Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello. Does anyone else find it nearly, no actually, absolutely impossible to relax? I've tried so many things. Baths, Meditation, TV, comedy, music... Anything to just allow a person to 'wind down' Meditation originally I thought was working. But now by far I know meditation to be the worst thing for me. It makes so extremely aware of every breath and heartbeat that I actually just become anxious and end up with something called 'air hunger' where I end up trying to take deep breaths when I clearly don't really need it. And then when I can't take as a deep a breath as I feel I needed I then think it's because I can't breathe and thus the anxiety continues in its cycle. I find this to be the case with almost any 'relaxing' thing. I become way too aware of my breath and heartbeat. It's just with meditation it's intensified. I don't even relax in my sleep! I often wake up from anxiety dreams where I've clearly been hyperventilating in my sleep from the dream. How can I ever relax?
no not really
Okay. Is this a muscle relaxation thing like talked about above?
lie on your back, legs straight when hold ur heels just off the ground for 30 seconds ( legs still straight ) then relax repeat 3 times give it a go
both
having heart palpitations tonight. Dunno if anxiety is causing them or if they're causing the anxiety
just to agree with Holly aka NAS69820 learning muslce relaxation techniques can remove all tension from your body. There are many in Youtube as well.
u lie on a bed and just listen with headphones to the instruction to tighten and then relax each set of muscles in your body.
Once u get the hang of it you can use it all the time to relax. It takes about 30 goes at least for it to really sink in and become automatic. I have a range of sounds and words which if I say to myself automtically relax me down a notch.
These techniques can also be used to help you go to sleep.
A sheet on paired muscle relaxation was given to me by a professional in the past and it helped me immeasurably. I really recommend searching online for 'distress tolerance handout 6B - paired muscle relaxation, step by step.'
All the best
Holly :)
it ok just spouting ideas, u're correct to be cautious
My psychiatrist is often reluctant to change meds as he says the meds i'm on help several different things I suffer from. I'll talk to them but I doubt anything will get done. Plus I'm a bit reluctant to change meds too as all the other meds I've tried in the past and have caused me severe side effects
I don't really have that option.
like wise for me i do a 40m walk every day
Yeah, i exercise everyday and does me tonnes of good: sleep better, focus better, feel better. And yeah, exercising to exhaustion does leave me in a state of relaxedness for hours. Fell running is good for that!
maybe try diazepam for a short period so u can reduce the anxiety. maybe a chat with doctor like matic319 says as a review of the situation. What do u think ?
Maybe a medication review is what's needed? If the GP doesn't listen, complain. It seems to be the only thing that works. Diazepam is marvelous stuff, & it's also the M1 to opiate addiction.
Exercise, until you're so tired, that you can't carry on. That's the ONLY time I'm relaxed. But obviously, don't injure yourself. It'll work.
I'm on antidepressants that are also meant to work with anxiety. But I have been on them a long time. I have been prescribed diazepam as a take when needed drug a couple of years ago though.
have u ever been on anxiety type medication ? for some it works well
I'm diagnosed with Autism Level 2 or 'moderate autism'
I think u may need to talk to GP about getting some medication for a while to lower your anxiety so you know what relaxed is. Being in a constant anxious state is not good for your long term so u need to make progress in the right direction. Just a couple of weeks so you get a grip of "relaxed".
Have u been diagnosed with ADHD ? I can't remember are u autistic ?
One of the things I do the most is supposed to be a 'relaxing' hobby. LOL. Birdwatching. Or Bird photography. I seem to go through phases where the anxiety is severe so all I can seem to focus on is my breath or heartbeat. I'm currently going through that phase. I can even feel the strain it has on my lungs from the over-breathing. But then I feel that strain on my lungs and then become anxious about that. I read, but when I'm like this I find I don't actually absorb the words but rather just sit reading the words while focusing on how my breath feels weird of my heart. But I think this cycle stems from the fact I don't truly relax even during the times when I'm not as severe as I am during these phases. It's like I never seem able to relax and then it gets on top of me and then I end up like this. For me when I'm like this the next best thing that can happen is I go into shutdown mode or somehow I manage to get myself out of this phase through other means. Dunno what they will be at the moment as this time around nothings seems to be working.