Anxiety

[someguy1233]

I'll start by saying I'm not sure if this is the correct area of the forum to post this since it isn't specific to my situation. I apologize if I'm in the wrong place.

I was wondering how people have learned to cope with anxiety around their situations.

I personally turned to medication as a primary relief. After much reading of side affects of SSRIs (Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft) I decided to try something different, BuSpar (buspirone). I've found crazy relief. I still sometimes get caught up in a wave of emotion, but I find that my thoughts don't tailspin out of control any longer. The only side affect is some dizziness if I take it within an hour of eating.

I also take Melatonin 30 minutes before I want to sleep. I find that it knocks me out for about 4 hours. If I wake in the night with a racing mind I take another dose. The great thing with Melatonin is it doesn't leave me drowsy the next day like Benadryl or other other sleep aids. I've found a good night's sleep does wonders for my attitude the next day.

I've also recently started exercising again.

How do you handle the anxiety?

[Ojap]

Hey someguy....

I too am new here...but my remedy for dealing with anxiety is defiantly wrapped up in the "I've also recently started exercising again" comment.

It helps me to think more clearly when I walk/run. Also...added side effect is that I have found myself sleeping better.

Others can weigh in on the RXs...

[Thornton]

Good thread.

I've suffered from anxiety my entire life. To me, its worse than depression.

My hands will literally shake like a leaf when I'm really triggered.

I used to take Ativan for anxiety but coming off it was horrible. Now I just take an SSRI.

One thing I've experimented with is EFT. Tapping. It seems so hoaky to me but I've tried it and had some success. It doesn't always work when I'm really spun up but it's easy to do and provides some relief.

Of course working out until you are exhausted helps too. But my anxiety has held me back from going to the gym because I can also get dizzy. I would hate to wake up on the floor in the gym surrounded by people fanning me with their workout towels.

[broke]

I have managed to avoid medications so far because my family has some addiction in their DNA so I don't want to tempt fate. But I would take them if I had to.

I mix a powder called "calm" in warm water before bed to help me sleep. Melatonin didn't work for me. I may try it again because I heard it takes some time to build up in your system.

I also exercise especially when I'm really low. It was hard the first 1-2 months but easier to force myself to do it now. But yoga has been my lifesaver. It helps with anger and anxiety. I love it.

A friend also recommending journaling and meditation. I haven't tried that yet.

[JujuB]

Hi

Great topic. I am quite sure I suffer from anxiety. I used to always obsessively worry about health conditions and job performance. Then it became replaced by childrens well being and health conditions. Now with DB, my anxiety and source of obsession is more about husband and infidelity and has actually completely replaced my other anxieties.

Anxiety is challenging because I know that I cannot always trust my interpretations of certain situations. Makes it really difficult with Dbing.

I realize I am in a perpetual state of anxiety its just really a matter of topic.

Exercise and sleep does help me. I might try melatonin. My real issue is waking up in middle of night though, not falling asleep.

I don't think I would ever take medications and I have not really been to counseling but might try. I am sure meditation and yoga would help, I just have not committed to it... Something always comes up.

[Thornton]

Juju -try therapy if you can. If you get a good therapist, it can change your life and definitely help with the anxiety.

Oh, and waking up in the middle of the night is the worst! 4am like clock work for me. Then I toss and turn for about 2 hours and finally fall asleep again, only to have my alarm go off.

[Ojap]

LOL...agree Thornton! Is there anything more frustrating than finally nodding off right before the alarm goes off?!! Drives me nuts!

[Phoebe]

I'm new to the anxiety game, but it's been a real issue for me, too.

Sleeplessness - trouble getting to sleep, waking in the night, and waking up too early. My doc prescribed Trazadone for the sleeplessness and it helped me like crazy. It's slowly getting better, but I'm nowhere near normal sleep quality. I am going to start tapering off it this weekend. I think I might try melatonin as a kind of bridge.

I've also had something like panic attacks for the first time in my life, crying, hyperventilating, chest tightness. It's only happened a few times, but they're no fun. I was given Xanax and I've used maybe 3-4 pills in the last month, but I try hard no to.

I have my first appointment with an IC in couple days, and I am hoping he can help me learn some non-pharmaceutical coping mechanisms.

I already exercise, but I was having a hard time with anxiety this evening, went to the gym purposefully to burn off some steam, and came out feeling just as bad as when I went in. So much for that.

What helped was talking to a friend on the phone. I've found that friends are worth their weight in gold.

[Ripe]

Funny that this thread is initiated right now.
For more than twenty years I have suffered anxiety attacks.
When something out of the ordinary shakes my life I will start feeling a wave of heat coming up from my legs to my chest. These waves will also locate themselves in my scrotum. It's not like goosebumps but more something interior. All worse case scenarios will then play repeatedly in my head.
For twenty years I have tried to take control of these waves, but of course unsuccessfully. I would say to myself "please, please, waves, do not come" and they would immediately come. I would then try to ignore them, without success.
I have never taken medication because I saw what my father suffered with his sleeping pills.
I came to the conclusion that my healthy life style and living in a paradise island are the reasons why I kept myself sane. And after completing the happiness mooc course at Edx I found that gratitude, awe, laughter and play had a major contributing role in that, even without knowing it.
Anyway, you all can easily imagine what the bomb, separation and upcoming divorce have done to my anxiety.
I don't sleep well for over two years.
So I decided to try something different: mindfulness meditation.
I have now started acknowledging and accepting these anxiety waves as they are, without trying to change them.
Even the other day I went for a walk and the day was so lovely that I decided to move a bit from the track and do this new meditation I had on my ipod. It's called "Soften, soothe, allow: Working with emotions in the body". It makes you think about an anxiety source and accept it. It then tells you to touch the body area where you feel the emotion. When I did this I felt such a surcharge of energy that I started crying like a baby.
Slowly, slowly, I have noticed progress in these attacks. Accepting that they are there is just the beginning. Maybe I will never get rid of them, but they will not control me has they have so far.
So, besides attending an IC, this is how I have decided to act: through meditation.
Even yesterday I left some suggestions for insomnia in Fo's thread..
Sorry for highjacking the thread like this. Everybody is talking about medication and I am bragging about some obscure practice which I started doing less than one year ago.
I will leave some quotes from Tara Brach, a psychologist, for those of you who care to read:

•“Where attention goes, energy flows”
•“When the pressure arises it's because there’s is fear. It’s a clue that we have to pay attention to the fear. That means there is some insecurity, maybe I fall short, I won’t get what I want, maybe I am not cut out for this. If we bring kindness and presence to the fear - because the fear needs attention - then things relaxes and we can go back to cultivating without that kind of tension.”
•“What we can’t embrace with love, controls us... We have to pay attention to what needs attention within us. The parts of us that are fearful need attention.”
•Instead of numbing out or ignoring the feeling, start bringing attention to the fear and listening to it and asking “What do you need from me? How do you want me to be with you?” I just need to acknowledge that you are afraid, and I need to feel in some way that you care about me. Then starting to offer that fear mindfulness - I see that you're there - and kindness - creates a space where we can let go a little bit. Emotions are designed to come and go. It’s 1.5 minutes for an emotion to play itself through your body unless your thoughts keep generating the material for the emotion. In mindfulness we bring a direct attention to what’s there.”

[someguy1233]

For those waking in the night l, I found an additional dose or Melatonin helps me nod off again within 30 minutes. It's really helped me during the night which often was the harder time when my mind would really start to race out of control.