Coping Techniques Needed

I'm rather new here and I don't have an "official" diagnosis of PTSD. But I'm pretty confident that's what's going on. Does everyone with PTSD have anxiety too?

Any tips on how to deal with Anxiety? I'm looking for short-term temporary fixes. (I'm working on the long-term by seeing a therapist and trying to find a psychiatrist.) But I need help right now. I'm having a horrible time today and I have to work another hour! The most I was able to find online was a breathing exersize, that isn't helping much.

By anxiety I'm referring to this strong electrical current type thing that I feel running through my body. Also that my hands are shaking and my mind is racing.

Any help, advice, sugestions, anything would be appreciated.

sounds like an adrenelin dump, the kidneys can clean it up in about 15 minutes, if you don't think about it,, count, defer, distract, delay, breathe,, look online for Anxiety Management, there's some good stuff,,

best wishes, Gus

Hi PTSD is an anxiety disorder. Breathing, paying attention to your breathing is an important first step I think, because when we become anxious we tend to hold our breath. Holding our breath makes our body tingle even more!

Also, by focussing on your breathing it will help you not think about whatever is causing your anxiety. The brain cannot focus on more than one thing at a time (really.)

I know I have had to create a "mantra" for when I have severe pain flare... I tell myself "This pain will not kill me." You might want to create a positive saying to tell yourself (a little more positive than mine ) to counter how you are feeling it's the end of the world.

i have ptsd and extreme anxiety and i do just what JD recommends - breathe and recite a mantra, over and over again if necessary until the anxiety reaches a tolerable level. it gets easier as time goes on because thru the repetition it trains your body to relax when you think it.

Can you get up and take a break from your work, go outside and take a little walk maybe? That's what I use to do. Just getting up and doing a few stretching exercises (jumping jacks :-) as well as working on the breathing, thinking about something in the future (what you're going to have for dinner or who you're going to see or what TV shows you are going to watch, etc.) helps me.

Breathing is crucial. I have heard that it can be more helpful on taking slow exhales--it's easier to focus on than the inhales.

Also, progressive muscle relaxation is a HUGE help. It's a method of tensing your muscles and then releasing--it kind of squeezes the anxiety out of you methodically. If you google it you will learn more.

Do you have a smartphone? Look at the apps. I have an iPhone app that specifically coaches relaxation breathing, and another that does muscle relaxation and imagery.

Hi JD - thanks for the help. I haven't had a chance to do much research on PTSD yet. I'm usually busy crying, working or hyperventilating.

I could see how the breathing thing could work. But I have asthma, so deep slow breaths are very difficult for me to begin with. I did try it though. I also had trouble staying focused on the breathing. I went to the restroom, closed my eyes and tried, but still couldn't concentrate on my breathing. Something I'll have to work at I guess.

So it sounds like you can relate to the currant thing? It sounds so weird to me, but that's the best way I can come up with to describe it. I will have to work on a Mantra. I've never heard that before, but I know I've sort done it in the past. More to keep from showing emotion rather than to calm anxiety.

Can't this all just go away? lol!

Thanks again.

Kaliope & Perna - thanks for the tips.

Kaliope - if you don't mind my asking, can you share what your Mantra is? I'm not sure where to start.

Perna - I could go for a short walk, but I talked myself out of trying that. I guess I'm just depressed and feeling hopeless, so it seems like it's a waste of time to try. But I'll try to remember this for the next time.

And I'll try to remember to think about my future plans. But I don't have a lot going on in my life, so there isn't much to think about. And part of the problem is I used to have a bf I talked to every night, and a support system I talked to, but I lost them all at relatively the same time.

Skeksi - Progressive Muscle Relaxation, I'll have to do some searches on that. Sounds promising.

Unfortunately I don't have a smart phone. Which is sad because my ex wanted to buy me one, but I wouldn't let him until he had his other bills paid off. Could've worked to my benefit - lol! The app that specifically coaches relaxation breathing probably would've benefited me greatly. I'm hoping to get one on sale during Christmas.

Thanks again!

You don't need a smartphone to find things like that, I just recommended it because it's nice to have with you all the time. If you have an mp3 player you can download mp3s from where you get music, or you can buy a CD of it (search for it on Amazon and many different ones come up).

Here is a sample sequence of progressive muscle relaxation techniques.

It kinda sounds like you might have a "I can't" thought track on automatic. I could be wrong, if I am I meant nothing insulting by it. I know in the begining for me I was so anxious, so fearful, that the idea of moving any direction even forward was so scary that I was tranfixed where I was, even though I was asking for help, well no, begging. But for every suggestion I recieved I had a reason why not, or a block why I could not do or use those suggestions. A really kind soul gave me my first mantra to help me with that, it was simply ; I can, I can, I can.

I had to wrestle in my mind with "I can" and the black automatic nonthought belief right there that said sure you can, in a scarcasic voice. I kept saying I can, I can and trying to focus on the breath, sometimes the fight & focus made me forget why I was anxious in the first place. After a while it did get easeier, it took a long time to really believe deep down I could, sometimes I have days where I let the old thought darken my mods. The manta helped long before I really believed in it. Working with T's I found I had a great many automatic thoughts, most of them courtesy of my childhood abuser who stole my innocence but I didn't have to let him have my self esteem too. I'm a perpetual work in progress but each day is better than the one before. So even if you feel that the electric current buzz is all consuming it will get better, the days do get bighter, and you will have friends and a support systom again, you are not alone.

Yes breathing for an asthmatic is a big problem...it's also related to anxiety response though... though I absolutely hated it when nurses would tell me to "just calm down" and my asthma would be better. However, it is psychosomatic (and not by the misunderstood definition's way) ... we are totally connected mind-body-spirit... and thus most all maladies are mind-body related. The good part is you can adjust and change it by good positive thinking and attitudes... because what makes us ill can be used to make us well. (Our minds are so powerful!)

But there is no cure, yet, for PTSD. And no, it doesn't go away but worsens without therapy (habits become more ingrained, often without the sufferer knowing they are building bad habits. I caution the get up and leave idea, which definitely works, but if you don't feel the need to , don't do it. That is a habit that feeds the "flight" part of the fight or flight method that our bodies instantly kick into...and it's something you will have to "unlearn" later, on the most part.

But use what works for now... again I caution against self diagnosing... find a therapist and go the better route.

For those with iPhones, there is an ap to help work on anxiety, track it etc...I use it myself all the time.
iStress from PSI apps http://www.appolicious.com/health/ap...ss-psiapps-inc

Oh, one more thing!

I also have asthma. Often for me, the sensation of not being able to breathe is not from my asthma but from the anxiety. Deep breathing isn't something you need huge lung capacity for; it just means taking slow, careful breaths.

Here is a better explanation of how anxiety and breathlessness (hyperventilation) are connected.

I hope you find some coping techniques that work for you soon.

That was a great article about Panic disorders and breathing, ironically I'm finely learning to breath properly because of physical thearapy for a nerve disorder. It's helping me w/ the anxiety too. It would be nice if a person could get physical thearapy for anxiety I could have really used this, one of the stranger stmptoms I get is pins and needles in my feet, I've always known its from breathing incorrectly, but I never knew PT could help. This is the thrid place I've been to and the frist to noice I hold my breath when I get anxious, or fearful. They have added Breathing exercises to my strengthening exercises. JD is right there is no cure, and although I'm having trouble with PTSD again after many years of very few problems it is much easer to handle now with the use of the tools I got from the frist T's, I don't struggle so with the feeling of being inferior for "needing" mental help as I did all those years ago. Most likely because in someways it is more acceptable, in part because I know it's not my fault. I learned what to look for and knew I needed help sooner, so I didn't end up in crisis and a hospital first. Anouother thing JD is right about is diagnoseing yourself, I really wanted to be bipolor and not PTSD, I could deny the abuse that way. It was hard for me to accept. Now they are telling me things have changed in diagnosis and people w/ my symptoms and abuse histories have Complex PTSD. Which is why the medical probing and procedures are setting me off. My trying to get the diagnosis I wanted set my recovery back a long way. So do listen to JD and others on this blog they are very wise persons.

((Stoda))) Maybe with your asthma and possible PTSD, or other anxiety disorder you could ask about PT to help with breathing. Maybe take the article with you, you could ask for it to be put on consideration. I don't have a lot of advice the best I can do is share my story and hope that others can make better decisions than I did. You are asking for help and thats good. Thats huge, very wise. All the best.

My T taught me to do some sensorimotor stuff to break the anxiety. It really works. My panic is nearly gone. If I can explain it here so you can understand-here goes. She said to stand on one leg and balance. Feel your body align itself all the way down to your foot. While you are trying to balance the panic is interrupted and goes away. Just go to the bathroom, balance, deep breathe, and use your five senses to ground yourself. It stops me from puking every time. My pdoc told me to see this T in her office. My T is a trauma specialist. For the mp3 player google guided imagery with Bellaruth Naparachek. I did not spell the last name correctly, but the first name is correct. The site is very helpful and holistic and for ptsd.

@Sidestepper – I don’t think I have an “I can’t” mindset. But there are a few things I’ve tried, so I know they aren’t working. And it just seems so difficult, so I keep wondering what’s the point. Why am I even trying? I’d like to just curl up and die. I’m glad the PT is working for you. But that’s definitely not something I can afford right now. I don’t have good insurance, it’s individual insurance meaning I purchased it myself. I have only two doctor visits a year, and I’m way beyond that.

@JD – I have been in therapy and told my t my concerns that I have PTSD and or OCD. She agreed that both were likely and suggested I see a pdoc, but hasn’t given me any tips on how to deal. In her defense, it might not be her specialty.
@Skeksi – It’s not that I get the feeling of not being able to breath, but that I can’t breath in as long as they say to, or breath out as long as they say to. I’ll have to take a look at that article later, I’m having a difficult time staying awake and concentrating right now. I need a nap. And thanks for the well wishes!

@Laceylu – That Sensorimotor thing sounds right up my alley. Often when I have a hard time staying awake I balance on one foot – it helps a ton. Did I mention I have Narcolepsy? And I often go to the restroom to do it. But I’ve also done it at the copier too! And I’ll try googling Bellaruth N later, I need to go lie down now.

@All - And I’m trying to get into see a pdoc. On top of all this I've been mentally sick for the last couple of years due to a drug interaction, which I just recently found out about. Although I’ve been complaining of the symptoms to several doctors over the years, but not one of them took me seriously. Enter my fear of medications and distrust of doctors. Anyway to stop the drug interaction, I’m being weaned off of Lexapro (a SSRI). And apparently Lexapro is one of the most difficult ones to get off of. So I’m going through withdrawals that are messing with my body and my mind. Additionally this drug interaction plus my Narcolepsy has caused me to lose all my friends throughout the years.

My doc told me to wait to see a pdoc or a different neurologist until I’m completely off the Lexapro. I finished the last pill a couple of days ago, but it is still in my system and will remain there for sometime; I’m really not sure how long that is. But after how I felt last Thursday, I’ve decided to try to schedule an appointment as soon as possible. I just found one who is a P doc and a Neurologist, so I plan to call tomorrow.

Believe me, I don’t want to have PTSD or OCD for that matter. A friend who has OCD kept telling me different things in my behavior were OCD, and I kept resisting. I finally took an online test for OCD and I had 17 out of 21, positive for OCD. I realize this isn’t definitive, but it makes it much more likely. And then I read an article on how PTSD and OCD are very similar, the major difference being a traumatic event and that traumatic event repeating itself in the person’s mind. I still realize this doesn’t make it certain, which is why I am trying to go to a pdoc.

So what happened? Well, I waited over 30 yrs to lose my virginity, except that it was basically taken from me by my bf. We had discussed having sex, I stressed my uncertainty that I was ready, stressed if we were to have sex that there would HAVE to be condoms used (I can’t take birth control). He assured me he’d wait, that the most important thing to him was to hold me. I guess those were all lines because he didn’t wait and no condom was used; I’ll spare you the rest of the details.

I used to have a HUGE support group on FB, but someone very close to me there betrayed my trust. She took things that I told her in confidence, about my traumatic event, and shared them with my ex as well as a few other people.

From all of this, I’m almost positive that I have PTSD and/or OCD.

Thanks everyone for your advice and support. It means more to me than you can know.

I have PTSD(work related) and find that distractions help...like hobbies. I havemany but my favorite is playing the guitar.

Distractions are good, I agree. That's one of the reasons I spend so much time here in the arcade playing games. The mind can only focus on one thing at a time (really, though we may switch back and forth quickly when we are multi-tasking.)