Having #derealization panic and scared about dying. I am having such a hard time coping. I have been on meds for over 20 years and take clonazepam as needed. I have been taking minimum doses because I am trying to do it on my own but it's taking everything from me. I don't feel normal anywhere.
Any words of advise or feel the same
Thank you
Jill
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Gill1970
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If you are fearing death...you are not living life as it should be. Please stop worrying about dying and start living life. please, STOP ! It is self abuse to burden your mind with these thoughts for no reason. You are healthy, you are whole, you are God's child and you are blessed. Live life from this day forward enjoying every moment on this earth. xo
You aren't alone....I'm feeling exactly the same. I can't make those feelings go away but knowing there are others out there helps me ever so slightly. I'm glad you shared your post. Living on the edge constantly is utterly draining....x
You are right! It's exhausting and depressing. It would be nice to be happy when it's sunny outside. Instead it feels dark and gloomy. Thanks for the post and I am here if uppity need to chat.
By the way I currently have derealization. The more we focus on it the more persistent it will be. Derealization is actually a coping mechanism that our brain produces because we are in a fight or flight stage and our brain wants to numb us from potential danger. I am still learning to accept this but I am progressing.
To control panic we need sophisticated unconscious (non-cognitive) regulation. It develops in early childhood when a child has a secure base. Since panic is a huge problem, it's obvious that secure base was missing.
Can you identify a person in your life, or who has been in your life, who you felt comfortable with to feel your guard let down? Our guard lets down when we receive unconscious signals from the face, the voice quality, and the body-language/touch of a person who is safe to be with both physically and emotionally. That means they are easy-going and non-judgmental.
I teach clients to deliberately establishes links between challenging situations and the calming presence of such a person. Doing that helps them build in the automatic calming that should have been developed during childhood.
In an American Psychologist article titled "The unbearable automaticity of being," Bargh & Chartrand say "nonconscious mental systems perform the lion's share of the self-regulating burden."
In The Science of The Art of Psychotherapy, Allan Schore sites "Emotion Coming of Age" by Leslie Greenberg. Greenberg says there is a "fundamental implicit affect regulatory process performed by the right hemisphere . . . to allow the . . . building of. . . automatic emotion regulating capacities . . ."
So here is the problem. Anxiety must be controlled unconsciously. CBT and insight therapies rely on the conscious left brain. When anxiety becomes too strong, cognition becomes overwhelmed and can no longer regulate anxiety.
At this point, the right brain can save the day if - and only if - early relationships allowed the person to develop the unconscious automatic regulation.
Control of anxiety depends - not on controlling thoughts or doing deep breathing - but upon improving the right brain's ability to regulate anxiety based on links es links established in the client's mind that cause calming to take place. Calming links stimulate the vagus nerve. Even if stress hormone levels are high, it slows the heart and provides gut level calming.
The method I developed to train the brain to automatically regulate anxiety is detailed in my book Panic Free: The 10-Day Program to End Panic, Anxiety, and Claustrophobia. Find it oh Amazon ahd click on the cover photo and you can read a lot of it free.
I too have a constant fear of death. I deal with nausea as soon as I wake in the morning. Nothing has ever helped. Just take it one day at a time, enjoy the "good" periods. You are not alone.
20 years on meds .... I was on ciprolax for about an year and stopped it gradually. After 2 years now again I am feeling very anxious.... Not sure if I should go back to the meds again. Earlier it was fear of death now this is fear of going crazy ...
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