Re: Anyone struggle with Anxiety?
 

:r

Re: Anyone struggle with Anxiety?
 

Mother ****er

here I was selfishly thinking no one else was like this. No one else experienced thoughts just rushing by at the speed of light and futile trying to grasp every one of them and follow each to its end. There is no end, just the answer to one question leading to more questions. Having to know all those answers before being able to give a response to the original question. Thereby being debilitated by my own thoughts. Not able to make the simple choices like which cigar to smoke, which shirt to wear, what beer to drink and God help you if you don't know what we are doing for dinner because I will damn near go to throwing punches before having to answer one more question. Not knowing how to explain that all that is going on. Feeling like a complete failure because I have this problem and I can't sort it out, which, of course, compounds the whole situation. Looking for something, anything to keep my mind busy so I don't have to stay in my head, but everything loses its interest pretty quick when you think about nothing but that one thing. Video games helped, but if they were short or repetitive it defeated the purpose and just lead to more frustration. I keep having recurring suicidal thoughts. Each one of them a different method, and each more vivid than the previous. It's changed my marriage. I love my wife, but I don't want to hear that she has some kind of problem because I've created so many of my own problems that are only in my head and I want to help her but I can't because there is already too much going on. I can't explain that to her because that shows up as being weak, in my head again, and I can't do that either. We want kids and this is something I don't want them to have to deal with and that throws another wrench into this.

Reading through the posts above has given me some insight, but also as said above I know he's right. It's kind of already started.


How do you stop the questions? How do you keep yourself distracted? How do you make it ok to not have all the answers to the questions no one will ever ask? How do you keep from taking it out on others?

Stopping now before this obsession takes the rest of my day, but I thank you all for sharing your experiences.

Re: Anyone struggle with Anxiety?
 

How do you stop the questions? How do you keep yourself distracted? How do you make it ok to not have all the answers to the questions no one will ever ask? How do you keep from taking it out on others?

for myself talking to my family and my doctor has helped, Zoloft is my friend nowadays! just my:2
Leroy

Re: Anyone struggle with Anxiety?
 

Bump old thread. I am struggling these days. Had General Anxiety Disorder years ago and I think it is rearing its ugly head again. Panic attacks and general feeling of anxiety.

Re: Anyone struggle with Anxiety?
 

Chip, here's wishing you the best, my friend. Lots of good advice in this thread. Don't get too out of the lines before seeing a medical professional. I like MCS's advice of treating it like a game and not letting it win, but I know the game can be horrible at times. Never be ashamed to ask for help. I, like a lot of us, don't have a problem with you PM'ing if you ever need to chat. Support goes along way. Good luck!!

Re: Anyone struggle with Anxiety?
 

I struggle with it. I'm the guy that will take a drug test, having never done drugs, and stress over it for weeks. Little things like that become crippling to me sometimes. I have no idea why or where I got this trait. With my new job I've noticed I've experienced it a lot less, so I'm wondering if it came from 9 years at my previous job.

Re: Anyone struggle with Anxiety?
 

I struggled really hard about 4 years ago when I was in grad school and working full time. That was the first time I had panic attacks and it completely wrecked me. I got on Lexapro for about 90 days and that broke the vicious cycle. No problems until we had baby boy back in September. Roller coaster ride since then. The mind is a big asshole for playing tricks. I had a rough weekend and ended up getting a short Rx for Xanax, but was only taking 1/4 of one .25mg tab. I am NOT a fan of these very strong drugs, but I went to urgent care and that is what they insisted on.

I go tomorrow to my regular doc to see if he thinks I should get back on a regular small dose of Lexapro---last time I was only taking 1/2 of a 5mg pill every night. Alternatively, should I just keep something like Xanax or Ativan to get me out of the funk when things get deep. Normally, I would relieve stress via running or working out, but I am out of commission on both accounts for a long while - Jacked up rotator cuff in my shoulder and Achilles Tendonosis in my left feet (which is going to require wearing a custom brace for 6-12months).

Re: Anyone struggle with Anxiety?
 

Sounds like you're doing the correct things, Chip. Kudos.

I'm a sucker for one-liners, also. Just a few of my favorites.

• When in doubt, just take the next small step.
• You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
• Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
• If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
• Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
• Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.
• The best is yet to come.

Re: Anyone struggle with Anxiety?
 

Breathing exercises can do wonders for dealing with stress and anxiety... throw in some mental exercises and you basically have meditation... which is my recommendation... Very simple... yet transformative in my most humble opinion...

Try this...

Robulous's guide to meditation

Go to Rainymood.com

sit Indian style on the floor or other non backed chair... rock back and forward, left and right... find your center of gravity and then hold it with comfortable, but not lazy, posture....

Close your eyes... Breathe from the diaphragm... count the inhales of your breaths... once you get to 10 count right back down to 1...

Dont worry if you miss a count or two... after doing this exercise for about 5 minutes I start to loose sensation, feeling, consciousness < pick one> of all of my body other then my head... <which I refer to as the "head plane" because it is as if there was a plane intersecting my neck and I become aware of nothing below it...>

I continue this till I feel calm and peaceful....usually doesn't take longer then 10 mins.... the more often you do it the quicker you will be able to ascend to the "head plane" which is the part of meditation that, In my personal opinion, is where the benefits of meditation come from...

after much, much practice, monks and other practitioners can maintain and even enter the "head plane" with their eyes open or while walking around...



My half-assed guide and terminology aside, Meditation is very powerful and beneficial, I would definitely give it a shot.... ESPECIALLY BEFORE ZOLOFT!!! My Mom was on it for YEARS and coming off of it was brutal on the family to say the least... :2

Re: Anyone struggle with Anxiety?
 

oh... and FYI... when I wrote the above I had only read the first page...

guess you have found a solution, atleast I hope, by now that works... if not give meditation a shot... cause I'm not going to go through the effort of deleting all that typing I did for nothing.... :lr

Re: Anyone struggle with Anxiety?
 

Rob, I will have to try that technique and see if it works to help. Doc gave me my Rx for Lexapro, but I am going on a very light dose. I loathe taking medication.