topic How to deal with anxiety in Anxiety

How to deal with anxiety

Lmtkrc — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 08:35:45 GMT

Hey guys dealing with major anxiety since I been put on medication and its making it 100x worse so when I eat I can feel the food go down my chest and near my breast bone I talked to my GP and she said it's cause I'm anxious and having anxiety non stop but nothing I do can get my mind of my anxiety I don't know how to deal with my anxiety

How to deal with anxiety

Here2Talk — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 08:47:11 GMT

Hi Lmtkrc,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble. What medication and what’s it for?

Did you have anxiety before the medication?

How to deal with anxiety

Lmtkrc — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 08:49:14 GMT

I've had anxiety before but it went sky high after having my baby it's medication for anxiety and postnatal

How to deal with anxiety

Here2Talk — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 09:28:02 GMT

I see... That sounds terrible dear. How recently have you had your bub?

Your GP has said that it’s because of your anxiety, are you worried that what you’re experiencing is because or something else, or are you just afraid of the anxiety itself?

How to deal with anxiety

Lmtkrc — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 09:46:51 GMT

I had him 5 and a half weeks ago now , I just panic over little things I feel so I gave her a call she said it's nothing to worry about that it's my anxiety causing it cause I'm anxious 24/7 she said if I start throwing up to go in but I haven't threw up or anything I think it's cause I get anxious thinking about it before eating that's why it happens

How to deal with anxiety

Petal22 — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 09:57:34 GMT

Hi Lmtkrc’s,

Sorry to hear you are feeling this way....

I also suffered with anxiety after having children mine developed into OCD it was severe...

I was put on an antidepressant for my anxiety, in my experience it got worse before it got better..... it usually takes up to 6 weeks before the antidepressant works...... have you been on medication for long?

I would highly recommend you do a mental health plan with your gp... this will give you 10 free sessions with a phycologist....... a phycologist can give you many strategies for dealing with your anxiety....

I highly recommend meditation, mindfulness, attention training, try to slow down your breathing.....

exericise and being with people helps aswell...

im now fully recovered, if I can recover there is hope you can too..

hang in there, your not alone..

im here if you want to chat..

How to deal with anxiety

Here2Talk — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 10:21:59 GMT

I’m not a professional but it would seem in light of the fact that you’ve just had a baby 5 weeks ago and you had pre-existing anxiety that it is super heightened. It is a curious phenomenon with the heightened awareness of the passage of food down your aesophagus.

childbirth and having a new baby is a giant alteration to ones life, and a heap of hormones will be coursing through your body. Also, your mind has become extra sensitive to distress which makes sense given that your emotions right now play an important role in nurturing your bub. Unfortunately it seems it has become “too” sensitive.

a lot of good points mentioned above by Petal: medications aren’t simultaneous, but they should start to work. Just keep checking in with your GP to monitor the progress. I second the mental health care plan. 10 free sessions, and they will hopefully work on strategies to calm you. It is a very vulnerable time so yeah I would recommend you do that as soon as you can.

apart from that, I am no stranger to anxiety. There are many techniques that a good psychologist can discuss with you. As recommended above, meditation, mindfulness, breathwork.

Another is having a good chat. Do you have a partner and/or family to support you?

Would you like to talk through the anxiety and the things that are troubling you a bit here, and in particular the unpleasant eating sensations you’re experiencing?

How to deal with anxiety

Lmtkrc — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 10:38:45 GMT

I've only been on the medication for 6 days now my GP said it will take awhile for it to kick in and work she suggested I do Activites like colouring in , puzzles etc to keep my mind of it right now I feel good my anxiety has gone down and the pain is gone I think because I'm anxious all the time I make my body signal pain that I'm stressing about

How to deal with anxiety

Lmtkrc — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 10:41:04 GMT

I do have a partner and family around me but they don't understand how bad my anxiety is they choose to tell me everything is alright and leaves it at that , they don't understand how bad it is and how anxious I am I mentally break down but they just don't understand because they never went through this

How to deal with anxiety

Petal22 — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 10:54:15 GMT

Hang in there Lmtkrc’s, it will improve it just takes time.... keep in touch with your gp.....

please go back to your gp and ask for a mental health plan so you can receive 10 free sessions with a phycologist who can give you strategies to help you deal with your anxiety... ( it helped me deal with mine)......

I totally understand what you are going through because I went through it aswell...... having severe anxiety is very exhausting, everything goes so fast......

if your family don’t understand that is understandable because they haven’t been through it themselves..... you can only hope they try to support you with no judgment...... I’m here if you ever want to chat.... I understand...

please make another appointment with your gp ASAP and do your mental health plan so you can see a psychologist.... I think it will really help you..... I don’t know where I would be today without the help of our health professionals.... if your current gp doesn’t see the importance in doing your health plan then see another gp.......

try to find a meditation app on your phone.....

be mindful..... if you are going for a walk outside how does the sun feel on your skin? What can you hear? What can you smell?

you will get better stay positive... your condition is temporary you will improve...

im here if you want to chat 😊

How to deal with anxiety

Here2Talk — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 10:59:06 GMT

Right, I get where you're coming from. You're exactly right. People interpret what other people say in terms of what they know in their own experiences.

I'm available to keep chatting and try to provide a perspective on things as long as you want. I personally kind colouring in and puzzles to be 'not' anxiety lowering. Mindfulness and meditation is a tricky thing too, as it requires a lot of attention and can be frustrating. There are some free apps and youtube videos out there where they guide you through meditation. A lot of them are a bit hit or miss for me. Headspace app on my phone I've tried a second time around (I first tried it 3 years ago) and am really enjoying it. I find the guy who narrates it (Andy Puddicombe is his name) to be quite relaxing. I have started using the monthly subscription version though, so I don't know what your financial situation is like but it seems pretty great to me so far...

The trouble is too, that a lot of anxiety is not explainable - it's a real feeling inside of you.. That's what makes it hard for other people to help. And they just want to make things better so it sucks that they can't understand.

How do you feel about asking your GP for a mental health care plan?

Another thing is, counterintuitively, acceptance, which is that paradoxical part involved in mindfulness and meditation. To take your food sensation example, if you could find a way to accept that feeling of the food going down your throat, and really focus intently on it while at the same time 'accepting' it, you might find that it disappears gradually. Or sometimes quite quickly. By my intuition, that's probably all tied up with all the changed physiological arousal in your body post-pregnancy.

It's tough, but I like others on this forum, am here for you 🙂

Let me know if you'd like to talk through any of these things more.

How to deal with anxiety

Lmtkrc — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 11:08:30 GMT

I'm definitely going to talk to my GP about seeing someone about this anxiety it's draining me , I can't even sleep because my mind just starts racing I feel so guilty because when I have my son with me and I have the anxiety attacks I have to give him to my partner cause I'm so shaky and panicking about it

How to deal with anxiety

Lmtkrc — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 11:11:37 GMT

I will ask my GP for help with my anxiety mental care plan , I just need some help to cope because I'm running on no sleep at all being up with the baby to having my anxiety attacks I just wish my family understood more and let me talk to them about it all but they know I'm panicking about small things I get in my body even tho I spoke to my GP and she said it's anxiety related it still takes me time to come to terms with that because I'm already in a anxious state

How to deal with anxiety

Here2Talk — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 11:20:51 GMT

That totally makes sense Lmtkrc. What sorts of other things have you been panicking about?

How to deal with anxiety

Lmtkrc — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 11:36:09 GMT

I was just having pains in my back and ribs from bad posture went and got checked up doctor said my body literally is in pieces after giving birth my body is trying to get back to normal I had anxiety about that for weeks before I went and got checked I'm more over that now it was just the food and drink thing now but like she said anxiety is playing a part of that

How to deal with anxiety

Petal22 — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 12:03:48 GMT

Please do go back to your gp and ask for a mental health plan so you can see a psychologist..... the strategies will help you.... they take practice but you will learn how to do them and get better and better at it with the more practice you do...... I still use my strategies on a daily basis they have been a blessing through out my life in many situations.... 😊 highly recommend you book in to your gp ASAP so you can move forward...... I understand what you are going through is anxiety related but your gp needs to refer you to a psychologist so they can help you manage your anxiety...... I believe therapy and medication go hand in hand you need both to manage your anxiety and recover 😊

I know anxiety attacks are a scary thing to go through so I understand......you are doing the best you can ...... I know when you don’t get enough sleep our anxiety is more higher..... can your partner help you more by getting up to the baby at night so you can sleep?
Try not to feel guilty.....remind yourself you are doing your best.... take some deep breaths and just try to do things slowly .....

you feel like this now but you won’t feel like this for ever things will improve...

another piece of advice if you are doctor googling please stop doing it.... I use to do this too but I stopped because I learned it was a compulsion of mine and it only put my anxiety level higher.....

hang in there I’m here if you want to chat... let me know how you go with your gp 😊

How to deal with anxiety

TheWookie — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 12:29:29 GMT

Meds are a bandaid and not a cure. They can reduce symptoms sure, but the majority of our (anxiety sufferers) symptoms are directly related to the way we think. Same as what I was talking to you about last night with the breathing sensations. Obviously we could both breathe. So it was not the physical aspect of breathing that caused us to have anxiety, but the mental side. Our thoughts about how the breathing make us feel. And how focusing on the breath makes us feel like it is wrong. So I would say to talk to your doc and get a referral to a psychologist who can possibly help you with coping strategies to change the way you think about the symptoms.

How to deal with anxiety

Here2Talk — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 12:31:36 GMT

Yeah part of you knows that it is just the anxiety, but it's still a real feeling hey. It's an amazing thing your body has done, made space to grow a human being and then bring that human being into the world. It is still early days yet in terms of time since you birthed your child (calling it broken into pieces may have been counterproductive of your GP, considering you current frame of mind). It is what your body was designed to be able to do, so although there are definitely some temporary changes that are unpleasant to say the least, it is a natural thing that has happened to your body.

As Petal has said, the anxiety (OCD is a very severe and crippling form of anxiety) after her pregnancy eventually fully disappeared. Your brain is still in a state of hypervigilance.Hopefully soon things will settle, and the medication will start to help you get through this rough patch soon.

I know your anxious mind probably doesn't want to think of anything, but if you think about it, for example full attention to the food and drink going down your throat is an experience we can all have if we focus. Indeed mindfulness and meditation encourages you to pay close attention to such feelings, just in your instance it is distressing. But it was always there. What comes to mind for me if I imagine it, is the feeling of soft drink and the carbonated bubbles going down my throat...

Have you given meditation apps a thought?

How to deal with anxiety

Here2Talk — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 12:39:36 GMT

The difficulty in both dismissing medication or being a cheerleader for it are that there are top down processes (thoughts) that control chemicals in our brain (which drugs alter), and bottom up processes (such as the said pharmaceutical manipulation of our brain chemistry) that can alter the way we think (top down processes). For this reason I think of the two as being complimentary to each other, and participating in a feedback loop. If you can influence your thoughts without medication, great, but if you're having trouble, and your doctor recommends medication for you, that's okay too.

How to deal with anxiety

Petal22 — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 12:45:24 GMT

I agree Here2talk I think they compliment each other..... if it helps then I think that’s great 😊