How to deal with anxiety

[Lmtkrc]

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

[Here2Talk]

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.

[Lmtkrc]

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

[Lmtkrc]

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

[Here2Talk]

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

[Lmtkrc]

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

[Petal22]

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 😊

[TheWookie]

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.

[Here2Talk]

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?

[Here2Talk]

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.

[Petal22]

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