Next steps advice

[pjr]

Briefly I have suffered with anxiety for 20 years but for the last year have suffered servere anxiety with physical symtoms.

In the last month I have started to feel the physicological symtoms starting to lift and to some extent the physical symtoms improving.

My question are 1, Are the physical symptoms the last to improve. My symtoms are centred around dizzyness, face ache/numbness and sore clicking neck.

and 2, Is it just a question of hard work and resisting the negative thoughts and viscuous circles that control my anxiety levels.

I understand my situation much better now than ever before in the last twenty years and believe that I need to change my thought processes on a daily basis to improve beyond here.

Are my thoughts right? I am attempting this with out medication.

[pollyanna]

Hi PJR

I too have had over 20 years experience of anxiety and feel that i can comment on your post,
But this is only my opinion,
I believe that once the pyschological symptoms reduce, then so do the physical symptoms as you have said aleady, but i think as long as there is stress/anxiety in our lives, and everyone has that in their lives ,then i think the body continues to show it in physical symptoms, i think that other people who are ' normal' for a better word , just dont notice it as much, our minds have been trained well to tune in and dwell on things that other people may notice at some point but dont pay too much attention to, so i suppose what im saying i think we will always have physical symptoms of one sort or another , but i think the severity and duration depends on what our minds are up to at that time.

My answer to your second question is that i agree with what you have already said, i think it is all about anxiety management, i think some of us were born with a predisposition and add in some life events , and we find ourselves here, i include myself in this catagory,( im sure its in my genes, as several members of my family have similar issues)
I do believe it is a lot to do with hard work on our part to learn about what our triggers are, understand how anxiety works, and what we can do in our own lives how best to manage it, after 20 plus years of experience of it i am quite self aware and do a lot better at manageing it, although i have never eliminated it and dont think i ever will, because this is who i am, but i have accepted this and now work hard at retraining my brain to get the most i can from life, yes i have limitations, but so does everyone. i think once i accepted it it became easier, i used to think that one day i would wake up and it would all be gone, somehow it would all disappear, and i would be the person i was before, but actually no one is the person they were yesterday, or last week etc.and as much as i wish this had never happened to me, i lost so many years of my life , i am not fighting against it, i am going with it, taking what i can and using it in a much more powerful positive way. i know this sounds a bit too nice of how to turn it around and my goodness its not easy, its very hatd work, but it can be done.

I have been having a very stressful time over the past year or so which saw an increase in physical symptoms, and my mental health went downhill, ( as well as gad and ha, i also have depression) i have been working hard with it, sometimes felt like i was getting nowhere fast, but i have kept going, and they are beginging to ease of a bit now.

I know this has been very long winded, sorry:blush: , i do tend to waffle on.... but hope that in someway this may have helped to answer your questions...

You will be in my thoughts, keep going.... you are going in the right directon


Pauline. x


Ps, i am on meds for both depression and anxiety, and have pyscotherapy, but thats only part of the story, all the hard work is down to me.... :)

[pjr]

Pauline

Thanks for your reply.

What stage do you feel like you are at in getting over/managing your anxiety?

At the moment I feel I am getting small glimpses of feeling better but am finding it hard to commit to the hard work I know I need to put in. I dont smoke but think this must be simular to giving up smoking as all my adult life I have lived in a anxouus state to one level or another.

I feel very positive at he moment but am affraid of the next step because I may fail.

May be today should be the day I go for it?

Thanks again for your reply.

[bingley]

Hi, go for it today, be kind to yourself, set your self a goal and see it through, somthing managable. Dont think to yourself I will see how far I will get without feeling unwell (then retreat at the first phisical sign of panic). Make a plan and stick to it, ie a walk to the end of the road or a trip to the shop. Mostly thinking about a task is worse than actually doing it, as we work ourselfs up fearing panic and failure, so just go for it. I too am feeling alot more posative but am stuggling to make the first steps. Yesterday I walked to the end of the road and back, and felt ok, today I am going to take the dog as far as the park and back, (I have been in the house for two months feeling wobbly). I found that reading Dr Claire Weeks books really helpfull, and am trying to accept, not fight the fear, and float on through. Dont be afraid of failure, even if you set yourself a small task and you see it through and you feel unwell doing it , its not a failure as you are trying to move forward and are doing something posative, so go for it !!!, sending you a big hug of hope, Karen

[pollyanna]

Hi PJR


what stage am i at at managing my anxiety??????

Thats a hard one pjr,
it does tend to vary, i have recently had a very anxious time with a health problem and had to undergo a medical procedure, this caused me major anxiety and the panic attacks where coming thick and fast, and i had to use valium to help me get through it... but hey i went through with it, i did have a choice, i could have refused, but that wouldnt have been very sensible, but i am very pleased that i saw it through, putting this aside for a moment ..........

Generally i manage my anxiety very much on a day to day basis, i try not to look too far ahead, and if there is anything that has to be thought in advance i try to make a plan of how i am going to deal with it, what my anticiapted problem may be , and a way to get around it, occasionally there is no way round, but on the most part, i can get round it...

After 20 plus years i know my anxiety quite well, and know my triggers, in a typical week i will try and do something every other day, i feel i do tend to tire very easily and concentration is not great, but i feel i have got to keep at it otherwise things start to slide... recently i have got better at pushing negative thoughts away, sometimes only briefly, i will try and distract my mind by trying to do somethig else, it has vary degrees of success, but i just keep at it although it really isnt easy, but does get a little easier through time. i have involved myself in a local mental health project as a service user and help out once a week at a group, even when i dont feel like it i have managed to keep my commitment, and usually feel good i have achieved something afterwards, i also go with my friend once a week to the movies... this really doesnt seem a lot written down, but i used to spend most of the day in bed, very depressed /anxious, so i really have come a long way..

The thing i really still have a major problem with is my health anxiety and phobia of anything medical.... but i am working on it, i dont think it will ever go away, but i would like to aim for a manageable level. i have had a bit of success in not running to my GP, the minute i feel something is wrong with me, i now try to give myself a deadline.... if i dont feel any better by next week i will go and see her etc... stuff like that...

I have a good support network around me, and use them more when having a hard time, also i take antidepressants and betablockers, but most of it is down to my sheer hard work, but i am going to keep at it, i see the choice as being i can either give up or keep going, i am going to keep going, and hope i can be all i can be, everyone has limitations in their life due to one thing or another, i certainly wouldnt have chosen this in my life, but i am just trying to work with the hand i have been dealt....


Told you i waffle on, thats one thing that hasnt changed , i can still chatter... lol..

hope that has given you some insight into where i am at, if anytime you want to chat just get in touch..

just once last thing, make this the day you GO FOR IT, keeping at something is not a failure ,... you have nothing to lose and everything to GAIN......

small steps build a pathway and take you places where you want to go...


Good luck, will be thinking of you..


Pauline x :hugs: