Getting Better Question

[tconnorbok]

This might sound like a stupid question but what are the symptoms when anxiety is starting to pass. I heard several things like it starts to get weaker and weaker then its gone. Or the symptoms start to go away and then they will come back stronger but will not last as long.

I just was wondering what others think or how it worked for you.

For me I started to feel pretty good for the last two weeks. My unwanted thoughts started to disappear I didn't feel worried or have much fear about anything. Then it seemed like to came back to a smaller degree.

[gaara]

I was since the 20th of october until the 25th where out of nowhere I got a huge dose of anxiety and panic which turned into a decouraged depression cuz I thought I was fine but after a couple minutes it went away.

Then on the 29th, I was having sort of a bad day then my stupid thoughts started creeping in that the anxiety was coming back and they wouldn't STFU so eventually from being totally fine, I was back to square 1 and now i'm sort of depressed because I thought I beat it.


How do you keep your mind from thinking that the anxiety is coming back? Can I not have a bad day and just leave it at that - a bad day? Without having to worry about the anxiety and depression?

It's an endless cycle and I question if I have the strength to keep going up and down.

[Zuena]

My anxiety also seems to be less intense when it returns.

Then again, I have only had it twice - as in two episodes.

I have been doing great for a month now. In the beginning I felt calm but still on high alert at all times. Then, as I started retraining my brain I felt less and less anxiety every day. My mind was busy and almost looking for something to be anxious about, but that also faded with time.

I have an issue with lifts that are full of people (always have.) It doesn't make me panic but I don't like it, I feel a little closed in and anxious. These days, when the lift is full I simply don't get in, and if I do my mind almost searches for that nervous feeling.. it's as if I am thinking.. ok, full lift, PANIC.. but those feelings just aren't there.

What has definitely helped me is getting some stability in my life. For the last 2 years I travelled to every god forsaken country on this planet (well, almost) and I lived out of a suitcase for long stretches at a time. We would simply decide one morning "hey, London / Thailand sounds like a fun place" and go - no hotel reservations, no plans. On arrival (sometimes late at night) we would walk the streets looking for a hotel to stay in. I used to love traveling, until I accidently overstayed my visa in Korea and faced being thrown in jail. Even when Immigration waved me through with a warning I still felt like they were watching me and making plans to arrest me lol. From then on, I hated it and hated flying. It sent me into a flat panic, every time I had to get on a plane or enter an airport.

Then I came home, started a new job and moved into a new place, also got divorced, all in the same month - which sent my anxiety into overdrive again. Now that I am settled again and have my own safe place, things are settling down.

I think the most important thing is to allow yourself to have a bad day. Don't associate a natural nervous feeling with anxiety. If you feel down, cry (or throw a tantrum.) But it is like a diet. If you screw up, don't give up, just start again.

It feels GREAT, that is all I can say. It just feels amazing.

Sho, sometimes I really talk too much. :P

Z

[gaara]

My anxiety also seems to be less intense when it returns.

Then again, I have only had it twice - as in two episodes.

I have been doing great for a month now. In the beginning I felt calm but still on high alert at all times. Then, as I started retraining my brain I felt less and less anxiety every day. My mind was busy and almost looking for something to be anxious about, but that also faded with time.

I have an issue with lifts that are full of people (always have.) It doesn't make me panic but I don't like it, I feel a little closed in and anxious. These days, when the lift is full I simply don't get in, and if I do my mind almost searches for that nervous feeling.. it's as if I am thinking.. ok, full lift, PANIC.. but those feelings just aren't there.

What has definitely helped me is getting some stability in my life. For the last 2 years I travelled to every god forsaken country on this planet (well, almost) and I lived out of a suitcase for long stretches at a time. We would simply decide one morning "hey, London / Thailand sounds like a fun place" and go - no hotel reservations, no plans. On arrival (sometimes late at night) we would walk the streets looking for a hotel to stay in. I used to love traveling, until I accidently overstayed my visa in Korea and faced being thrown in jail. Even when Immigration waved me through with a warning I still felt like they were watching me and making plans to arrest me lol. From then on, I hated it and hated flying. It sent me into a flat panic, every time I had to get on a plane or enter an airport.

Then I came home, started a new job and moved into a new place, also got divorced, all in the same month - which sent my anxiety into overdrive again. Now that I am settled again and have my own safe place, things are settling down.

I think the most important thing is to allow yourself to have a bad day. Don't associate a natural nervous feeling with anxiety. If you feel down, cry (or throw a tantrum.) But it is like a diet. If you screw up, don't give up, just start again.

It feels GREAT, that is all I can say. It just feels amazing.

Sho, sometimes I really talk too much. :P

Z

I felt like myself last week but i'm back to square 1 and feel like it's hopeless. I feel totally drained but still "on alert"...how can I deal with this? I need something more than just "you've been through this before and got better" bceause that stopped helping a while ago :(

I'm too poor for sessions so I need something else. I'm just fed up with this but my mind and body WON'T LET UP :x

[Zuena]

Gaara, you going to add me to msn then?

[email protected].

Z

[tconnorbok]

When you have anxiety relapses but they are not as severe is that a sign you are getting better. I don't really have panic attacks but my anxiety level was really high but now it seems to be at the mild stage but sometime it still gets to the half way mark.

[forwells]

Howdy all

Interesting question and some interesting answer that i think are missing the point

In order to recover you have to let it go . Anxiety is not a disease or a mental problem it is just a reaction to the symptoms of stress . You most likely react with fear , this in turn teaches your brain that there is fear there . This in turn keeps the circle of fear going .

So to stop it you stop reaction to it in the way you have been and accept that it is there and will take a while for your body to settle .

It will slowly fade less and less the less you think about it .

It will never come back if you do it this way because you are changing the way you think about these symptoms . Remember it is only the reaction toward those symptoms that keep it going . When you learn to let it go the brain starts to no longer see it as a fear and it fades away .

My unwanted thoughts started to disappear I didn't feel worried or have much fear about anything. Then it seemed like to came back to a smaller degree.
Thats recovery there but what happens is that because the body is still stressed it will fall back into feeling stress when thing stress you out but that dose not mean that it is returning . Ask yourself this one question Why was it so bad to start with ?? I bet if you think about it it was because you were scared shitless because you didn't know what was happening . But now you know so how can you fear it ?

Ok look at it this way . You have a pot on the stove and it is boiling madly ( stress symptoms ) with heat under it ( stress) . Now you turn the heat down and it starts to cool ( remove stress ) but then you turn the heat up again ( something stresses you ) and it starts to boil again . So now you have a chose you can sit there and watch it boil ( start stressing about it ) or you can see it for what it is and turn the heat down ( de stress )

As long as you understand what is happening it will never return as it once was . Yes the symptoms of stress may be there as i still have but you have the choose of weather you react to them with fear or acceptance or not .

See stress is like that water in the pot . It will not go from boiling to ice water in a second . It takes time to cool and thats when you completely take the heat off it . But life is not like that so while you are destressing you will still get times that stress you and your stress will again raise ., But again you have the chose to see it as this or start feeding it with thoughts such as Its coming back . ITS ONLY COMING BACK IF YOU LET IT .

So how do you know you are recovering == When less and less thing start to stress you out . When going in the shop that you would have feared once now just increase your stress a little or when you dont even think about it and just do it then you are well on your way .

Anxiety only has the power you give it . So stop giving it and start taking it back as some of you are doing well at now .

cheers kev :D