Anxiety

[Gilbertannie67]

would you all give me some suggestions for what you do when your anxiety is bad? Tapping doesn't work for me.

[Stippler]

Welcome to the group! Although it is difficult sometimes, I find that acceptance is helpful. It is uncomfortable, but I have a tendency to try to "scare away" fear, and that makes the anxiety worse for me. I also used to take anxiety meds but they made me worse in the end. So now, I just try to show self-love by accepting my anxiety and "giving myself a break" during these uncomfortable times. I have to tell myself it is okay to have fear. I hope this is helpful. Best of luck to you. 🙏🙏🙏

[Coffeelover5]

Hello! In my opinion the most important thing is to try to make your environment feel as safe as possible, stay away from any triggers or anything that might upset you. Maybe put on a tv show that relaxes you, spend time with someone who makes you feel calm, at this point just do anything that's good for you and be kind to yourself, you're not alone in this

[PrettyinPink3436]

I have incredible anxiety 😬. As in I have broken 2 necklaces by ripping them off my neck (breaking the chains) bc I felt like someone was choking me and begin hyperventilating. I shake and have tremors along with becoming hot 🥵 and sweaty. UGGGG…the list goes on. So over the course of years, here’s where I am currently: First and foremost I pray. 🙏🏼 I have learned (or at least I try) that you can find peace through Jesus. I also use Xanax when needed and I have learned to meditate 🧘‍♀️. I’m not a patient person so learning to meditate was extremely difficult for me. I fell off the horse MANY times b4 the practice of meditating stuck. I’ve now been meditating for about two years and when you get the hang of it you may find some relief, peace and even comfort. Through meditation I learned how to become aware of the beginning of an attack. (This doesn’t always work). However, if I am aware that an attack is looming (by my racing and spiraling thoughts) I can sometimes channel back my thoughts and get myself out of the rabbit hole that I have dug. I am sorry for such a long response but I hope that it helps.

[Hidden in reply to PrettyinPink3436]

Can you tell me how you meditate? Do you use an app? Do you sit down or lay down? How does it work? I have really bad anxiety and take xanax too but I don't want to rely on pills. I just learned a few weeks ago that I've been breathing wrong all these years. I breath into my chest, shallow breathing, even when I take a deep breath. Someone told me about belly breathing. I just have to force myself to lay down and do it but my brain won't shut off. Should I put on music? Should I listen to a sermon? A Christian song? Sometimes all I can think of to do is say Jesus name over and over. Please share your tips. Thank you.

[PrettyinPink3436 in reply to Hidden]

Hi Barbloki😊 I’m happy to share everything I can with you. I hope this reply will make sense to you. I say that bc when you first begin meditating a lot of things about meditation will probably sound weird and you may even feel strange about what you need to do. (I felt a little “stupid” in the very beginning to be honest.) So my first piece of advice is to not give up. Even if it seems uncomfortable to you, keep at it. You WILL get to a point where it will all “click.” Ok so with that being said, I will do my best to explain how I meditate. I’ll try to answer all of your questions

Yes, I do use apps. First of all make sure you use “guided meditations.” That means you will hear someone telling you what you should be doing. Expect the “directions” to sound “odd.” For example: “Inhale from your left leg and exhale from your right leg.” Now that is a visual type thing that you would visualize in your mind. Clearly you can’t actually breathe in one leg and out the other!! That’s just an example of something you may hear and I don’t want that to freak you out.

The core of meditation is based on your 5 senses. Especially your breath. The point is that you are resting your mind/attention on something other than your problems. This brings you into the present moment and what is ACTUALLY happening and not something that your mind made up as a “story” that’s spiraling out of control and also takes your mind away from the past and the future and you become aware that in that moment you are ok and you are safe. For instance, the meditation voice (9 times out of 10 the person guiding you has a very soothing voice. Occasionally I will start a meditation and I hate the voice so I skip it. You’re already anxious so don’t add to that by making yourself listen to a voice that you don’t like) may tell you to listen to sounds in the distance and that becomes your focal point (so your using your sense of hearing) I hope that is somewhat understandable. Other types of anxiety meditations guide you to do a “body scan” where your mind is guided to focus on your various body parts head to toe and the goal is to consciously relax, your muscles, which may be tense and tight. I love that. I hope I did a decent job of explaining the basics of meditating.

Ok on to your specific questions. I have 2 apps. My favorite is actually from the FitBit Sense Watch. I bought the watch (it’s one of those that counts your steps etc) and I could use the FitBit app (of course you only get the meditations if you go premium which is $9.99/month 🙄) without having the watch I don’t know if you can get the app but you could try. The other app is Headspace. A lot of people use this one. (Yearly subscription) I personally think this one is a little advanced but it dives DEEP into what meditation is truly all about. I would recommend.

When I meditate I ALWAYS lay comfortably in my bed even if the voice tells me to sit up straight. It has to do with your breathing…

I have always been a shallow breather too. So when learning to belly breathe I consciously push my belly out on an inhale and consciously pull it in on an exhale. That showed me what it should feel like and pretty soon I understand how to breathe from my belly.

Last but CERTAINLY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING really is prayer 🙏🏼. This is actually the first thing I do in an attack. There’s NOTHING like the peace of God through the Holy Spirit if you are a Christian. I don’t want to give you unsolicited advice so I will leave it at that.

I’m sorry this post ended up being so long but I hope it helps in some way. I’m here for you if you’d like to talk some more.

Have a wonderful Sunday which I pray for you is anxiety free!

[Hidden in reply to PrettyinPink3436]

Thank you SO MUCH for the information. I copied it into a Word document and will start researching guided meditations that can help. I don't have a fitbit watch and I've never heard of Headspace but will look into it. I'm having a major anxiety attack right now as I type so I'm going to go look for a meditation. I pray all the time but I feel like Jesus isn't hearing me. This has been going on for too long and he isn't helping me. I feel like I'm being punished. I hope you have a good Sunday. Thank you again for the information.

[PrettyinPink3436 in reply to Hidden]

I’m sorry I haven’t replied until now. I just wanted to say a couple of things. But first, how are you doing?? I’m very happy that maybe some of my “hacks” are helping you. Have you tried the meditation method yet?

Most importantly, I TOTALLY understand how you feel about praying and praying and feeling like God isn’t listening or that you’re being punished. I have felt that way many times. I don’t want to give unsolicited advice and I wouldn’t want to cross any boundaries but I’m going to add a little something here that I have recently learned with regards to prayer. Sending prayers of gratitude for the things that ARE going right in your life and the things and the people that you are blessed and grateful to have in your life is a great way to start feeling a bit better. You can even pray in gratitude for the things we all take for granted like clean drinking water and oxygen, you have a bed to sleep in, a roof over your head etc. I began doing this and it changed my outlook from being negative, anxious and angry to feeling much more uplifted. I’m not saying that I don’t fall off the horse and have my anger, anxiety and depression get the best of me bc it definitely happens (as in the last 3 days) but when I can “channel back” from my rabbit hole, I just do my best to pick myself up and get back on the horse.

Again, I hope that I am not over stepping here. Just trying to give you the best advice I can.

Please let us know how you’re feeling now and if any advice our group has given has helped.

God Bless!!!

[Hidden in reply to PrettyinPink3436]

Thank you for the reminder of making a gratitude list. When I'm in the dark place of depression, it's hard to find a list of gratitude. I'm in a clear space right now so I'm going to write down the things you just mentioned. Thank you!! You don't need to apologize to me about praying. I pray all the time. Sometimes it's just praying for the end to come quickly but at least I'm still communicating. I've been trying different meditation techniques and it still feels awkward to me. I'm 61 so I have years of bad habits to break and a brain that is resistant to change and new things. I do find that breathing into the belly is helping and I constantly catch myself holding my breath or breathing shallow into my lungs. That's when I notice I start to feel more anixous. It's a learning curve for me. Please keep reminding me. It may just help someone else here who is reading and struggling too. I hope you are doing well.

[sunshinefan]

I have anxiety as well. I have found that meditating help me as does praying, taking a walk in nature, calling a friend and listening to music. Also I agree that acceptance and being kind to yourself are all good things too.

[Gilbertannie67 in reply to sunshinefan]

Thank you I am going to try mediating

[cashew78]

Hello, this is going to sound nuts but random absurdity sometimes works for me. If something specific is bothering me and I worry about it, I'm going to take that worry to the most outlandish, one in a trillion, beyond rational conclusion to, hopefully, give me a laugh. For instance, after a minor mistake set off a near panic attack over being fired at work, I ran with it. I.e.-- I will be unemployed, and then I will be destitute in less than 24 hours, then I will have the secret service contact me and tell me I will never be employed again within 36 hours, and then aliens will land and tell me I'm a bad person and that I should feel bad within 48 hours, and then the universe will explode because of my actions, etc. Sounds completely whimsical, but letting my mind go to the absolute absurd sometimes robs my anxiety of power. It may only get me so far, but it's briefly entertaining and that might be enough to distract me until the anxiety subsides entirely. I wouldn't recommend this for everyone because you have to embrace the absurd creatively... otherwise you are literally just feeding the beast and making it worse. Good luck.

[Gilbertannie67 in reply to cashew78]

Thank you lol! I will try it

[punkster]

Physical activity helps me, so does playing the piano. Meditating is great, but sometimes I have a difficult time relaxing to do it. Getting outside helps me with perspective. Hope this helps.

[Gilbertannie67 in reply to punkster]

Thank you I love the piano

[Agora1]

Hi Gilbertannie67, what may work for one person, doesn't work for another.

Our suggestions on this forum come from our own successful experiences.

It took me a long time to overcome my fear of Anxiety. But I never quit. I always

believed there had to be an answer to this chronic fear cycle. I remember reading

a book entitled "Hope & Help for Your Nerves" by Dr. Claire Weekes *Psychiatrist

as well as having been an Anxiety patient herself...

The word "Acceptance" is the key in ridding ourselves of the lies our brain tells us.

Once that lie is seeded in our brain, it grows to another fear and another fear etc.

Eventually, we may go into a Panic Attack or Agoraphobia as I did for 5 years.

Fear begets Fear, and unless we put a stop to it, the release of adrenaline never

goes down. That's when we stay in anticipational anxiety, also known as

free floating anxiety. It's like having a pilot light on all the time. One disturbing

thought and the pilot light ignites into a full fledge fear.

As for myself, I found that breathing properly can make a big difference in how

we perceive anxiety. There's so much to say but as you hear things, remember

they are only as good as you putting them into action.

Please continue to join in on the group. Take what you think may help and delete

the rest. There is an answer waiting for you. Believe in that and never give up xx