I wish you would have posted your concerns before you started weaning off your meds so you could have been learning the tools in cbt before you started getting your anxiety back I was on meds for many years before I found cbt and it cured me and got me off meds in a remarkably short period of time. Best of all once you learn the tools in cbt you have them forever so you are able to give yourself relief almost instantly whenever you are feeling stressed, anxious or down. It's all about using the tools to learn to think more clearly and accurately about things and once you do your anxiety, panic and depression will miraculously begin to lift before your eyes. My favorite starter book on cbt is "been there, done that? Do this! By sam obitz like anything in life the more you put in the more you get out of cbt. Hopefully this is helpful to you. Most cbt programs last 12-weeks and have an 80-90% success rate but you begin feeling relief before the 12-weeks are up.

Take care and congratulations on the pregnancy.


Q

p.S. Learning to use cbt to control your anxiety is a great welcoming present for your baby as well :d

This message is for qt3--you went for cbt therapy? Can u please explain what that is? I made a post about being pregnant and being anxious and so far no one has answered...I'm hoping that maybe u can help me ...
Good luck to jamielynn---i have been there. I hope u read this qt3..

hi brenna and welcome to the boards :d

since I have never been pregnant I am not much help there specifically, but most anxiety comes from our thoughts regardless of the situation it first appears in so hopefully this will be relevant for you.

Cbt is fairly straight forward and is based on identifying the thinking errors you are making that are causing your problems and then giving you the tools to counter those thoughts and replace them with more accurate and less upsetting thoughts. My favorite tool is the tea form which you use to help catch your negative thoughts and refute them. Many of these thoughts are automatic and we are not even aware we are having them! I also like the counter exercise which teaches us to focus on what we are accomplishing rather than what we have not done. My favorite starter book on cbt is "been there, done that? Do this! By sam obitz. Many universities offer cbt programs for little or no charge so you may want to call the university in your area if you're interested.

The beauty of cbt in my opinion is that how much success you experience with it is up to you! The more effort you put into using the tools the more relief you will achieve. It's pretty hard at first but gets easier and easier to do as you begin to get more comfortable using the tools. I still spend about ten minutes using the tea form several times a week and whenever I am under a lot of stress. If you are self motivated you can cure yourself by using the tools without the help of a therapist, but they can be helpful to get you going on the tools. I spent tens of thousands of dollars on therapists and meds before I discovered cbt. I was told I would have to be on meds the rest of my life too. But I feel better everyday and have not looked back. I often have to pinch myself when situations that used to throw me completely out of whack do not even phase me now.

Hope this answers your question, but if not feel free to ask me more

q

Qt3...Yes this is exactly what I am looking for...I have been aware for some time now that one's thoughts can have an impact on his/her life. I have been closely monitoring my thoughts..E.G..."why is it that I am afraid to get pregnant again and am afraid of the ob/gyn office??" I have come up with several thought patterns that may have caused some of my problems, but I don't know how to combat them except to say that they are not true. Please tell me what cbt stands for so when I call my local university I know what to ask for?? Thank you so much for the information!! :d I want to change my life and not be stuck in this situation anymore! I have the rest of my life to live and I want to live it calmly and not in this panic state anymore!

hi brenna-
you're welcome from the sounds of your note I think cbt will work well for you if you apply yourself to using the tools :d cbt= cognitive behavioral therapy. I still use my favorite exercise/tool the tea form several times a week and life is getting better and better and the small investment in time on myself has paid huge dividends for me in my life and I hope the same will be true for you. The amount of success you have is really up to you and how much you practice the tools :d I know several people that have turned their lives around just using the obitz and burns books.
Take care and let me know if you have any more quiestions.

Q

I had a very very strict high risk obgyn and she approved zoloft while I was pregnant. I only took it until I was 6 months pregnant and then I weaned myself off. I would not recomend doing that to anyone else. I wish I didn't do that. But zoloft, at least what they say, is safe while you are pregnant.
You need to be healthy for you and your baby and your baby can feel your stress. If your doctor is against it maybe check in to another doctor and get another opinion.
It's up to you and how you are comfortable.
My daughter is a healthy 9 month old now and I was on zoloft for the first 6 months of my pregnancy with her.

Hi, I am 23 with severe anxiety for a long time I was on zoloft for a year then got off when I got pregnant with my first child, now 2. I did find with that pregnancy. I am now 37 weeks pregnant and this pregnancy is opposite. I had severe anxiety the whole 9 months. I just thought I can get throught this thought about the baby. I got through it with no meds. I know it is hard beleive me. But meds are not safe why take the risk for your baby. You can get throught it if I did I am as anxious as they come. Good luck. You know what helps me thinking of people who really have life threatning dieses they have to live with and i,m like im blessed to be healthy. Ecspecially after my 40 year old aunt had 6 aunurysumns she almost died but she made it but doctor cant do anything else she still has one big one in her head. Doc said shes a time bomb that could die any time imaging living like that.