Anxiety is really bad

The most effective non-medication based treatment for anxiety is physical activity. Take a long walk, hit a treadmill, pick a few cleaning projects, rearrange some furniture. Anything that gets the body chemistry going and is in keeping with your own physical abilities and that falls within any potential medical restrictions.

Exertion will release chemicals that offset anxiety.

Deep breathing during moments of severe panic also helps. Deep, slow breaths taken in the nose and released through the mouth.

Mental distractions also help. Anything that you can become immersed in. Games, books, movies, hobbies - whatever works.

There are a variety of OTC items that can be helpful, from daily multivitamins to supplements like St John's Wort and Valerian Root ( two examples ). Different things work for different people.

What's working for me, personally and at the moment, is maintaining structure by following a self implied daily schedule. It's mostly busy work and silly things like "Watch TV for 1 hour from 8 PM to 9 PM" but having that framework in place is helpful, for me at least.

originally posted by: Darkblade71
a reply to: Wide-Eyes
Guess I should be more specific...

CBD Tincture.

A drop under the tongue, not smoked/vaped.

Ahhh, yes!

Apologies for my misunderstanding.

originally posted by: hombero
How embarassing
a reply to: PandaPrincess

WTF? what does that mean?


Anyway, for me, getting some exercise, air, sun was/is helpful. Dusted off my cross country mountain bike that I have not ridden in 5 years. Was nice, and going to do at least a few hrs a day, but I have apparently let myself go, legs are a bit jello-ee, and why does my stomach hurt..haha.

Also music is a big part of life for me, so still enjoying, just not with the usual friday night listening party.
I think any hobby is good for immersing yourself in, in the eve, I have been building car models.

Staying away from news/media might help.

a reply to: vonclod

Also music is a big part of life for me, so still enjoying, just not with the usauly friday night listening party.
I think any hobby is good for immersing yourself in.

Copy that...

I have become a halfassed keyboard player thanks to this quarantine and youtube videos.
Just sitting at the keyboard and being able to improvise over a 2-5-1 progression makes me feel empowered.
I also spend a lot of time helping the disabled, blind and elderly in my village. The county as stopped all services, even meals on wheels.

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: vonclod

Also music is a big part of life for me, so still enjoying, just not with the usauly friday night listening party.
I think any hobby is good for immersing yourself in.

Copy that...

I have become a halfassed keyboard player thanks to this quarantine and youtube videos.
Just sitting at the keyboard and being able to improvise over a 2-5-1 progression makes me feel empowered.
I also spend a lot of time helping the disabled, blind and elderly in my village. The county as stopped all services, even meals on wheels.

Nice! helping others is a great way to feel something positive

I dabble on the guitar, wasn't great before all this..still not great I mostly just enjoy playing along with what I'm blasting on the stereo..it is empowering when I can figure that stuff out.

originally posted by: underwerks

originally posted by: schuyler

originally posted by: underwerks
a reply to: PandaPrincess

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Or this: www.abovetopsecret.com...

We don’t live in a world full of weak people. We live in a world full of people with amnesia.

I love Graham Hancock, too.

if you're anxious you are living in the future and thinking about what might happen.

Center your mind and live in the now. Mediation helps a lot. don't worry about the past or the future and live in the now.

originally posted by: HalWesten

originally posted by: rickymouse
a reply to: PandaPrincess

Snap out of it.

I hope you were joking. As someone who has suffered my whole life with severe anxiety and panic attacks that is not funny nor is it appropriate to say to someone who is truly experiencing bad and recurring anxiety. The reason SSRIs work in some people, like me, is because there is a Serotonin imbalance in our brains. SSRIs are not for everyone, they actually compound the problem in some people, but they do work for many of us.

PP, I think we've discussed this before in another thread. I think I recall you saying meds don't help you but as someone who has been there, don't give up on them if you have a serious issue. There is a proper dose and type of med for everyone that needs them. I really like living my life with normal emotions and not on edge with worry and panic all the time. I had a time where I was anxiety-free for several years so I do know what "normal" is like and that's where I am right now.

I would have probably said some of the meds do not help many who are on them, the diagnosis could be improper. Doctors do not have a lot of time to spend with patients, it is hard to assess the problem correctly. Many symptoms are the same for different conditions with only a few little symptoms to separate the conditions from each other. If you are on a SSRI, and are doing well, then stay on them, the diagnosis is correct. Diet can influence neurochemistry, and even with the SSRIs, you can have good days and bad days, keep a diary of what you eat for a month if that is occurring and try to figure out what food chemistry is causing highs and lows and moderate that in your diet.

Talk to your doctor about this, the doctor may be able to advise you which food chemistries swing it each way if you bring it up to her/him/it. I know some of these foods but I do not know how they interact with meds some times. My wife altered her diet and had problems with the ssri being too strong then, so she cut the meds in half and she is doing great. She worked with her doctor with this and she prescribed half size pills and was impressed that she had figured out how to fix it. I explained to my wife which foods to avoid and which to eat, and she made some changes and it worked. But every so often she decides to eat out a lot and she has to take two pills till the chemistry is out of her body. I have to eat way different than her, I have almost opposite genetics that she has in some major pathways, so we compromise and she gets her spaghetti and I eat something I need a couple of times a week. If she eats like me, she gets messed up, if I eat like her I get messed up. I have autoimmune genetics all over my family and she has none except she has higher alzheimer risk.

If you do good on your medicine than the doctor hit the nail on the head, sometimes that happens.

I too have had some anxiety issues over the last couple of weeks. It even got the extent of gastrointestinal upset and difficulty breathing at night, which had me thinking I might have the Rona. I don't, as the breathing difficulty goes away when I busy my mind on something I enjoy. Definitely an anxiety response.

One thing I have found in the past to help with anxiety is to recognise you are feeling it, breath deeply and say to yourself in a kind and joyous manner, "hello anxiety energy" then imagine yourself smiling and hugging the anxiety energy (visualise it however it makes sense to you). Thats how Thich Nhat Hahn, the Vietnamese Zen monk advises people to deal with anxiety. You can do the same with any negative feelings, (like anger, jealousy, hate). It works amazingly well. The main thing to remember is not to get angry and chastise yourself for your negative feelings, embrace them, and just be aware that they are there. It seems to greatly lesson their power over you.

Just taking regular naps, resetting the clock / anxiety / depression, etc. Works alright but yes still tedium, a walk and a pint would usually fix it. lol.

a reply to: PandaPrincess

There's plenty of good advice here. Personally I find these things help .

- limited exposure to negativity, limit news, social
media etc. Everyone is posting negativity.

- comfort food and structured healthy eating.
- structure, have a loose plan for the day with fitting in some fun things. I have a cup of coffee in the morning with my meds and I play World of warships for an hour

- physical activity

A good sleep tends to really help me, so I've been getting I to the habit of having a relaxing drink before bed like a hot chocolate. I feel for you I really do, a couple of people I know have been having it really bad recently meditation seems to be helping them.

Mediation doesn't have to be a hippy like pass time either I just usually find somewhere comfy and quiet lay down and hum moobs. Or loud music with headphones on works too.

Ultimately I think the trick is to not let your mind do too much background work whilst you're doing stressful things, everyone is different.

originally posted by: olaru12
I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me. HST

Funny

Personally after all the UFO encounters any form of anxiety about this or that went right out of the window. Whatever is going on in our incarnations is seemingly out of our control and all part of the plan