[Dos3512]

Im about ready to crawl outta my skin! My anxiety is sky high at night lately! It is driving me bonkers! I have tried everything...including medication...nothing is working and no T till Friday. Although pdoc monday...but dont know if he will do anything. I need T right now....argggggggh!

Can you call your T?

[Dos3512]

I wish. Thanks though.

[yang0868]

Smash some dishes. Can you do that? I wish I could.

[Dos3512]

I could but would wake up mom n dad..not good.

[Dos3512]

Dont know what prompted all this anxiety at night but im on the verge of tears. This sucks calling t's office monday.

I hope it improves. Maybe your Pdoc can give you something you can take 'as needed' for anxiety. I know my mother in law has a prescription for something.

What are you telling yourself that is creating this anxiety?

[Dos3512]

Good question earthmama i have to think about that one...im not sure. Since the anxiety stared I know I have thought of it never lifting which I think is just perpetuating the anxiety further. Grrr! It will get better that is what I need to tell myself.

[pbutton]

Yes, it will get better. The cool part of anxiety is that it is all up to you. Your brain is doing this, your brain can undo it too. Anxiety starts getting better the minute you decide to start working on it. Granted, it takes a while to get from terrified to hiney-kicking, but is totally possible to do.

[Dos3512]

What do you do to work on it? I cant take much more anxiety. It hurts...too much for it to be like this soooo much.

[BashfulBear]

Originally Posted by Dos3512

What do you do to work on it? I cant take much more anxiety. It hurts...too much for it to be like this soooo much.

This may well be a silly question, but have you tried any Distress Tolerance skills? Sometimes it seems like nothing's working at all, but if you keep trying different things, you usually find something eventually works.

Sometimes holding/squeezing ice can be the one thing that shifts your focus and brings you back into the present!

Thinking of you, I know it's tough! <3

[yang0868]

Originally Posted by Dos3512

What do you do to work on it? I cant take much more anxiety. It hurts...too much for it to be like this soooo much.

I punch the heck out of my heavy bag, rebreakable boards until my hands are badly bruised, and isolate myself to my room.

I hope you can do something to help with the anxiety.

[pbutton]

Things that worked for me in the beginning (This is when I wasn't eating or leaving my house. I was skipping work and spending my time balled up in a chair, crying and thinking about how terrified I was.)

I think the BIGGEST thing for me was setting small goals and working on them until they were met. It gave me a sense of accomplishment, even though the tasks were not all that amazing. It allowed me to start believing that I was the one in control, that I could overtake the anxiety and reclaim my life.

Things I did:
Worked on counting backwards from 300 - ALL the way through without stopping to worry about how scared I was.

Forced myself to get up and do a load of laundry, clean out a drawer, brush my cat, reorganized a bookshelf, etc. I would do it when the urge to sit and cry seemed impossible to overcome.

Made lists of ways to comfort myself while doing scary things. I was TERRIFIED to drive. So I made a list of things I could take with me in the car - a blanket, a bottle of water, gum, baby carrots, bought some new CDs, etc.

I used to spend a lot of time working on my quote list. I would scour the internet for quotes that I liked - things about facing fear, having courage, finding happiness. I'd copy and paste them into a word document. I loved organizing the list & honestly, sitting and reading motivational quotes has an effect on you. It always made me feel better.

I read a TON about anxiety, panic disorder, panic attacks, anxiety disorders, CBT, etc etc. Becoming educated helped take away the fear of the unknown. Understanding what was happening really helped.

Part of it was telling myself that I'd have to start doing normal things if I wanted to feel normal. So SO hard, but so SO worth it.

[Dos3512]

Thank you all. Will try all the suggestions. Gettin ready for bed...crossing fingers i sleep well tonite. I will be on again if i dont.