Strangest anxiety trigger...

[laurandisorder]

Hey everyone, I hope you're all doing ok and taking things one day at a time. After a good 5 weeks of very minimal anxiety, I found myself a little wound up tonight - for the strangest reason and I have noticed a little pattern. I wonder if anyone else can identify with this?

Every Sunday night my partner and I sit down to watch Saturday Night Live. We record it and watch it together because we both enjoy it. Anyway, every time we sit to watch it, I notice an increase in my heart rate and I have to force myself to do relaxation breathing...

It's so strange, but it ALWAYS happens and it's only during SNL. We also watch Sons of Anarchy every Sunday and I have no problems there.

I was wondering if anyone else has particularly unusual triggers like this? It's nothing major, I'm usually fine and laughing halfway through the episode, but it just seems strange to me!

[dazza]

Hi!

You only need to read the list of anxiety symptoms to realise that; with anxiety - pretty much ANYTHING is possible.

Amongst an endless list of other symptoms and changes, anxiety tends to amplify our "fearful" and/or "excited" behaviour or reactions.
You've probably always got a little bit excited about SNL... but now you have anxiety mixed in, that excitement is somewhat amplified and more noticable.

OR... it could even be just be the act of sitting down to watch TV.


To backup what I've written above, I can tell you that I'm actually feeling a little anxious writing this very post.
Hmmmm... if my heart starts pounding like a 2-stroke piston in a mo. & I feel like throwing myself out my office window then it's all YOUR fault!

(only joking by the way, LOL)

[laurandisorder]

You're so right forewells - as per usual.

I think that the act of sitting down to watch SNL - a sketch show - triggers me in two ways;

The first is that my brain knows it is part of the Sunday night ritual, which means trying to get to bed and to sleep early and waking up to face the stress of work on Monday morning.

It doesn't really make sense now that I have figured out that work actually soothes me and keeps my panic at bay simply by being busy and doing my job well. However there is the subliminal fear that I will flip out at work and in terms of my schedule, Monday is a busy day for me where I literally have to plunge into the deep end.

I think another reason that SNL gets me worked up In particular is that I suffer from what I call audience anxiety. I'm getting better and better at being in the spotlight, but when I go to see an indoor live show or even a movie, I get quite anxious as a throwback to attacks I experienced a few years ago in these settings. My brain is trying to make a logical connection out of an illogical 'danger' response from my body.

It's weird, but the brain is an amazing and crazy organ!!

[hopeNfaith88]

Thats not strange as anxiety can be triggered by just about anything. Its unique to you

For example, An anxiety trigger for me is seein my gf (well now ex). After five years she made me so comfortable i never had a problem but for some reason now when i see her after five min i make her get out of the car i jus say "i gotta go j gotta go get out" randomly and i have an urge to drive off and i have then i calm down and drive back to her. So because of this i couldnt carry on a normal relationship and had to end it.

Also watching barely suspenseful tv shows or movies now gets me super anxious and it never did. I was watching