My husband has been out of town on a short Men's ski retreat with approximately 40 other men from church. He is having a great time. I however hate being by myself, my mind gets all over the place and I get bored really easily. My mind jumps to all sorts of terrible conclusions about staying in a house all by myself even though I have done it several times and I know nothing crazy is really going to happen. I however have lately gotten so worked up I really haven't been sleeping well and have definitely had some anxiety attacks. It doesn't help that I am also anxious about this job hunting I am doing or having to do even though I am completely unmotivated to do it. Here is a link that explains that a bit better from a friend of mine.
Anyway my mum suggested I try meditation again to try and calm myself down. Now with a brain that is always going and barely has any breaks this seems like a completely daunting task. I have been able to meditate before but only in a led meditation when someone else is speaking as it is much easier to focus on their voice then on my own breathing. Counting my breath in and out in long slow motions doesn't seem to slow my heart rate or calm me down when my mind is still panicking about the issue it is worried about. Running surprisingly calms my brain while I am actually moving and for a little bit afterward. However I think exercise is going to end up as a topic on its own at some point in the future.
So here are a few suggested techniques I plan on attempting.
First making time to meditate every day. This will be difficult as I don't tend to stick to schedules I make myself as well as I should.
Second every time an idea comes into my head according to my yoga magazine I should just tell my brain to drop it and hope that works long enough for my brain to finally understand it can't do that anymore.
Third. Prayer/mediation/worry beads. I have a set I made out of rough opal stones I got at a bead show that I think I will restring into something smaller that I can wear as a bracelet or even make something into a necklace that I can say a short prayer or mantra to too help my body get used to a calm and focused on something harmless feeling. I just have to figure out what that saying is going to be and will most likely have it in ancient Greek or something as I find listening to chant or saying chant (still learning it/wanting to learn it - I sleep to Gregorian chant at night, I love how it sounds) helps me keep calm and the same with other languages for some reason.
It seems I will need to call my aunt and bum a beading needle of her and get some appropriate thread for the project. I have no clue if this is going to help or not but I really hope so. I already find writing in a journal/prayer journal does help to a degree, I just need something a little more to make it last longer.
I will report in once I have tried some of these things on how it is going. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions on meditation or ways to reduce anxiety please let me know in the comments.
Did a quick Google search and came up with this
ReplyDeletefrom the Canadian Mental Health Association:
http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=3-94
Apparently anxiety disorder is relatively common
and is estimated to affect 1 in 10 people.
Here are 3 paragraphs from the site that you may find useful:
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Therapeutic strategies can be effective in reducing symptoms in each of the anxiety disorders. The techniques used include cognitive restructuring, to help people turn their anxious thoughts, interpretations and predictions into thoughts which are more rational and less anxious. People with anxiety disorders may also benefit from controlled exposure to feared objects or situations.
Specific CBT techniques have been developed to help assist with particular anxiety disorders. People with panic disorder, for instance, can benefit from breathing retraining, which shows them how to slow their breathing and use meditation when they're feeling anxious.
Support groups and educational resources can also be included in treatment. Anxiety disorders place a great burden on the individuals affected, their families and friends. Learning all you can about the particular condition touching your life can help you develop tools for living with an anxiety disorder, or living with someone who has an anxiety disorder
I think you are on the right track with these ideas - the key will be trying them and giving them enough time to work - kind of like those meds people take that take weeks to work because they have to build up in your system.
ReplyDeleteHang in there! You CAN do this :)
Infoperson: I am perfectly aware there are several anxiety disorders out there. Thank you for the information though. ADD often has other disorders that present themselves as either comorbid (basically a separate disorder that exists at the same time that presents symptoms) or things due to the ADD symptoms cause things like other disorders to appear as a reaction to uncontrolled ADD symptoms. If it is not comorbid and ADD symptoms are controlled in some way then these reactions that look like other disorders often lessen or disappear. If they are comorbid then when the ADD is properly controlled they will not disappear and must be dealt with separately. It is hard to tell with me if it is comorbid or not as my symptoms are generally uncontrolled and anxiety does run in my family, that being said it could be either way. I prefer to start out by trying to learn how to deal with it first and then if I cant deal with it see someone about it. At this point I am trying to figure out what my triggers are. Being alone in the house at night seems to be one of them. Stressful situations in which I know are going to happen are definitely another. Knowing the triggers will help me understand it better and would useful to a professional if i see one about it.
ReplyDeleteOnly time will tell if any of these things will work.
My husband is home now and as soon as he came back home and I knew he was there for the night all of my anxiety that had before bed the last few nights went away.
Anyway off to the bead store to get some stuff to create a prayer/meditation bracelet to see if that might help a bit in the future.
Have you looked at diet? E.g. are there certain foods that help alleviate ADD symptoms or make them worse? I would imagine any foods containing caffeine, for example, would be bad. A nice soothing hot "sleepy time" herbal tea before bed might help?
ReplyDeleteI am aware of Diet being a potential factor and have recently started to look into it better, there is definitely thoughts and few studies showing that it can definitely affect ADD. I however am a supertaster (I have more tastebuds then the average person) which means there are many things I don't like and I also have issues with certain textures of food that while I like the flavor they make me gag and I cant swallow them no matter what I do. This will make the diet thing a lot more difficult. Funny how I cant find a nutritionist that deals with super tasters when approx 25% for the population in north american are supertasters though they may not actually know it (they usually will call themselves picky or plain eaters). Actually caffien isn't bad. Caffien would be something that someone might use to self medicate as it acts like many of the stimulant meds that are used to treat ADD. I however hate coffee. I now only occaisionally drink a coca cola and I like hot chocolate but dont have it everyday. I will occaisionally drink green or white tea which do have caffien but I hate black tea. I dont know what caffien does for anxiety but caffien rarely makes me hyper, it sometimes makes me feel a bit more alert. It also is hit or miss whether or not it will make me have to go to the bathroom a lot or not because of its diuretic effects. Any kind of tea makes me go to the bathroom a lot so I do not drink it before bed. I already get up in the middle of the night for drinking a bunch of water at bedtime. I dont need to be waking up every half hour at night due to tea.
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