Anxiety, What do you do to cope?

[Ami1984]

I recently with my Doctor's supervision stopped taking my anti-anxiety medication that I was on for 7 years. I thought it was time that my life had changed in such a positive way and figured what do I have to be anxious about.
I was very wrong I am past the 6 weeks that it takes for the meds to be out of my system and I am right back to where I started. Every day I go out of my house I have an anxiety attack. I am seeing a mental health professional to try to figure out what is causing it but until we get to the bottom of it, I need ways to cope rather then sitting in my basement day in and day out.

Does anyone have ways they have found work great to ease anxiety attacks even in a public place? (I say public place because that is where 98% of my anxiety attacks happen)

I would prefer to do this with out medication because I do not want to go through what I went through getting off my last prescription (Paxil) and also because I don't want to get dependent on the as needed medications.

[toban]

I also have anxiety and starting seeing a counselor. I haven't fully learned coping methods but there are little things I do at home that help. Taking time for myself such as a hot bath, reading a good book, doing something that makes me feel good. That helps lessen some of my anxiety.

I wish I could give you better advice with regards to coping in public. I have similar issue but haven't got far enough yet in counseling to learn methods.

I want to say your not alone and I can understand some of the things you are coping with. I hope this helped a bit

[Ami1984]

I am glad you responded, to me any advice helps, and also helps more then you know knowing I am not alone, the worst thing about anxiety is thinking you are the only one. I am done with my second appointment, and I am no expert but if you would like to share what we both do

[toban]

Your welcome! Anytime you want to pm me your welcome. I will share what I learn too.

[elsiefaye]

I have been dealing with anxiety for the past 6 months and it is so horrible. I googled anxiety and panic attacks and learned how to breathe and distract myself when I feel anxious. Focusing on your anxiety will only make it worse. Difficult advice to follow I know. Talking with my sister on the phone would help as she had been through this before. I hope you can find some relief for yourself.

[Ami1984]

Thanks for the advice, maybe I should google breathing exercises, Yeah it is hard to not focus on the anxiety for sure especially when I am having an anxiety attack all logic seems to go out the window .

[VeeVee]

I was taught this the first time I saw someone about my Anxiety/Panic Attacks - Sit in a chair with your feet touching the floor, hands in lap, close our eyes. Pretend you are about to blow up a balloon, blow into your pretend balloon, allow your stomach to expand, as you do this count to 10 and then slowly inhale like you are deflating the balloon again count to 10 slowly, do this 3 times and then open your eyes.

[glowworm2k]

Sorry I didn't see your thread sooner. I have been where you are and know how little fun it is

Counselling was the biggest help for me as it helped me to learn to work and talk through my fears and stress instead of letting it build up. Most importantly, it taught me coping mechanisms so that I was less and less reliant on external supports - including my counsellor - to cope.

I have done breathing exercises for anxiety like VeeVee suggests and highly recommend them. Some other tricks that I personally use when my anxiety's out of control in public:
- Very quietly, pick a high number, say 75, and count backwards by 7's out loud (but under your breath) "75, 68, 61, 54....." I find that it takes a lot of concentration to do this, distracting me for long enough to get my nerves back.
- Another trick is to focus on a point or object that is staying still - look out a window at a tree, look at a clock on the wall, look at a chair or bench, look at anything that won't move away, focus on your breathing and count to 20, 50, or whatever number it takes to get back into your comfort zone.
- Touch the tip of each of your fingers to the tip of your thumb one at a time. Go backwards and forwards through your fingers from index to pinkie and back again. As you do this, concentrate on your fear and anxiety... try to visualize it as a flow of energy or a liquid inside you. Visualize that every time you press your fingertips together, a little bit of the anxiety drains away. After a minute or so, it should be back under control. Alternatively, you can also visualize filling yourself with calm, peace and light as you take deep breaths.

[abbasgirl]

I've dealt with anxiety for as long as I can remember, but I've gotten much better at coping with it.
I personally never found the deep breathing exercises helpful. They just made me focus on my anxiety more.
Aerobic activity and yoga does relieve body tension though.
What worked best for me was changing my thought processes. I find that my anxiety is caused by what I'm thinking about - "I'm going to fail. People won't like me," etc. So I've worked on retraining my brain to think more positively. Sometimes it helps just to get a notebook, write down what you're thinking and then change it to something more positive. It might seem really awkward and unnatural at first, but it does work. Also, surround yourself with positive quotes, songs, etc. and force yourself to think about them and repeat them to yourself throughout the day. I'm a Christian, so for me it's been Bible verses, but find things that you find encouraging.
There's a classic book called "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" by Dale Carnegie that has a lot of tips in it. You might find it helpful.

[Ami1984]

Sorry I didn't see your thread sooner. I have been where you are and know how little fun it is

Counselling was the biggest help for me as it helped me to learn to work and talk through my fears and stress instead of letting it build up. Most importantly, it taught me coping mechanisms so that I was less and less reliant on external supports - including my counsellor - to cope.

I have done breathing exercises for anxiety like VeeVee suggests and highly recommend them. Some other tricks that I personally use when my anxiety's out of control in public:
- Very quietly, pick a high number, say 75, and count backwards by 7's out loud (but under your breath) "75, 68, 61, 54....." I find that it takes a lot of concentration to do this, distracting me for long enough to get my nerves back.
- Another trick is to focus on a point or object that is staying still - look out a window at a tree, look at a clock on the wall, look at a chair or bench, look at anything that won't move away, focus on your breathing and count to 20, 50, or whatever number it takes to get back into your comfort zone.
- Touch the tip of each of your fingers to the tip of your thumb one at a time. Go backwards and forwards through your fingers from index to pinkie and back again. As you do this, concentrate on your fear and anxiety... try to visualize it as a flow of energy or a liquid inside you. Visualize that every time you press your fingertips together, a little bit of the anxiety drains away. After a minute or so, it should be back under control. Alternatively, you can also visualize filling yourself with calm, peace and light as you take deep breaths.

Everyone of these suggestions sound like they would work, I get bad anxiety in the car and when I do I do suduko, But I don't think people in the grocery store would enjoy me pushing a cart around while doing suduko. Thank you for your input I am going to be keeping these in mind for sure

[Ami1984]

I've dealt with anxiety for as long as I can remember, but I've gotten much better at coping with it.
I personally never found the deep breathing exercises helpful. They just made me focus on my anxiety more.
Aerobic activity and yoga does relieve body tension though.
What worked best for me was changing my thought processes. I find that my anxiety is caused by what I'm thinking about - "I'm going to fail. People won't like me," etc. So I've worked on retraining my brain to think more positively. Sometimes it helps just to get a notebook, write down what you're thinking and then change it to something more positive. It might seem really awkward and unnatural at first, but it does work. Also, surround yourself with positive quotes, songs, etc. and force yourself to think about them and repeat them to yourself throughout the day. I'm a Christian, so for me it's been Bible verses, but find things that you find encouraging.
There's a classic book called "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" by Dale Carnegie that has a lot of tips in it. You might find it helpful.

I have been reading that yoga is very good for anxiety stress tension and well pretty much everything, I personally find yoga very hard but I think I should consider putting in the effort to see if it makes a difference, Thanks for your input

[abbasgirl]

I have been reading that yoga is very good for anxiety stress tension and well pretty much everything, I personally find yoga very hard but I think I should consider putting in the effort to see if it makes a difference, Thanks for your input

I just use a video - no people watching me that way. There are lots of beginner ones that are easier.

[Strauss]

I just use to do Yoga for this.Trust me that this is superb and enough exercise for the stress and anxiety problems.So if you are suffering from this then engage your self with yoga.

[CheriBomb]

I know all too well how much anxiety sucks. I have abandoned shopping carts in stores to have an anxiety attack in the parking lot.
I read this thread looking for some answers too, as my anxiety is totally out of control, even with my meds!
Looks like I will be plugging in some yoga!

[Zonny]

I'm not in the same boat as most of you, but the advice on how to calm one's self is helpful.

I'm normally a calm kind of person, nothing riles me really. But my mother has been in the hospital since March after breaking her hip and has been deteriorating mentally, and is now waiting for a nursing home bed. She was OK before, now imagines all kinds of things, people who died 25 years ago are missing and she has to find them (she's called 911 a couple times one day this week because the nurses won't listen about the lady who's missing), people are stealing war treasures, she flips out regularly over things in her head.

I'm the only child anywhere near (my only brother lives in California). I regularly get calls either from Mom in tears over some imagined scenario (I can count on one hand how many times I've seen her cry previous to this), or from the nurses because she's so upset that they want me to try to calm her down.

Thank God I have a wonderful husband who understands and helps, because after several months of this, I'm losing it. I haven't been coping well and need to find a way to calm myself. I normally have fabulous blood pressure but now my heart is always racing and I can feel my face is flushed, I think my blood pressure is gone crazy. The phone rings and I tense, my heart stops. I'm not sleeping well. I'm eating and drinking like mad, and of course it's not helping.

Again, thank you. I'm going to try some of the things discussed here.