I think that advice from fellow sufferers is very helpful, they have experienced it first hand. I haven't much to add, CBT can help those who have benefits/can afford it. Sites like Anxiety BC can help. Anxiety can certainly present with physical symptoms as with Magnum. In your case, all tests have made a physical cause unlikely and as Bats says this is often therapeutic in itself. Obviously as Siouxie has pointed out, tests aren't infallible. Typically patients have been to a cardiologist for a stress test etc, we don't request these without specialist assessment. Angios are the gold standard but these aren't without risk and must truly be necessary, not just to appease anxiety.

Reflux can obviously replicate symptoms. Stress can produce significant symptoms which need to be considered and the patient suitably risk stratified, if they are 20 it is highly unlikely there is anything significantly physically amiss, 70 a lot more so. Magnum fits the middle ground- certainly needs assessment

Ask a psychiatrist what they feel about the pros and cons of marijuana for mental health issues .... There will be zero pros. Would you say another natural way to damp down anxiety is having alcohol...good idea? No... I wouldn't even think about it

Just, just hold on there matey, don't be putting dangerous ideas in to people heads by promoting your quackery, especially not a Friday.

Alcohol s therapeutic, deffo- God knows I need it on a weekend after a week of everyone's woes, just not a Mickey to damp down the collywobbles.

Heaven preserve us from 'experts' especially those who haven't a clue how their subject of expertise actually works.

It's not so long ago that wiring patients up to the local mains supply and electrocuting the brain (ECT) was an accepted practice, and experiments involving separation of the two hemispheres to help with epilepsy had some unfortunate consequences. We still today see the doling out of highly addictive prescriptions.

'Ahhh', I hear you say, 'we're only trying to help and what we offer may help to reduce the symptoms of these illnesses'

Well, that may be so... or it may not. How many times have you heard the 'expert' suggest 'Oh well that pill didn't work? Try this one then.' It happened to my father-in-law as did ECT.

So 'Ask a psychiatrist' by all means but remember, members of the medical profession should, like other 'experts', be regarded as only advisors where your body is concerned and like all experts, they can be wrong so consider their advice carefully. You are responsible for your body, after all you've lived with it all your life.

ECT is still performed today in well screened cases with good results, maybe you are mixing this up with prefrontal lobotomies, or you have been watching One flew over the Cuckoo's nest or AHS Asylum and taking it all in. I deal with 21st century medicine, not 19th/ early 20th. I'm just one of those quacks who just uses my patients as guinea pigs. We never look at outcome studies and unbiased research, no we just use anecdote like "it didn't work for my nan/aunty Mable/ substitute your chosen relative here"
No sh$t, doctors get it wrong . You seem to be an 'expert' in virtually everything Dave. University of life?

Not much to add to others' experiences, which mirror my own to some extent. I have found mindfulness to be a very effective remedy to anxiety 'in the moment'. Lots of online resources. Jon Kabat-Zinn is generally considered to be the authority on the subject and has written several books/work books on the subject.

Dave , I'm really struggling to understand what you are advising here.

Are you suggesting thst you should ignore medical advice because you think you know better

Are you familiar with the Dunning Kruger effect?

Or are you suggesting that people shouldn't seek medical advice for mental health issues?

What would you suggest that someone with anxiety and depression to such an extent that normal everyday life is impossible, do then?

Lol I listen to my doc so don't worry if some one gives alternative ideas, alternative medicine didn't hurt Steve Jobs now did it, oh hmm ! Maybe it did ?

Sadly only a miracle would have saved him, prognosis in pancreatic cancer is dire unfortunately. Unless... Damn .. He could have a sprinkling of Dave's anecdotes and rhetoric on his muesli for brekkie. That might just have worked

You need to pick a strain with little to no THC.
Agreed that weed is not for everyone, it makes some people more anxious.

https://www.cfpc.ca/uploadedFiles/Re...%20Anxiety.pdf

Page 7 recommendation 3 is probably the main point that may be of interest- it is expanded upon on page 10.

Hi Zoe and Stinky,

I'm not in the least suggesting that medical advice shouldn't be sought or ignored, what I am suggesting is that where you feel able to, it should be considered carefully. This doesn't mean that it should be rejected. Where mental issues are involved, then you may not be in a position to rationally consider or reject any advice offered.

We all learn from our experiences, even medical professionals, and although they subscribe to scientific techniques in their decision making, these can be accurate, wrong, misleading or the professional may just not know enough, it's up to you whether or not you accept their advice. As I've said before, it's your body so take care with it.

ps. I don't subscribe to quack practitioners, as has been hinted at. When I'm not well I go to the local GP for advice, whether I accept that advice is up to me.

Where do you go for a second opinion, the bathroom mirror?

Wash your mouth out. Dr Freud recomended