Confuse

[TayTAY21]

Have u ever feel like u doing well with u your anxiety, depression, PTSD???? Then u see something remember something or read something and it just keep playing around in your mind nd then u start to get fearful nd scared nd then u feel like u cnt controll it.

[erraticthoughts7]

I was doing really well recently until a reunion with old friends. In social settings I start to feel as though everyone is talking about me. I get rabbit ears and try to listen to every conversation being had. It is at this point that I start freaking out. I am usually standing alone not being engaging and start to bring attention to the very thing I am trying to avoid. In my emotional basket case of a world, leaving is the only option. This is why so many of us try hard to avoid events that we think may be uncomfortable and become isolated. This unraveling will sometimes happen suddenly and frequently and each episode will sink you to a new low point.

[hannah821 in reply to erraticthoughts7]

Hi Erraticthoughts7. Paranoia can sneak in and get us disturbed and distracted from reality. Try to recognize and address this emotion as such. It may quiet things down for you and keep you from running away.

[Hidden]

Yes, sometimes that happens to me, and I have learned what effects me like that, and I take measures to avoid it or to defuse it. I refuse to help my anxiety or depression blossom.

Currently, I am experiencing a loss in my life, but I am reminding myself that sadness and grief are normal reactions. I am not going to allow myself to sink into depression or anxiety of worrying what I am going to do without him. I am concentrating on keeping busy as best I can. I hope this is of some help to you.

[kindlet1 in reply to Hidden]

I, too, have just been diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety disorder. I'm horrified! I have had anxiety since childhood, where I would sleep walk into dangerous situations. My PTSD set in finally I started having horrible nightmares where I would run from my bed, into my kids rooms or a corner and cower shaking until I could breath. That was around 12 years ago.... social settings are not good, I end up drinking with everyone and my mask falls off.... I have been through emotional abuse from the onset and didn't realize that wasn't normal. I'm 50 now, and I don't know what abnormal relationship is.... I feel your pain, I am so sorry

[kindlet1 in reply to kindlet1]

I meant to say a normal relationship, I have the abnormal down to a T!

[Hidden in reply to kindlet1]

Oh, meant to tell you I slept walked as a young child but had a decent home, lots of people, but a good home....so not certain what that means.

My husband says I talk in my sleep loud enough to wake him, but he can't determine what I am saying. My recent loss I mentioned was the death of my service dog of 12 years who would wake me from nightmares.

[Hidden in reply to kindlet1]

Regarding your nightmares, if you still have them and they tend to be having the same basic theme or story, I found that practicing changing that type of dream helpful. Try to remember the details of the nightmare, the determine how you want to change it and it's ending. Then practice in your mind and out loud how you are going to change that nightmare, and start calling it a dream. Practice that frequently and really concentrate on it when you practice the "new" dream.

If it is like me, it may be a control issue. I practiced how I would be the powerful, winning one in the dream and what I would do to whoever or whatever was scaring or trying to harm me. It may take a long time of practicing the new dream.....it finally worked on a nightmare that I had sometimes 5 times a week.

Alcohol is not a good fix for us....chemically we first think it is relaxing us, but actually becomes a stimulant later in our bodies. I'm not a chemistry expert, but my neuropsychiatrist explained the details some time ago.

I don't drink, but am fortunate that I don't really like it....if stuck in a group where everyone has wine or liquor, I ask for Wild Turkey 101 or Makers Mark on the rocks. That usually stumps them, as both are very good bourbons, with Wild Turkey 101 being over 50 proof. (Means over 101 is about 50 percent alcohol). Some folks look at me as Whoa!...that's heavy duty. I am smiling inside because I have the private joke...and annoys me when people say, come on, just have something. That stops that.

Many night places don't even carry Wild Turkey 101....if that's the case, then I say, well if you don't have what I really want, well just some club soda or something else with bubbles and no alcohol. If the place does have it, I just let it sit, it melts the ice so slowly that usually, no one notices I haven't touched it.

My doctor does rx a small dose of a muscle relaxer and a low dosage of Xanax to take about 30 minutes before going to bed to relax my body and my mind.

That has helped me.

Between several years of dream changing practice and this night med, I managed to stop two of worst nightmares, and I'm dealing with several others now.....

The dreams are just manifestations of our fear (anxiety). If we can gain control by practicing a dream change where we have control....it seems to work.

And please don't be Horrified abut being diagnosed as PTSD. It's just a term. That term is used so often currently, I don't usually mention it......there appears that a lot of people who say they have it and use it as an excuse for their actions or to get attention. They have NO idea what it really is like.

It is just a mixture of anxiety (fear) and depression (extreme sadness or indifference)...(the flip side of the coin from anxiety) But it does sound as though you have the symptoms of it.

If you have been tempted to join the PTSD venue on this site, think twice. I was on it one day and removed myself from it after writing the site administrator. Seemed to me, EVERYTHING was a "trigger" that would upset them.

Are you being treated by a psychiatrist and/or therapist who has experience in treating people with "PTSD"? Think that's important. Let me know...I'm a bit older than you and will be glad to share some things that have helped me. OK?