How to slow down? - Nightmares, panic attacks, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, overreactions, being reminded of things I cannot think about.

[Guest]

It’s getting worse and I don’t know why, every small thing reminds me of things I don’t want to think about. My life has been getting more stressful, and it seems like my brain is dead set on making it even more so. My nightmares have been getting more vivid, it’s like they get stuck in my brain for the entire day. And I’ve been having this weird spike in panic attacks, like to the point where I don’t want to leave the house.

Does anyone else feel it on their skin when they’re triggered? (I apologize, I don’t know if that’s the right word.) Like different parts of your body start feelings prickly and distant, under the skin. I don’t know why, that’s started happening again, when people touch me. I have this aversion to being touched on the stomach, to the point of ridiculous overreactions, like jumping out of my skin and making this weird crying sound. I don’t know why that happens, and it’s really embarrassing.

For some reason its happened a lot lately, but I feel bad when I’ll be playing around with my family and completely ruin the mood with something like that.

I cant seem to stop thinking about how I’m never going to be a different person, how events have determined who I am, how I AM those events in a way. It just feels like I’ve been so stuck for years and years, and it’s just cropping up a lot right now.

Does anyone know how to just stop those feelings when everything is reminding them of things they can’t think about? It feels like every single tiny thing reminds me and just throws me deeper into this funk. (I’m sure there’s a more fitting term, but I can’t figure it out.) I just need a way to slow down the nightmares, the panic attacks, that sort of thing.

 

[Freddyt]

Are you in therapy?

When I first got here, someone pointed me to this and it has helped a whole lot.....

The ptsd cup explanation

Nearly a decade ago (2006) I wrote The PTSD Cup Explanation, a simple view of how PTSD causes symptoms in day-to-day life. This article is an update to that original piece. Regardless of the type of trauma endured, the PTSD Cup does not change, deviate or apply differently to your circumstance...

www.myptsd.com

 

[Guest]

Are you in therapy?

When I first got here, someone pointed me to this and it has helped a whole lot.....

The ptsd cup explanation

Nearly a decade ago (2006) I wrote The PTSD Cup Explanation, a simple view of how PTSD causes symptoms in day-to-day life. This article is an update to that original piece. Regardless of the type of trauma endured, the PTSD Cup does not change, deviate or apply differently to your circumstance...

www.myptsd.com

No, I am not in therapy at the moment, but I am considering it. I know it sounds counterintuitive, considering it’s what I’m doing right now, but I feel like it would be hard to talk nonstop about myself. But I will definitely think more about going into it, I could definitely see how that would help!
But I really like the cup explanation, it helped me to be a little more introspective to how I am feeling. So thank you for that, I really appreciate it.

 

[Freddyt]

No, I am not in therapy at the moment, but I am considering it. I know it sounds counterintuitive, considering it’s what I’m doing right now, but I feel like it would be hard to talk nonstop about myself. But I will definitely think more about going into it, I could definitely see how that would help!
But I really like the cup explanation, it helped me to be a little more introspective to how I am feeling. So thank you for that, I really appreciate it.

Thats a lot of learning to slow down - listening to you. Listening to whats going on. Managing stress - or at least not doing things that add stress.

To me that good stress and bad stress are stress was like a slap in the face. A real wake up moment.

You should consider therapy. The first step would be to visit a psychiatrist for a general diagnoses and they would recommend what they consider the best therapy to help you. Then you find a therapist that does that kind of therapy.

IF you really work on the stress cup thing - you will be a huge step ahead when you start therapy, because you are learning to control stress already and that's such a huge help.....

 

[PTSDisaster]

Does anyone know how to just stop those feelings

You pretty much described my life 2 years ago. Getting overwhelmed with lots and lots of emotions. You wanting to 'stop' those feelings will make them worse. Find a way to let the emotions be there, something inside your body needs all the stress to come out.

and it’s really embarrassing.

like to the point where I don’t want to leave the house.

I am currently still struggling with agoraphobia, it started because I got so much shame surrounding every feeling or symptom that is not "normal". When I do go somewhere I am not comfortable, I will get a 'symptom attack' where suddenly there is no reasoning in your mind to calm your body down. I will feel the urge to throw up/poo/pee everything that will make me feel very very embarassed. If that's also the case with you, you should consider reading "The agoraphobia workbook". It helped me a lot to finally know what was exactly happening to me, knowing I'm not crazy.

I am very sorry that you are in this place right now and I can relate to feeling like there is no way out. But it will get better, trust me:). These are the periods that will eventually make is enjoy more things, make is more grounded, passionate and especially empathetic. Please have faith that this is a period and it won't last forever. :)

 

[Paul007]

You pretty much described my life 2 years ago. Getting overwhelmed with lots and lots of emotions. You wanting to 'stop' those feelings will make them worse. Find a way to let the emotions be there, something inside your body needs all the stress to come out.




I am currently still struggling with agoraphobia, it started because I got so much shame surrounding every feeling or symptom that is not "normal". When I do go somewhere I am not comfortable, I will get a 'symptom attack' where suddenly there is no reasoning in your mind to calm your body down. I will feel the urge to throw up/poo/pee everything that will make me feel very very embarassed. If that's also the case with you, you should consider reading "The agoraphobia workbook". It helped me a lot to finally know what was exactly happening to me, knowing I'm not crazy.

I am very sorry that you are in this place right now and I can relate to feeling like there is no way out. But it will get better, trust me:). These are the periods that will eventually make is enjoy more things, make is more grounded, passionate and especially empathetic. Please have faith that this is a period and it won't last forever. :)

I am in the same position as you I think I have trouble going out to do activities etc I've cut ties with most of my friends and people I used to know and it feels like PTSD etc trauma symptoms are my life and nothing else to occupy my time and noone to listen to the things I have on my mind so I bottle it up and this makes my PTSD symptoms worse