Anxiety

[schematics]

Hey everyone, I'm wondering if anyone suffers from any kind of generalized anxiety? I'm not really talking about specific bouts of anxiety like if you have to take a test, make a speech, or do some specific thing that causes you stress. I'm talking about just feeling tense/anxious throughout the whole day for no specific reason, at least no obvious specific reason. What kind of symptoms do you feel? I get things like heart palpitations, and I constantly find myself swallowing air, my throat feels constricted... all this makes it very difficult for me to sleep and if I do it's not for long so I'm always tired and feel fatigued. The symptoms always become more pronounced when I try and sleep. The thing I hate the most is that when I try and sleep, or stand still and concentrate, my heart beat becomes very apparent (palpitations), and often it feels like it's beating irregularly, or that it's skipping beats. I know there is nothing wrong with my heart, but I can't get rid of this annoying awareness. Not only my heart but I feel my pulse sometimes in my wrist, or the worst which is in my head. Anyone get generalized anxiety like this? How do you deal with it?

[Ailos]

I know you said not to mention specific anxiety, but I used to get in anxious phases, mixed with cases of panic attacks. Generalized anxiety can be caused by any number of causes, so it's often hard to pinpoint the exact culprit. Drugs are generally choice for covering symptoms, but as far as treating the dysfunction, I think behavioral therapy might be best. Perhaps you should try to initiate new thought patterns; instead of focusing on what could go wrong, what is going wrong, or the fact that or why you are anxious, it would be beneficial to remove conscious awareness from those thoughts and introduce new, positive thoughts. Such thoughts could be as simple as "my breathing is nice and smooth," or it doesn't even have to be a thought at all. Focus on the stillness of a room, or the vibrancy and splendor of simple light coming through a window. Perhaps you should look into meditation as a means to calm your mind. You have to keep at it though. As soon as you find yourself spiraling back to anxious thoughtforms, bring conscious awareness to the shift, and bring yourself back to mental stillness. It will be hard work, but eventually things will begin to change for the better, and begin to stay that way. For extreme cases of anxiety (for instance, my panic attacks), I found it therapeutic to write down my feelings and emotions. In this way, they are released from my mind, and my conscious awareness is then free to detach itself from said feelings and emotions. Hope that helps!

[justtess]

I used to have a panic disorder which has diminished to anxiety. It is related to my stress level. I feel like I am on pins and needles when my anxiety comes about. I get jumpy and fidget a lot. Another thing that elevates my anxiety recently is my iron level. If it becomes very low, my anxiety level goes up. How do I deal with it? Well, I force myself to not indulge in any sort of negative or depressing thought. I try breathing exercise. If it becomes too great and I feel an attack coming about... I just let it happen. The feeling will disappear after 10 minutes for me and seems to release the tension. I usually tell others I have a very bad headache.

[topten35]

I use to have anxiety and panic attacks, i thought my parents would die, i used to get terrified in the car when i rode in the car with my parents. All of my thoughts were negative, i use to throw different objects around my room, i punched holes in walls. But then what i did was just to change my thoughts, and i started doing breathing exercises and i began to practice positive thinking. My fast breathing was controlling my thoughts, when i would breath fast i would get more anxious. I did 2 different breathing exercises. One was beutyko (i think that's how it spelled), and i did pursed lip breathing. Beutyko really changes my breathing and i was now able to control my thoughts, i also use to suffer from depression. Now i'm $100% free of any negative thoughts, i never get anxious and i never get depressed. I don't take medication either, i haven't been anxious or depressed since 2006. But the main thing that helped me was the beutyko breathing, it was invented to put an end to asthma but helps with other breathing problems. I hardly ever get angry any more either. The beutyko method cured all of my breathing problems, the main one was over breathing and for me that was breathing loud, i now have control of my thoughts and my emotions. Maybe you should practice diaphgramatic breathing and beutyko breathing, that helped me a lot i hope it'll work for you if you try it.

[rastasteez]

yesterday i got high and i had the worst panic attacks ever! they lasted about an hour or hour and a half...i just had to lie in bed and eventually i fell asleep.

[Ailos]

yesterday i got high and i had the worst panic attacks ever! they lasted about an hour or hour and a half...i just had to lie in bed and eventually i fell asleep. I've known a few people who had similar responses to being high, and I suppose it's a risk you take when altering neural chemistry. I'm not saying marijuana is a bad thing; humans (and many other mammals) have specific cannabinoid receptors, many more than for any other neurotransmitter, so they must be useful for something. Perhaps your pot was laced with something? PCP is becoming a more common drug-doping additive, especially when growers and distributors can't compete with superior strains, and are forced to add things to give their product that extra kick. The same goes for street-vended 'LSD', which is now almost exclusively alternate hallucinogens sold under that name. LSD production has been virtually eliminated on the clandestine level. Anyways, I recommend natural drug-free methods similar to topten35's breathing exercises. Look into meditation or something similar, and find what works best for you. Perhaps listening to relaxing music will help, or just finding a place to sit alone and to clear your mind in solitude.

[schematics]

Hey thanks for the replies everyone. I will look into some of those breathing exercises. And yeah, I do take my moments of solitude, but I feel like my main problem with that is that when I'm alone I always find myself trying to reason through my life and that ends up making me depressed and anxious because I can never come to a solid conclusion on anything. It's hard for me to sit, relax and not introspect, that is, to empty my mind. I'm not a fan of using drugs, legal or not. I tried paxil and lexapro, but they seemed to just turn me into a zombie. Weed nowadays just stresses me out unless it's the right condition. All this I'm going to speculate is the result of an overactive mind.

[rastasteez]

meditation is the way to go=D I've known a few people who had similar responses to being high, and I suppose it's a risk you take when altering neural chemistry. I'm not saying marijuana is a bad thing; humans (and many other mammals) have specific cannabinoid receptors, many more than for any other neurotransmitter, so they must be useful for something. Perhaps your pot was laced with something? PCP is becoming a more common drug-doping additive, especially when growers and distributors can't compete with superior strains, and are forced to add things to give their product that extra kick. The same goes for street-vended 'LSD', which is now almost exclusively alternate hallucinogens sold under that name. LSD production has been virtually eliminated on the clandestine level. yeah thats wut im thinking. oh well it was actually kinda cool