An anxiety plan of action

[learningtobreathe]

Good Morning Everyone,

I have recently joined this forum in the hopes of gaining control over my chronic anxiety, which I have been battling for over a decade. I posted about my story in more detail in the welcome section (long story short, I’m a sever hyponchondriac, always certainI have some sort of health problem going on), but now I would like to move on to creating a detailed plan of action to conquer this. It’s time to make a drastic change. Here are my thoughts on what I plan to do:

1. Take care of myself – This includes eating well, taking the supplements that are widely believed to be helpful (magnesium, B Complex vitamins).
2. Talk to my doctor, again – Year ago I was told to take Effexor XR, and hated it. Because of that experience, I have always been terrified to take meds for anxiety. I worry that it will be helpful only when I’m on them, or that just the thought of not taking them will bring the anxiety back. But, regardless, I need to be open with my doctor and take his advice.
3. Consider counseling – This is a step I have never taken. I didn’t want to be ‘that person’, which sounds absurd, but it’s true. It has helped countless people, so maybe it will help me.
4. Remember to relax – I have a habit of leaving work for the day, going home and delving into various projects. I rarely take the time to relax, and for someone like me that is clearly a bad idea!
5. Focus on the positive things – like my amazing husband, or my career, or my hopes to start a family soon. THESE are the important things, not my worries! And as my husband tells me every day, there is NO point worrying about what you can’t control. If only it were that simple, ha ha.

Is there any advice anyone has for me to really take a big step in getting my anxiety under control? I would love to hear any stories, or guidance.

Thanks for listening!

Grace

[Charlene]

Hi Grace,

Your action plan is a good one! Eating well, exercising and taking your supplements will certainly help you become healthier so that if or when your hypochondriasm kicks in, you can tell yourself with firm conviction, that you have taken steps to become healthy. Out of habit, the fear may pop in your head, just out of the blue, but if you can learn to calm yourself down by first recognizing that you're over-reacting to anxious thoughts, you'll be on the road to recovery. Seeking counselling from a therapist may prove very helpful for you, although it's not critical to becoming anxiety free. Counselling can teach you CBT skills (cognitive behavioural therapy) but it's you who has to apply those skills. Again, I think your plan is an excellent one. :)

[TULA]

learntobreathe

Good on you for taking such positive steps.

With this attitude you are bound to succeed

Good luck

Tula

[koolaid86]

Grace, that's a great plan. Numbers 4 and 5 are definitely very important things to stay focused on.

Let us know how your plan goes. I'd really like to read how you progress with this.

[learningtobreathe]

Hi Everyone!

Alright, well I'm only a couple of days in, but I feel really good! I have posted an update in the General Discussion area for anyone who wants to hear about my doctor's visit yesterday, it was pretty good!

Thank you all for replying, I think this forum is going to be really key in staying on the right track. I have so much experience that I want to share, and I am so interested in hearing how others feel and how they have made any progress in this.

[dtrotter]

You are making a huge change in life! congrats for that. I hope things will be better for you in no time.!

[Constantinos]

Hi Kate

My story goes like yours, anxiety, panics, hypochondriac etc. Please read.

I am 35 years old and i have been suffering from panic attacks, anxiety, for the last 10 years, though if i can recall correctly i had panic attacks since the age of 10 - 11 without knowing what i was going through. In any case, the last 3,5 years i do psychotherapy and it helped me a lot. ( it totally recommend this to you) I can not say that i am 100% confident for myself but saw a lot of improvement. In addition to that i read an article lateley that helped me lot and i am quoting this below. Believe me it is going to help you.

Panic Attacks are completely harmless. Although they look really bad, they feel like your mind is out of control, you are feeling like running and hiding from yourself, and you are afraid that you are going to die, still, completely harmless. The secret and method to overcome your problem is that "Without fear of them they cannot exist". I will quote below a part of a text that helped me a lot. Please read it and it will help you.

"In quick overview, to end a panic attack - an overwhelming feeling of fear - you have to pass through the wall of apprehension to the other side of your fear (no, this isn't some weird faith healing or new age crap). This works! I wish I could take you there by the hand myself but YOU have to do it. The trust in it working is something that goes against all aspects of our sense of survival and takes some time to really believe in. Yet IF you are experiencing a fear/panic attack I found the only way to beat it is to try to let the feeling be as worse as it wants to be. Let it be as bad as you can make it. And, because it truly IS a self-created fear, once you have made the desire to travel to the "OTHER side" of fear by letting it do its positively worse to you then ...there is NOTHING...nothing there. No fear. The other side is NO fear at all but a big smile. The moment of realization is a wonderful experience. For me, it was THEN that I realized that these "out of control" feelings were finished!

Stress is the major instigator for panic feelings. Perhaps you had realized a certain level of stress that had exceeded your ability to release it. I say, "had" because probably the event that triggered these panic attacks is over with. There are many relaxation methods for lowering stress and all of them are beneficial. Understanding your stress and learning to manage it will always help you throughout your life. However, the panic attacks were probably the culmination of that initial stress event. I don't care WHAT or HOW you arrived at these feelings - you have them and you don't like them and you want to get rid of them! Right now it's not important that your mother was mean or your father ignored you or if you are a perfectionist, or obsessive, etc. I am not trivializing your situation. Panic attacks feed off of themselves. They are a common disorder that can trouble even the most intelligent or the strongest person. They are an entire entity all in themselves. These feelings seem so powerful and they scare you. But your mind is NOT going bananas, being lost or slipping away into insanity despite your fear or your past. You are only doing what seems natural...fighting them in trying to get control over them. But you are trying to STOP FEAR! Fear is not under your conscious control. It is controlled instinctively in reaction to WHAT YOU BELIEVE! And right now you believe that you are THREATENED! Instead, you are going to accept it and let it become you and, thereby, stop the overreaction. Read on!

Probably you have suspected a myriad of potential illnesses and feared some significant health problem that your physician has not found or explained away as "nerves" or some other reference to your nervous system. If not, please visit your doctor and remove these questions! He/she may even prescribe anti-anxiety drugs that may help you to deal with your panic feelings if you need immediate results. Some medical professionals like to describe panic as a chemical imbalance that might respond favorably to medication. I tried several of them. I preferred to not use them because I didn't like the side-affects and stipulations for use. But for some sufferers medication is very helpful. However, in the absence of a real medical problem, you are, at present, afraid of the panic attacks themselves or simply put, AFRAID OF BEING AFRAID!

I have to be blunt! There is no THING causing this (unless there is a specifically identified illness, situation or event like a wild animal attacking you). It's not a place or situation or thought...not that couch or that car or that room or that strange feeling in your eyes, stomach, head, arms, or that crowded place! Not a brain tumor, not cancer of anything, no breakdown of any nerves! Only you! To think otherwise..to think that a certain room or situation CAUSES you to have the attacks...is false. Sure, I understand that when you are in a place or situation where you have felt these attacks before that you are aware of being there and fear THAT place or situation. BUT IT'S YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM being on a high state of alert. You must understand that it's coming from you! You also are exaggerating those strange feelings that you are having in your body into MAJOR significance. You are boxing in your life more and more by HIDING from these! It's NOT these places or situations or feelings, and I know that's hard to accept. But this is where you change your attitude from HIDING to "giving up"! From superstition to a rational approach!

Once you apply the attitude, "I will let this feeling of fear be as worse as it wants to be, I don't care anymore", and let it happen, let yourself go towards it and begin to believe it (the prime objective), then the truth starts to comes out. You become a little less afraid. IT TAKES PRACTICE. (Research in treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder has demonstrated that persistent practice of skills such as these can result in measurable changes in brain function without medication.) As you begin to "pooh-pooh" these fear feelings and establish the attitude of non-caring more and more you get closer to the rationale about them. Eventually you will be ready for the time when you truly try to make it worse while having a panic attack - and THAT is a key moment!