New here

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I thought I would introduce myself. I'm diagnosed with bp1, ptsd, panic disorder, and generalized disorder.

I have a 29 yr old son with schizophrenia that no longer lives with me. He did something to me 4 years ago and he can no longer live here. He was in a horrible group home and he started acting up there so they put him in the hospital and gave my sister and I names of places that would be a better place for him to live. He was doing excellent and then last weekend he came for a weekend visit and he freaked out. So we both decided that overnight visits aren't a good idea for now.

Right now I'm struggling really bad with anxiety. I told my therapist I want to try to really work on my anxiety using cbt. Just work my butt off learning it and applying it.

Right now I'm on a lot of meds to help with it. I would like to get off of some of them bc they're making my brain mush. I used to to be able read 5 books at a time, I could think fast and come up with comebacks really fast, win debates easily, be witty etc. I want that back.

So if any of you have anxiety tips I would love to hear them. I know grounding techniques, but not cbt well.

So that's what I'm dealing with. Nice to meet all of you! 😊

Nice to meet you @Manarinorange!

A CBT technique for anxiety that helps me is splashing cold water on my face.

Or better yet, hold a ziplock bag of ice cubes on your cheeks and forehead when anxiety is really high.

My T suggested tensing all of my muscles for a few seconds and then relaxing - that helped me too.

Welcome!

I just started seeing a therapist who uses a type of CBT called acceptance and commitment therapy. One strategy that she recently gave me that is helping me is, when anxious thoughts are filling my mind, to step back and say something along the lines of "I'm noticing" and then state what type of thought and/or emotions you have going on. I then tack on stating what the more realistic reality is.

For example, if I notice myself on a thought loop about a worst case scenario, I notice that I am doing this and then think of what one or two more realistic possibilities are. My "worst case scenarios" are usually pretty unrealistic so this strategy helps to reground me.

welcome!
bizi

For some reason the splashing cold water on my face makes it worse.

I will try the ice cubes thing though and the tensing of my muscles and then relaxing them

Thank you for some tips. 😊

The problem with that for me is when I was taken off lorazapam, when they had completely been out of my system, I starting having what's called rolling panic attacks. It's where you have a panic attack, it will feel like it's stopping, but then another one comes.. that would last for 4-5 hours. It was the worst thing I've ever been through. It lasted 9 months. I got a new psychiatrist that eventually put me on a whole bunch of sedating meds, but not a benzo. I eventually went into a mixed state and couldn't sleep. I was taking 30 mgs of Zyprexa nd still not sleeping. It's a really long story but I ended up going to the hospital. But t
he psychiatrist I have now has had to add more meds for the anxiety.

Sorry I rambled but the worse case scenario is if I get some really good techniques for dealing with my anxiety. The worst case scenario is the 4-5 hour long panic attacks. So I don't know how to reconcile that. Do you have any ideas?

I'm sorry you experience rolling panic attacks-that must be really tough.

You didn't ramble at all! Sadly, I don't have other ideas at the moment. My anxiety has never gotten to the point where I have a panic attack and I'm just learning how to manage anxiety with CBT techniques. Most of my counseling work before this has been trauma work.

I feel your pain about not knowing how to reconcile things though-mental health sure is tough to treat sometimes...

Do you have GAD or just panic disorder?

I rarely get panic attacks, but something that REALLY helped my GAD many, many, MANY years ago (back in my early twenties) was writing STOP on a notecard, taping it in a visible spot at work, and glancing at it whenever an anxious thought popped into my head so I could stop the thought. I think I wrote STOP on my hand too for when I wasn't in my work space. It sounds stupid, yes, but it cured me of my anxious thoughts! I don't really have them anymore, and it's almost twenty years later.

Now I just get anxious for no reason sadly and the only thing that helps it are meds unfortunately. For me it's diazepam, seroquel, propranolol and gabapentin. I have severe anxiety, but for me it manifests as a feeling of dread, doom, dark, overhanging cloud that shadows EVERYTHING, a feeling as though I'm about to give a speech in front of a billion people, diarrhea, stomach upset, headaches, chest pains and fast heart beat, especially when I'm laying down. And all FOR NO APPARENT REASON. I HAVE NOTHING TO BE ANXIOUS ABOUT!!!!!! I hate it!

Good for you for getting off lorazepam, though I'm sorry to hear about your panic attacks. I hope to one day be free of diazepam, but when I asked my psychiatrist if he would take me off it he said no because he said I needed it (and now he's LEAVING! 😭 And my new psychiatrist will probably take me off it cold turkey and it'll be a NIGHTMARE). What meds are you on for your anxiety, if I may ask? I know hydroxyzine works for some people. Or buspar. Neither did for me however.

I do deep breathing. That's about the only CBT skill that helps me. And I go for walks, but I always listen to music. "Staying in the moment" doesn't really help when you're crawling out of your skin with anxiety. I did DBT for a while, but that didn't really help me either. I mean, I don't know, when you're having bad anxiety shyts how is dunking your face in ice water or taking a cold shower or staying in your anxiety shyt moment supposed to help you?!

Oh, and welcome. We're all very nice here!