Anybody feel like their "adrenaline surge" sort of feeling is all-or-nothing?

[Sweetleaf]

I feel like every time I have some kind of situation happen that makes my adrenaline start flowing, it's always like hardcore full blast "feels like my heart is trying to punch its way out of my chest" sort of stuff. Shaking hands, everything.

I always have a severe physical reaction, whether I'm in a situation where there is a potential danger, or something that a normal person would feel a minor "adrenaline rush" kind of feeling over, or a little butterflies in their stomach, instead of pretty much being in physical fight or flight mode as if someone were about to try killing me.

The other day I was in the liquor store, mid day, just to avoid sketchy people, and of course I come in when someone is trying to shoplift and gets caught, and pretty much everyone in there is sketched out, and there's a confrontation between the manager and the guy. That got my blood flowing hard. That would probably get pretty much anyone's blood flowing hard. But so does -every little thing- for me, like even something as mundane as playing a multiplayer videogame and having the pressure of wanting to not f*ck up cause me to feel like my heart is going to explode out of my chest like a chestburster from alien.

It never used to be like that, before. I know that with PTSD I'm going to have a more severe reaction to things that get the heart pumping, but to me it's always all-or-nothing. When I have a reaction, it's a huge reaction. There is no little or medium reaction for me. It's always severe.

Anyone else feel the same way?

 

[somerandomguy]

I think that is REALLY normal for people with PTSD. It's not called a "nervous disorder" sometimes for no reason.

Part of grounding skills are realizing when your body is overreacting and trying to get back down to a normal level of reacting. What do you do to ground in the moment?

 

[Eagle3]

Yup, a lot of us feel this way. Its why adrenal health is so important; living in F-or-F mode depletes the hormonal system. Grounding is so important to shorten the duration of what I call "adrenaline dumps". Its taken years, but I've finally gotten to some point of control again. I can soothe myself pretty quickly if the situation doesn't warrant that level of adrenaline-release...sometimes.

 

[Hopefulphoenix]

I have this too and it really pisses me off. My system goes nuts just at the sound of a fast car passing me.
And the other day, there was some guy waiting behind me at the bread slicing machine, he might as well have been a massive tiger. At least that would have make sense then..
The worst of it all (and I guess this is typical PTSD) inside my head I feel so stupid.. like I should be able to flip all this off.
On the plus side Im thinking maybe those of us who had learned grounding ??would be awesome in some kind of apocalpse?!

 

[Sweetleaf]

My system goes nuts just at the sound of a fast car passing me.
And the other day, there was some guy waiting behind me at the bread slicing machine, he might as well have been a massive tiger. At least that would have make sense then..

You're not the only one, I have the same reactions.
I also feel so stupid in my head, but I remind myself it's just a physical reaction I can't control. Still feel stupid, even though I shouldn't.

What do you do to ground in the moment?

Right now I have a few regular ones - if highly anxious sometimes I do a little yoga, usually ending with me having my legs straight up the wall with me laying back on the floor, bottom/hips propped up. I'll go through each part of my body, starting at my toes, trying to recognize what that body part is feeling/doing, and then trying to completely relax it, moving up until I have scanned and relaxed my whole body. (at this point usually a cat comes walking up to my face and starts sniffing it like "wtf are you doing lol")

For non-yoga stuff to ground: I will do things like trying to notice what temperature my toes are, whether they're hot or cold or neutral - that one works pretty well for now, for anxiety. I'll try to notice objects around me but that doesn't always work. If I'm driving I will run my fingers over the stitching on my steering wheel (that's more for dissociation but still)

There's more, like just moving body parts and feeling things around me, I could go on but I can't think of other grounding methods use, brain doesn't feel like recalling it all lol.

Part of my therapy homework is to ground every 30 minutes, or more.

I don't hit that goal but I'm improving.

edit: also in those intense feeling fight-or-flight moments, I'll often try to remind myself of ways I can either defend myself or get the f*ck away, if I am feeling sketched out and unsafe. I'll do things like feel the pepper spray in my coat pocket, or if I'm wearing my bear spray on a tether from my belt, I'll rest my hand on the top of it, or physically feel it in some way. I used to do a similar thing when I carried guns. I'd just feel where the pistol was hidden on me, with part of my hand, casually, usually just pressing up against the side of it and feeling the hardness of it through my clothes. I haven't carried a gun much since I got PTSD, but the whole "feeling my weapon to reassure myself it's there" thing goes way back for me. I guess it is sorta like grounding, in that I'm incorporating a tactile sensation and noticing it, noticing something in the present - but it has the bonus of reminding me that I have -some- kind of device or object that will help me protect myself, making me feel a little safer.

 

[FrckldGngr]

the whole "feeling my weapon to reassure myself it's there" thing goes way back for me. I guess it is sorta like grounding, in that I'm incorporating a tactile sensation and noticing it, noticing something in the present - but it has the bonus of reminding me that I have -some- kind of device or object that will help me protect myself, making me feel a little safer.

Do you feel like your anxiety has elevated since you stopped carrying? I'm struggling with this right now.

 

[Sweetleaf]

Do you feel like your anxiety has elevated since you stopped carrying? I'm struggling with this right now.

Well, it depends on when. I used to get so anxious, that I was on the verge of passing out and throwing up, if I tried carrying. Yet at the same time, I felt very vulnerable not having a gun, so yeah, more anxious depending on the situation, and my thoughts.

Now it has been a while, and I've done a lot of work, started shooting again, and carry a gun sometimes when I go outside. I plan on ramping it up to once again carrying a gun every single time I leave the house.

At this point, I feel safer when the gun is there and more anxious when it isn't - though only when I start thinking about bad shit happening to me etc. (which is very often lmao)

 

[Ronin]

I find that sort of... not amusing, but interesting contrast?

I feel heckuva safer not carrying & having hands free, whenever I can get away with that, these days. Both reminds me when I am, and reminds me to rely on me & solving the problem differently before we even get to the weapons stage.

So either healing from hypervig, or just getting ooold. ?
Just bout me, though. Having someone with me, very n/a.

 

[FrckldGngr]

Sweetleaf: I never lost my flavor for carrying. I could see why your situation would warrant a different response.

Ronin: Surely not!

:D