What Helped Me

[NightOwl]

Hi all,

I've been struggling with anxiety for the last couple of months and wanted to share some of the things that helped me cope. About 6 months back I went through some major changes in my life. I quit my job of 8 years to go back to school full time and my boyfriend and I started doing long distance as he was accepted into a masters program in another state. After he moved away I started getting weekly panic attacks at night while I was sleeping that gradually turned into severe anxiety every night. It got so bad that I had to go to the ER twice in the span of a month and also went through a period where I did not sleep for 36 hours. I was so on edge all the time, had no appetite, couldn't concentrate, and was basically living in fear of my anxiety/panic. I went to multiple doctors as I was afraid there was something really wrong with me, but it all came back with a clean bill of heath. I had to fully admit to myself that what I was dealing with was related to my mental and emotional health. I started going to weekly therapy and also did the following:

• Started taking supplements to help with anxiety and depression - Vitamin D, L-Theanine, Omega 3
• Started taking lavender supplements. It's called Calm Aid and you can buy it on amazon for about 11 bucks. I take two at night.
• Yoga
• Accupunture
• Journaling
• Meditation - I really like the body scan mediation. It's about 30 mins and by the time it's over I am usually about to go to sleep.
• Atarax (prescription for anxiety as needed. I take about 10mg to help me sleep)
• Deep breathing excercises like 4-7-8 count breathing or box breathing

All these things combined have really helped me control my anxiety at night though I still experience anxiety and still get some panic attacks during sleep. The severity and duration of the panic attacks have decreased though and they're usually gone within 10 - 15 mins. With my therapist, I was also able to get to the root cause of my anxiety/panic which was related to childhood trauma and past feelings of abandonment as well as a fear for my safety. Opening up and talking to my friends, family, and boyfriend have also really helped me too.

To anyone who's read this and is suffering from anxiety, you can beat this! When you are in a state of anxiety and panic it feels like the feelings will never go away or that you are going crazy and will lose your mind. Don't listen to those feelings! The feelings of dread and panic are only temporary and anxiety is treatable! Don't give up!

 

[MainerMikeBrown]

NightOwl, I think it's great that you've done all these things in order to help yourself. It sounds like you really want to help yourself, which I think is awesome!

 

[Hurt&Hopeful]

These are all really good suggestions - thanks for sharing. I’ve done a lot of these same things over the years. What I’ve found is that once it gets better, I tend to abandon it all and not take as good of care of myself, and then relapse. So keep taking care of yourself - you’re doing great!

 

[MainerMikeBrown]

I've never tried accupucture or yoga before.

 

[Hurt&Hopeful]

I've never tried accupucture or yoga before.

You know, I did acupuncture YEARS ago for headaches, but never for anxiety. I have heard from some people that it’s helpful, but I live in a small town and there aren’t really many alternative medicine practitioners around here. But yoga I can talk about - my therapist is a big believer in it, and actually has trained in doing yoga specifically for trauma, anxiety, and PTSD. It’s not magical or mystical at all - the “poses” basically target particular nerves in your body that help trigger parts of your brain. Parts that don’t necessarily get dealt with in talk therapy or CBT - more primitive parts, in other words. For me, I have a lot of unpleasant body symptoms due to PTSD and anxiety. Things like trembling and shaking, frequent pains and headaches, stomach symptoms...the shaking is the worst. I have a lot of anxiety at night, so I sometimes wake up shaking and feeling anxious/fearful. Yoga really helped with that when I was actually taking the time to do it. It helps release a lot of that tension from the body and just calm it all down. And nothing fancy - I’m nearly 41 and overweight, so not great at complicated yoga positions. hahahahaha

I used to do some things just at home, on YouTube. There’s lots of good stuff out there if you look for it.

 

[MainerMikeBrown]

Trying lots of things, such as yoga, accupuncture, meditating, journaling, etc. is better than trying only one or two things.

 

[Hurt&Hopeful]

Trying lots of things, such as yoga, accupuncture, meditating, journaling, etc. is better than trying only one or two things.

You know, I think it depends on the person? I’m really hard on myself sometimes, so I tend to get overwhelmed if I can’t keep it all up. I start to fee like a “failure” and I start to spiral. So for me, it’s better to kind of bite off one little bit at a time. Hahahahaha But I think each person is different. I definitely agree that trying lots of things is helpful in the long run, however you do it. Point is that it’s awesome, @NightOwl , that you’re being so proactive about dealing with your anxiety. You’re taking some of the power away from it, which is the first step towards recovery. Hope you’re doing well.

 

[smilingsoul]

You know, I think it depends on the person? I’m really hard on myself sometimes, so I tend to get overwhelmed if I can’t keep it all up. I start to fee like a “failure” and I start to spiral. So for me, it’s better to kind of bite off one little bit at a time. .

That's the best way to start any new skill. For me, it started with medication, then I added exercise, CBT, journaling, supplements, talk therapy, meditation and so on over time as I became more familiar with things that might help. If I wrote a detailed explanation of how I do everything and then told someone new to the condition to just do what I do, it would of course be overwhelming. I think the point is, keep trying to improve. See what works (give it long enough for a chance to work), and take pride in your efforts to heal. Sometimes I can't get it all done, and that has to be ok too. No reason not to try again tomorrow. Also, since it takes time for these things to work, it only makes senst that it takes time for them to stop working, so you have time to get back on the wagon. As my symptoms recede, I've found I can dial back on my anxiety/depression management fine, with a baseline of eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep, and being consistent with medication. When I'm doing something inherently stressful, I'll add meditation and other relaxation exercises throughout the day.

 

[MakUSA]

Thank you for all those amazing suggestions, NightOwl, I really appreciate them.

I will definitely try the ones I haven't so far and see how it goes.

And I am great that you are doing better, I hope to completely defeat this.

 

[NightOwl]

Thank you all for your comments. I definitely have set backs (like the last couple of days), but it's been getting better vs worse, so I feel like I'm on the right track!