I have frequent anxiety attacks. Sometimes I can pinpoint a cause, other times I can’t. Just recently I had one from playing a game. In the game I have to throw barrels to hit a target which is alot harder than it sounds. What would have once just pissed me off now has my heart racing, has me feeling naucious, and has me feeling a sense of dread I guess. My mental health has gone to shit the last month or so, it was always bad but now its worse. For the last year I’ve had stomach problems which the doctor hasn’t found a physical cause for, I even had an endoschopy and they said everything looks normal. I’m starting to think It’s a physical symptom of my anxiety. I’d be grateful for any advice this fine community can offer. Thank you.
To be honest, I’m medicated. It has drastically reduced the number of panic attacks I have.
Is this for everyone? No. But it’s not shameful.
If you have access to a doctor ask them about your panic attacks.
Breathing exercises don’t personally work for me, but they work for some people. I encourage you to try them in the meantime.
Breathing exercises like square breathing can help:
- Breath in for 4 seconds
- Hold for 4 seconds
- Breath out for 4 seconds
- Hold for 4 seconds
- Repeat
Thank you. I’ll practice square breathing.
Yes, I came here to suggest this too. Also known as box breathing: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321805
Meditation should also help improve the condition over the longer term.
Had panic attacks a few times before I knew what they were, and knowing that I was simply experiencing a weird biological reaction dialed the unreasonable fear in quite a bit.
Anyway, all I knew to do was get out and march. Drop what you’re doing, nothing else matters, go outside your door and walk. Walk until you get back in control. Walk if it take miles and miles. Just do it, don’t think about it. Walk. Fuck else you gonna do, examine your navel while your heart spirals out of control? Walk.
And yes, absent physical causes, your stomach problems are 100% due to anxiety. You need exercise. Humans bodies did not evolve to live as we do. We evolved to work our ass off, all day long.
And for anyone who comes along and says, “Hunter gatherers only worked $X hours a week!” STFU. I’ll throw you outside for a week, see how easy you think it is. Hell, just regulating your body temp through the day is “work”. Commanding a keyboard is not.
Exercise definitely helped me . Also eating healthy food (when you can ). Mentally the anxiety feeling is very similar to excitement. When the anxiety started I would imagine I was doing something exciting. This worked Very well with me.
Thank you! I do need to get out more, I enjoy walking even despite the cold. I could definitly benifit from excercise. I’m really trying to get my life back on track which has been difficult. Prioritizing my mental health has been hard but I’m trying to be optomistic.
There’s a paper-thin line between physical and mental health. You cannot have mental health without physical health. Physical health (whatever that means for you) may not be enough, but it’s still essential.
My last job saw me making $82K/yr. with fat benefits, sitting at home on my PC, not doing much of anything. Lost that job due to them needing someone hands on with the laptops and servers. Depressed as hell. Most of my panic attacks were during those 5 years. Related? Dunno.
Now I’m slinging rocks and mulch at Lowe’s for shit pay, and I’m so much happier. Not dying to go in, but I’m not dreading it, feel great after only a 4-5 hour shift. After only a month I can see the difference in my upper body physique. My general constitution is much higher, even this quickly.
Anyway, back to walking. Scan Google Maps for ideas. Holy shit the places I’ve found, right by my house. Had no idea there were miles and miles of natural trails within walking distance. Saw my first black bear (with babies, shit!) and a coyote in the last month! Found a beautiful swamp 3-miles away, kayak and canoe there all the time. There are endless miles of creeks and rivers I’ve never been on, woods I’ve never hiked.
Sure like to help! HMU if you want to chat.
And BTW, almost had a panic attack today. My chest hurt the slightest bit, terrified of having a heart attack, which is what usually kicks that shit off. I have few logical reasons to believe my heart is going to blow, but here we are. Getting off my ass right now to find some projects to get into.
The breathing and of course talking to a therapist. Someone else said basically exercise or walking, most definitely! Aside from that I know this past month has been hell for me because of politics and the cold weather. You might be in the same boat. Limit your access to need and social media. Using a SAD lamp may help.
Also learn or do something new. I recently picked up sewing and went balls deep into learning about how to actually do it properly and creating projects. In the past I’ve also done things like picked up books on a new subject, delved into a new hobby, and one year I just decided to do puzzles. What it’s done for me is gave me something to focus on and keeps my mind occupied. It’s also gave me the satisfaction of learning something new which I guess makes me feel accomplished or something. And sometimes it gives me time to actively work on something and think about what I’m doing while somehow allowing me to sort shit out in the back of my head. I don’t know how else to explain it but it’s done wonders for my mental health and I just figured I would share in case it resonates with you.
I know it’s rough, but you’ll get through this!
The current political climate has really been fucking with me. I find it really hard not to read every news article I see that looks concerning. The cold weather I don’t mind too much. I’m probably in the minority there. As for hobbies I’m trying to learn spanish and esperanto. Both are languages that I love and find fascinating. I guess all I have are hobbies and worrying. I don’t think I have SAD. I could be wrong though. I love winter for the most part. I’m glad you found sewing, It’s really cool. I’m not the most creative type, aside from writing which I don’t do much anymore. Maybe I should start again. It’s funny, I don’t read books much but I think I may like to write one one day. I’d really like to read more too, which would be a great hobby to undertake. Thank you for your kind words. You’ve given me alot to think about. We’ll both get through this.
Look into vitamin d deficiency
