I Just Want The Shaking To Stop

[zeropoint]

Though I have a whole barrel full of symptoms right now, perhaps it is trembling constantly that bothers me the most.

My psychiatrist has taken me off benzos because I was drinking on them, and I wasn't offered anything different for anxiety. Because of my healthcare, the only way I can see a psychiatrist is through my county mental health center. And I think my doctor is very good, but the mental health center is so strained that it takes forever to get appointments and virtually impossible to actually speak with one's provider by phone. (Messages are relayed through nurses.) Which is a long way of saying that calling and asking to try something non-benzo would likely not pay off. I will be seeing my primary care doctor on Thursday, though.

Is there anything that helps with the shaking that will be a little easier to get? I have tried gapabentin for anxiety in the past and don't wish to again. It was generally ineffective for me and one night it gave me a bizarre 4-hour hallucination. I have also taken clonidine and propanalol for anxiety before. I would try either one again. I am currently on 150 mg Sertraline for depression/anxiety, and that helps but right now my symptoms are the worst they have ever been.

I would be happy to give up any or all or the symptoms, but let's start at least with the shaking, which I am having badly all the time.

 

[Wounded Scribe]

Yes, I can appreciate the shaking. I'm new to pharmacology and PTSD, I've only been on meds for about a month and my PTSD is 25+ years in the making. However, smells help take the edge off it for me. I have candles all over the house. I have boxes full of candles. We just got back from the mall and I picked up 2 more. I have them next to my computer. I also have a plastic zip lock bag with blocks of candle wax, and when the creepy-crawlies hit, and I need to break the cycle I inhale the aroma. It seems to do the trick. Find environments that relax you. Consider, what is it about that environment that relaxes you. Now, can you capture a bit of that environment and put in your pocket? I'll give you an example, and see if this helps. Over the years, I loved the detergent aisle in the store. I love visiting stores with candles for sale. I am sensitive to smells. Smells, trigger me in a very bad way. Very bad mojo is connected with smell for me. Good smells, relax me and hit at the monster through the smells. IT's my hope, to find a way to fight the tactile triggers with positive tactile stimulus. I've got the good smells working against bad smell-triggers. If you could find things that make you feel at peace with yourself, perhaps, gentle rain. Maybe find things that remind you of the rain, and use it to calm the nerves, and shakes.

 

[Hope4Now]

I deal with shaking on a pretty regular basis. I'm not on any regular meds and can't advise on that. I gather from a lot of reading on this forum and elsewhere that it is a pretty common symptom. I don't know if you're interested in trying this, but I offer it as a strategy that has worked for me. Recently I've been working in therapy (somatic therapy) with mindful movement. I was a bit skeptical at first, but it actually does help a lot with the shaking (yoga doesn't). Here's a couple of basic ones to try. 1) either sitting or standing, extend your arms by your sides. Breathe deeply and focus particularly on the out-breath. As you breathe in, raise your arms over your head slowly. As you breathe out, bring them down slowly. This one works really well, but sometimes it takes me about twenty times or more for the shaking to subside. 2) Standing up if you can, shake out your whole body starting with your head, then shoulders and arms, torso, then each leg. Make sure you're breathing, and put your attention on shaking out all the energy into the air (or the earth) rather than holding it in your body. You can bend over and let your arms hang down and do this too. 3) Standing up, if you can, breathe deeply (and focus on the out-breath) and rock yourself from side to side, alternating weight on your feet, or if you're able lifting up your feet alternately.

I do this stuff and other things throughout the day whenever I feel the shaking coming back.

 

[zeropoint]

Those are good ideas. Thank you. I remember when I was in DBT that we had to make a self-soothe kit that appealed to our senses, so tapping into them is a great suggestion. And good timing since I have an order en route from my favorite perfume company! I will also try the somatic movement, as I am not familiar with that and it sounds like it would be helpful in mending the mind-body fissures that go all too well with trauma.

The past couple days I have also been reminding myself that when somebody intimidates me, my quivering fear just enables them. That makes it easier to stop when I am doing it.