Catastrophic thoughts

[Angel]

When you all have catastrophik thoughts,does it ever confuse you to the point that you do not know whether it is a thought that you would normally think or if it is just one of those causes by your panik?

Thinking about this usually makes me panik a bit more and causes other thoughts to rush in mind.

If this happens to you, What do you do to avoid this from happening or stopping it?

[brickyard_red]

Usually I can tell the difference between a normal thought that I would normally have and a catastophic one because those I dwell on. Normal thoughts come and I can push them out, but the other ones I can't seem to ever get rid of.

So, I dwell on it awhile, feel panicky for awhile and then I can sit down and rationalize with myself on why this isn't a true thought and that it is ridiculous of me to keep dwelling on it. Sometimes if at all possible, I go and prove it to myself, but most of the time it is a type of thought that can't be proven, therefore the difficulity of getting rid of it.

So, I guess the way I deal with it is go ahead and panic for a little while and then rationalize it out to myself. :? Sorry that I'm not much help.

Cath :)

[shoe]

Not sure what you mean here, Angel. But if you mean like those thoughts where you imagine a worst-case scenario happening as a result of your own actions, I've had those. If its thoughts of 'omg I have cancer' or 'something terrible might happen to me if i go such-and-such..', then I haven't really had those.

Thoughts I've had are where I'd sit thinking 'omg, what if I screwup while driving and cause someone to die', and I would envision it happening to the point where it almost seems real. But I then reassure myself that its just that little 'devil' on my shoulder putting these crazy thoughts in my head. Basically I rationalize that I am in control of my own actions, I won't suddenly lose control of myself and find myself helpless, thats just an imagined scenario not a real one.

It kinda reminds me of dreams I have where there's something horrific chasing me and I'm trying to run but my feet won't move so I'm almost paralyzed while this beast is approaching me. In real life, I know that my feet would sure as heck move! But imaginations driven by anxiety are pure evil! Just gotta remember they are creations that your mind crafts to fuel your fear, thoughts that imagine you as NOT in control of your own self or destiny. Thats whre I rationalize and say to myself - sorry, *I* am in control of me, I *do* know how to drive, or run, or whatever else. but now I'm repeating myself..

anyway, thats the type of 'catastrophic thoughts' Ive had

[Angel]

Thank you both for your comments,

Cath- You see that is what i usually TRY to do but, it just doesnt always end up that way. So i guess i had the right idea.

Shoe- Yeah i guess i was referring to the Cancer comments that you described. I kant seem to get those out of my head. And i thought i was going Schizo for a while....too bad i am. I kan pretty much deal with the normal worst-case ones the way Cath described it. Just sometimes i dont really know if maybe i would usually think of these things (im paranoid by nature) or if it is my brain over-reacting. I think this is a big issue because my paranoia has saved me on several occasions...

[shoe]

Angel, If it has to do with thoughts of contracting terrible diseases and illnesses, then you certainly aren't alone. I've talked to a number of people with anxiety disorders who also suffer from hypochondria.

Also, I've seen paranoia about things in general is common.

Anxiety sorta takes over the creative side of your brain at times and throws all kinds of chaotic ideas into your head about terrible things happening of which you have no control or would feel completely helpless about. Sometimes thats a good sign that you have a very active imagination though! If only it could be shifted away from catastrophic thoughts and utilized to create something artistic though. :?

[Angel]

Yeah im in a Gore Metal band....ahaha.

the irony..

[justin]

hi-

i'm new here, angel, i experience this confusion a lot. a whole lot. i usually just try to concentrate on something ..anything, which is hard for me to do during this time when i'm confused becasuse i try to block all thoughts by instinct now, and which leads me to panic even more, i guess i just try to concentrate on somehting and really think about it. i dont know if that makes sense to you, but it seems to work for me

[babycristy]

Well since this topic addresses confusion of thoughts, I just had a wierd thing that is the reason why I ran in this website in the first place.
I was in a deep sleep since I was tired from work, and all the stress left my brain exhausted. (I work at a bridal shop and my worries all day long are "the dresses" etc etc...) Well, I feel asleep and My boyfriend's phone call woke me up. The wierd thing is that I picked up the phone but I was still asleep, I heard him and spoke back nonsense to him about "the dresses are okay," then I doze off again and fell asleep. This felt like all a dream of me talking to him but them I hear the phone ringing again which eventually knocked me out of my deep sleep and I was consiously talking to him. I knew I was not dreaming at this point. But he was like "are you okay? You don't sound good, what is wrong with you?" And at the moment, I started to panic, I was confused if I was dreaming or not, and even as I was getting up from bed I was thinking myself "The dresses are okay," "This customer's dress was okay." "all the 18 or so dresses are still there, and I took care of them,".

What I realize was that I was in such a deep sleep and exhaustion that this was caused by a mixture of reality and a bad dream. But I was so confused you don't understand. I went to my bathroom and was so afraid that I had gone crazy (talking about dresses to my boyfriend and all the nonsense that was all part of my exhaustion at work today.) Well, I gained composure again and finally called my boyfriend. I shaked uncontrollably for about 10 minutes straight bc I was so panicky about my "vivid dream". Has this happened to any of you, where you are not sure of reality compared to your imagination/thoughts?

[littlemissy]

Hi Everyone! I would like to reassure babycristy here that I have similar nightmare dreams, much much worse than yours, so maybe knowing that someone is in a worse situation will help you feel better :D By the way, today is my first day of quoting /reading/ joining this forum, but Im glad I have come across it, its nice to share emotions and experiences.
To make a long story short as a result of a terrible trauma, I am left with all sorts of anxiety related conditions. My brother took his own life a year ago, he had suffered from schizophrenia for long years, so the experience of the 2 things (illness+suicide) left me all messed up.

My dreams are always with him being still alive...and in my dreams I am still hopelessly trying to bring him back to life and relief him of his illness too. The moment I wake I find myself crying in confusion because I slowly realise that he is not with us anymore and what more I never could/can help him any more which makes me feel so bad. So yeah...I can relate to the whole confused feeling of waking up from bad dreams and not knowing what reality is for a while.

I will be posting here some other time, at the moment I am just reading other people's experiences and by reading I am helping myself too :D

Always look at the bright side of life is the motto I am trying to self-help myself day by day 8)

[killingmeslowly]

"gore metal" .. sounds .. interesting ..

if i use K instead of C then can i be a groupie too?

[Angel]

No.

[killingmeslowly]

meanie.

[shoe]

littlemissy, sorry to hear about your brother, that must be tough :(

anyway, i know you said you'll just be reading for now, but thought I'd say welcome to the forum :)

[littlemissy]

Hi Shoe :D I have read many of your posts here I almost feel like I already know you :D

I don't have a problem posting here, but not sure what to write. At the moment I am not in my best shape, for some reason everything seems to bother me, and I see everything grey...I miss the colours! I am feeling pretty depressed about not improving or being able to recover still after one year I still feel the same as if it happened yesterday :cry: I have had a few months when I thought it was all behind me, and I can't remember exactly what i did to feel better...lol...but those were good days for me.
i am constantly searching the net for more info on anxiety, I am almost addicted to it.
What does scare me though is the fact, that I am starting to get worse at work...I am having conflicts with my 2 best friends, because sometimes I think they are not real friends and they don't care about me, so I am thinking I should just learn to be fine by myself that way I won't be disappointed with them. Although they still do care about me, but I just don't feel that any of them is trying to stand by me full-heartedly....Reading back my lines i am sounding sooo depressing...lol
I am procastinating with my studying as well...I feel like doing nothing most of the time. I guess you all feel like that sometimes. I have anxiety for about 15 months now and it all started out as circumstantial mild anxiety and that time I was ever so confident that it is just a rough patch I will get through it, and I never though it could turn worse than it was...I guess I just feel it is worse now, because I am depressed about not improving, whereas in reality it has always been the same bad I just had more enthusiasm and resistance to it at the beginning :D
That's all for now...thanks again for welcoming me here :D

[brickyard_red]

Hello there littlemissy and let me say a big welcome to ya! I'm very glad you found this forum. Just reading is fine. I'm sure you will find many things here that will help and in reading I'm sure you will see that this is a very caring and safe place to be able to talk about what is bothering you. You will see that you don't have to worry about sharing anything here, you won't be made fun of or ridiculed.

Go ahead and start posting when it feels comfortable for you to do so. I will look forward to hearing from you again and seeing you around.

Cath :)

[shoe]

littlemissy, I think there is some research that indicates anxiety and depression may influence one another, even some speculation that depression may cause anxiety and vice versa. For me I know that my anxiety disorder has definitely made me depressed, but I don't know if I could say depression has made my anxiety worse.. perhaps.. I dunno.

anyway.. about the friends, I wish I had some advice, but I don't really have any friends in the outside world (I have some online though). Do they know about your disorder? Are they bothered by it?

oh, and talking about procrastinating.. I am a MAJOR procrastinator.. I wait till the last minute to do my homework assignments and lately that itself has caused me anxiety. arghh.. I cant wait for this semester to be over already! hehe

I am alot like Cathy is when it comes to normal/catastrophic thoughts, I tend dwell on things, but I always try to rationalize with myself about my thoughts, but sometimes I can't get rid of them (which is most times), so I just get into a panick about things, even though I try to calm down and realize that they are not true thoughts, I can't help but get into a panick about things, even though I try so hard not to.

[killingmeslowly]

for the record, it is estimated that 50% of people with anxiety disorder also suffer from depression.

[shoe]

Thanks for the stats kms ;)

Here's a nice link which backs that up:

Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General: Depression - Complications & Comorbidities:
http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/features/surgeongeneralreport/chapter4/sec3.asp#complications

[killingmeslowly]

for the record, shoe smells of poo..

[killingmeslowly]

for the record (again .. it's a big record), the odds are that you will swallow four spiders during your lifetime - simply as they crawl into your mouth and down your throat whilst you sleep. is that hideous or what?

[Angel]

meanie.

ha.

[shoe]

for the record, shoe smells of poo..

for the record, kms poos and pees his panties hehe

[Bridgie]

For the record, LOL, Welcome littlemissy to the forum! And that spider stat, well, that just increased my anxiety level to 175%!

Missy and Christy, I walk and talk in my sleep, too. I am always mumbling something incoherent to my husband that I think is true. He eggs me on, too, LOL. And I am adament that I know what I am talking about! I insist "the files, the files are in the kitchen, I'm talking about the files!" LOL. Of course it makes no sense, but it seems very real at the time. He reminds me of it the next morning, and I have a vague recollection of it.

Now, the sleepwalking part. About 2 years ago I dreamt I was looking all over in the back of the closet for a secret compartment. And I went into my office closet as well looking for a secret compartment. The next morning I woke up and thought it was a dream. When I opened the closet, all the clothes were pushed to the side. eek!

Now this past August, I was really sleepwalking. Not even dreaming. I fell right down the back staircase and really hurt myself bad. I only woke up when my knee was smashed into the plaster. I had to get 6 stitches, I smashed my shoulder, hurt my back, fractured my cheekbone, skinned my thigh, hurt my ankles and my wrists. It was not pretty.

So, you are not alone. And I really think the general anxiety and stress of it all is what did this to me. I never had problems sleepwalking before I had my anxiety issues.

{{{hugs}}}