Connect
What is your anxiety like?
Hello y'all,
I have dealt with with anxiety for most of my life but have finally this year been diagnosed with GAD and panic disorder. Now that I have gotten the help I need I have been feeling so much better day to day, but sometimes when life gets tough it flares up again. One thing that I have experienced for years does not sound like the typical anxiety symptoms. I often get this sort of "brain fog" where I will have a hard time thinking, will seem very out of it, I will even slur my speech, and normally it comes toward the end of the day and I am fine the next day. I also get this weird thing where my eyes will feel dried out and sensitive, and I will blink a lot. It doesn't worry me as bad as it used to because I attribute it to my anxiety flare ups, but I was wondering if anyone else experiences anything like this, and if they have any methods to alleviate it.
Thanks!
Like
Helpful
HugInterested in more discussions like this? Go to the Depression & Anxiety Support Group.
Connect
Lisa & Patrick, I would just like to add that I to have trouble exercising. Use to be a Gym Rat a long time ago. With the advise of one of my doctors to help me recover from Lyme Disease, same cac be said for Fibromyalgia, exersise classes have been wonderful for me. My local YMCA has a Silver Sneakers and regular Yoga classes. It has helped me to get back to a somewhat normal life. Along with that I have just started their Flex and Balance class. My point is that many of us have a hard time making the time to excersie by ourselves.
For me I have to have a comitment to accompolish something like regular excersie. I made a comitment to myself and the instructor to work on getting better.
Since I still work and run my own business I have built the time into my schedule. It has been wonderful for me!
PS, I have suffered from anxiety and depression all of my Life. I have been on medication for 30 years. But still have those moments! The exercise program has helped all of me!
Good Luck!
Sundance(RB)
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsFor what it’s worth I have developed a little technique based on exposure therapy I like to call rapid erp. (Ocd, pure o since early teens. I am now 42) obviously erp isn’t easy but once you have deemed the thought to be intrusive and not realistic in that there’s nothing you can ACTUALLY do about it,try this: wherever you are ..stop what you are doing.. put your head down.. close your eyes.. and whatever the intrusive thought, exaggerate it, to the extreme, picture yourself in the middle of it.. take control and exaggerate every intrusive thought one theme at a time Do this for no more than 30 secs total..At first you may need to do this 10 + times a day..I have found this buys me freedom, and generates a sense of control. I used to stop and do it at my desk at the office, anywhere basically.. also don’t push things away, rather than your automatic response being “that’s not true about me!!” Change your internal dialogue to be “meh, maybe it’s 0.0001% true” and live with those odds...obviously don’t do it while driving 😀 good luck
Ps. I’m no doctor. Just someone who’s living with ocd and picked up a few tricks along the way..
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsThank you I feel better this is my first holiday dance
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
1 Reaction@patrick7, thank you for responding. I so understand this kind of anxiety and depression. I have two granddaughters, 18 and 21. They were abused by their father and then had to deal with his suicide. I felt so helpless. I was not allowed in the home for years. My daughter has severe PTSD, the 21-year-old has OCD and was hospitalized for 6 months after his death. The 18-year-old has social anxiety and has attempted suicide herself. Although it is better for me not to be involved in their lives, there is a huge hole in my heart. If only..........if only.........my very best thoughts for you and your grandchildren. I understand. Chris
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
1 ReactionHello Lisa: thank you for asking about my symptoms. The feeling of doom and pessimism, together with the inability to think clearly, even the eyes don’t focus well, bothers me the Most. Typically, I’m a pretty humorous person with many friends and make friends Easily, but when the anxiety surfaces, i don’t even like to pick up the phone. Thank you for having started this dialogue, „matt.k.“, it makes these episodes feel more „normal“ to know i‘m not the only one experiencing this.
Elisa
Thank you
I use the app Headspace. It is a guided meditation. The program on headspace that I'm using right now is mediation for Anxiety. Love it. It has helped tremendously. It uses guided meditation plus other skills to help you throughout the day.
Warm Regards........
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsHi, @nancyrc - sounds like you've found a really helpful tool in the app for mediating your anxiety. What was your anxiety like previously (or wherever it arises now)?
What you describe seems like Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I have dealt with this for years, it is the diminished sunshine during the winter months that causes it. There are different therapies available, one is a SAD LIGHT BOX that gives you full spectrum light that replaces the sunlight that isn’t present. I have used this with varying results. The one thing I found that truly works is to head south in the winter and go some place that has sunshine almost everyday. For many that is not an option, exercise does help in that endorphins are released in your brain and that seems to brighten things. I take a “brain medication” already for anxiety but that does not ward off the SAD, it is a real problem come winter. God Bless!
@jh31251 @elisabetha there is no definitive study proving a SAD light box works to cure SAD. I did have a doctor who said she would approve a request for it if I wanted to purchase one so it is used to treat SAD, but with no proof it actually works.