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Anxiety Coping Methods

Queen

I am looking for coping methods for anxiety.

I'm someone who is anxious all day every day.

I wake up through the night, hardly ever get more than three hours of sleep each night.

My brain can't stop working and thinking. Never gets any rest.

I was diagnosed with dermatophagia, where I bite and chew my fingers obsessively but unconsciously.

My fingers and one thumb are swollen, red, misshapen and get infections regularly.

I'm on the waiting list to see specialists and before I've had anti anxiety medication but nothing worked, made me feel worse.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Pray

Parents

  • I sympathise and it is horrible. I am like you, anxious all day and all night. 

    I have also tried various medications in the past but they either had no effect or actually made my anxiety much worse. The SSRIs made me extremely agitated with constant suicidal thoughts. At the time I did not know I was autistic and that it is more common for autistic people to have such reactions. Benzodiazepines are not helpful for long term anxiety, as they are extremely addictive.

    The problem is that when a person has experienced repeated elevated anxiety for a long time the body gets used to that and it becomes the new 'normal' operating state. That results in a constant hypervigilant state of high baseline anxiety. The window of tolerance whereby the elevated anxiety can spill over into full panic when triggered is small.

    Queen said:
    I wake up through the night, hardly ever get more than three hours of sleep each night.

    When this happens to me I find that it helps to listen to some spoken audio, maybe a podcast or an audiobook. There is something about the spoken word that can send me back to sleep, in a way that silence or music cannot.

    Queen said:
    My brain can't stop working and thinking. Never gets any rest.

    Have you been assessed for ADHD? 

    If it isn't that then I find what can help is some sort of distraction. The distraction needs to be sufficiently absorbing to channel all of the thoughts into and achieve total focus. If I can achieve a state of hyperfocus on something that interests me it can provide some much needed relief from the constant anxiety for a few hours. Of course I also forget to eat, drink, sleep and everything else!

    With regards to the finger chewing would it help if you were to wear thin gloves most of the time? 

    Good luck. I hope you find something which helps.

  • in reply to Autonomistic
    Autonomistic said:
    Have you been assessed for ADHD? 

    My GP suggested this assessment but at the time I said no, it's something I am thinking about asking about now.

    Autonomistic said:
    With regards to the finger chewing would it help if you were to wear thin gloves most of the time? 

    I have gloves, rubbery ones gentle on skin but taste gross. I have instinctively bitten at my fingers and the taste is horrible, bitter.

    Autonomistic said:
    When this happens to me I find that it helps to listen to some spoken audio, maybe a podcast or an audiobook. There is something about the spoken word that can send me back to sleep, in a way that silence or music cannot.

    A few times I have played some train sightings videos. I like trains and watching them relaxes me.

    Autonomistic said:
    The problem is that when a person has experienced repeated elevated anxiety for a long time the body gets used to that and it becomes the new 'normal' operating state

    Right, yes, I cannot get my body out of this state.

    It'slike it has forgotten what is was like to be anxiety free. Sometimes I find it hard to remember what it was like when I wasn't anxious.

  • in reply to Queen
    Queen said:
    My GP suggested this assessment but at the time I said no, it's something I am thinking about asking about now.

    It would be useful to know if you are thinking about trying medication. I've read that there are some medications which make ADHD worse. 

    There is a test you can do yourself online, as an indicator. The Adult ADHD Self-Report Score ASRS-V1.1

    https://psychology-tools.com/test/adult-adhd-self-report-scale

    Queen said:

    Right, yes, I cannot get my body out of this state.

    It'slike it has forgotten what is was like to be anxiety free. Sometimes I find it hard to remember what it was like when I wasn't anxious.

    I know the feeling and I wish I knew what the answer was. I tend to wake up extremely anxious and spend most of day battling that anxiety. Even if I'm successful in bringing down the anxiety levels slightly the never ending cycle starts all over again the next morning.

    I think if it takes years to build the baseline anxiety to this state then it would also take years to bring it down again. We would have to avoid all triggers, to gradually get the body used to being in a less anxious state. Of course in this modern crazy world removing all triggers is impossible.

  • in reply to Autonomistic

    I have done the test, scored highly, I'm going to mention this to my gp as well. 

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