controlling anxiety naturally?

[fishstar]

Hi, sorry I'm a bit late with replying. Meds don't work for everyone...they can cause side effects like dependency, crazy dreams, and fatique. There are loads of alternative therapies available for anxiety. The following really helped me and I'd like to share it:

 

The Human Progress 'I can be anything' hypnosis apps. These really worked for me. I was skeptical at first but they really helped me. I listened to them every night for one month and I was much better. I still use them sometimes. The guy has a soothing voice, reinforcing positive, calm messages into your mind.

 

Moodgym: Moodgym was suggested to me by a junior doctor I saw once. It is an online CBT course that was quite helpful but takes a bit of effort, which can be hard when you're mentally exhausted. However if you stick with it, it can be effective. It helps develop positive self-talk, and even covers the topic of perfectionism, which may be helpful for you.

 

Exercise: regular exercise really helps by releasing endorphins and eventually relaxing your body and mind. Kinetic movement is good for you - I found swimming, pilates and Tai Chi very helpful.

 

Hobbies: if you're creative (and even if you're not) try cross stitch!! It's really easy and calming! You have to really focus on what you're doing and relax into it. Loads of free patterns online. If not cross-stitch, then learning any other new skill can really help with anxiety reduction. I also took up piano lessons a year ago, and it has really helped me with anxiety. It gives me something to focus on, gave me confidence to know that I can learn a new skill such as this, and gentle piano music is so soothing. In fact, this is another one - relaxing music! Try Spotify app for some lovely relaxation playlists.

 

Diet: careful what you eat. Personally I cut down on sugar (in both drink and food), fat, alcohol and fried food. Made a big difference to how I feel.

[gaius]

I used to get up at 3:30 in the morning on most days and walk to get some breakfast, read the news, a little loveshack for an hour or two and then walk to do some of my errands like food shopping and stuff. By the time I'd get back it would be around 7:00 and I'd have done a good 3-4 miles.

 

It's not just the exercise but the routine that helps. I'd usually arrive and depart on pretty specific times and it usually kept me calm and in control for the rest of the day. I also came up with some of my best ideas while walking.

[SilentiousBird]

I used to take l-theanine to help with anxiety. I had been on prescription meds in the past and HATE THEM. L-theanine won't make you feel drugged up, but it also won't completely take away the anxiety. It's subtle, but it does help take the edge off, and there's no side effects.You can find it in any vitamin/health store. My old therapist recommended it to me, and also recommended taking up to 1200mg if needed.

 

Sometimes I write in a journal if I can't manage to do anything else. Even if it's just a list of random emotions I'm feeling. Recognizing specific emotions when you're anxious is a great start to getting better.

 

Breathing helps to slow yourself down. Focus on your senses. What do you see? Feel (physically)? Smell? Taste? Hear? Write it down, say it out loud. When I do this it helps me get out of my head a little bit.

[Ninjainpajamas]

I've spent a lifetime dealing with life situations that caused me a great deal of anxiety and stress.

 

I think that all derives from my childhood, as it was very unstable and volatile..the unpredictable and chaotic behavior of my parents gave me an anxious mind, always wondering when things were going to blow up on me. It was high stress, high intensity and dramatic almost every day of the week.

 

From that I developed a pretty severe anxiety, shyness and reservation, I guess I just wanted peace of mind in the face of so much chaos and unpredictability, it was overwhelming and overbearing as a child. Therefore I always did things that zoned me out and luckily I had a good amount of friends, and we used to do things together all the time and that was probably very stress relieving...and then I also did sports, so physical activity was always a bit of an escape.

 

As I go into work-life, I found myself faced with having to face a lot of stressful situations that involved a lot of confrontation. But unlike most people, I was already conditioned to high strung and high stressful situations, I know how to operate and function in those circumstances, I could gather my thoughts and make effective arguments and points..something others would usually become flustered by having to deal with the combination of emotions.

 

However I still felt the stress and it brought me a lot of anxiety.

 

The helpful things over the years I learned to do was to take breathes, I realized I kind of cringed up, tightening up my body and held my breathe..so I always had to remind myself to breathe.

 

Then I used to write, and get that emotion of my system, which isn't always a good idea when talking to someone because sometimes you just need to get out those emotions, you don't need input from someone else or having someone trying to help you.

 

Also for me, physical affection aka hugs/cuddling and touch are very healing for me, if it's someone I feel close to and trust, but honestly either way I am still pretty affectionate because for me that brings me relief...unless of course I don't like the person or feel comfortable with them.

 

Sex of course is always a huge stress relief, but probably not a practical way of dealing with those emotions all the time...but getting away somewhere with my SO, with lots of sex, affection and just keeping myself engaged in a different environment was a huge distraction and temporary solution for me.

 

The more day to day stuff is just not allowing your mind to lock on a negative and dwelling emotion that just brings you sadness, loss of control or anxiety. Try to clear your mind and put whatever it is out of your mind that is troubling you, it's still going to be there for you later...don't worry.

 

And finally, the emotional repair and acceptance of what has happened or causes this affect. Either resolve the issue(s) causing you stress if possible, or accept that things are going to be ok and you don't have to be there to change or fix it or it will in the end, not make any difference more than likely anyway. You just have to put the responsibility where it belongs...and everyone is responsible for their own issues partly, don't get dragged down emotionally by someone else's despair..don't keep yourself involved in that situation out of stubbornness.

 

So there's a lot of things that can cause that emotion, losing people in your life I think is about not internalizing that emotion that just brings out negative emotions. You have to confront those emotions and deal with them, rather than bury them deep in the back somewhere...I think that's when those emotions come back and get you...if you're just sad over the loss of life itself, well that's just apart of life unfortunately and it's a road we must all travel at some point...unfortunately it's the way things work and we must not dwell too much on those kinds of things or we just live in the sadness that we cannot change.

 

So keep your mind away from those things in your life you cannot change but give you anxiety, don't gravitate towards them and confront the emotions that you do have that do dwell inside of you that you can change. Whether that's getting a therapist or just talking them out and just facing and feeling those emotions buried inside of you.

 

And of course, try and take care of yourself...it definitely helps, but nothing works forever if you're just trying to ignore really significant emotions inside of you, those things need to be dealt with not ignored.

[Maleficent]

Thanks Gorilla

 

 

I have tried the meds. First set: I was on a half dose. I became catatonic. I lost the ability to speak or move my extremities. I ended up being admitted to a hospital overnight through an ER.

 

 

Second set: I was stoned. There is no other way to put it. I was not functional & again I was on the lowest dose. I do have that med in my house for the truly overwhelming situations.

 

 

Third set: I barfed multiple times every day, became dehydrated and almost burned a hole in my esophagus.

 

 

At this point I have no faith in the chemicals. I have not yet given yoga a meaningful try so I think I owe it to myself to do that before I go back to the drugs.

 

 

It's not just the SSRIs that do this to me. I have odd intense reactions to many meds. I have to be very careful.

 

It's normal to have side effects on some medications.

IMO, if the only side effect you got is feeling stoned with the second set, it would have gone away.

 

I'm very familiar with anxiety depression. Do you mind telling what these were? (you can use Private messaging if you prefer.

 

Generally, Effexor/Venlafaxine is prescribed for anxiety a lot but it's in the SSRI class and like other SSRIs, side effects are pretty intense.

 

Wellbutrin/Bupropion seems to work well for anxiety and apparently with more manageable side effects.

[Maleficent]

As far as 'natural option' you can try Valerian tea. It's a natural anti anxiety. The issue is that you take Valerian when you are feeling anxious. You are not dealing with whatever is causing the anxiety so imo meds = natural options as long as you don't look for what is causing the anxiety to begin with.

 

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is usually the go-to therapy. If you can't afford it, there are plenty of books out there.

[LifeNomad]

I forgot to add on my previous reply Gaba is supposed to be good also