For the purposes of this discussion let's examine what you can do to lower your anxiety, and hopefully soon after some work, feel 'yourself' once again. Most of you have forgotten what that feels like, or perhaps you ran away from yourself because of things that happened in your life. Regardless understanding this discussion today can give you relief more or less on a permanent basis, and renew your sense of vitality and feelings of health.
Practicing relaxation (any method you enjoy) daily is important as we will soon show, but not in a panic state, practice when you are calm and resting, this will help to lessen the frequency and duration of the attacks, as well as level out the hormones, reducing them to a below the 'instant trigger' state.
Let's discuss what is happening in your bodies as stress raises and lowers, along with the corresponding chemical reactions, ie why you feel the way you do -
Let's say the adrenaline level in your systems range from 1-10 and use that as a guide in the following examples:
A so called normal person will have a constant state of say 3. Growing a little tense they may jump to 5 and in fright, or fight or flight lets say 8. But immediately after the threat has been removed, the level begins to decline and soon enough they are back in their life at a 3 again with no residual left in the blood from the spike.
A person with anxiety, whether calm or not for example now, we will say he has a level of 6, constant. Now an 8 is needed for full blown attack, but at a 5 or constant 6 he is jittery and the nerves are frazzled continuously. That has become his natural state over time. Not needing much of an impetus to throw him over the 8.
Now these are general numbers, the avg person may be a 1 or 2 spiking to a 6, where you are always a 6 you see.
I think it's important to know this because it will show you clearly why you are most always anxious, (sitting on the fence) and can be set off very easily. A car horn in traffic which would normally spike 2 and be forgotten, sets you off because it thrusts you to 8 instantly.
Now meditation or visualization, when rested, and practiced, would help to lower your number down to normal range over time, thus pulling you out of the anxious always range.
So yes, you practice relaxation when you are relaxed, training yourself in feeling comfortable and secure, thus lowering the hormones in the blood making it harder and further to reach the full blown attack.
The aches and the spasms, the twitches, the appetite and stomach and most of the symptoms you face are residual issues of trace hormones left in the system to maintain your higher level, after a few days you may feel better because you dropped to a 6, from the 8-9, then to a 5 where the muscles do not ache, the chemicals have dropped sufficiently enough. But, each attack over time raises the normal level, so you must do the reverse and lower it, in the quiet times. Now I will not say how this would work, for that would take to many pages here, but trust it will work, and soon over time you would have reversed the process, you will be a 3 on a regular basis and thus put behind you the worst.
Understanding this scale as we have discussed is important for you, picture a child as she stands against the wall, her mother drawing growth lines, year by year she grows a little more and is then able to measure it if she wishes. You also have this measurement line, and it has significantly raised over time as well. Each step in the line signifying not an inch as in the child, but a new 'normal' anxiety level. At a 7 or 8 you become agoraphobic, at a 5-7 you may become socially phobic. With your first attack we will say that day, you went from a 2 to a 4, and we can blame anticipatory nervousness from then on at maintaining that higher level and thereby increasing it as one gets shut in from fears.
Sleep in itself is highly therapeutic. And is meant to drop you down a few levels by morning. If you awake stressed, then your dreaming is frightful, and before bed, you gave yourself fearful suggestions. The mind is highly receptive just before bed, so try at that time to at least be more positive about the next day, and about your dreams that night. Dreams are open to suggestion. The goal in either case through relaxation methods, music, yoga, recorded tapes, is to lower the chemistry's influence on the body by relaxing the mind, one must be persistent in lowering the levels in the body by practicing this relaxation, and by protecting and valuing your sleep time. And by self suggestion with positive ideas before bed
The way toward health then is twofold, first to practice relaxation frequently as we have discussed, and secondly to take a good long look at you, and possibly face the traumas of the past, the events and experiences that hold the pain and hurts.
Welcome to the Anxiety Forum - A Home for Those with Anxiety, Fear, or Panic Attacks.
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Originally Posted by JustaGal
