Jill and Mike -
Thanks for the responses. I'm going to try experimenting doing the relaxation exercises in a sitting position - just as if I was driving. I think that might help get me used to the different feelings.
Also, I wanted to ask you both if you experience an anxiety provoking symptom when you try relaxing during panic episodes outside the home. Specifically, and again this happens when I'm either driving in the car or riding my motorcycle, I feel like I can't breath out all of the way. It's like my abdominal muscles are so tense, they won't let me get my full breath out. It's very uncomfortable and then it gets me started worrying about whether I'll be able to get enough breath when I start to inhale. I've had this symptom a long time and never been able to conquer it.
Mike - Great job on handling your panic during the situations you described. That's impressive that you can extend your relaxation techniques outside the home. Keep up the good work. I suppose it's another testament to why we should be practicing our relaxation exercise so regularly. I really need to get on that!
Jamie
Expectations...what not to expect from the program
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Well main symptom i get when trying to relax during panic episodes is heart palpatations because I tell myself that it's either not working or i need to do it faster. Or i just focus on the heart palpatations that i already have and say "they aren't going away". When i'm using breathing exercises when i'm standing or walking i feel that i cannot inhale the whole way and that I'm not getting enough air. I have to remind myself that i'm getting enough air and that i'm just not used to breathing like this when i'm standing up and it's starting to work.
It does start to become automatic to relax if you practice the relaxation on a daily basis. Thank you for the support, I was also impressed that I responded the way i did. I'm noticing more and more that i'm able to accept having the anxiety with less fear and I think my creativity is slightly starting to come back.
Your welcome jillzmind. There have been many days where i would spend 60% of the day just writing through negative thoughts and yeah it gets overwhelming as you cannot really do anything else. Carolyn actually said that doing it like that can actually be an avoidance behavior...i'm guessing because it keeps you from facing limitations.
The only thing i've really eatten while laying down is junk food, anything else just gets too messy.
Mike
It does start to become automatic to relax if you practice the relaxation on a daily basis. Thank you for the support, I was also impressed that I responded the way i did. I'm noticing more and more that i'm able to accept having the anxiety with less fear and I think my creativity is slightly starting to come back.
Your welcome jillzmind. There have been many days where i would spend 60% of the day just writing through negative thoughts and yeah it gets overwhelming as you cannot really do anything else. Carolyn actually said that doing it like that can actually be an avoidance behavior...i'm guessing because it keeps you from facing limitations.
The only thing i've really eatten while laying down is junk food, anything else just gets too messy.
Mike
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Mike
recording my negative thoughts is very scary for a few reasons. When I start it's hard to stop and I can have very very obsessive scary thougts that make me cringe. It's like "who is this crazy person thinking these things?"
I told hubby about the fear of being trapped under the freeways underpass. How I imagined that I left the car in the road and ran off screaming and heading for the side of the road where I could run off and hide somewhere till I felt safe. No biggie right? I mean as far as scary thoughts go that is a tame one. He freaked out! It scared him and he couldn't handle it too well. So me telling him any other ones much worse or writing them down where he might find them? Holy cow it would not be pleasant.My bro says don't record the actual obsessive thot but just the feeling it brings like being trapped or claustrophobic or some kind of code for same kinds of reactions, but that seems too complicated. I also have a buddy who wrote her thoughts down and then burned them right after in the fireplace each day. I hear again and again that writing them down is Crucial to recovery so I have got to make it happen. Thanks for listening and sharing some good ideas you have learned. I appreciate it.
Jill~
recording my negative thoughts is very scary for a few reasons. When I start it's hard to stop and I can have very very obsessive scary thougts that make me cringe. It's like "who is this crazy person thinking these things?"
I told hubby about the fear of being trapped under the freeways underpass. How I imagined that I left the car in the road and ran off screaming and heading for the side of the road where I could run off and hide somewhere till I felt safe. No biggie right? I mean as far as scary thoughts go that is a tame one. He freaked out! It scared him and he couldn't handle it too well. So me telling him any other ones much worse or writing them down where he might find them? Holy cow it would not be pleasant.My bro says don't record the actual obsessive thot but just the feeling it brings like being trapped or claustrophobic or some kind of code for same kinds of reactions, but that seems too complicated. I also have a buddy who wrote her thoughts down and then burned them right after in the fireplace each day. I hear again and again that writing them down is Crucial to recovery so I have got to make it happen. Thanks for listening and sharing some good ideas you have learned. I appreciate it.
Jill~
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Jill -
You and I must have been separated at birth. My biggest driving fear is crossing the dreaded SR-520 floating bridge that links Seattle and Bellevue across Lake Washington. It's about two miles long, two narrow lanes in each direction, no shoulders, and nowhere to turn around. I keep picturing myself getting part way across, freaking out, stopping the car (assuming that we aren't already stopped due to heavy congestion), and either jumping into the lake and swimming to shore or running back to land between the lanes of traffic. Oh yes, I'd be screaming too. I'm sure it would make the national news. Look for me.
Jamie
You and I must have been separated at birth. My biggest driving fear is crossing the dreaded SR-520 floating bridge that links Seattle and Bellevue across Lake Washington. It's about two miles long, two narrow lanes in each direction, no shoulders, and nowhere to turn around. I keep picturing myself getting part way across, freaking out, stopping the car (assuming that we aren't already stopped due to heavy congestion), and either jumping into the lake and swimming to shore or running back to land between the lanes of traffic. Oh yes, I'd be screaming too. I'm sure it would make the national news. Look for me.
Jamie
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jillzmind
It can be scary to write through negative thoughts and sometimes even worse for telling some people. I gave an example of how obsessive scary thoughts work and my friend brought me to a mental & addictions hospital.
Tame or not it is really scary for you. I have scary thoughts of poking my eyes out with pins and also that I might do sexual things in public...they may sound like they're nothing but they are really intense for us.
It's not going to be beneficial to you to avoid writing them down out of fear that your hubby would find them. If that's the case just get a lockable notebook or a spiral notepad and a lockable box but of course you could just tell your hubby that it's your negative thoughts and you'd appreciate it if he didn't look at them.
Personally I cannot say too much about how to work through them as of yet, i'm still working on that myself. Sometimes writing through them on paper doesn't work for me. I still haven't mastered being able to look at those fears with humor. That's a work in progress.
Mike
It can be scary to write through negative thoughts and sometimes even worse for telling some people. I gave an example of how obsessive scary thoughts work and my friend brought me to a mental & addictions hospital.
Tame or not it is really scary for you. I have scary thoughts of poking my eyes out with pins and also that I might do sexual things in public...they may sound like they're nothing but they are really intense for us.
It's not going to be beneficial to you to avoid writing them down out of fear that your hubby would find them. If that's the case just get a lockable notebook or a spiral notepad and a lockable box but of course you could just tell your hubby that it's your negative thoughts and you'd appreciate it if he didn't look at them.
Personally I cannot say too much about how to work through them as of yet, i'm still working on that myself. Sometimes writing through them on paper doesn't work for me. I still haven't mastered being able to look at those fears with humor. That's a work in progress.
Mike
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