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Hyperarousal & Window of Tolerance

lukas19991

New Here
Hello guys. I am from Germany, sorry for some grammar mistakes. I am new in this Forum. I got pretty strong hyperarousal and it gets worse every day. Are there any medications oder other ways that can calm myself down. I tried the basic medications but all of them are not really helping. I just want to feel some relief, because the 24/7 Fight or Flight Mode makes me so exhausted and tired. I would be very thankful for any suggestions.
 
Two of my favorite tricks for hyperarousal are:

- Putting it to actual / real use. Letting my senses be given a task/series of tasks to accomplish / burning off all the excess chemicals in my blood. For example? Driving, sport, investigative tasks, music. Putting myself in a situation where I actually NEED to be paying attention, to many things, to create a (lasting? Or at least temporary) sense of calm. The more intense my hyperarousal, the more intense the activity or situation is called for. But? Even a less intense activity or situation can still take the edge off. Like going for a walk, instead of a run; swimming in a pool instead of the ocean, driving on residential streets instead of the autobahn or Amalfi coast. Listening to a piece of music, instead of playing an intense & challenging piece of music. Researching something for fun, instead of academically rigorous research. Picking a lock, or drawing, fine motor activities; instead of a sport/gross motor activities. Whatever it is, mental/physical/emotional; taking all that energy swirling around …and directing it… at a purpose.

The more I USE the hyperarousal? The more it trends backwards to arousal. Hypervigilance, jumping at shadows, bad. Vigilance, situational awareness, good. Hyperarousal, bad. Arousal, good. But it takes time to retrain.

It can be exhausting, retraining myself & my instincts. So I try to keep it as fun as possible. Using a carrot, instead of a stick.

- Sensory Overwhelm. A common trick I use is Hot/Cold. A Finnish Sauna (one better? Hot spring in the snow!), or even just standing in the showers and switching the temp from hot cold hot cold hot cold. Similar? Hot shower & cold beer. More active? Running in the rain. The compare/contrast keeps my ALERT! overactive everything engaged, but in a way of my choosing. Which creates relief. ANY of the 5 senses can be exploited (sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste). A key to engaging with myself? To lean into what is startling, surprising, yet predictive.

Having a plan? Priceless.
 
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I am sorry for your struggles. I was about to post something similar! I don’t really know what my triggers are because some days I am so hyper aroused it seems to be everything. And other days I am just suspicious and on guard. I wish you success in fighting this.
 
Gabapentin has helped me. I really dislike medication but I suspect I’ll be on this one for life as it calms down my system. I do feel like I am missing a part of “me” but the trade off is worth it to me.
 
Gabapentin has helped me. I really dislike medication but I suspect I’ll be on this one for life as it calms down my system. I do feel like I am missing a part of “me” but the trade off is worth it to me.
Can you describe how Gabapentin works for you - positive effects and side-effects? I've been curious about Gabapentin for some time but don't really "get" how it works/ what effect it has. Do you take it in combination with other meds?
 
Can you describe how Gabapentin works for you - positive effects and side-effects? I've been curious about Gabapentin for some time but don't really "get" how it works/ what effect it has. Do you take it in combination with other meds?

I’ve been on it for years now so I probably forget just how bad things were before… The constant feeling of agitation is mostly gone. I did notice one day in the shower that simply taking a shower was so much easier because my whole body is calmer. Getting startled is rare, but certain noises still agitate me (my neighbors) and even loud people (talking). Now that I think about it, the reduction in the startle factor is huge. It used to be that one bad startle could upset me for days, but now it wears off within the same day, but also maybe (at most) about 10% of the effect that I’d have if I wasn’t on the medication. I know there’s more…. I still take my headphones everywhere though, just in case. There’s really only one store I always wear them and that’s because they play music way too loud.

Side effects….weight gain (I’m working on it) and drowsiness that’s dose dependent. My doc lets me vary my dose as needed, and I always end up with extra pills at the end of the prescription anyway. The drowsiness doesn’t kick in until 900mg+ so this is my nighttime dose. The first day I took it I felt AMAZING…..of course that feeling didn’t last, lol, but it still does me a lot of good.

My docs says it’s weak as a mood stabilizer but good for anxiety even though it’s in the anticonvulsant/mood stabilizer class, and this is my experience, too. I was on another drug in the same class (Trileptal) for mood stabilization but stopped because of side effects. Right now my only other med is Ativan, up to 1mg, as needed.

My dose is considered “moderate” at up to 1500mg/day as IIRC it can go up to more than double that (I know someone who was on a high dose.)
 
Hello guys. I am from Germany, sorry for some grammar mistakes. I am new in this Forum. I got pretty strong hyperarousal and it gets worse every day. Are there any medications oder other ways that can calm myself down. I tried the basic medications but all of them are not really helping. I just want to feel some relief, because the 24/7 Fight or Flight Mode makes me so exhausted and tired. I would be very thankful for any suggestions.
I use cannabis when it's really bad. It's not a cure but at least it calms me down enough that I don't get into trouble. Mania makes me so reckless and sometimes suicidal. I only use cannabis for mania emergencies because otherwise it makes me sleepy and unmotivated.
 
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