Anxiety

[Deegreez]

frisky_barrcuda said:What about aroma therapy?





Maybe some flowers in the house, herbs in the food, or aromatic soaps in the shower could help. Also, plenty of natural sunlight.





For sleeping I recommend a little warm milk and snuggling with a stuffed animal of some sort.





Carry on.




i hate you stop responding to every post in every thread when you don't have shit to say, clown





Raj you have a lot on your plate and your days are very full, with this place, 2 kids, work and so much else. It may be time to excise some of the constant motion form your life and make time for doing less. Time without an activity of some kind really helps. Anxiety is so often brought on by having too much to do or to think about. That's all meditation is at a basic level, just clearing, creating space where there isn't any by doing very little to occupy your mind for a period of time.





Put your life on an overstimulation diet and cut out some stuff for a bit. This is specific advice for you, not for everyone here at all, but for you specifically since you have an insane amount going on in your life.

 

[Bon Vivant]

You're not alone, man. I've been having a real issue with it the last two months. I'm waiting to hear if I passed a major exam and have been waking up in panic attacks for the past 2 weeks.





Exercise has been helping me. You definitely have a solid support network on the Strut, so don't hesitate to use that, mang.

 

[tripledouble]

feel free to come take a vacation in philly! you can help yourself to anything in my kitchen, play the guitars littered around the house and punch the heavy bag in the back yard. weight bench too and lots of coffee table books with pictures. softball field across the street with a crusty pick up game on wednesday nights. i'm dead serious...you can come chill whenever you want whether i'm here or not.





im against pharmaceuticals on gp, but i know several people who are VERY thankful for their prescriptions. get advice you trust and dont feel any kind of bad if pills end up being a viable solution. i would definitely try other stuff too, though im sure you have





regardless, i hope you hit on something bro.





in stressful situations i tell myself two things. worst htings have happened to better people and the world will keep turning.





peace,t

 

[Jonny_Paycheck]

Was diagnosed with high blood pressure recently, dangerously high in fact, stress/job/life-related but to the point where the doctor and my family were very worried. I wasn't really exercising a lot so I changed that, was drinking too much, and eating a lot of salty/heavy foods... cut down on that... started going to yoga... BP was still was pretty high though. Went to some stress therapy sessions where basically the woman sat me down and had me do breathing exercises. Deep breathing for like five, ten minute increments with a 1:2 inhale:exhale ratio (e.g. 3 second inhale, 6 second exhale). According to her this is how babies and most animals breathe but adult humans usually don't (more like 1:1 or worse). Anyway, blood pressure came down a huge amount. Night and day within a matter of minutes.





Anyway I integrated that into my daily routine, both as a response to stressful situations and also as a once or twice a day "reset". It's been very helpful, along with the aforementioned exercise, dietary/consumption restrictions, etc





Breathing is really underrated. I realized I wasn't breathing right at all most of the time.

 

[soundsreal]

Deegreez said:frisky_barrcuda said:What about aroma therapy?





Maybe some flowers in the house, herbs in the food, or aromatic soaps in the shower could help. Also, plenty of natural sunlight.





For sleeping I recommend a little warm milk and snuggling with a stuffed animal of some sort.





Carry on.




i hate you stop responding to every post in every thread when you don't have shit to say, clown





.




LMFAO

 

[fishmongerfunk]

cosine what paychek said about those breathing exercises.

 

[bull_ox]

frisky_barrcuda said:What about aroma therapy?





Maybe some flowers in the house, herbs in the food, or aromatic soaps in the shower could help. Also, plenty of natural sunlight.





For sleeping I recommend a little warm milk and snuggling with a stuffed animal of some sort.





Carry on.




Carry on to GTFO

 

[walter_chron]

Jonny_Paycheck said: Deep breathing for like five, ten minute increments with a 1:2 inhale:exhale ratio (e.g. 3 second inhale, 6 second exhale). According to her this is how babies and most animals breathe but adult humans usually don't (more like 1:1 or worse).




i don't have anxiety problems, but, i just tried this and it feels so good. i think i hold my breath a lot without realizing it.

 

[walter_chron]

frisky_barrcuda said:What about aroma therapy?





Maybe some flowers in the house, herbs in the food, or aromatic soaps in the shower could help. Also, plenty of natural sunlight.





For sleeping I recommend a little warm milk and snuggling with a stuffed animal of some sort.





Carry on.




fuck you

 

[Rich45s]

I was seriously ill about 10 years ago, which did me some serious damage and I still have to take some proper heavy duty medication to keep me on the straight and narrow. Physically I am by and large well, but mentally, well now I am well but only because who I turned into cost me my relationship. I lived in arbitary limits I set myself due to worry I was going to get sick again and turned angry and very selfish.





It's only since my girlfriend split with me, that I sought physological help, and it's done wonders. Being put on a shitload more medication was definitely something I didn't want to do, and was to proud to seek help for dealing with the mental aspects of having years of my life taken from me while sick, but seriously take the step towards help if you are feeling it is becoming an issue. Who I thought I was and had to be I'm just not anymore. I got so stuck in one frame of mind and thought that was me that it took talking to someone and taking medication bring me back to who I used to be. I can't quite believe how I couldn't see how I was behaving while stuck in the middle of it until now when I am back to normal. It's more than just hindsight - Depression / Anxiety changes your whole way of thinking and you deal with everything in a different way and that becomes the norm.





I'm in the UK so am not sure of the Generic Vs Patented medication names, but mental health medication has come on leaps and bounds so the good stuff has very few side effects. My thoughts processes and what have you are so much clearer than when I was in the depths of wherever I was in my head.





The councilling, feels like it has done all it needs to do now and I don't feel I am going to get much more benefit from it, but it seriously helped at the beginning, just being told No, this isn't how you always need to be, this is something happening to you and it affects you in all manner of ways and changes your way of thinking and you just need to do X & Y to change your way of thinking back to how you used to be.





Mental health still has a huge stigma attached to it, and we are conditioned to suck it up and deal, but if it is affecting your day to day life, don't be too proud to seek help. You break your leg you go to a doctor to get it fixed. If you have broken parts of your mental faculties then why should it be a big deal to go get it sorted. It took my girlfriend leaving and some of her reasons about how I was to go, actually, deep down I know I am not the person I used to be, and I need to get some help. Since speaking to my actual illness specialist he has said it's a huge problem in NHS healthcare that they have to treat the physical symptoms of whatever you get, but do not have the budget to assign physcological help for the long lasting mental effects of having a serious illness cause people





I had a very specific circumstances in that I had to process some serious health stuff and thought I had to adjust my life to it, to such an extent I stopped enjoying life and became in my head still 'sick' and issues became far bigger than they needed to be.





As said above, exercise and breathing helps loads. 'Anchoring' also helps to, which is essentially go to your 'happy place' think of a time / place you were truly happy, think back to all the feelings of happiness and the sights, sounds, smells associated with it, and just chill in that headspace for a while until you calm down.





Be well.

 

[tabira]

Most mental anxiety manifests itself somewhere in the body. Whether it's in your breathing patterns or somewhere else, identifying the place allows you to redisperse that energy throughout the body so that it is not focused and causing a strain . It won't treat the causes but it does allow you to better control the symptoms and eliminate the peaks. My dentist made me aware of a tendancy I had to focus my tension in the jaw muscles - grinding my teeth at night, biting my nails or clamping my mouth shut during the day. Now by relaxing my jaw muscles I can redisperse the tension throughout my body, as if to dilute it to the point at which I don't feel tense any more. Another common spot are the muscles and nerves running up the back of the neck to the top of the scalp. If you concentrate you can actually feel the tension in them and then put measures in place to redisperse it.

 

[elise]

Almond said:Exercise helps.




This. is. true.





Also, cutting out anything that is stressful in your life. I did a big life change recently (not what you're thinking) and I haven't had any anxiety or panic attacks...yet. Sure it may be hard, but your health is a priority.





*edit: I also had them (anxiety/panic attacks) for almost 7 years.

 

[Cosmo]

I feel you bro.





On top of what everyone else said, the only thing I can recommend is when you feel shit caving in on you, take a moment to breathe. And feel your feet as they're connected to the floor. That definitely helps me.





Also, this is funny, but very true.

 

[tripledouble]

oh man cos, i wish i could get my italian jewish mom to internalize that flowchart. she's got one where all signs point to "worry, complain and let the world know"

 

[Cosmo]

tripledouble said:oh man cos, i wish i could get my italian jewish mom to internalize that flowchart. she's got one where all signs point to "worry, complain and let the world know"




Hah, sounds like my black jewish mom. Moms... Aye yay yay.

 

[RAJ]

Horseleech said: don't over-stimulate yourself with sugar, coffee etc.




Coffee is a HUGE trigger. I'm trying to live with less of it, but I love it so much.





This thread is already making an impact.





Thanks y'all! (except for soulone's new alias frsky_whatever).... bye bye.

 

[Big_Stacks]

RAJ said:Horseleech said: don't over-stimulate yourself with sugar, coffee etc.




Coffee is a HUGE trigger. I'm trying to live with less of it, but I love it so much.





This thread is already making an impact.





Thanks y'all! (except for soulone's new alias frsky_whatever).... bye bye.




Hey Raj,





You're welcome, mane!!! We 'Strutters must stick together. It's all love up in hurrr!!!





Peace,





Big Stacks from Kakalak

 

[tokyobeats]

can't STRESS enough how important GOOD sleep is!





quality over quantity, with enough, however, to give the body what it needs. and a healthy diet, with a large intake of anti oxidants!





anxiety is a bitch, so wishing you all the best!

 

[yuichi]

As someone that's had anxiety disorder, I can say from experience that what Rich45s is saying is true. Treat mental health as you would a broken leg. I still take Prozac, though on a lower dosage than what I initially took 5 years ago. It's def helped me out.





As Jonny_Paycheck says, breathing is damn underrated. In any situation, if you feel overwhelmed, just focus on your breathing. Breath from your diaphragm I believe is the way to breath deeply.





And it can't be stated enough. When I wasn't on meds, sweating it out around the block and doing calisthenics was my anti-depressant.





One other thing that may help you. "relaxation" and "release" are different. In my experience the latter is a way to directly and more effectively combat anxiety. Exercise is a prime example of a "release" in my mind. In the end, it's all about how you MANAGE it. Stress and anxiety symptoms don't just heal like a human body. You gotta learn to fight them head on and manage them.





Once in a while, INDULGE. DO WHAT FEELS GOOD DAMNIT.

 

[yuichi]

When I had my first anxiety attack 6 years ago at work, I realized later that I had been low on sleep, high on caffeine intake (several big cups a day), an erratic co-worker, and big expectations for myself. It's no wonder I started having anxiety symptoms.