Greetings to all,
I thought it would be of great help to us all, if you post your past difficult symptoms which you were experiencing and what methods you have used to overcome them.
If you have not overcome any of your symptoms, but have made progress in managing them, please post also.
Even though I am now 100% recovered, at the time when I was overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety, my most difficult symptom to overcome was feeling as if I could not breath!
Five things contributed to helping me overcome this symptom:
1: Going for a 30-45 minute brisk walk, each and every day to rid my body of the excess adrenaline and to increase my level of brain endorphin activity - creating a overall feeling of wellbeing.
2: Keeping stress levels low - so no watching the news, negative television programmes, reading newspapers, surfing medical forums, or working obsessively.
3: Listening to Lucinda's "Combatting Stress and Depression Program" programme, especially the group sessions - every single day, several times a day , which bought a tremendous amount of comfort.
4: Going over forum posts by fellow suffers of Anxiety and Depression, who have fully recovered - especially "Sunset34" and "Lenore" - their advice in the forums has been of tremendous help.
5: Accepting the symptom of feeling as if I was unable to breath, while truthfully knowing - that the reason I am experiencing this symptom is because of my Anxiety, and that it is not something more serious related to a medical problem. Also not reacting, or giving this symptom any attention.
8 weeks of following the above 5 steps, got rid of this symptom completely.
Which symptoms have you overcome and how?
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The_Prodigy_Son
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:02 am
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Guest
Interesting. I follow you on #1 and #2. Keeping stress low (especially through changing perceptions or not catastrophizing) is great. Exercise is good too. #3 and #4 are fine if they give you comfort....I've been trying though not to get obsessive about these as I think we are all a bit prone to do. So you don't listen to Lucinda one day, does that mean you will panic? No. I am trying to be careful with your #3 and #4 to not make these all or nothing scenarios that have to happen to keep my anxiety down or me panic free. #5 is a key....tell yourself it is just anxiety, it isn't harmless, you can get thru it, you will live...YES! Definately.
My only comment back on your #2 is to be careful about avoidance. Not watching the news, newspapers, tv shows seems like avoidance. What is the worst these will do to you? Bring on some anxiety? Why? Do you think a news story or TV show will hurt you? I'm glad you are doing great....but to ensure you haven't left a hole in your armor, I would suggest reassessing your avoidance of these. That's just my two cents....
My only comment back on your #2 is to be careful about avoidance. Not watching the news, newspapers, tv shows seems like avoidance. What is the worst these will do to you? Bring on some anxiety? Why? Do you think a news story or TV show will hurt you? I'm glad you are doing great....but to ensure you haven't left a hole in your armor, I would suggest reassessing your avoidance of these. That's just my two cents....
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Guest
irish89, I think it is important to note that, I was talking about how I overcame my symptom of not feeling able to breath!
in response to some of your questions:
"So you don't listen to Lucinda one day, does that mean you will panic?
No, I will not panic or experience any symptoms of anxiety. I am able to travel where ever I want, socialize, shop in crowded place, etc. I have only ever had 1 Panic Attack - which was bought on by a long period of several extremely stressful circumstances. I listen to the "Combatting Stress and Depression Program" programme three times a week. Sometimes twice a week. The reason I read many self-help books and still listen to the programme, is to keep my mind focused on being positive and to make sure that I am living what Lucinda teaches in the "Combatting Stress and Depression Program" programme. I believe dedication and implementation of what we learn from the programme, leads to complete recovery and avoidance of suffering a relapse.
#2 - I would not exactly call avoidance behavior, but a good way of filtering out unnecessary negative content which most of us just do not need to know about. Nobody is immune to negativity and the more we absorb it - through television programmes, newspapers, or the people we surround are selfs with - although it may not scare us), it definately does not create a feeling of positive wellbeing and eventually will end up effecting the way we think and are health. I am not talking about complete avoidance of these things, but I think it is very important for any one trying to recover from anxiety or depression, to give their mind a serious break, from all these negative sources.
in response to some of your questions:
"So you don't listen to Lucinda one day, does that mean you will panic?
No, I will not panic or experience any symptoms of anxiety. I am able to travel where ever I want, socialize, shop in crowded place, etc. I have only ever had 1 Panic Attack - which was bought on by a long period of several extremely stressful circumstances. I listen to the "Combatting Stress and Depression Program" programme three times a week. Sometimes twice a week. The reason I read many self-help books and still listen to the programme, is to keep my mind focused on being positive and to make sure that I am living what Lucinda teaches in the "Combatting Stress and Depression Program" programme. I believe dedication and implementation of what we learn from the programme, leads to complete recovery and avoidance of suffering a relapse.
#2 - I would not exactly call avoidance behavior, but a good way of filtering out unnecessary negative content which most of us just do not need to know about. Nobody is immune to negativity and the more we absorb it - through television programmes, newspapers, or the people we surround are selfs with - although it may not scare us), it definately does not create a feeling of positive wellbeing and eventually will end up effecting the way we think and are health. I am not talking about complete avoidance of these things, but I think it is very important for any one trying to recover from anxiety or depression, to give their mind a serious break, from all these negative sources.
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Guest
Prodigy: Sorry, wasn't trying to sound all "know it all" on you. I think it is great that you are so dedicated to your recovery and the program has worked for you. A was just concerned that perhaps you were focusing so much on the program that it had become your "silver bullet"....I've learned that there are no silver bullets with this but simply hard work and re-learning. When I had silver bullets that failed, it seemed to put me into a worse spin and I wanted to help you avoid that if this was an issue....but it doesn't seem to be. The second concern was that you were avoiding things....but I think I just perhaps read your wording wrong. Thanks for the clarification, I'm glad things are working well for you!
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Guest
Are you ready for a long list? This is a condensed version 
I overcame:
Daily panic attacks, 2 or 3 a day was a "good" day !
My horrendous fear of driving alone because of the panic attacks.
Moderate to severe level of agoraphobia, depending on the day.
My constant high level of anxiety.
Constant worrying about my children and my health.
Nightly obsessive thinking/irregular sleeping patterns.
Daily obsessive, negative thinking.
Obsessive scary thoughts to the point of making myself ill with them.
Low self esteem which stemmed from a history of lack of self acceptance and self love.
Bouts of depression which seemed to pop out of nowhere.
My intense fear of confrontation because of the anxiety it would provoke in me.
My self induced mood swings which occurred when I felt bad about myself for one unrealistic, obsessive reason or another.
Limitless "what if" thinking that would trigger all kinds of other symptoms.
Constant dizziness and fears of passing out at any given moment.
Frequent feeling of just wanting to "cry it out of me" whatever "it" was. Yep, negative thoughts.
My method. Well, not mine, Lucinda's.
I worked through the 15 sessions of Lucinda's program carefully,diligently and with the determination of a person saving her life. Which it did.
I worked at it step by step,day by day, following the weekly schedule and practiced, practiced and practiced the coping skills. I listened to the tapes additional times just to soak it all in over and over -while driving, cooking, cleaning the house, typing on the computer -I have session #8 on right now because a family member is quite ill in the hospital-.
Will I do OK without the reinforcement? Sure. It's available to me, so I take advantage of the extra comfort.
Thanks Prodigy, what a great way to remember our successes!
I overcame:
Daily panic attacks, 2 or 3 a day was a "good" day !
My horrendous fear of driving alone because of the panic attacks.
Moderate to severe level of agoraphobia, depending on the day.
My constant high level of anxiety.
Constant worrying about my children and my health.
Nightly obsessive thinking/irregular sleeping patterns.
Daily obsessive, negative thinking.
Obsessive scary thoughts to the point of making myself ill with them.
Low self esteem which stemmed from a history of lack of self acceptance and self love.
Bouts of depression which seemed to pop out of nowhere.
My intense fear of confrontation because of the anxiety it would provoke in me.
My self induced mood swings which occurred when I felt bad about myself for one unrealistic, obsessive reason or another.
Limitless "what if" thinking that would trigger all kinds of other symptoms.
Constant dizziness and fears of passing out at any given moment.
Frequent feeling of just wanting to "cry it out of me" whatever "it" was. Yep, negative thoughts.
My method. Well, not mine, Lucinda's.
I worked through the 15 sessions of Lucinda's program carefully,diligently and with the determination of a person saving her life. Which it did.
I worked at it step by step,day by day, following the weekly schedule and practiced, practiced and practiced the coping skills. I listened to the tapes additional times just to soak it all in over and over -while driving,
cooking, cleaning the house, typing on the computer -I have session #8 on right now because a family member is quite ill in the hospital-.Will I do OK without the reinforcement? Sure. It's available to me, so I take advantage of the extra comfort.
Thanks Prodigy, what a great way to remember our successes!
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Guest
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browneyedsue
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:57 pm
Prodigy,
Just looking back a second to your post-
AMEN to the "filtering out unnecessary negative content". Not that we need to avoid the news or papers altogether, but recaps often are enough for me. I don't need to sit there listening to, or watching hours of catastrophes displayed on TV or watching violent, emotionally explosive shows or movies on a regular basis.
While working on the program, I rarely watched TV and sought out helpful reading materials to help strengthen and comfort me. Now, I choose more carefully than in the past, seeking out the positives in all aspects of my surroundings. The negatives sneek in there from time to time anyway, why invite them?
Just looking back a second to your post-
AMEN to the "filtering out unnecessary negative content". Not that we need to avoid the news or papers altogether, but recaps often are enough for me. I don't need to sit there listening to, or watching hours of catastrophes displayed on TV or watching violent, emotionally explosive shows or movies on a regular basis.
While working on the program, I rarely watched TV and sought out helpful reading materials to help strengthen and comfort me. Now, I choose more carefully than in the past, seeking out the positives in all aspects of my surroundings. The negatives sneek in there from time to time anyway, why invite them?
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Guest