A Bit of a Mess

Oh man. Today my family went to a “fun” event called Dogtober Fest. First I'll tell you about it from the perspective of the organizers-  it was a super fun event where dogs could meet new dog friends and browse dog vendors. Now, I’ll describe it from my perspective- my family took me out of the house (scary), forced me to walk near a lot of other dogs (super scary), and deal with loud noises of food trucks (terrifying). Let’s just say it didn’t go to well.

My brother was slightly hyper and out of control, which is quite normal. But me, oh dear. I panicked. I was kinda okay until we walked near a food truck that was making an absolutely terrifying noise, my body went into fight or flight, and I lost it. I was in a tight harness but panicked so bad I almost fought out of it to run away. Mom had to stop, kneel down, and literally hold me in a tight hug for minutes to calm me down. It was quite bad.

I don’t understand what happens to my brain. It goes haywire. I can’t think logically. All I know is that I need to get out the situation as fast as possible. Do I really want to run away from my family? No. But, when my brain freaks out it convinces me I do!  I used to live in a pretty big city, so I had more practice going on walks and being around lots of people. I still freaked out, but kinda got more used to noises. Now, however, I live in the country and only see a squirrel or two each day. It's pretty peaceful so my tolerance for noise and business has decreased. My family meant well by taking me to Dogtoberfest, but it was just too much. I got overwhelmed (therapists call this "flooding"). 

I need to face that sometimes my anxiety gets so out of control medication IS necessary. There's no shame in this just like there's no shame in taking insulin if I was diabetic. I don't get embarrassed about taking glucosamine pills every day for my hip dysplasia, so why would I get embarrassed about taking anxiety medication? I'm not going to abuse my anxiety medication (okay, that'd actually be impossible because I only have paws and the bottle requires human hands to open), I'm just going to take it sparingly when needed. Mom got me the medicine a few months ago after reading high levels of anxiety take years off a dog's life due to the physical stress. As previously mentioned, she's kinda obsessed with me and wants me to live as long as possible. Therefore, sometimes medication is necessary to manage out of control symptoms.

Are there any stigmas keeping you away from the help you need? If so, please use my furry life as example and reach out. 

#medication #anxiety #flooding #ERP