How do you deal with Anxiety?
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Sky_Of_Aegis
Posts: 114
One thing I found that is an awesome home remedy is lavender epsom salt. I take a bath in it before bedtime, and use lavender lotion as well. Lavender believe it or not is basically an organic anti-depressant. It relaxes you, and puts you in sleep mode. For those whom suffer panic disorder like myself, it gets hard to sleep with that impending doom sensation. Especially when you reach the verge of sleep, just to be jerked out of it, gasping for air over and over again. If you are experiencing this, than you gotta try the lavender treatment!
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I take 1 or 2 capsules of Gotu Kola when I get stressed out, as stress leads to awful panic attacks. Do a little research on it if you'd like, it helps me relax and even sleep better.
I don't know if you have a central market in your area, but I think you can find it almost anywhere that has organic stuff!0 -
I have heard of that before. I will look into it! Don't have many central markets, but worst case if it isn't in the organic section of the grocer, can always look online!0
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I've found breathing exercises to be really helpful. I guess kinda like a meditation practice. I went years without experiencing a panic attack just using that method. As for help with sleep.....that I've yet to really figure out sans medicinal intervention.0
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Honestly, breathing and meditation were probably the two things that kept mine dorment for so long. Definitely a good practice! As for your sleep, as I posted, lavender is awesome. I use the lavender epsom salt, and bubble bath. Soak for 20+ minutes, then use lavender lotion. Also, I hear chamomile tea is excellent, but I have yet to try it.0
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I take 1 or 2 capsules of Gotu Kola when I get stressed out, as stress leads to awful panic attacks. Do a little research on it if you'd like, it helps me relax and even sleep better.
I don't know if you have a central market in your area, but I think you can find it almost anywhere that has organic stuff!
This is a great suggestion too. I am really wanting to try it myself. Damn, I should have started a sleep forum too lol.0 -
Interesting! I'm not a big fan of the smell of lavendar though. I do drink Chamomile when I'm weaning off meds. I read a good book about anxiety and learned quite a bit.
Breathing is excellent as mentioned. But also recognizing anxiety is what it is. Recognize it, say, "yes, I have anxiety right now". It is temporary. It is a feeling and because I am facing the demon, I can will it away. Sometimes it's not that easy but recognizing it and not trying to fight it off is helpful. I would panic more because I would get mad and madder and madder that I was having an attack and just worked myself up more. Hopefully I don't have another attack again *right* but I feel like I have more tools to fight the demons once I, hopefully, get off meds.0 -
One of the things that helps me is when I feel anxiety/panic, to actually say out loud, "Hello, calorie burner!" Anxiety and panic cause a reaction due to the fight or flight hormones that is a good calorie/glocose/sugar burn. (Don't quote me on the science, I don't remember it any more, but there are a lot of resources to research on that.) When you minimize your response, the anxiety reduces because it becomes not so important. Sometimes I'll even say things like, "Hello, my old friend anxiety...." It just changes my mindframe from "OMG THIS IS CRITICAL" to "Yep, here it is again." Much calmer response.
Also, some people overbreathe, but I am a breath holder. Either way, it's very important to regulate breathing. Since I'm not a doctor, I won't provide medical advice, but again, there's lots of research on the internet. It's also a good idea to speak with your doctor to rule out any other causes/issues that may be causing anxiety.0 -
Interesting! I'm not a big fan of the smell of lavendar though. I do drink Chamomile when I'm weaning off meds. I read a good book about anxiety and learned quite a bit.
Breathing is excellent as mentioned. But also recognizing anxiety is what it is. Recognize it, say, "yes, I have anxiety right now". It is temporary. It is a feeling and because I am facing the demon, I can will it away. Sometimes it's not that easy but recognizing it and not trying to fight it off is helpful. I would panic more because I would get mad and madder and madder that I was having an attack and just worked myself up more. Hopefully I don't have another attack again *right* but I feel like I have more tools to fight the demons once I, hopefully, get off meds.
I never was into lavender's scent either, and it is so-so to me still, but I have found it to work wonders. As for recognizing your anxiety, you are absolutely right! A lot of attacks can be stopped if we can just shut our brains off and not think about having an attack, because all we are doing is throwing kindle on a fire by doing so.0 -
One of the things that helps me is when I feel anxiety/panic, to actually say out loud, "Hello, calorie burner!" Anxiety and panic cause a reaction due to the fight or flight hormones that is a good calorie/glocose/sugar burn. (Don't quote me on the science, I don't remember it any more, but there are a lot of resources to research on that.) When you minimize your response, the anxiety reduces because it becomes not so important. Sometimes I'll even say things like, "Hello, my old friend anxiety...." It just changes my mindframe from "OMG THIS IS CRITICAL" to "Yep, here it is again." Much calmer response.
Also, some people overbreathe, but I am a breath holder. Either way, it's very important to regulate breathing. Since I'm not a doctor, I won't provide medical advice, but again, there's lots of research on the internet. It's also a good idea to speak with your doctor to rule out any other causes/issues that may be causing anxiety.
Ha ha!!! I love it! Don't worry about the science behind things, because we all obviously have access to google :-) and I am familiar with the fight and flight response. It is tied in with acute and obtuse stress. Acute being when a child or animal darts out in front of your car, and you slam on your brakes, and obtuse is a slow-breeding, long term stress. Anyways, I may just have to try that! Especially since I love to try to burn 1,000+ calories an hour a day "It is possible depending on how much over weight you are, and if you play Dance Dance Revolution like me :-)" and every time I exceed that 1,000 marker, I seem to panic. Maybe my brain is programmed now to which I see that number, and automatically induce it on myself...0 -
I take "Zenalia" pills, which are probably placebo (as I got these without asking my doc and these are homeopathic) but really works when I have panic attacks. (because somehow my brain don't consider some informations when I have these, the same as I can't think about non-scary, non-sad, positive stuffs I forget it is placebo I guess?) It seems to slow down my heart rate and make me all "sweet-feeling", which sort of breaks the circle of having a panic attack because you have a panic attack, since the panic attack seems to be stopping? Though I'm supposed to take these every morning and night, I take them only when I have a panic attack and it seems to work.
I'm really bad at calming myself by thinking the anxiety will go away because people will (almost) always react badly to it. Now the Zenalia really helps me and it actually makes me feel better knowing it can stop easily, so in the end I can handle it better when I can't take them.0 -
I take "Zenalia" pills, which are probably placebo (as I got these without asking my doc and these are homeopathic) but really works when I have panic attacks. (because somehow my brain don't consider some informations when I have these, the same as I can't think about non-scary, non-sad, positive stuffs I forget it is placebo I guess?) It seems to slow down my heart rate and make me all "sweet-feeling", which sort of breaks the circle of having a panic attack because you have a panic attack, since the panic attack seems to be stopping? Though I'm supposed to take these every morning and night, I take them only when I have a panic attack and it seems to work.
I'm really bad at calming myself by thinking the anxiety will go away because people will (almost) always react badly to it. Now the Zenalia really helps me and it actually makes me feel better knowing it can stop easily, so in the end I can handle it better when I can't take them.
That's good you found something that helps you. Anything that brings back one's peace of mind is a miracle drug in my book, as long as it doesn't cause a laundry list of other side effects.0 -
I use meditation to focus on my breathing for anxiety and basically the same thing if im having a panic attack. If I'm in a full attack I just try to remind myself over and over that I'm okay and that I am breathing and start to take lighter slower breaths even if I feel like i need to take rapid ones since I know that can make it worse and cause for CO2 to build up.
If I'm driving I have to roll down the window so I feel like I'm breathing until it passes. At night I take sleeping pills to sleep or else I can feel shaky at night and unsettled. When it comes to scents I can't have things strongly scented because of my migraines but I enjoy circuits scents, they seem to spark some good endorphins for me as long its not over powerful.0 -
I use meditation to focus on my breathing for anxiety and basically the same thing if im having a panic attack. If I'm in a full attack I just try to remind myself over and over that I'm okay and that I am breathing and start to take lighter slower breaths even if I feel like i need to take rapid ones since I know that can make it worse and cause for CO2 to build up.
If I'm driving I have to roll down the window so I feel like I'm breathing until it passes. At night I take sleeping pills to sleep or else I can feel shaky at night and unsettled. When it comes to scents I can't have things strongly scented because of my migraines but I enjoy circuits scents, they seem to spark some good endorphins for me as long its not over powerful.
I know how you feel about the car thing. The last weekend of April, the wife and I took a 2 hour trip in the car to Indiana. By the time we got there, I was being eaten alive with anxiety. I too have to roll the windows down, or I feel like I am going to lose all the oxygen in the car, and suffocate. I just can't handle long trips anymore. I don't know what it is. I have read that panic attacks can often be provoked by scenarios that may have caused you to panic before. The first really bad one I had, my father had to drive my car, and I remember being stuck in the passenger seat just freaking out! Maybe that is why I can't spend long periods of time in the car. Then again, I have had panic attacks in many places, so it seems I gain anxiety just about anywhere I go.0
