Considering meds, would love advice?

Hi all!

I've had high levels of anxiety pretty much forever, and I see a psychologist regularly who uses CBT. I find CBT extremely useful, and I feel so much better for challenging my thinking, especially when I am consistent with using mindfulness. I feel like my anxiety is so much more under control, although I do have sleep disturbances and a few strange things popping up (like becoming obsessed with worry that I've left my oven on for no rational reason at work, worrying all day then coming home and of course its not) and what I call anxiety dreams. Despite this, day to day I am feeling better. The only thing, I also experience bruxism (excessive jaw grinding in my sleep) causing headaches and pain, which so far treatment has been unsuccessful, and neck/shoulder pain which is limiting and possibly related to the bruxism. I have looked into alternate treatment for the bruxism- I have been to countless dentists, use a mouth guard at night and now see a chiropractor but I would love something more effective. I have come across botox being used to relax the jaw muscle, and when I saw my doctor I asked her opinion about it. She said that the jaw problems are 100% anxiety, and to properly deal with it I need to address the anxiety effectively- using botox would be just a bandaid (in her opinion.) Since I am already doing CBT and mindfulness (and I think my psychologist is great) she thinks I should try antidepressants.
I have NEVER been on antidepressants before and am a little wary of doing something that would be altering my mind, particularly as my anxiety isn't what I would say is terrible (IE I haven't been to hospital or had anything really drastic) what I am really wanting is a reduction in these physical symptoms. I have no idea about medication and worry about dependence and just prefer to manage things naturally HOWEVER it has been years and the jaw/neck pain is a real issue for me.
Would love to hear experiences and feedback

Hi butterfly,

I used SSRIs for all of a couple of weeks, I couldn’t handle the stomach upset. I’ve tried klonopin and that works well for in the moment, but only used it for a few months. Recently I have found relief in taking hemp CBD oils and amino acids. The hemp oil doesn’t have any THC in it. I also take a strong probiotic. This combo is the only thing I’ve found to be helpful at easing my anxiety to where I can get work done, function and begin the process of healing my body and mind. I would say it’s worth a try, both bottles are abut a month supply and cost me $40 each at a local health food store. No side effects like meds and as far as I know no cases of dependency. Let me know if you try and if it is of any help to you. I was honestly about to make a dr appointment at psych to get meds before I found this combo.
Josh