was going through a stressful time that could have been handled with some Therapy, and diet changes. How did I get here?

One day I went to my local Urgent Care and requested something for my mild Stress and Anxiety. Looking back, the anxiety was actually pretty minor but I simply did not know what it was and began to panic and thought something was REALLY wrong with me. The Dr. told me that Lexapro was a very good drug for anxiety and I should have very little side effects. The first night I took the medication I had a complete panic attack, couldn't sleep, woke up in a cold sweat and had extreme stomach issues. The Dr. told me this was normal and it would take 6 weeks to take affect and these side effects would subside. 6 weeks had passed and now I was having more symptoms such as hair loss, severe stomach problems, apathy, didn't care about anything and actually felt worse than my original symptoms. My dad then passed away and I thought I couldn't live without the meds especially since every time I tried to wean off, I felt worse than my original symptoms.

I would then over the next 3 years try to wean myself off slowly and would come off just fine and 4 weeks later I would crash into a tailspin like I had never felt before, I would have very dark thoughts. I was then self-diagnosing myself with Bi-polar Disorder, Clinical Depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Little did I now that these similar symptoms of all the above disorders were only side-effects from the withdrawal that I was constantly in for 3 years. I would search the internet for answers and the answers I did find were very grim. Most people out there were struggling to come off these meds and not very many were successful and I began to lose hope. I had started to drain myself financially as I hopped from Psychiatrist to Holistic Dr., to Liver Cleanses to Therapists, etc. I had kept switching my meds from Lexapro to Zoloft to Wellbutrin and kept adjusting my meds up and down, and always felt worse than before.

I knew SOMETHING had to change. If I wasn't going to do it for myself, I had to do it for my kids. After a half a bottle of wine in the middle of the day, I surfed the internet and found POR. Alesandra called me shortly after and finally SOMEONE who knew exactly what I was going through and she assured me that it was the meds and withdrawal making me feel crazy and it was NOT me and I was NOT mentally ill! I had told her how many times I tried to come off the Lexapro beast but would reinstate the medication and I had told her that I lived on Diet Coke and frozen Weight Watchers meals and we pinpointed that as part of my problem! I began the nutrients the next day and held out hope. 

After all, I had failed 3 times in the past to stay off the meds so every time I went on the Message Boards, an Alumni would assure me that this time it would be different because I was feeding my body what it needed and tapering properly this time! It is now 3 months later and I am drug free and will stay drug free forever!

Thank you Alesandra, Terry, Andrea, Rachel and Wendy! What you do is NOT in vain!! Thank you for helping me get my life back and thank you to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!