Overwhelmed

[Guest_48990041]

Hi there,

I believe I am suffering from some sort of anxiety I haven't been to the doctor to talk about it as I am hoping to control it myself rather than them giving me medications this has been happening since the start of this year. At the moment dealing with lots of stress coping with doing full-time study at university and working part-time. Just feel isolated and let down to myself and feeling anxious constantly about what I am doing in general especially when I go out of the house example is when I go shopping which I used to like to do. Going out for dinner with my partner I get anxious about who is around me and feel self-conscious. I feel empty at times and want myself back. I feel isolated at times i have some support but not people who understand what I am going through some people think mental health is made up. I only have a few close friends but barely due to my overload of stress levels. Are there any strategies to help with panic attacks I get them a bit when I go out. 

[Happylife]

Hello,

Warm welcome to the forums. I am really sorry to hear that you are going through a stressful time.

Balancing work and study can be very stressful and you are not alone in this. Constant worrying and anxiety can be very exhausting and can contribute to feelings of emptiness and isolation.

You have mentioned that it started since the beginning of this year, if I may ask is there anything that happened that has triggered this?

I am 100% with you to try and not have medications as far as possible, I would rather look for natural ways to manage stress and anxiety. 

I am not sure if you have tried mindfulness and focusing just on the present moment, that really works for me. Maybe even start for 5-10 minutes a day without judging or analysing and don't be hard on yourself.

Also, time in the sun or nature walks can do wonders too, now that the weather is slowly getting warmer it's great time to be outside more.

If you have family and friends or community, please encourage yourself to connect with them more even if you are feeling anxious. You can take small baby steps but don't stop connecting with people. Remember to tell yourself that the panic attack is temporary and try to picture your happy place. You are stronger than you think.

I hope you feel better. If you're anxiety is taking a toll on your daily life, please do reach out to your GP or mental health professional for support and guidance as sometimes it can be hard to do it all by yourself.

Do keep sharing if you feel like, happy to listen and help...

Take care

Happylife

[therising]

A huge warm welcome to you, especially at such an incredibly trying time in your life.

With tipping points, it can be a matter of 'I didn't know I had a tipping point for depression 'til I met with it. Didn't know I had a tipping point for anxiety 'til I met with it. Now that I've met with it, what the heck to I do? How do I manage it? Do I manage it with chemical assistance (a med) or do I want to try managing it naturally?'. The level of need will depend on the choices we make. Btw, greater levels of self understanding and self development involve a quest with plenty of questions.

I think the most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to our own personal evolution is we're all different, so what works for 99% of the population may not work for us. Doesn't mean we're 'broken', it simply means we're incredibly unique, with a very specific nature. I've found what works for me in many cases involves utilising my imagination. The imagination is an incredible and mind altering tool yet it can be highly underutilised in many cases. It's like someone could say to me 'Try this breathing technique to help calm your nervous system'. I try it and it doesn't work but if I try it while imagining breathing out dark smoke I'll refer to as 'stress' or 'fear' or something else anxiety inducing, as I become calmer the smoke becomes lighter until it eventually disappears and I'm completely calm. Or if I imagine there is a stresser in me and I also imagine there's a sage in me, technically the sage in me should be able to calm me down to the point where I no longer hear the stresser. You know that inner dialogue that can go a little like 'What am I going to do? I can't manage everything. There's just too much. I can't let anyone down. I can't fail because then I'd be a failure' and on and on it goes. If I imagine channeling or tapping into my inner sage, it could sound like 'Breathe. You're going to get through this. Bring your focus fully to your breath. In and out, just breath. Now, go find someone who can help you make sense of this anxiety inducing challenge'. What works for others can even involve some form of 'divine guidance', with that sage like inner dialogue. They may say 'If I tap into my guides, they'll guide me'. Doesn't matter what we imagine, as long as it does no harm and as long as it works.

I found it also helps to change the labels on things. What I mean by this is instead of calling a feeling 'anxiety', call it what it is. You could call it 'extreme forms of physical and/or mental hyperactivity, extreme forms of hyper vigilance, extreme forms of hyper stimulation, incredibly high levels of cortisol and so on. So, you could say 'I'm hyped up to the point where my whole body's buzzing. There's so much energy (including chemical energy) running through my systems to the point where it's overwhelming me. It is a breathtaking amount of energy (making it hard to breathe). I need to manage my energy and it's behaviour and my inner dialogue'. Or, in the case of depression, I could say 'There's nothing 'wrong' with me, I can simply feel what's incredibly depressing. What it is exactly I don't know at this point but I can definitely feel it or sense it'. This tends to put a bit of a different spin on 'sensitivity'. While some may say 'Sensitive people are more inclined to experience mental health problems', well, yeah, that's logical based on the fact they have the ability to sense more easily than insensitive people. 🙂

[Guest_53755294]

I don’t really have any solution, but i feel you. I have been having panic attacks myself for no reason at all. Usually when i go to new places. The next day i feel so exhausted and drained, like all the energy has gone. I wish things get better for you soon. 

[Ben]

Hi. I have OCD, which is also an anxiety based disorder. I also dislike medication to the point where I would say the thought of taking medication causes me anxiety itself. I second HappyLife's suggestions of mindfulness and exercise, although I would say the former takes patience and persistence to learn and I haven't been very  
successful with it. Also that when first learning it, it likely won't be potent enough to pull you out of a panic attack until you've practiced it sufficiently frequently. At least that's what I was told in a mindfulness class once. Mindfulness may sound mystical but ultimately, as I understand it, it's really about breathing and focusing on your breathing  and in doing so, you basically make it more difficult for your mind to focus on worrying.

I also recently read an interesting technique in the book "The Worry-Free Mind" by Carol Kershaw et. al., albeit I haven't read the whole book. The concept is that our mind remembers the emotions attached to situations and memories. So by recalling a happy memory or looking at a photo of a happy time, we can trigger feeling the happy emotion too. I've had some success with this but again, depending on the magnitude of the anxiety, it may not always be potent enough. The converse is true too. By recalling a sad/distressing memory, we feel the associated negative emotion.

Making sure you are getting a good night's sleep is also very important. My OCD and anxiety become significantly worse if I haven't had enough sleep and can easily turn into depression. Apparently an adult needs 7-9 hours per night, with each person needing a different amount within that range.