Acceptance how tf do I do it?

[Ashley1489]

Five years now I’ve had constant lightheaded sensations and dizzy spells how do I just accept that it’s just anxiety ????? That’s the key right ? Acceptance and it will all disappear? How do you just go on feeling like you will faint at any given minute someone please enlighten me because I’m fed up

[magman38]

I have it every day and it's been 4 years now. I use a rollator to walk with (which sucks) none of the doctors know what it is.

[Ashley1489 in reply to magman38]

Do they tell you anxiety as well ??

[saturn2k]

Have you gotten any help ? There is such a thing as Anxiety Dizziness. The thought of fainting can cause more symptoms so it's a vicious cycle. Have you had your ears checked out ? You may be suffering from BPPV (Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo). It's the most common type of Vertigo. Tiny calcium carbonate crystals become dislodged from within the chambers of your inner ear. My brother-in-law has been treated for it over the past few years. There are special exercises (Epley Maneuver) that are performed once diagnosis is made, slow maneuvers for positioning your head. The goal is to move the particles back to where they belong. I had never heard of it before and did quite a bit of reading and it's a real condition. While the condition can't be cured, it can be managed. Some of the exercises can be done at home, but my brother in law goes to his doctor. He says it's unpleasant but won't kill him, but he has relief sometimes for over a year before the next attack. He is a migraine sufferer which seems to fit in with people who have BPPV. The main symptoms of BPPV is dizziness, vertigo, lightheadedness, imbalance or nausea. He said that mostly just getting out of bed, or rolling in bed is the movement that can trigger an attack.

[Beevee]

Ashley.

First and foremost, acceptance is not something you “do.” It’s the attitude you have towards the symptoms of anxiety that will allow the space (and time) for your mind and body to heal naturally, which it will if you stop trying to do stuff to get rid of the symptoms. I've posted lots of information on this forum about acceptance which you may find useful but to help further, the following message is from a lady called Maria who has recovered and taken from the AnxietyNoMore website which I strongly recommend for any anxiety sufferer. An attitude of acceptance takes time to develop, allowing the natural physiological process of recovery (the exact same way the human body recovers from injury). Anyway, over to Maria....

I have progressed from experiencing anxiety every day, thick depersonalisation, unrelenting fear and wandering thoughts that had to do with everything and anything, to a new me. After some time it comes off in layers. Of course, your perception is stuck on you for a while, but it makes too much sense to even question, as all you have been doing is noticing and fearing everything that’s been going on.

Anyway, the main thing we have to keep in mind that I got out of Paul’s book (note - Paul David's book is titled "At Last a Life" and founder of the website i mentioned) found to be the most helpful is understanding that, in order to get better, it is VITAL to feel terrible… Feeling awful, whether it be anxiety, depersonalisation or panic, is the key to overcoming all of this. It is more than important that we feel it. Sounds weird, but when you are trying to get over anxiety, it is the ANXIETY you are feeling that is going to help you overcome these issues. We need to look at it as the friend that it is to us in this process rather than the enemy we fear so much.

Without feeling the anxiety, how are we going to show ourselves that it is not a threat anymore? Whenever the anxiety comes, we go “Oh my God its happening again, no, I’m scared." Well, that is telling us it is a threat and if we even feel a tiny bit of it, we are going to feel threatened. Of course, these triggers are going to make us feel anxious and bring on all the issues again because the triggers ignite that reaction we have had to anxiety for so long, which is nothing but attention, fear, and panic.

WE HAVE TO TEACH OURSELVES TO CHANGE OUR REACTION TO ANXIETY.

In order to implement this,we MUST feel the anxiety; the anxiety HAS to be there to change our mentality. We have to teach ourselves to have a different reaction WHILE we are feeling these feelings. Before, it has been so much fear and attention. We give the feelings so much power that even the slightest trigger can bring them back up to the point where the cycle starts again. But when we change our reaction to the issues we are dealing with, over time, we learn to respond to them differently, and over time we take the power away.

In my personal road to recovery, every time I felt anxiety, fear, panic, DP or intense thoughts, I would almost be happy about it. Here is my chance to change this cycle, RIGHT NOW!! With these feelings I can reverse this thing, as I accept these feelings, I am changing my reaction to them, which takes their power away. I am going to sit back and let them come and let them make me feel however I feel. If anything I would want them to stay for as long as they wanted to.

The longer the feelings stayed with me, the longer I had the opportunity to teach myself that these are not a threat and I don’t have to feel threatened. Over time, I taught my mind to react to these feelings this way, rather than “oh my God, I’m so scared. What is wrong with me? I’m never going to get out of this. I must fix it” Of course you feel uncomfortable still, but it’s almost like you learn to feel comfortable with being uncomfortable…

It truly is a process. You have to train your mind to think differently and in time it will react differently to these feelings, rather than with fear and frustration, the very things that keep them coming. The most important message I got out of this book was the desire for the anxiety to be there, as it was the only way to make progress with this.

It makes so much sense looking back. Before I viewed anxiety and everything that came with it as the thickest terror of the world and when it had its hold on me I just felt helpless. Now, through this book, I look at it as almost a teacher who is on my side and wants me to succeed, as whenever it’s around, that is when I have the opportunity to grow.

So remember “Anxiety is not a disease, therefore it needs no cure”.

Ashley, the above may feel too much to ask of you at this stage but let me assure you that recovery is entirely possible. I know, I've been through the very same process so please trust me. Recovery is inevitable if you stop fighting the symptoms and let them be there, without doing anything to stop yourself from feeling anxious.

[Ashley1489 in reply to Beevee]

Thank you so much for your reply so in detail thank you means a lot

[Beevee in reply to Ashley1489]

No problem. Just happy to help.

[Jeff1943]

Ashley, you're not certain whether your symptoms are physical or due to anxiety. Has your doctor referred you to an ear specialist, what's called a dizzy doctor? Have you tried taking serc-8 (betahistamine) tablets to see if they help with the dizziness? This is the best anti-vertigo medication: if it works then it's not anxiety. Have you tried taking diazepam or xanax which are fast acting tranquillisers for a few days? If it works then it is anxiety.

Seeing how Serc-8 and diazepam do or don't help your symptoms plus the input of an ear specialist should decide once and for all whether this is physical or anxiety. The meds mentioned are prescription only but if you asked your doctor for a weeks supply of Serc-8 and then ask for say 4 days supply of diazepam and explain why you should be able to gain his or her cooperation.

If it is physical then the advice saturn2k has given here about BPPV and the Epley manouvre is very revelant: there are YouTube videos showing how to do it but when I had BPPV I wasn't confident enough to do it myself and couldn't find a medical person skilled in Epley.

If it is physical cutting down on salt is helpful. Also is your blood pressure normal, low blood pressure can lead to light headedness and dizziness.

Let's presume it is anxiety: you ask how do you accept it and if you practice "Acceptance and it just disappears." No, you have to practice acceptance for several weeks and maybe longer before the symptoms disappear. Acceptance is no quick fix like you start accepting your symptoms at lunchtime and by teatime you're cured. Fraid not, if only it was that simple.

So how do you practice acceptance, the method set out by Claire Weekes in her book 'Self help for your nerves' so many years ago? First you need the reassurance that the power of anxiety is limited, for example you say it makes you feel like you're going to faint. But I bet you have never actually fainted. Nor will you in the future. It is not life-threatening and can't disable you or make you lose your mind. It is a toothless paper tiger: all bark and no bite. Knowing these facts helps you to lose your fear of your anxiety and its symptoms. Constantly generating fear hormone is what has been keeping your nervous system over sensitised for the past five years.

Frame your mind to accept the lightheadedness and dizziness for the moment. Agree to live with it for the time being. Agree to coexist with it for a while. Do this knowing full well that by accepting it you are bringing forward your recovery. Ideally you should arrive at a stage whereby it doesn't matter whether you feel dizzy or not, you just press ahead with your day replacing fear with acceptance. You see, you can't accept something and fear it at the same time.

Acceptance does take time to get your head round, if you can only manage to glimpse acceptance for a few minutes to begin with that's fine, it's something you can build on.

Acceptance is not the same as 'putting up with' and won't work if you're constantly checking yourself to see if the dizziness has gone away, that's not accepting it.

This then would be the road plan that I would suggest to bring about your full recovery. If at any time you get tangled up just tango on.

[Minnie87 in reply to Jeff1943]

Amazing Jeff.i actually screenshotted your reply to look at on my phone when I want to.thank you.

[Ashley1489]

I’ve been to ents I’ve had blood work heart checked eyes checked all that I’m perfect they say