Setbacks suck!

[Teafrenzy]

I had an amazing halloween. very little anxiety all day. I did great through the week. Saw a movie for the first time in months on Friday. Yesterday, I felt pretty good all day. I thought I was well under way to a 100% full recovery.

But today it sucked.

I woke up well enough, almost no anxiety. Realized the clock changed, slept in some more. Woke up and did my "morning anxiety ritual". Felt good until about 1pm. Then a wave of the worst friggin' dizzyness I hadn't felt in 2 weeks. I was walking funny. I felt super irritable and anxious. I think I did something stupid, but I pushed my daily walk from 4km to 8km. I came home around 4pm and I felt extremely tired and sleepy. Then I did stupid thing Number 2, I forced myself to stay up and did some work while tired.

For the first time in a week, I felt anxious and panicky at sundown. Felt like I may have had a minor panic attack. I got a buzz of energy and a general anxious feeling when the darkness came rolling in.

Now I just feel like crap. I am wondering why I could hit a setback so badly.

Anyone else get setbacks?

[gypsylee]

I think if someone said they never get setbacks I'd give them a reason to have one

Anxiety is a tricky little beast and loves to pop up and remind you it's there. That's when you have to use the "acceptance" tools because it wants a fight.

By the sound of it you could just be tired. I've noticed that sometimes instead of feeling sleepy I feel anxious. A good example is when I've done the 10 hour drive between here and my daughter's place and by the end of it I'm absolutely freaking out with anxiety. I reassure people that I won't have an accident falling asleep at the wheel because my body seems to go the other way and become massively hyper-vigilant. I've even tried pulling over to have a "power nap" and it's just not possible with how wired I am. The only way I can do it now is by spending the night somewhere along the way because 10 hours behind the wheel is crazy.

So sometimes it's something as simple as being tired. Other times it's more complex and something subconcious is going on. Either way - just remember that you had a good week and you'll have more good weeks. In the meantime just try and accept the anxiety (making it into a joke is helpful - see my post on "Defusing Thoughts").

Cheers,
Gypsy x

[Ponder]

I welcome my setbacks when they come but don't go looking for them. I seem to have less set backs when I enable my body and mind to keep such an outlook. For me, that requires good quality sleep, food and adequate activity + sensible sun exposure.

Nice approach there Gypsy. Very encouraging. I got a lot out of that. TY.

[gypsylee]

Nice approach there Gypsy. Very encouraging. I got a lot out of that. TY.

That's great! You're welcome

[JoeCool]

Teafrenzy...do not despair. We all go through set backs. I contend it's a matter of our personalities. We obsess over things. For some its social anxiety, for others it's a phobia over something, and for others its health. We need to manage it all. As a matter of fact, I just checked back in to this forum today after a long while because of a recent set back. I was doing well for a quite a long while but my anxiety got switched back on. Not enough or the lack of quality rest triggers my health related anxiety. It's a vicious cycle that I am once again trying to cope with. Be kind to yourself...ok, so you made a couple of bad decisions. What's done is done. Now you know for next time. We're all learning on this journey.

[Teafrenzy]

Yes!

My best day so far in nearly 2 months. I was a little anxious in the morning..calmed down. Was fine until about 3-430 Pm when I got a little panicky and the sides of my head "buzzed". Then after about 5pm-7pm, no physical symptoms, just some distrubing thoughts. From 7 until now, no problems whatsoever. If it persists I am going to night owl it to about 2am and that means 0 symptoms for roughly half a day. With reduced symptoms for the other half.

If I can only fix that first half a day.

[gypsylee]

Cool

My mornings are ALWAYS worse than evenings (unless I have something stressful the next day). It's like it takes me a while to adjust to being among the living haha.

[aml0017]

I have been dealing with anxiety for 20 yrs now and I am still taken aback when I have a setback or when the anxiety comes back after a prolonged period of time. I think part of it is just denial that sets in before the body accepts that you are having yet another episode of anxiety -- "Why is this happening to me, I was doing sooo good!". I always have to feel a bit sorry for myself when the anxiety hits lol. It is often my own fault, when I am having a good period with low anxiety, I become less vigilant about watching my diet, exercising, journaling - I just become a bit complacent and relax as if I have no GAD, no issues with worrying. Oh well, it is good while it lasts anyway.

However, don't let the anxiety over the setback itself make you more anxious than you need to be. Looks like you bounced back and had a better day yesterday, maybe is not so much a setback as just a bump in the road. Just your biology and your personality converge to make you wired for anxiety somedays. Like gypsy, sometimes I feel wired, like my emotions are all just a big raw nerve that can be set off by any little thing, no amount of self talk and meditation seems to help. Other days, the little things are like water off my back, they just don't stick long enough to get a reaction. The best thing is to keep on going -- I always remember "this too shall pass" and "I've been through worse".

[Teafrenzy]

It has just become now super-frustrating. Yesterday I was terrible in the morning. Totally anxious and depressed. Snapped out of it. Went for a long walk, felt great! The sun started to come down, which is usually the start of a panic feeling for me, but I felt good. Felt so good at night that I went out for ice cream. Hadn't had anything sweet in 5 weeks. The ice cream started to make my head buzz so no more ice cream. But overall it was a tough morning but a great evening.

I prayed that the great feeling would extend all day today.

I woke up and there was almost no morning anxiety! So I felt great, thought my prayers were answered. I had to drive out of town. Totally unstressed to about 1pm. I felt brain foggy and very tired but not anxious. So I ate something and my brain fog lifted. Then suddenly I felt 100% like my old self. This hadn't really happened before during an afternoon. So I thought my night would be amazing. But as the night progressed, I got extremely fearful, disturbing thoughts, stuffed ears, the whole bit.

Can't I have 1 good day with 1 good night?

[gypsylee]

Hey, no morning anxiety is a big deal and a great sign

No matter how well I'm doing in general I'm either anxious/depressed or really tired when I wake up. It takes me about an hour (and a tea frenzy lol) to start feeling vaguely normal. So if you're like me and mornings are your worst, you can count that as extra non-anxiety points haha.