Negative thoughts/feeling - Treatment options

[Pepper11]

Hi all!

I have been struggling with anxiety since Jan this year after a health scare. I now know that there is nothing physically wrong with me but I still struggle with anxiety. Not going to list all the symptoms here as you are all well aware of what the mind can do to the body. It took me a while to accept that I am physically fine.. after long struggles and trying all kinds teas and vitamins etc I just eventually decided screw anxiety and let the symptoms flow through me and accepting them. This seems to worked well so far along with the medication that I am taking. Not high doses but therapeutic ones.

So what I am now struggling with is the negative thoughts and feelings that anxiety causes. These seems to be triggered by random events that I cannot pinpoint, so it is GAD(general anxiety disorder) and seems to come at random times, as I would feel real good for days on end and then suddenly it hits. Need to then really concentrate and try not to let that evolve into the irrational thought patterns of anxiety sufferers. The thoughts/feeling can't be explained, just a sudden feeling of being down if that makes sense and the I worry about that feeling and about feeling down again. Been struggling to explain that to people. So maybe a little anxiety over having anxiety hehe.

So now I just want to know if any of you are struggling with the same negative (down) thoughts and feelings and find out if anyone can recommend treatment options to help get rid of these. Once I can control all my thoughts again I can start scaling down on my meds which is the ultimate goal.

Will appreciate any of your input in this matter and look forward to hearing from you all and contributing to helping others in this community 😊

[blackcat64013]

Hi Pepper,

Thanks for sharing with the forum. You sound tired of feeling bad.

My explanation for the blah days is the anxiety/depression is called my Black Dog (I do have a black Labrador) who for the most part sleeps on the mat. Some days, for no reason, he jumps up and bites me. I have to treat the bite until it heals over.

The Black Dog institute is a good resource for self treatment online cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).

You may require to check in with a mental health professional, either a psychologist or psychiatrist, to engage in talking therapy to get you to the point of "considering" going off your meds. Ask your doctor for a referral to a MHP who specializes in anxiety.

Going off your meds is an admirable goal but a huge decision which requires some extra thought about the pros and cons of this action.

[Pepper11 in reply to blackcat64013]

I am currently working with a therapist and she also suggested CBT for this. Will need to customise some of the things in CBT as some of my thoughts can't be explained or put to paper.

But I agree to just wait for the wound to heal as you say and it always gets better. So there's hope.

Appreciated that you took time out to comment and give me some of your insights on this.

Much love❤️

[Hidden]

Hi yes been their and sad to say still doing that one 2.5 years on lol.

Trouble is I think is once its in ,its in .

And we've ruminated it so many times in our minds that it's like leaning to ride a bike once you know you know , how can you unlearn it and go back to not knowing how to ride a bike ?

I think and I quote THINK because I'm not a medic thank god, you now know you are ok and you do not have this life threatening condition, now you need to re learn your mind how to ride that bike in a different way ?

I.e. You now know that if you fall off that bike it really can hurt you, so you now will ride it with more care ?

Because we all take our health for granted with blinkers on until we are faced with something that's maybe life threatening and this changes everything ?

And ignorance is bliss and we are likely all guilty of that until it affects us which I think is normal .

Now when you ride your bike ,it has a little wobble lol i.e. Anxiety and you may or may not have to ride your bike and learn to live with that wobble lol which is what I have done and how I am copeing.

Because now your brain your mind is informed and you are aware of the many dangers we can have in our lives ?

So ride you bike and try to enjoy it , and when you have a wobble as I call it lol tell yourself ?

Yes yes I know , but I'm taking care and everything's going to be alright ...........

Because it will just with a little wobble along the way here and their.

Maybe buying a good teach yourself cbt book may help you also.

God bless and I hope this helps .

Your life is a beautyful thing beleave it love it take care of it and most of all ?

LIVE IT.

[Pepper11 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your reply.. think you're absolutely right with the metaphor in that we just need to retrain our brains to think and do things differently.

Will look into the CBT book, thanks for the suggestion!!

Much love to all

[Francine23]

Hi Pepper, maybe I'm a good news for u and u r such a relief for me cause I feel exactly what u feel.

I have this feeling since January too, but it was only a little anxiety, and I was busy that time. I was preparing my academic final exam for my graduation that time. I was so busy at university, I didn't have enough time to have a good sleep. Then, since I was graduated on March, things get worse. Really2 worse. I was not nervous about the graduation cause things were fine, but I just had nothing to do and it made me crazy!!

My too-analytical mind is working against me, not for me. First, I have health anxiety (hypochondriac). I went to ER couple times just to make sure that I am perfectly healthy. Every little change in my body makes me panic and I've been through sooooo many panic attacks. But, as time goes by, just like u feel, finally I realized and accepted that I am perfectly healthy. Unfortunately, since I am a woman, every time my period comes, my anxiety's getting worse, feels like going crazy!

What was on my mind is "ok, I am healthy. Then why I am still anxious?". Then, I realized a crucial thing "what I am afraid the most is the illness, but I am afraid of die/death/dying and other things that have something to do with it". Since I realized this thing, a new OCD came, it is called "magical thinking intrusive thoughts". I link like almost everything to death. For example, I am afraid of number four "I will die if I see number four", or, I am afraid of seeing a person wearing black top and black bottom bcs black is a grieving color. These are just examples of hundreds of my scary thoughts!

U r not alone. I am still struggling and trying my best to get rid of this scary intrusive thoughts which affect my feelings. I am terrified and annoyed.

I hope u feel better soon!

xx

[Pepper11 in reply to Francine23]

Thank you Francine.. so much of what you said is what I went through. Analytical mind, health anxiety etc all part of what happened. Also was not working at the time so bored at home all day having all the time in the world to think on the wrong things. Also feels that about 10days before and the right before my period it gets worse.

Also link most things health wise to death, as my fathered passed (14years ago) suddenly from an illness that they tested for the day before he died and it was negative and the next day he passed from it. So in my mind there is always a chance of something not actually serious being serious/fatal as it has happened to me before.

Your post has made shed some light and knowing that others are going through it too is somehow comforting.

I am sure we will move past this with acceptance and allowing time to also heal our minds.

Much love to all.

[Hidden]

Hi Pepper 11. I totally get where your coming from with the negative thought. As well as suffering from anxiety and depression I am a recovery alcoholic. Something I practice is to write down a daily gratitude list.Not always easy on those days when I'm in a negative frame of mind! It helps me to look back at the many good things in my life and remind myself of what I have achieve. The anxiety as we all know can be crippling some days but if I manage do a few tasks I congratulate myself and write it down to look back on. This is something I know many people in AA do and have found it helps....we can be a negative bunch ☺