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Tips for dealing with anxiety?

Ever feel like you're taking all the stereotypical steps and advice people give you for dealing with life issues? I've read lots of articles, and they all help a little, but I have an anxiety disorder, and I can't afford professional help. I already exercise daily, meditate, eat right, get good sleep, etc., but this moment in my life seems extra burdensome, and it's making my anxiety and my procrastination worse. I still get work done, but I get it done slowly (and I've never been a rush worker from the get) and I've started smoking weed to calm me down, which I'm sure is making it SO much better. I tried quitting, but then I would get almost nothing done as opposed to getting in maybe a solid 4-6 hours of work a day split up among various responsibilities. I'm not sure what to do except keep working and hope that it doesn't all continue to pile up on me, and I can get it all back to the point where I'm calm and working again, but that might be a long while considering the responsibilities I have to take care of. What do you smart people have?

Honestape 6 Feb 10
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11 comments

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1

Meditation has helped my anxiety and depression even 10 min a day can help

3

Oh yeah. Magnesium daily supplements. Helps a ton. I swear by it.

2

I have a kick-ass book for you. It's called The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook, by Edward Bourne. I am a therapist, use this with my clients. You will love it.

2

Anxiety attacks are irrational, but it feels bloody real at the time. I have it under control for now but am not cured. Avoid situations that bring them on, try and eliminate some of the situations in your life that cause anxiety. To me anyway, the more issues I have that cause anxiety, the quicker and more devastating the attack. When I don't have many such issues, things aren't so bad. Sleep, distractions are good, I read fantasy books for the escape, they also make me sleep. Surround yourself if possible ith supportive people, even if you don't tell them of your problem, they help deal with issues that can cause problems.

For whatever reason, my anxiety attacks stopped the second I found out they were irrational. Once the doctor told me I most likely wouldn’t die from an anxiety attack, it made it impossible to have one. I have onsets of it still, so there is still that fear that they will one day start again, that things will get so bad that I’ll get that strange feeling like being really sick, just not right, like something is very wrong with you. When it starts, I do a body scan and ask “Do I need to go to he hospital? Am I in significant pain somewhere in my body?” When the answer comes back no, it goes away.

You’re taking an effective approach as well. That’s why I have the routines I have, but I do feel like there is so much out of my control that I couldn’t avoid many stressors.

@Honestape Your basically doing some Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on yourself. You'd probably really benefit from seeing someone.

5

I am a therapist, so I wholeheartedly believe in the power of therapy. However, I could never truly get rid of my anxiety and bouts of depression until I cut out...and I mean entirely...all processed foods, especially sugar, wheat, and flour.

4

Make sure you aren't smoking an anxiety promoting strain of weed. Some strains are great for treating anxiety but some 100% sativa strains can send me into serious anxious paranoia that can be very upsetting. I would also suggest looking into CBT (cognitive-behavioral therapy) - there's a bunch of free stuff on the internet that might be helpful.

Oh wow. I’m in a non-legal state, so it’s not anxiety free use, and I usually have to take what I’m given, but I’ll see if I can make that happen and do some research.

@Honestape It's too bad part of the anxiety is due to legality, as that can't be helping! I'd say broadly if ever given the choice, choose an indica or cross over a sativa if you don't have access to a variety of strains. CBT is legal though! And I've been taking a Mindfulness Mediation course that is designed to help with anxiety, you said you already meditate, but I thought I'd mention it anyways as it may be a different style to try.

2

Edibles might be better at helping with anxiety, plus a few drops of iodine in water can also calm people and reduce or eliminate any cannabis paranoia or hallucinations.

Cannabis oil is very strong and must be taken with care.
Taking 5-htp, magnesium, and derris scandens capsules might help, or St. John's Wort.

People also swear by CBD oil to make one feel calm. It's a cannabis derivative, lacking HTP, so legal in most places.

1

Never having had the disorder, I was going to suggest cannabis, but you're already there. Are you smoking, or using edibles. I don't have a good understanding of anxiety disorder, is there a specific cause you can focus on overcoming, or is it, as they used to say, a general malaise?

I use a vaporizer. It used to be any type of pressure would cause it, and until the age of 25, I had this crackling in the back of my throat that I thought was just normal until I found out it wasn’t; it was acid reflux. I started having panic attacks but it had until that point mostly manifested itself mostly and the crackling and procrastination. I built systems through college to mitigate the effects so I could do well, and I eventually got diagnosed and started doing all the right things to help it and my ADHD so I could increase productivity, but I had a lot of bad things happen over the last year, and so it’s really conjured up the procrastination symptom again.

3

Keeping your mind occupied can sometimes help till the anxiety passes. Try playing some games on your phone/PC. Read, puzzles.... Maybe get a pet if you can handle it/allowed? I wouldn't have made it through my rough spell without my dog.

2

I feel your pain, I have had anxiety and panic attacks for too long. I have a bottle of essential oils for anxiety/panic that I keep on my desk and use as needed. I drink teas with Valerian, chamomile, passion flower, and/or lavender. Can you identify what is causing the anxiety? Mine gets ugly when my work load gets out of control. Get some books on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and check your community for low cost/no cost counseling. In Omaha the Methodist Health System has counselors on sliding scale or free. When I was unemployed I used that service.

2

I used to suffer from debilitating anxiety. I learned to push my self to be uncomfortable, and slowly I became more comfortable in my own skin. A good support network and some determination are key to success in every avenue of life. I hope that helps.

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