Why tonight 😞

[levymaria]

I’m having anxiety again tonight with pain on my left side of my stomach. I’m trying to remain calm and not overthink but I just feel so wrong. Every time I think I’m making progress, I come back to my head and let the physical sensations overwhelm me. I just want to be able to ignore these symptoms that make me feel terrible. I just don’t know how to convince my brain that I’m fine......

[blackcat64013]

Hi Levymaria,

I have uncovered surprising details about the complex process that occurs after an anxious thought occurs. A thought leads to the flow of neurotransmitters between brain neurons which I like to call a dance of chemical messages until causing a physical symptom to occur.

A practical explanantion ....

Neurons at the end of our nerves send out the chemical messenger to each other. It has been estimated 2,000 to 5,000 molecules of glutamate are usually dumped into the space between the two cells (the synaptic cleft) in about 1 millisecond. The process is then repeated.

The fact this happens so fast means that our brain cells sending and receiving messages often react quicker than the power of our thoughts to control them UNLESS we do some dance practice, practice some more and practice again on how to respond before hand. It's really like a track athlete getting ready for a big competition.

The dance practice occurs in therapies of all kinds where we are attempting to stop or at least slow down a physical reaction to something we can manage and or at least change our thinking and feeling to stop the dance starting in the first place.

Medication affects the way the neurotransmitters dance. ECT does too.

This is the how and why, hoping the explanation is not too complicated.

[levymaria]

So what is the best way to go about practicing the dance?