How to stop/cope with racing thoughts?

[Avasmummy_x]

I'm going through a real bad time of my anxiety right now. I'm in the state of not wanting to leave my house/be alone ect. I'm constantly having racing thoughts. Mainly worrying over going Crazy as the racing thoughts make me feel that way. Most of the time I don't even know what the thoughts are though I just feel my mind is going 100mph and makes me feel like I'm going mad. It's all stemmed from my health anxiety as I've been lightheaded for months and still have no answers.

I've been on anti ds and all have failed currently on diazepam to chill me out for a week but still getting the thoughts just not as bad and not had intrusive thoughts. X

[Frankie123]

Not had the racing thoughts but when my health anxiety is at its worse I like you do not want to go out and crave not to be alone as that makes me even worse. I was on citalopram and after a few weeks it did help a lot and I managed to calm down and began to get my life back again.

[jonjones]

Hey,

try to stay in the moment!

Your mind is racing because you are in a heightened state of arousal. Your body is in fight or flgith mode. adrenaline is being released throughout your body.

Try to become aware of any tension you feel in your body and let it drop, or feel heavy, take deep breaths, exhale slowly and sag.

There is nothing you need to think of, or analyze, just deal with yourself, one breath at a time! And focus on releasing the tension you have by sagging!

Best,

Jon

[MyNameIsTerry]

This is really common in those of us with GAD as well, we just can't turn it off and you often see people raising threads about whether they could be losing their minds. Have a read what people discuss as it will help you.

For me, Mindfulness greatly helped me with this as it did with my OCD. It teaches you to allow thoughts & sensations to pass without judgement so you stop associating them with anxiety or anything bad. It also teaches you how to focus properly and has methods of showing you how to achieve this. The more you practice this, the more instinctive it becomes. Lack of focus is a big problem for anxiety disorder sufferers so this cna really help.

[Avasmummy_x]

Thanks everyone glad to hear it's common. I genuinely think I'm going mad sometimes. Like waiting for the moment I'll hear voices as my mind is just constantly at 100mph. I mess with my ears a lot even sometimes cover them in comfort. I've been refferred to a physiatrist what's mindfullness? IS it like therapy and is it self refferal?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi AM,

Sorry, I'm really having issues accessing threads on here at the moment so I couldn't respond yesterday after posting!

Mindfulness is basically a practice from Buddhism that can be practiced in meditation, when eating, in halding objects, in movement and exists in various other movement based practices such as Tai Chi & QiGong.

It teaches you to control your thoughts, be able to focus more (a real struggle in anxiety disorders as I'm sure you have found), teaches acceptance of thoughts & sensations and to look at them without judgement which starts to retrain your subconscious as well as make you more resilient at a conscious level.

Its been studied in neuroscience and shown to access the compassionate side of the brain. This is important because the other part of the section of the brain I am referring to (the left is the compassion side and right amydala) is more fear is engaged more in anxiety disorders. This also means that it creates new neural pathways and allows your brain to stop using older ones that serve no purpose anymore, which are the ones that were created in developing anxiety disorders. It all fits into neuroplasticity and how we can learn new behaviours, good and bad, throughout life.

There are more modern forms that have been blended with CBT, such as Jon Kabat-Zinn's MBSR from the US and the later MBCT from Professor Mark Williams of Oxford univerisities pyschology dept, a leading centre in the UK, which is based on the works of Kabat-Zinn. MBCT has been clinically studied and is recommended by NICE for recurrent depression at this stage in the UK, but its always extremely helpful in anxiety and I expect it will receive recommedation for this in the future.

Both these guys have books out and Professor Williams has most of his meditations in the free resources section on his Frantic World website. These programmes are based on an 8 week model. If you look in the media contact section on this website, you will see a couple of universities asking members on here to join their programmes so you can see its a well respected form of therapy.

There are courses, many from therapists but you can start with a book, from downloads or apps such as Headspace which people on here say is good.

It really does help with racing thoughts. I have GAD & OCD and this has helped me more than anything. Thoughts are a bit problem in OCD and HA shares common ground with it due to the obsessional element so I reckon it would have a similiar impact for you.

You can try the 8 week programmes, just do meditations from free resources or even both. Something I have learned is that meditation is a good starting point so you learn from guidance but you really need to do the non meditative forms to truly benefit from it because these help you incorporate it into everyday life. You will find it can take time to see the benefits, but at a minimum meditation is relaxing, and you will find yourself doing it automatically as time goes by.

[Avasmummy_x]

Thanks terry for the insight. I've picked up some books from my library actually. Overcoming anxiety, overcoming ocd, mindfullness, keeping calm. There just some. And I've also downloaded some apps. I think my problem is I can't focus enough to read or listen to them I'm too hyped up and nervous. I'm in this state all day long and have been for about a fortnight never ever had it this bad.

I'm obsessed over the fear of having something more than anxiety which causes the thoughts all day long which makes me anxious which then leads to the sensitive ears which is when I fear most I'll hear things that aren't there. That's like my daily routine atm. There still there when I try to distract myself and keep busy which is also very frustrating. I have a 2yr old and I fear I'm failing her and that I'll just be admitted to hospital and have her took off me as I'm not particularly 'coping' well right now so I'm just catastrophising every thought. I had to take two diazepam yesterday just to get to a level where I could sleep and do things.

I feel like I just need reassurance I'm not mad I think. So I'm really holding out on the physcistrist spot. I can't remember the last time I just sat on the sofa chilled out. Very annoying x

[Primula]

Hi Avasmummy, I promise you, you are not mad, you are just anxious and exhausted. Persevere with the mindfullness and relaxation, they won't work straight away. It's like all new things, you have to keep working at it to get the benefit. Maybe just try 5 mins a day, and gradually make it longer until you are up to 20 mins. Also don't think it's not working if you don't feel relaxed, it's not an overnight cure. You need to give it time, and then more time.

[Avasmummy_x]

Thanks primula. I wish the ear sensation would quit it I think that's whats making me anxious I'll hear things. The only way I can describe it is that awful feeling you get in your tummy when your nervous I'm getting the same feel sensation in my ears! There so sensitive x

---------- Post added at 18:00 ---------- Previous post was at 17:07 ----------

Just had to take another diazepam my minds in overdrive hate having to rely on a tablet to calm me down :'(

[MyNameIsTerry]

Believe me AV, I know how you feel. I don't have HA but as a GAD & OCD sufferer my own issues were going 24/7 and I never thought I would get better, but I did.

I found Mindfulness really hard at first but any good resource will tell you that this is to be expected. At first, failure to do it properly is very normal. The more you do it, the more it works on its own. I promise you, it does get easier.

I thought I was going mad, I couldn't get through a room with a load of image & touching rituals. I couldn't walk anywhere outside without reading rituals.

Mindfulness helped me more with this than CBT did or anything else. I taught me how to focus more and be more calm. It takes practice, but it comes.

I would start with guided meditation, its easier to listen to someone telling you what to do and how to feel. You will use inductions and if your focus cannot be controlled, you do them again. These inductions are often monitoring breathing or muscle movements around the lungs. They act a bit like distraction techniques.

Once you feel more comfortable with it, progress because I found without progressive it could get a bit boring. Using Mindful eating, object handling and movement works well for moving forward as it teaches you different skills and they all end up reinforcing each other.