Coping tips?

[Fighting-Soul]

Hello everyone! Hope all is well today!

Apologies for the long incoming post and thank you for reading.

Just looking to see if anyone has any coping tips for dealing with anxiety, especially in the morning. Each morning i wake with the feeling of dread in my stomach and this last for a good while, which then sends my thoughts wild and panic sets in! I do not want to go back on medication, i would love to cope and manage on my own. I know it’s all thoughts but sometimes the physical feelings and horrendous thoughts take over. I find myself now just dealing with the feelings and telling them to go away, sometimes harder than others. I do try just get up and on with my day but its like i am on egde all day. Sometimes i get some stages of calm but mostly i am in fight or flight mode and on the edge of panic all day! I would love to see if anyone had any good meditation/breathing methods that help? Anything would be greatly appreciated, thank you x

[dizzychar]

I’m exactly the same, it’s like a rollercoaster throughout the day it’s faded for a short period then it comes back then I start overthinking it’s awful, I don’t really have many tips as I’m struggling myself, but I would say talk to someone and let them no how your feeling, be kind to yourself I always find I’m so hard on myself because I feel stupid, I get proper emotional

Maybe have a relaxing bath or try at least and take some nice deep breaths

[Jameshuh]

In the same boat, morning is a tough one. They say up and at'em but up and at what exactly, it is hard to know sometimes I suppose any goal no matter how small. Getting that dose of sunlight seems to help though.

There seems to be some debate on the best method of keep those panic feelings at bay. I don't know the answer but I'm experimenting. One thought is that distraction is the key if you are getting panicky i'm trying some of these but it is too early to say if it works but have a look and see what you think youtube.com/watch?v=ScpDOm0...(Not working as expected?). The distraction people say that once you are getting panicky deep breathing and mediation are less effective and it is better to try that when you are bit calmer because especially meditation starts to build up your resilience against getting anxious in the first place.

I think there will be a right breathing exercises/distraction technique that will help in different situations. 27 breaths seems to help if I can't get to sleep. Exercise also helps there (a 30 minute walk at say 100 steps per minute). Exercise also seems to help with panic feelings i.e. just walking (which is one of the distraction techniques). Journaling feelings with a pen and paper seems to help get them out of your head for a bit i.e. writing down your thoughts and worries. Also surrounding yourself with supportive people as much as possible is a good idea, people who 'get it'. Good luck on your recovery journey.

[Jameshuh]

Just found two additional vids you might find helpful, I might try this myself.

Intrusive thoughts youtube.com/watch?v=c-HKZNh...(Not working as expected?)

Dealing with anxiety youtube.com/watch?v=A_ND_Vw...(Not working as expected?)

Hope that is useful. Take care.

[Fighting-Soul]

Thank you so much for your response. I will definitely try these 😊

[designguy]

Morning anxiety is very common and is called anticipatory anxiety, your thoughts initially on waking are "is my anxiety still here", "will I be anxious all day", "will people know i'm anxious", etc... and it's the thoughts that are fueling the anxiety. You may find medication helpful at least temporarily but one of the most helpful things for me was learning that panic/anxiety is a paradox, the more se struggle, fight or try to deny it the more it persists so the solution is to get ok with feeling uncomfortable and eventually the anxiety will dissipate if you don't keep feeding it with the anxious thoughts. I found the DARE Anxiety book to be very helpful and used their phone app for a while. They also have great videos on youtube you can checkout to see if it might help you.

[Agora1 in reply to designguy]

Right on my friend. xx

[designguy in reply to Agora1]

👍

[stde]

If you are able, get up early, put your shoes on and get out into the silence of nature, this will set you up for the coming day....after 7 days you will notice the difference in your state of calm and will look forward to resetting 🙏.....but don't procrastinate as we are good at that😁