7 Months on and no relief yet, will it ever come?

[M.J.P1989]

So, for 7 months now i have been trying to kick anxiety. I have tried so much you wouldn't believe.
I have tried, hypnotherapy, EMDR, NHS CBT, Self help books, complementary therapies, Medications.
Made lifestyle changes, hit the gym 3 times at least a week, cut the caffeine out, stopped smoking, made changes to my diet.
What else can i do? Its like a dark cloud that i have to carry from the moment i wake up to the moment i go to sleep, and when im asleep this is my only peace from it.
i have physical sensations, lightheadedness, twitches, overthinking, fear of fear, feeling like my heart is going to stop. That sinking feeling in your heart, but permanently.
Anxiety has literally ruined me, i just want the 'old' me back!

 

[Cuchculan]

Maybe you simply think about getting better too much. Don't mean that in a bad way either. My meaning is that you are trying too hard. Bit like trying to force yourself to fall asleep. It will never happen and you will end up wide awake and frustrated. Anxiety is on your mind. So anxiety will stick around. Were if you didn't think about the whole anxiety thing, it might ease up on you. I had been a sufferer for over 30 years. That does not mean I am anxious every day. That does not mean I think about anxiety every day. I have long spells were things are great. The odd setback here and there. I learned how to switch off my thinking about anxiety. I never tried to force anything in my life. Made no changes to how I lived. I do take medication. Have been through therapy. Relax the mind a bit more. Try to learn to switch it off. Don't get frustrated. Bit like letting the answers come to you. I tried a lot of what you tried and found them useless. Have to just find that one thing that works for us. Then you will be sailing in the right direction. Never say never.

 

[M.J.P1989]

I am generally an optimistic, positive thinking person, but since this has nestled its way in to my life, its really turned my life on its head. i just dont know where to turn anymore, I'm not a believer of giving up, but i am mentally exhausted about thinking what i can do now.

 

[Trying123]

Hi M.J.P1989 and welcome to the site. I am new to anxiety and panic attacks and have received support and advice from members. Sorry you are going through this.
You are on the right course with trying different modalities to treat your anxiety. Please remember to give each treatment time to work for you. Healing takes time and each person is different. I understand the exhaustion and frustration. I want to feel the way I used to and do the things I was able to do before anxiety and panic attacks but am willing to accept this is what I am experiencing now. I have strong Faith and pray often which helps me tremendously and gives me hope for the future. Looking forward to supporting each other on this journey.

 

[NormalAgainPlease]

So, for 7 months now i have been trying to kick anxiety. I have tried so much you wouldn't believe.
I have tried, hypnotherapy, EMDR, NHS CBT, Self help books, complementary therapies, Medications.
Made lifestyle changes, hit the gym 3 times at least a week, cut the caffeine out, stopped smoking, made changes to my diet.
What else can i do? Its like a dark cloud that i have to carry from the moment i wake up to the moment i go to sleep, and when im asleep this is my only peace from it.
i have physical sensations, lightheadedness, twitches, overthinking, fear of fear, feeling like my heart is going to stop. That sinking feeling in your heart, but permanently.
Anxiety has literally ruined me, i just want the 'old' me back!

I read your post while searching for "sinking feeling" and felt like I had written it. I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this and I feel exactly the same way you do. I've been dealing with daily anxiety for 5 months. I'm so frustrated and I just want it to stop!!!!! I just told my husband that, at this point, its starting to anger me.
You are on the right track with trying different methods to help you cope and trying to cut out things that can aggravate your anxiety. I was a long time Starbucks customer until I had my first panic attack. I completely cut it out.
Things will get better. It just takes time to disconnect those triggers.

 

[MainerMikeBrown]

M.J.P., I know it's frustrating to work so hard at getting better only to not actually get better. But if you stick with it, I think you will get better. Psychiatric treatment nowadays really does work, especially for those who never give up at trying to get better emotionally.

 

[Chrisjones42]

So, for 7 months now i have been trying to kick anxiety. I have tried so much you wouldn't believe.
I have tried, hypnotherapy, EMDR, NHS CBT, Self help books, complementary therapies, Medications.
Made lifestyle changes, hit the gym 3 times at least a week, cut the caffeine out, stopped smoking, made changes to my diet.
What else can i do? Its like a dark cloud that i have to carry from the moment i wake up to the moment i go to sleep, and when im asleep this is my only peace from it.
i have physical sensations, lightheadedness, twitches, overthinking, fear of fear, feeling like my heart is going to stop. That sinking feeling in your heart, but permanently.
Anxiety has literally ruined me, i just want the 'old' me back!

How many medications have you tried ? Did you go high enough in dosage? I took me like 5 different medications and at certain dosages to find the one that worked for me ... there’s numerous amounts of medication out there and dosage will vary.

 

[Gemma214]

I've had anxiety my whole life, but it was only last year that I started actively trying to treat it- going to therapy, etc. I was getting really frustrated a couple months ago and I realized that it was because I was waiting for the anxious feelings to go away completely. But it started to dawn on me that I've always been anxious and I'll always have those feelings. Once I stopped trying to make them go away, and focused more on coexisting with those feelings, it felt less frustrating and impossible. I still have really bad moments but I'm able to say "it's been bad before and passed, I just have to wait it out". I definitely feel your pain and I hope you find something that works for you soon!

 

[smilingsoul]

I second Gemma's advice (and those from others above). You'll notice that anxiety ebbs and flows even within a single day. It may not go away completely, but if you can find things outside of your own head to focus on (keep busy) you can ride out the worst of it. I have a whole series of things I've developed over the years to ratchet it down. I meditate, which helps discipline your mind and allow you to turn your attention where its useful. I eat right, which keeps the garbage that food companies put in food to keep them colorful and tasty on the shelf longer out of me. I exercise, which gives my nervous energy a place to be spent, and actually kind of hits the reset button on it. I practice daily gratitude, and I contribute to forums like this one which helps me feel less alone with my struggle. I'm also under the care of a psychiatrist who works with me to tweak medicines and dosages, and in a few weeks I'm going to try some therapy to see if I can stop avoiding some things that I think trigger me and make peace with them.
By the way, your symptoms sound just like mine. They are frustrating and exhausting. Its ok to feel that way, and its important to be compassionate with yourself about it. Whenever I start getting angry with myself I remind myself to consider how I would act towards a close friend who this was happening to. We should treat ourselves at least as well as we treat our friends

 

[Hotgirl2019]

Hi

As someone living with anxiety many parts of your post resonate and I can say that I’ve felt like it will never end. I have general and social anxiety, and also constantly overthink.

But I noticed that my anxiety was at its worst when I had a couple specific things happening in my life that I was genuinely worried about and wasn’t finding a solution to or not actively doing anything to fix.

In the past couple months I’ve felt better than I have in about a year and half because I actively took steps towards fixing the things In my life that made me worry. And those things I couldn’t fix I tried my best with and it keeps my brain from overthinking.

Personally I also tried to sleep better, eat healthier and I started using cbd oil. I’m too restless to meditate, but I always take a quick walk around the block whenever I feel myself getting anxious no matter where I am.

One thing Ill mention is that I don’t think our anxiety will ever ‘completely’ go away. As human beings we are supposed to get anxious every now and then. Try to remember that you being worried about something or overthinking something is absolutely normal. You will have days where your anxiety will be through the roof and days that are damn near perfect and anxiety free.
Focus on getting more damn near perfect days and don’t be too hard on yourself when you get a bad anxiety day here and there.



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