Anxiety question

[Gooze17]

Hey all, still up and down with the rabies thing but worrying less and less about it. Have some literature I ordered for overcoming anxiety and skme therapy coming up. But I had a general anxiety question as this cycle has been totally different than what I’m used to. Usually something sets me off, I have a huge panic attack, then am mildly anxious for a few days or weeks with maybe some smaller panic attacks once or twice a week. This go round though it’s like 2 panic attacks a day. I realize anxiety is different for everyone, but this much panic at this level is pretty out of character for me. Does anyone else experience it this much this often? Does anxiety progressively get worse over time? It’s something I’ve just pushed through for years and I’m finally getting help, but I’m curious about others experiences

 

[E.B]

When I went through it bad a few years ago for a while at was a daily occurrence...for a few days every time I would try to sleep I would wake up with a a panic attack so I wasnt sleeping...id drift or almost drift and awake full blown panic over and over

 

[Gooze17]

When I went through it bad a few years ago for a while at was a daily occurrence...for a few days every time I would try to sleep I would wake up with a a panic attack so I wasnt sleeping...id drift or almost drift and awake full blown panic over and over

I feel that. Nights and mornings are always the worst for me. I’ve been lucky in that I’m sleeping. Haven’t had anything resembling an appetite though

 

[MATD]

According to Dr Claire Weekes, Anxiety does have a peak, in other words, it can only get so bad. The body is in control, not your mind. The body can only produce so much adrenaline and cortisol. That being said, our mind can make it seem a lot worse than it actually is. We can think we are going crazy sometimes, no big deal. We know we aren’t. But when we add in the anxiety and secondary fear, that’s when we can’t see past the bluff of anxiety. We really fear we are going crazy because the anxiety blinds us to the reality. Our mind gets stuck in this mode, like a broken record. That’s where you are right now, your broken record keeps hitting the same broken spot over and over as the turntable keeps spinning the record around. That’s why your rabies fear never goes away.

 

[Gooze17]

According to Dr Claire Weekes, Anxiety does have a peak, in other words, it can only get so bad. The body is in control, not your mind. The body can only produce so much adrenaline and cortisol. That being said, our mind can make it seem a lot worse than it actually is. We can think we are going crazy sometimes, no big deal. We know we aren’t. But when we add in the anxiety and secondary fear, that’s when we can’t see past the bluff of anxiety. We really fear we are going crazy because the anxiety blinds us to the reality. Our mind gets stuck in this mode, like a broken record. That’s where you are right now, your broken record keeps hitting the same broken spot over and over as the turntable keeps spinning the record around. That’s why your rabies fear never goes away.

To be fair I’ve only had the rabies fear for roughly a week. Just seems to come in cycles with a different health problem every time, just have to ride this one out and work to get this handled before another one hits me

 

[MATD]

To be fair I’ve only had the rabies fear for roughly a week. Just seems to come in cycles with a different health problem every time, just have to ride this one out and work to get this handled before another one hits me

Acceptance is more desirable than to “ride it out”. Ultimately acceptance is a “whatever, do your worst, my shoulders are broad” attitude, whereas “ride it out” implies you are helpless, you have no choice. What you don’t understand is that you do have a choice, acceptance is facing the fear, Not running from it, acknowledging it exists, and making a conscious decision to let it exist for as long as it wants to Without interference from you. You don’t fight it, you don’t assign it any specific descriptive words, like horrible, scary, awful. You just let it be there. It gains power over you when you run from it, when you used words to describe it, when you fear the fear. Riding it out is tolerating, giving it power, taking away your own power of CHOICE. You do have a choice, acceptance or tolerating it. Big big difference, game changer. Acceptance gives it no power, it’s there, you see it, but you don’t react in any way. With this attitude, it fails to thrive, it fades away. Look at it like this, a plant requires water, if you don’t give it water, it shrivels up and dies. You stopped giving it the one thing it requires to live. In this case though, think of the anxiety as a plant that needs water to survive. But this plant needs descriptive words, fear of it, your undivided attention, your desire to fight with it. Starve it instead with acceptance.

 

[Jonathan123]

Oh yes indeed Mat. Summed up beautifully. It's pure Dr. Weekes. The analogy about watering a plant is spot on. It still surprises me that not many of us have caught on to the fact that anxiety can mimic any known disease if it's in the mind. Total acceptance is still very much the answer. Difficult? Of course it is, and when we get no immediate results we often give up, but acceptance takes time. We have taken time to get in this state and it will take time to come out. Perseverance is essential.
Tolerating it means we have begun to accept it in the wrong way. We have settled for living with it when it's not necessary. Give up any resistance, any fighting or struggling. Deprive 'IT' of it's energy by total acceptance. 'What can I do with it' is so often asked. The answer is nothing. By doing nothing other than acceptance you take the energy out of it. Buddhist talk of action in no action. The fact that we give up all attempts to control 'IT' gives us complete control. Another of those anxiety paradoxes.