View Full Version : Feeling of impending Doom
I just wanted to post a separate thread about this particular feeling.
I have GAD and struggle with the physical symptom of churning stomach with associated nausea. I am trying not to worry about these sensations any longer an accept the feelings without so much mental involvement. That's not to say I don't like it and I want it to go away, but if I have learnt anything it is that trying to control the thoughts and feelings is counter productive.
Now I have good days and bad days. The good ones are nice and a rest. The frequent bad ones are hard work for me mentally. Recognising that I have started to fight and struggle is a continuos process and can become an anxious habit in itself.
However, I have made progress recently but struggle to get through the spells of one aspect of anxiety. The awful feeling of dread and doom.
This feeling can come in waves and usually hooks me. It is accompanied, once hooked, with a feeling of defeat. Then all the really nasty thoughts kick in as I find myself wanting to despair. Yes, wanting to despair, cry for help, get some relief. I was doing so well up till an hour ago, then BAM... The feeling appeared, probably due to a background fear that it was looming. And then it knocks me back. My response is not good and I get relief from despair and tears. There is self pity involved aswell.
Then an hour later having explored all the options, I come to my senses and realise that none are viable. I already knew there were none really! Then it's back to the start again but with another bad memory and a fear of THAT FEELING!
I really need to get through these spells in a less distressing way. Today I have been anxious, but been out and carrying on with life. All that work seems to be set back when I suddenly get overcome by this one feeling. The urge is to despair... It feels too much. If I could pass through this feeling to some kind of peace without dipping into some really dark emotional upheaval then I could move on.
I want to know if this is just anxiety... Nothing more than another symptom. Is it common, or am I a special case?How can I learn to accept and not fear it. It is the one thing holding me back as it feels like it tips me over the edge.
I am not saying the other symptoms are comfortable in any way but they are becoming tolerable, but this one still holds a fear in me.
Phil
Hi Phil,I too Get the doom and gloom feeling and have intact been feeling it today. I have had to take a Valium today to make it ease off and was about to start a new thread about this feeling when I saw yours. I was told whilst in hospital that this feeling is part of anxiety. Once we understand that it will be easier to handle. Today I have also been feeling "maudlin" (as my mum would say) thinking about the past and missing the old days when my daughter was young and so was I!!!!!
I keep telling myself to snap out of it...But it is hard..... so I know how you are feeling.
Sarah
I've been feeling a bit maudlin today as well :D
Maybe its the moons position ��
Thanks Sarah,
I was beginning to treat this feeling with a special fear. I keep thinking I need to get through these spells with the same attitude as other emotions and feelings but presently it is the one that gets to me.
I am sure it will still prove difficult for me as it is such an all consuming feeling. But if it's another symptom of anxiety then maybe I can think about it with a little less dread.
Practice, practice ,,,, keep on going!
Thanks
Phil, seriously when I went into a psych unit this rime last year the feelings of doom and fear where the main reasons I was admitted. After 18 days I came to accept that these feelings were "anxiety" related as every member of staff was telling me so..... it has not stopped those feelings sometimes coming back...But at least I know what they are now................ one very senior nurse told me to say to myself "they are ONLY thoughts" and I use that mantra frequently.
Sarah
ChilliChocolate
11-04-14, 19:32
Hi Phil, I used to get this type of feeling when I had OCD (approx. 15 years ago). This is what would trigger the compulsions. Since I'm a newbie I don't know all of your story but it sounds like you are doing amazingly well on your journey.
I was going to ask this on another thread but do you think that since you are using your coping strategies on the other aspects of anxiety rather successfully, the body is trying to 'trick' you by introducing new physical sensations? A test almost? I'm finding this myself over the past few days.
Chilli,
I don't think I have any really new symptoms. I have experienced many different ones over time but my anxiety has always been felt mainly in my stomach, churning and nausea. The nausea is most distressing though it is not quite the same as a bug, or hangover, and it never actually makes me sick. You would think that would help to tolerate it but it always feels close to being sick. I am capable of accepting symptoms but am also capable of getting frustrated when they go on all day. Staying patient is the hard part. You have to allow yourself to feel it all and keep believing that this will eventually calm down.
Kayleigh100
11-04-14, 21:07
I used to feel similar. I was told I had catastrophic thinking. Seemed perfectly plausible to me at the time, albeit doomlike.
MyNameIsTerry
12-04-14, 04:16
I used to feel similar. I was told I had catastrophic thinking. Seemed perfectly plausible to me at the time, albeit doomlike.
It's just fearing the worst will happen really. Getting things out of proportion.
I think we can all understand this one as we probably all have degrees of it.
---------- Post added at 04:14 ---------- Previous post was at 04:10 ----------
.
I was going to ask this on another thread but do you think that since you are using your coping strategies on the other aspects of anxiety rather successfully, the body is trying to 'trick' you by introducing new physical sensations? A test almost? I'm finding this myself over the past few days.
Yes, I have had this. Maybe it's an OCD thing because I've found old conquered rituals come back or new ones develop.
It's almost as though anxiety is a volume of energy and it has to escape somehow so acts in a fluid way by finding another exit.
Think of the dam with a hole in. Stick your finger in it and another just develops.
This is one of the reasons why I don't believe acceptable is the only tool because there are ways to reduce that volume of anxiety by attacking it from another angle, which for me was Mindfulness.
---------- Post added at 04:16 ---------- Previous post was at 04:14 ----------
Phil,
Dread in anxiety is a common one. The problem with dread is that it's more an emotion than a feeling.
I was told by my CBT therapist that we can change or accept our thoughts, we can change how we react to sensations, we can alter our behaviours, but we can't directly change our emotions. She said in order to do this, you attack the others which feed into the emotions.
I was feeling gloomy and apprehensive yesterday morning, and a bit butterflies-nervous, but I knew why it was - I was going to start teaching a new bunch of civil engineers in the afternoon, and I had memories of last year's lot who were somewhat less than responsive - a bit like trying to juggle bags of wet laundry in the classroom. Around these times, I usually start questioning myself why I'm still in the teaching game.
But I called on every trick I could think of in advance to tweak the class, and in I went. Fortunately, everything went well, and I came out feeling about two stone lighter. And it helps to remind me of one reason why I still do teach - it helps to give my anxiety a substitute focus. When I am teaching, the focus is on teaching, not anxiety, but if things go well, the anxiety subsides. (If things don't go well, I just say "You did your best, and tomorrow is a new day").
MyNameIsTerry
12-04-14, 06:08
Did you find that your anxiety faded as time went by Hanshan, as in habituation found in exposure therapy?
I've often found that once you hit your stride, you don't notice the anxiety has actually gone.
I've read before that if you apply enough focus to something, the brain can't be anxious at the time time, a bit like the finite resources in a computer.
That is true..a.your brain can only focus on one thing at a time... for instance if I am reading a book nothing else can enter my thoughts... that is why Mindfulness is such a great tool.
Sarah
Hello Terry,
The anxiety-thing with teaching has come and gone over the years. At its worst in the 2000s, I had a couple of full-blown panic attacks while standing in front of an audience and giving a presentation. I don't recommend this to anyone.
The main point is that if you have GAD, you tend to worry about everything without end, but teaching focuses all the worry into one area, and once it's over, the relief can last for some time.
Anticipating a long day out yesterday away from home was dragging me into a state. Then I wake yesterday morning with the knowledge that I either go or disappoint myself and pull out. As usual I get up and get going. The feeling that I am doing seems to raise my mood and surprise surprise I have a good day out, even if I had a few too many drinks in the evening.
I wake this morning with no plans for the day... And a little bit hung over but I don't want to paint a picture that I am a regular heavy drinker though.
This feeling of dread that I fear so much starts to rear up, and by mid morning I have descended into another spell of crying and despair. Polar opposites to my mood and thinking yesterday.
It always convinces me that I am never going to get better and the shame and guilt over this state just feeds on itself until I eventually get some relief. Then I am left with feeling that I have failed yet again!
I then return to my determination that letting go, accepting is the only way out. There are no acceptable other options.
I still just wish I could find a way of identifying this emotion and not getting carried away by it. I think it is a choice and that I have the ability to follow the emotion or not, but I am not sure why I always seem to choose the former... It may be that I think that it is a way of getting rid of the feeling. It certainly exhausts me, but it's not great and feels like another setback.
When in this state I find it almost impossible to find any distraction, going for a walk feels like just more opportunity to ruminate. I try and read about it, try to find some words to get me back on track, but none of really helps for the couple of hours that it goes on for.
Now although this isn't filling me with calm and confidence, I do recognise that the morning has once again been filled with trying to think "differently" or trying to get some thoughts which make me feel better. Trying to find my way back to thinking calmly about anxiety and depression as just a passing state. All this thinking and effort has done nothing except cause more suffering. If I had been able to identify the start of this session of despair as just some faulty thinking accompanied by some transient feelings and been able to be comfortable with the way it was then, would I have had all the venting and anguish?
Probably not.... Try again next time. Just to believe it's ok to drop the subject or at least the effort to drop it. Someone once said you have to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. It's such a mental maze.
I only post all this stuff as it might help those in the same spinning cycle of thoughts and probably to find some reassurance that maybe there is a way out, and it's simpler than I think.
I just wanted to post a separate thread about this particular feeling.
I have GAD and struggle with the physical symptom of churning stomach with associated nausea. I am trying not to worry about these sensations any longer an accept the feelings without so much mental involvement. That's not to say I don't like it and I want it to go away, but if I have learnt anything it is that trying to control the thoughts and feelings is counter productive.
Now I have good days and bad days. The good ones are nice and a rest. The frequent bad ones are hard work for me mentally. Recognising that I have started to fight and struggle is a continuos process and can become an anxious habit in itself.
However, I have made progress recently but struggle to get through the spells of one aspect of anxiety. The awful feeling of dread and doom.
This feeling can come in waves and usually hooks me. It is accompanied, once hooked, with a feeling of defeat. Then all the really nasty thoughts kick in as I find myself wanting to despair. Yes, wanting to despair, cry for help, get some relief. I was doing so well up till an hour ago, then BAM... The feeling appeared, probably due to a background fear that it was looming. And then it knocks me back. My response is not good and I get relief from despair and tears. There is self pity involved aswell.
Then an hour later having explored all the options, I come to my senses and realise that none are viable. I already knew there were none really! Then it's back to the start again but with another bad memory and a fear of THAT FEELING!
I really need to get through these spells in a less distressing way. Today I have been anxious, but been out and carrying on with life. All that work seems to be set back when I suddenly get overcome by this one feeling. The urge is to despair... It feels too much. If I could pass through this feeling to some kind of peace without dipping into some really dark emotional upheaval then I could move on.
I want to know if this is just anxiety... Nothing more than another symptom. Is it common, or am I a special case?How can I learn to accept and not fear it. It is the one thing holding me back as it feels like it tips me over the edge.
I am not saying the other symptoms are comfortable in any way but they are becoming tolerable, but this one still holds a fear in me.
Phil
I think I know how you feel. I've had other symptoms of anxiety, e.g. racing heart, trembling, nausea to the point of vomiting, but they all stem from the feeling of doom. To me it's associated with dying. It feels like a premonition to me.
To be honest it feels so real that I'm not sure it's anxiety related at all! I hope so, as I'd like a longer life. But I'm trying to accept it.
I get this and it feels like a premonition to me too. I sometimes get this prior to an awful event in the world or within the family. I've also been learning that it can be associated with the death of the ego if you're a spiritual person (not religious). It would be a relief to think it was actually a symptom of my GAD.
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