Just curious, if you suffer from anxiety, how do you cope? trying to understand it a bit more
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How do YOU deal with anxiety?
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Posted 8 months ago #
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not very well.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Drugs.
Posted 8 months ago # -
I try to keep life as simple as possible
too many things going on is sure to get me getting a bit anxious
obviously you can't do it all the time but it helps to aim in that direction
Posted 8 months ago # -
cbt worked for me.
see your gp or if you want to self medicate, go to livelifetothefull.com.
best to see your gp first though.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Dont watch the news.
Ever.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Drugs, Avoidance, CBT, Not very well
Posted 8 months ago # -
racefaceec90 - Member
not very well.
Yea, that.
(and occasionally hitting the bottle)Posted 8 months ago # -
I suffer from anxiety/paranoia, Citalopram and Temazepam, tried counselling but it was a load of bollox. Gonna have a CBT session at some point but it was kinda dependent on me first completing the counselling. In terms of how do I cope, the citalopram has taken the edge off things but it can still get bad, I just avoid situations that I think will make me anxious, if things flare up it can take a couple of days to feel settled again.
It doesn't control/ruin my quality of life dramatically, but I do wish is wasn't an issue...
Posted 8 months ago # -
It depends distraction techniques can work for me, but anxiety is just such a part of my day to day life I tend to just to accept it knowing that tomorrow or the day after I will feel different.
Sometimes, if I am really really bad, I will take some Valium, or a sleeping pill or a sedating anti-depressant or an even an anti-psychotic, but never all at the same time
I know I shouldn't self medicate on prescription drugs but if the docs keep on giving me them then I may as well use them.
But seriously, you should probably start with self help techniques.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Accept it.
I get irrationally anxious about some things, rationally anxious about somethings, and manage to be calm, cool and collected when some others are going apeshit.
Essentially it's just a feeling, and therefore, with effort, can be controlled. That sounds like an easy thing to say but it takes a huge amount of effort on occasion.
The manifestations in a physical sense are easy enough to identify; heart rate up, blood pressure up, sweating, and so on. You just have to learn to be the boss, regardless of what is going on inside.
Anxiety can be useful; in sporting terms its all about arousal, about getting up for it, getting your race face on. Learn when to use it, and when to hide it and damp it down.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Mmm, lots of good stuff here.
Drugs. It's a start.
CBT. Amazing what this can do (if you get the right counsellor).
Accept it. Talk about it. Learn to live with it.
Don't watch the news (i.e. stress avoidance)
Posted 8 months ago # -
Work,money,ex drug user.all causes it for me.
fook all helps..
that is all
Posted 8 months ago # -
i make sure i eat lots in the morning rather than leave it until late in the day.
try it, it works for me.Posted 8 months ago # -
Ignore any suggestion of MTFU.
Avoid self medication like the plague, including drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Allow yourself to accept help, start with your GP. IF that doesn't work, and it doesn't always, get a second opinion if that doesn't work a third and so on.
Generally speaking the process will be to stabilise the condition with drug therapy. Once that is done CBT.
Relax into accepting that there is something genuinely wrong which cannot be healed without external assistance. (thus the advice re MTFU)
Be honest about it, you'll be amazed how many times you hear "Yeah I know, same for me".
Posted 8 months ago # -
Don't search for a status of being that could only be achieved by a sociopath.
We are bombarded with images of uber confident people who can deal with everything that life throws at them, but its all false.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Citalopram, Mirtazapine and Fluoxetine all had rather bad effects on me.
In my case they turned mild depression into frequent suicidal thoughts. I followed GP's directions on shifting from one to the other very slowly. Was on the first for seven months, the second for four, and I will admit I didn't give the last of them long before I decided that the medication wasn't working in my case.
I came off them in February this year and have been getting better month by month since. I am absolutely sure that the medication is great for some people, but am equally sure that it just put me in a suspended state that stopped me from dealing with life directly.
I try to avoid stressful situations around too many people. I don't go to the pub anymore very often, but luckily don't feel the need to (twice a months is usually more than enough for me). I try to control finances carefully with very simple spreadsheets, which might sound like a pain in the a**e itself, but it justs means I know I have not forgotten anything and therefore don't have to worry. I do the same for some other necessary tasks such as taking care of my fish tanks.
News of bad things in the world doesn't really bother me. I actually have the radio on nearly constantly when at home and find it rather comforting in the background. It's a nice easy constant to have there and switch on with a flick of a switch... same voices... same things at the same times.
I am very careful to NEVER promise I will be somewhere socially. I am getting much better at making it these last few months, but make sure I explain that I will do my best but NEVER promise.
I also began to keep Quail in the garden which I raised from eggs. It's very hard to concentrate on your own concerns about life when a little fluffy thing that thinks you are it's mum is cheaping it's a**e off pretending it's a big scary Rooster and demanding food!
Posted 8 months ago # -
I just take life easy
Posted 8 months ago # -
Another mental trick is to be someone else when it gets too bad; choose a calm and collected person and try to act as you would think they do in a difficult situation.
The airline industry, and pilots in particular, get taught about 'situational awareness', which is the idea that in any crisis, someone should be able to stand back, to disassociate themselves from what is going on and be able to see the whole situation. You can use this to get a metaphorical 'grip' on what is going on, to be able to stand back and assess things from a slightly more neutral point of view and therefore come to some kind of calmer understanding of the things that are going on.
Ultimately these are all tricks, ways of fooling yourself into thinking more rationally about situations that you encounter.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Gave up a smoking, naughty chalk and alcohol (for a period). Oh, and had a blood test and discovered I had a thyroid issue, on Levothyroxin for life now, which now means all prescriptions are free (crazy), all good. Cycling more has helped too.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Drinking heavily and pretending everything is okay
Posted 8 months ago # -
I don't cope very well with it. A combination of medication, CBT, hypnotism, diet, no caffeine and alcohol have returned me to something of a normal life.
I would do/try anything to get rid of panic attacks.
Posted 8 months ago # -
i just don't worry about it, and go for a ride. or play with the dog. or hug my girlfriend. not necessarily in that order
Posted 8 months ago # -
For proper full on panic attacks, Lorazapam.
Anything that comes under the heading 'just don't worry about it, go for a ride' isn't hardcore anxiety which I think is what this is about. But like everything there are varying degrees of severity.
I keep a diary of every time I need to take lorazapam, it is a drug of last resort (highly addictive), and I use that to develop avoidance strategies.
Inexplicable total panic is really quite horrible
Posted 8 months ago # -
i itch my leg
Posted 8 months ago # -
Bottle it up inside, tell no-one and pretend everything is alright.
Posted 8 months ago # -
i have panic attacks with really bad palpatations and quite often am asleep and they wake me up. they are horrible and i find that distracting my mind by watching tv or going online for a while helps it to pass.
wish i could find a proper cure though.
my anxiety just appears , nothing in particular causes it. then it goes just as quickly until next time.
the only thing i notice makes it a lot worse is tiredness.Posted 8 months ago # -
cycling, boxing and exposure therapy (Facing fears etc). generally speaking I've always found throwing myself into situations that make me anxious for no reason, and knowing that I can't get out I cope ok. Its a bit balls on the line, but it beats sitting at home!
Posted 8 months ago # -
It's a good question and the answer depends on what you're actually anxious about. I think the older you get, the more anxiety canrule your life, so try and change your focus.
Rather than think about what is going wrong or what may go wrong, think about what has gone right and what you are good at.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Wanking, exercise and heavy drinking, not usually at the same time though
Posted 8 months ago # -
As an Olympic level worrier I'm probably not the best person to dish out mantras for peaceful living.
That said, I'm calmest when I meet problems - imaginary or real - head on. Worry tends to make me freeze, so I can't deal with the things that worry me. Worries mount up and the feeling gets worse. Doing something about them does alleviate the symptoms.
Other than that, I'd go for djglover's wanking, exercise and heavy drinking option. But I'd do it simultaneously.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Is it ok if I ask any of the people who say they suffer with it to describe how it is please? I don't suffer myself, thankfully, but interested in others' perspective. What does CBT do to help? When does CBT stop and drugs start?
Just interested to know. I'm not a MTFUer.
Feel free to go into as much detail as you want.
Posted 8 months ago # -
I don't suffer anxiety, however Yoga has a few tricks to teach you.
Posted 8 months ago # -
DD - you know that feeling when someone leaps out from behind a door unexpectedly and makes you jump..?
That sudden constriction that you feel in your gut and chest just for a split second..?It's that.. but longer... waaaay longer.. all day sometimes..
not nice..
It drove me quite literally round the twist and barking mad in my early twenties..
it's not so bad these days thankfully..I find obsessive forum browsing helps relieve anxiety to a large degree
Posted 8 months ago # -
Rockape63 - Member
Rather than think about what is going wrong or what may go wrong, think about what has gone right and what you are good at.I think this makes a lot of sense.
Not sure where the line is between anxiety/depression/stress/neurosis but I get really worked up ('what if', worst case scenarios, feels like a descent into manicness, unable to sleep, concentrate or look people in the eye) when my and my family's security or wellbeing is threatened i.e. redundancy, threat of illness. Not sure where it came from, but until my Mum died traumatically 3 years ago I was really quite happy-go-lucky. Think I may have answered myself there...
The decent into anxiety can be paralysing, making it impossible to think of a logical solution. So you get even more panicky.
Posted 8 months ago #
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