Help with anxiety
Discussion
There's various health issues that have meant I've been suffering from pretty bad anxiety.
I'm due to see my consultant in a few months to help but in the meantime, I'd thought I'd ask for any advice.
I started a new job last week, and for most people it's a challenge that their able to overcome after afew hours of training. But I go in every morning, and just standing up getting ready for work my legs are trembling from nervousness.
I'm easily flustered, and when it happens, I get CONFUSED, and really begin to PANIC. If I train on a new job, the nerves are horrendous. Once one settled on, I begin to calm down, and I'm back to normal, but the following morning, I'm back to being a bag of nerves.
I'm sure I'll be told to get professional help, but in the meantime is their any advice how I can control this? any sort of herbal medication etc.
I've read up meditation is a good way of getting on top of things, but due to the nature of my job, it's quick paced and physical, so breathing tactics is difficult to carry out.
Any other suggestion?
I'm due to see my consultant in a few months to help but in the meantime, I'd thought I'd ask for any advice.
I started a new job last week, and for most people it's a challenge that their able to overcome after afew hours of training. But I go in every morning, and just standing up getting ready for work my legs are trembling from nervousness.
I'm easily flustered, and when it happens, I get CONFUSED, and really begin to PANIC. If I train on a new job, the nerves are horrendous. Once one settled on, I begin to calm down, and I'm back to normal, but the following morning, I'm back to being a bag of nerves.
I'm sure I'll be told to get professional help, but in the meantime is their any advice how I can control this? any sort of herbal medication etc.
I've read up meditation is a good way of getting on top of things, but due to the nature of my job, it's quick paced and physical, so breathing tactics is difficult to carry out.
Any other suggestion?
Look up "Yoga for Anxiety" on YouTube, where there's a range of poses and exercises to help with relaxation and breathing - Adrienne's videos are good. You can adapt some of the exercises to your everyday situations to try and help fend off panic attacks when you're at work.
If your anxiety relates to performing well at work, why not write a journal at the end of the day, saying how you feel each day, how you managed your anxiety and what the results were. Hopefully you'll realise that you're making progress and that will lead to less anxiety.
Good luck.
If your anxiety relates to performing well at work, why not write a journal at the end of the day, saying how you feel each day, how you managed your anxiety and what the results were. Hopefully you'll realise that you're making progress and that will lead to less anxiety.
Good luck.
Lannister902 said:
There's various health issues that have meant I've been suffering from pretty bad anxiety.
I'm due to see my consultant in a few months to help but in the meantime, I'd thought I'd ask for any advice.
I started a new job last week, and for most people it's a challenge that their able to overcome after afew hours of training. But I go in every morning, and just standing up getting ready for work my legs are trembling from nervousness.
I'm easily flustered, and when it happens, I get CONFUSED, and really begin to PANIC. If I train on a new job, the nerves are horrendous. Once one settled on, I begin to calm down, and I'm back to normal, but the following morning, I'm back to being a bag of nerves.
I'm sure I'll be told to get professional help, but in the meantime is their any advice how I can control this? any sort of herbal medication etc.
I've read up meditation is a good way of getting on top of things, but due to the nature of my job, it's quick paced and physical, so breathing tactics is difficult to carry out.
Any other suggestion?
Sorry to hear. I have suffered from bad anxiety in the past myself. I know it effects people differently for me the worse part was a constant feeling of butterflies in my tummy. I also get the panic when stuff goes wrong, that is horrible, brain fog, heavy legs, pounding heart.I'm due to see my consultant in a few months to help but in the meantime, I'd thought I'd ask for any advice.
I started a new job last week, and for most people it's a challenge that their able to overcome after afew hours of training. But I go in every morning, and just standing up getting ready for work my legs are trembling from nervousness.
I'm easily flustered, and when it happens, I get CONFUSED, and really begin to PANIC. If I train on a new job, the nerves are horrendous. Once one settled on, I begin to calm down, and I'm back to normal, but the following morning, I'm back to being a bag of nerves.
I'm sure I'll be told to get professional help, but in the meantime is their any advice how I can control this? any sort of herbal medication etc.
I've read up meditation is a good way of getting on top of things, but due to the nature of my job, it's quick paced and physical, so breathing tactics is difficult to carry out.
Any other suggestion?
There are a number of things I have tried with differing success.
Medication - my GP put me on Sertraline and beta-blockers. The sertraline is an anti depressant and the beta-blockers slow the heart. The side effects of both of these can be horrid. I gave up on both after a while as they didn't help and the side effects were not nice. Not everyone gets them but just to warn you that it can happen. Lots of people have hardly any effects and get good results with them. They also take a couple of weeks to start working.
Blood Tests - for me a big improvement came after a full panel of blood tests showed I had very low testosterone. I am on replacement therapy for that and its helped a lot.
Counselling - Anti depressants only really treat the symptoms and not the cause. Talking therapies are very good for this. I had counselling for a bit. It was good for understanding why I had anxiety and what the triggers were. Getting to the root cause. The NHS favorite is CBT. This is more about strategies for changing how you think so to stop worrying thoughts. Critics of it will say that its not treating the cause. Your GP can refer you, but that may take time. Your employeer may have a EPA programme and you can often get 10 sessions for free through that. Otherwise you can pay privately. Normally about £40-50 a session.
For me meditation / yoga etc did nothing for me. Other people it works well. There is a phone app called Headspace people recommend.
Self help is good also. Exercise good, for me my physical symptoms were a result of almost constantly being in fight or flight and exercise burns up the adrenaline. Alcohol is no good. For me I was self medicating with booze and it made it worse. I got 2-3 hours a day of respite when I had had a few but the next day it would turn my anxiety to 11.
I've suffered quite badly due to health issues, heart related.
I don't think there is any magic pill for it that fits all. All, some or none of the suggestions above may work for you, you need to experiment.
For me though, the breakthrough was embracing it, challenging it to do its worse and realising that it has no power over you. Try and let it flow through you and never fight it, fighting it just makes it worse. Easier said than done but try and let wash over and around you.
There are some good books to read, Claire Weeks is an author to search for as is Susan Jeffers with her 'Feel the fear and do it anyway' series of books. They don't tie in exactly if you have an underlying health issue but equip you with methods to manage it.
No pressure to disclose your health issue but knowing this place, there is probably someone who has gone through similar who would share their experiences.
I don't think there is any magic pill for it that fits all. All, some or none of the suggestions above may work for you, you need to experiment.
For me though, the breakthrough was embracing it, challenging it to do its worse and realising that it has no power over you. Try and let it flow through you and never fight it, fighting it just makes it worse. Easier said than done but try and let wash over and around you.
There are some good books to read, Claire Weeks is an author to search for as is Susan Jeffers with her 'Feel the fear and do it anyway' series of books. They don't tie in exactly if you have an underlying health issue but equip you with methods to manage it.
No pressure to disclose your health issue but knowing this place, there is probably someone who has gone through similar who would share their experiences.
I have had terrible anxiety for a couple of months, lots of work and family pressures, finally two bereavements pushed me over the edge
I have been seeing a counsellor who recommended the Claire Weekes float method. She was an Australian psychiatrist and was nominated for a Nobel prize for her work on anxiety. I have found it surprisingly helpful - she did a series of talks https://www.amazon.co.uk/Freedom-from-Nervous-Suff... or there are a couple of books
What she talks about reminded me of Pema Chödrön’s take on negative feelings - so if this looks useful her Tonglen meditation techniques might also be worth looking at
I have been seeing a counsellor who recommended the Claire Weekes float method. She was an Australian psychiatrist and was nominated for a Nobel prize for her work on anxiety. I have found it surprisingly helpful - she did a series of talks https://www.amazon.co.uk/Freedom-from-Nervous-Suff... or there are a couple of books
What she talks about reminded me of Pema Chödrön’s take on negative feelings - so if this looks useful her Tonglen meditation techniques might also be worth looking at
Lannister902 said:
I've read up meditation is a good way of getting on top of things, but due to the nature of my job, it's quick paced and physical, so breathing tactics is difficult to carry out.
Any other suggestion?
Meditation is very helpful. It doesn’t need to be onerous. Any other suggestion?
10 minutes breathing meditation before you go out in the morning and/or on the evening would be enough to get things started. The idea is that doing it regularly builds your emotional reserves and helps you throughout the day. On top of that, little spontaneous mindful moments will top that up. Breathing whilst queuing for the photocopier, or whilst in traffic will help.
Also another technique is focusing on the sensation of soles of your feet pressing onto the ground for a few moments to steady yourself, when sitting or standing.
There are free or cheap classes in most areas, secular and/or Buddhist. If you can’t get to one, there are Apps - headspace is one of the most popular ones.
One mindfulness trainer who works in my area does a free 14 day online plan every month - http://14days.mindspace.org.uk/. I have used it and still come back to it occasionally
I know it sounds a bit woo to many, but anxiety may be related to what you eat: unconventional medicine.
A few years ago I moved into a completely new role. A complete career change, I knew nothing about the area and I found it very stressful, and suffered with feeling trapped under my new responsibilities, terrified I was going to be "found out" and spent every day feeling very anxious. I'd recommend going to see someone for medication if the symptoms are preventing you from functioning properly.
I employed a some pretty well known techniques to reset my perspective and give my anxiety the correct scale. I'm not saying any of these techniques would work for someone else, but they continue to help me enormously. Apologies if the following sounds a bit self-help or even a little trite.
Three perspective strategies have helped me to become a lot less anxious:
1) Physical perspective. Before doing something stressful, or while in the middle of it, try and view yourself and your situation from the outside. Try and see yourself from the outside getting anxious about the new job/stressful situation etc etc. Then zoom out (Google Maps style) and try and imagine as you zoom out all the thousands (millions) of people fretting about their own little problems and how insignificant the issues are that any one of them (including you) is facing. In the grand scheme, these things don't matter, nobody really cares
2) Negative visualisation. This is a really strong technique for resetting your perspective on life. Essentially it's about realising that everything we know and love is on loan from the Universe and eventually we'll have to give it back.
This can be anything, e.g. eventually that favourite pair of shoes will fall apart or one day it'll be the last time you feel rain on your face. Likewise, there will be a last steak, a last glass of wine, a last time you hold your child or your spouse or your parents. Negative visualisation doesn't mean that you obsess over these losses, but rather accept that we'll lose everything eventually, and to do everything in our power, not to vainly hold on, but to appreciate the things we value and love right now. Getting anxious about things like work/bills etc just detracts from appreciating things and people that we only have a finite amount of time to enjoy.
3) Temporal perspective. This is like the first technique. Whenever I've had a bad meeting or come to verbal blows with someone at work, or been let down by someone or had an argument etc etc. Just remember that in a years time you'll struggle to recall hardly any details of the situation, in 10 years you'll struggle to remember the situation that caused you all this stress, in 50 years you'll barely remember the people involved (if you're still alive), in 100 years no one will be alive to even know the altercation/stressful situation happened
Again, I hope things improve. It is horrible when things feel overwhelming and you can't seem to get on with life due to this huge emotional cancer dictating everything. Good luck
I employed a some pretty well known techniques to reset my perspective and give my anxiety the correct scale. I'm not saying any of these techniques would work for someone else, but they continue to help me enormously. Apologies if the following sounds a bit self-help or even a little trite.
Three perspective strategies have helped me to become a lot less anxious:
1) Physical perspective. Before doing something stressful, or while in the middle of it, try and view yourself and your situation from the outside. Try and see yourself from the outside getting anxious about the new job/stressful situation etc etc. Then zoom out (Google Maps style) and try and imagine as you zoom out all the thousands (millions) of people fretting about their own little problems and how insignificant the issues are that any one of them (including you) is facing. In the grand scheme, these things don't matter, nobody really cares
2) Negative visualisation. This is a really strong technique for resetting your perspective on life. Essentially it's about realising that everything we know and love is on loan from the Universe and eventually we'll have to give it back.
This can be anything, e.g. eventually that favourite pair of shoes will fall apart or one day it'll be the last time you feel rain on your face. Likewise, there will be a last steak, a last glass of wine, a last time you hold your child or your spouse or your parents. Negative visualisation doesn't mean that you obsess over these losses, but rather accept that we'll lose everything eventually, and to do everything in our power, not to vainly hold on, but to appreciate the things we value and love right now. Getting anxious about things like work/bills etc just detracts from appreciating things and people that we only have a finite amount of time to enjoy.
3) Temporal perspective. This is like the first technique. Whenever I've had a bad meeting or come to verbal blows with someone at work, or been let down by someone or had an argument etc etc. Just remember that in a years time you'll struggle to recall hardly any details of the situation, in 10 years you'll struggle to remember the situation that caused you all this stress, in 50 years you'll barely remember the people involved (if you're still alive), in 100 years no one will be alive to even know the altercation/stressful situation happened
Again, I hope things improve. It is horrible when things feel overwhelming and you can't seem to get on with life due to this huge emotional cancer dictating everything. Good luck
I've suffered from generalised anxiety order, and social anxiety disorder for as long as I can remember. Tried CBT which didn't do anything for me, and I don't want to take pills.
One thing which really helps, for me, is CBD oil. It's worked wonders - the anxious thoughts are still there, but CBD oil takes them and puts them underwater. I'm still anxious, but nowhere near as bad as before.
One thing which really helps, for me, is CBD oil. It's worked wonders - the anxious thoughts are still there, but CBD oil takes them and puts them underwater. I'm still anxious, but nowhere near as bad as before.
RTB said:
2) Negative visualisation. This is a really strong technique for resetting your perspective on life. Essentially it's about realising that everything we know and love is on loan from the Universe and eventually we'll have to give it back.
This can be anything, e.g. eventually that favourite pair of shoes will fall apart or one day it'll be the last time you feel rain on your face. Likewise, there will be a last steak, a last glass of wine, a last time you hold your child or your spouse or your parents. Negative visualisation doesn't mean that you obsess over these losses, but rather accept that we'll lose everything eventually, and to do everything in our power, not to vainly hold on, but to appreciate the things we value and love right now. Getting anxious about things like work/bills etc just detracts from appreciating things and people that we only have a finite amount of time to enjoy.
I too have had debilitating anxiety and hope to join a psilocybin trial as nothing else has worked to date. The para above has opened my eyes this morning; I spend far too much time worrying about the future/past that I don't appreciate the here and now. Of course, I'm aware (as I'm sure we all are) that we should be living in the present, especially with the Mindfulness mantra - however it's often forgotten. ^^ Thanks for the post.This can be anything, e.g. eventually that favourite pair of shoes will fall apart or one day it'll be the last time you feel rain on your face. Likewise, there will be a last steak, a last glass of wine, a last time you hold your child or your spouse or your parents. Negative visualisation doesn't mean that you obsess over these losses, but rather accept that we'll lose everything eventually, and to do everything in our power, not to vainly hold on, but to appreciate the things we value and love right now. Getting anxious about things like work/bills etc just detracts from appreciating things and people that we only have a finite amount of time to enjoy.
Write a 'worry list'
Alongside each worry right down the most likely outcome and the worst outcome, write the likelihood of the worst outcome.
Looking at each worry individually makes things a lot more manageable and helps you realise they are fairly unlikely.
The “5-4-3-2-1” tool. This helps bring you back to the present by relying on your senses.
Look around at their surroundings and identify five things you can see at the moment. Really think about what you are looking at
Identify four things you can hear, three things you can feel - which can be anything from your feet in your shoes to a ring on your finger, to textured wallpaper.
Then two things you can smell and finally, one thing you can taste - which can even be your tongue as long as you can taste it.
Alongside each worry right down the most likely outcome and the worst outcome, write the likelihood of the worst outcome.
Looking at each worry individually makes things a lot more manageable and helps you realise they are fairly unlikely.
The “5-4-3-2-1” tool. This helps bring you back to the present by relying on your senses.
Look around at their surroundings and identify five things you can see at the moment. Really think about what you are looking at
Identify four things you can hear, three things you can feel - which can be anything from your feet in your shoes to a ring on your finger, to textured wallpaper.
Then two things you can smell and finally, one thing you can taste - which can even be your tongue as long as you can taste it.
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