What are some good nonmedicstion tactics for anxiety?

[thenursegoddess]

My anxiety has been untrolled as of lately. I get paralysed with unknown fear. Sometimes I get palpitations as well It's the most horrible feeling to be in fear and feelings of impending doom and not know what to do. I do try to breath, anfld meditate when i can focus.  I have very bad self talk.  

[thenursegoddess]

Thanks for the comments.  

[specialmom]

Hi there.  Well, some ways that I try to talk myself off the ledge when anxiety creeps in is to do some of these things which seem to help me:  deep breathing.  Take a slow, deep breath in and count for three while doing so and then let the air out also to a count of three.  Do this several times. You can also do square breathing which is breath in for 4, hold 4, breath out for 4, hold 4 and repeat. This slows down our heart, calms us.  Good to do in the heat of the moment.  Opening and closing your fists is also a good way to slow the heart as it keeps heart pumping and keeps panic at bay.  I'm a big proponent of exercise of any sort as a natural stress and anxiety reducer. This can be walking, doing something like lifting some light weights in your bedroom, to doing a class with others, to riding a bike.  Anything that you are up to. Sometimes it's hard to get this going especially if we have other things going on with our bodies (injuries or what have you) but if we check with our doctor and have the okay, start slow.  I swear this helps in the big picture of keeping anxiety at a lower level.  Meditation.  Now, there is a way to meditate.  I'm not good at that to be honest.  but some swear to it. I'm more of a visualization person.  I can do that well.  Picture happy things, happy times, happy turn out of events, etc.  It puts me in a calmer frame of mind.  I heard this story of Pele the soccer star and what he did before every game. He sat for half an hour and thought about when he was a boy and playing soccer with his pals for fun and how it felt.  That visualization put him in a frame of mind to go to his professional games relaxed and ready to enjoy the game rather than pressure.  I try to do that kind of thing for myself.  I also do self talk.  Positive self talk helps me.

Get plenty of rest and eat well.  That keeps us in a better frame of mind as well.

But as paxiled says, if you are truly having anxiety often and to a great level, it may be time to see a professional.  I am a bit different than him and broader in terms of who I feel can treat general anxiety.  So, I start with your primary care physician to get the ball rolling.  I'm a big advocate of talk therapy combined with medication for the best results, but if you just do talk therapy, that is a really helpful too. Your primary care doctor may know of a good therapist to start with.  Or you may need to see who your insurance company allows you to see.  I get think getting referrals from people you know helps too.  

Anyway, thanks for posting and we're here to help!

[specialmom]

Ps:  I see you say you have bad self talk.  Why do you think that is?  My son also has this.  I do sometimes but am pretty adept at switching it.  My son has a harder time.  He has bad self talk almost engrained.  But we work on it.  For him, he switches to a mantra of sorts that he says over and over to stop the negative self talk and keep it positive.  "I can do it.  I'm okay".  Sometime like that which drowns out the things that his mind is going to.  

[Paxiled]

Mom and I do differ, and that's probably because we've had different experiences.  A drug destroyed my life, and I wasn't prepared for that because neither I nor my psychiatrist had done our homework.  That's the reason I think it's generally fruitless to tell your general doc about anxiety.  First, that tends to color everything you complain about to him or her -- they're just too likely to attribute everything to anxiety, and people with anxiety get all the same things as people who don't have it.  Second, they don't study any psychology or the pharmacology of the drugs used for this, and in the US the system is set up to match symptoms with drugs and get the patient out of the office as quickly as possible so you can maximize income.  You can avoid this by seeing a physician who practices integrated medicine, but they don't take insurance, which makes it quite expensive.  If you have the money, this is the way to go, probably better than seeing your average psychiatrist.  But I also believe that drugs are a very invasive modality -- drugs are very hard on the system and force the body to act artificially.  The way medicine is supposed to be practiced, you first do no harm, which means you start with the safest treatment if it's not an emergency situation, and that's therapy first, natural medicine second not because it's completely safe but because it's not as strong as pharmaceuticals and therefore the harm is less likely and less severe in general, and only third the invasive use of pharmaceutical products humans have not had centuries to adapt to using.  But look, I'm on meds, so I'm anything but against them.  I'm just cautious.  And because meds don't cure, they just treat symptoms, if your life isn't on the edge of the cliff, it's worth trying the one thing we know of that cures some people, and that's therapy.  If you life is on that edge, it's medication time.  

[Paxiled]

The best is therapy with a psychologist who specializes in anxiety treatment (most don't).  No medication with psychologists.  You don't have to focus to meditate -- meditation is hard, but it's the opposite of focusing when you do it correctly, free of judgment.  But that's not saying that's easy to do, and if you're having a hard time perhaps learning a different form of meditation would help.  I find that learning it from spiritual teachers works better than learning it from a medical professional -- there is some magic left in the world.  You don't need to believe in any particular form of religion to learn spiritual forms of meditation.  Exercise helps.  Eating properly helps.  Sleeping regularly helps.  Sex helps.  Doing things you like and get you out of yourself helps.  Pretty much anything that forces you to concentrate on something other than your troubling thoughts helps at least while you're doing it, so don't isolate yourself.  There are natural remedies that, in the proper combination for you, can help.