Anxiety and Need to Talk

I have lived with anxiety for my whole life and have had my share of panic attacks, so I know what you feel like. As far as the pluse thing goes, I have that temptation at times too and I find that it increases because my anxiety raises, worrying about my heart beat raising. It's quite comical when your not anxious, thinking about yourself when you were anxious.

Calming music is nice, but for those of us with intense anxiety, it can be hard to let ourselves relax. I have found that the two things which work best for me are watching something really funny or exercising. If your feeling up to it, that is. Exercise, especially cardiovascular, works to shrink your amigula, lessening your fight or flight response. It also releases chemicals called endorphins which will help you feel good and more positively charged. As far as laughing goes, it's the best medicine there is. There is nothing that will distract you from anxiety more than laughing your rear off. Once you do one of those higher impact activities to the point where your feeling a good amount better, even a lot better, then is when you take a bath or listen to soothing music or so on. I personally find that listening to a song with lyrics that mean something to me helps since I can focus on the words, speaking them and thinking about them in order to keep my anxiety in check.

If you ever want some tips for managing anxiety, I've got years and years of experience-based advice to give.

I hope you feel better soon!

Until next time,

TheGoodDoctor

Meditate.

Find a comfortable position in a quiet place. Relax and close your eyes. Concentrate on your breathing. Take a long, deep breath in, pause for a moment, and then slowly breath out. As your breath in, say to yourself in your head "Innnn" and as you breath out say in your head "ooouuutt." Do this for a dozen breaths or so. Trying not to think about anything else, or have any other dialogue in your head.

Then, with each in breath, concentrate on feeling - and paying attention to the feeling of - a body part. Focus on it on the inhale. Then on the exhale, think about that body part completely relaxing; the tension completely releasing. Start with your feet, then move up to your ankles, then you shins and calves and up and up to the top of your head. Directing all of your attention to that body part on the inhale, then focusing on completely relaxing and releasing that body part on the exhale.

Next, go from the top of your head back down to your feet with the same idea. Except this time, instead of focusing and releasing in a purely physical way, on the inhale you can imagine collecting a calming, clean, pure, white energy on that part of your body. Visualize this energy. On the exhale, visualize any uncomfortable, stessful, undesirable, dirty colored energy leaving that part of your body. See it in your mind and feel it. Do this all the way from the top of your head to the bottoms of your feet, one body-part at a time.

Finally, go back to saying in your head, "iinnnn" on the inhale and "ooouuutt" on the exhale. Slowly and deliberately do this for a few breaths. Then, try to just "say" the in part; on the out part, try for complete silence in your head. If you can do this for a few breaths, then take out the "iiinnn" part too, and experience complete silence in your head. Maintain this silence and maintain awareness on how relaxed your body is. When you are ready, open your eyes and stand up.

This entire process will be difficult at first, mostly because it is hard to concentrate for so long without getting distracted, but I'm sure you can get through much of it. You should work towards completing the whole thing. Try doing it every day - twice a day if you can. I promise you will feel better after the first time, and the more you do it, the better it works. If you stay with it, you will find that it can change your life (although don't shoot for that right away, for now, just enjoy the calm).

Good luck.

Well I am glad to see that there is actually a good response from posting here. I wasn't expecting this much of a response. I am definitely calming down a bit but yea it's not that easy to just stop. I have been making myself stop trying to count my pulse. Unfortunately the cat is not helping me because she is to busy trying to eat my wires or my hand. She is deffo in a playful mode.


Anyway thanks again for all the responses. I would definitely be interested in learning more about alternative medicines for this. As for the gooddoctor thanks for your reply as well. I definitely have issues letting it go. I am afraid that i also have a double whammy as for some reason MVP is linked to Anxiety attacks and that is one of my common symptoms.

I personally think it all comes to my general worries as of late. I recently had a bad cold and well coughed my throat raw. I coughed up some phlegm with blood. Freaked out and assumed the worst and turned out to be a sinus infection with a slight bronchial infection. Then I got a stiff neck the other day that has lasted for 3 days now, and of course my mom tells me it's stress. Then well I was thinking about that and my skipped beats kicked in. Well the skipped beats are always enough to make me panic. I don't care what the doc says that is just something that makes you feel uneasy whether harmless or not. Anyway I think that is what triggered it, but when I checked my pulse that was the end of it. i am sure tomorrow I will be making fun of myself for being so paranoid.

Part of it I am sure is also from the increased smoking and caffeine I have been inducing now lol.

I wish you luck on getting your anxiety under control. I don't want to rain on all positive feedback you're getting here, but it may be that your troubles are about to begin. You said you fell at work?

I never experienced more BS, sabatage, lies and down right meaness, not to mention the subrosa vidoa taping, and nosey neighbors, (who were given a carrot of a $1000 reward for proving that I was committing fraud), after my work injruy!

1 week after reporting my injury, my employers resistance and dirty tricks sent me I into a panic attack that lasted 13 days. I couldn't eat, watch TV, get on the computer etc. I just sat on the sofa and cried! Finally, after 5 months of no temporary disability payment because of the insurance co. games, I finally get to a see doctor for my depression. I am a waitress and have a torn achilles tendon. You can't fake that!

Well i have to admit that I tried the meditation bit and it did help a bit. Dear lord my heart rate is under a 100 I don't know what I will do lol. I also got some good advice from what I hope will become friends on ATS thanks for all the support, and i plan to take all the advice to heart.

Windword I know what you are talking about as it has happened to me in the past where I used to work. Fortunately it didn't happen that way this time as I was right next to my boss when it happened and he is the one that called 911. I was bleeding like a stuck pig. Had a 2inch laceration to my scalp wasn't fun. The funny thing is the nurse couldn't understand why I was having anxiety lol. I mean go figure. Oh yea you just about killed yourself but why stress? right?

I hope that everything works out for you. My best recommendation would be to contact the Industrial Commission in your state and file the accident report with them. That way if your work place doesn't it is on record with someone. It may not be the Industrial Commission where you are but it's basically the Dept of Labor in your state. Don't let em walk all over you fight for it and I will be sending my thoughts your way!

Thanks for all the support it gives me hope for the human race again and that is something I am definitely critical on a lot.

Once thanks for your advice as it would seem to have worked well. Heart rate down to under 100 woot.

Mysterious thanks for your support as well and I will more then likely take you up on that messaging stuff. Same for you Striped.

reply to post by Phantom28804

I once went through an insane period with a lot of anxiety, and I'd try the hot baths with bathsalts, which was ok, for a while, hot choclate is also nice, as long as it's the sugar free kind (not too much sugar) with a big fat marshmellow, which is fun to play with, rolling it as it melts..

I also had a mantra i'd write out over and over again, given to me from a friend as a suggestion

I am safe

I am at peace

All is well

The unconditional loving support of loved ones is also helpful, as is the complete lack of any responsibility for a while, while you heal, if you can (finances, sabbatical etc. permitting) - it's nice to say goodbye for a while to the "normal" world of insanity for the purpose of a healing retreat from the world, provided you don't isolate.

A good book maybe if you're into reading.

Ice cream, ginger ale and a good movie to curl up to, is also a good thing to do.

Comfortable clean clothing and pijamas and bedding is also important - cleanliness is next to Godliness as they say, and it feels nice.

And, for reducing heart rate and blood pressure, and anxiety, there's a binaural beat brainwave entrainment track in the Alchemy Thread in my signature called "Bach To The Future", that will help.

Be gentle with yourself, curl up into a nice comfy little ball, and be still and be at peace, while generating not anxiety or fear, but love, quietude, and harmony.

A new kitten would also be good, to have something to look after, something cute and cuddly, which will make you forget all about yourself.

That's all I can think of right now.

Don't worry. Everything's going to be ok!