relapse and still heading in the wrong direction

[PinkLady]

In January I seemed to be on a good road. In February I begain tensing up all over. my neck and shoulders are so tight and hurt terribly. I am getting the pains in the top of my chest again, but worst My mind is heading in the wrong direction.

I am going to try and find the type of therapy Sadie is going t.
Hopefully we have it in Canada.
Any suggestions to get back up?

Thank you1
Trina

Trina

[stimpy]

Ah Mr Panic's Plateau!

I think Everyone has stages where they feel they are going back down hill.
Try not to worry too much about it. (Easier said than done.)
I think it is a perfectly "normal", in panic terms.

I was really ill for months, then I was put on medication and within 6 weeks I was a different person. Then towards the end of Feburary I noticed I wasn't quite as sparkly as I was the month before.

Imagine climbing a hill.
We start at the bottom (when we are really unwell)
then we get to the top (when we've made an improvement and we can see the difference).
Once at the top of the hill we start to head down a little bit until we find a path somewhere between top and bottom.

Once we reach the path, then that is when the hill becomes a little more flat and so we continue walking from there.

After periods of illness, we have learned our coping skills, so we know how to keep away from the bottom of hill.
But for us to stay at the top of the hill would be unrealistic as we have not recovered enough yet.

So we settle in the middle of the hill for awhile.

I hope that made sense!

I know it feels like things are heading in the wrong direction, and for a little while, they will.
Be possitive and keep remembering the little steps.
You will make the top of the hill again, it just takes a little time -that's all.



Love, light and Best wishes
Liz xxx

[:p] Panic Monster & Scatty Eccentric

[Jules31]

Trina

Sorry to hear you are feeling bad again. I would suggest going for a massage to release the tension in your muscles. I went for one on friday and although I still have a bit of a headache, it is nothing like the ones I was getting last week. The massage therapist said my back and shoulders were all knotted up and and it would be giving migrating pain into not only my head but my arms and chest and so this is probably where yours is coming from. Also try a long hot bath or shower on the bits that hurt. It will at least provide some short term relief

Jules

[Meg]

Hurrah Jules,

You can feel better and have symptomatic relief from massage, thus does this reassure you at all that this is anxiety and not anything more sinister .


Meg

Watch your thoughts, they become your words...
Watch your words, they become your actions... Watch your actions, they become your habits... Watch your habits, they become your character... Watch your character, it becomes your destiny...

[nomorepanic]

PinkLady

We all get these relapses - I had a big one last May/June and was absolutely devastated cos the panic came back again and hit me hard.

Slowly, I started climbing that hill that Liz mentioned and I am almost at the top again so that is great news for me.

You can do - just take some time out to slowly climb back up and revist any old treatments that used to work like relaxation etc.

Godo luck.

Nicola

[Lilith]

Wow, what a surprise (and a Godsend) to find this particular thread. I haven't posted much since my thread in the Success Forum, because I am having just such a relapse. That was probably stupid - this is the place I should be during this time. It's good to know that this is normal. I really should have known that no path is ever straight up. (I like that hill analogy.)

[uryjm]

I like the hill analogy too, and I think it is important to "watch your thoughts". I thought the phrase PinkLady used, "worst, my mind is heading in the wrong direction" was quite disturbing in itself. Much better to tell yourself that your mind is heading in the right direction even if it doesn't quite feel that way! I'm sure I read somewhere that people who continually repeated the phrase "Every day and in every way I'm feeling better and better", perked up mentally and physically from the day they started doing it. So even as you're feeling that you're heading down that hill, turn to look at the sunny summit and be determined that you're heading that way instead of into the dark valley.

Jim

[stimpy]

My Starworker liked the hill idea too. She wants to pinch it, to show other people on recovery plans. [:I]

It's kind of like the old saying what comes up must come down.
Even helium balloons come down eventually.

How many people run a marathon their whole lives? No one does, we just don't have enough energy. We aren't super hero's are we?
So it is only natural that we are going to reach a high, or several highs before we come down a bit and find our natural level of somewhere been high and low.

The main thing is to stop your mind heading that way too.
Okay so you didn't do everything that day. It doesn't matter.
You got up, got dressed and started your day. Thats good.
You posted on the forum. That's good too. So it wasn't all bad was it.

Love, light and Best wishes
Liz xxx

[:p] Panic Monster & Scatty Eccentric