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Keeping up my Guard - Doing Well

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Josh77

Confident
Hello, everybody!! I hope everyone is well!! I am doing very well right now; i am fairly calm; i am sleeping fairly well (NO NIGHTMARES...yay!!); no panic attacks, BUT i know that i have to keep my guard up because it is when i'm doing well that i forget to look out for the signs of me slipping back into despair. the nightmares and panic attacks blindside me like a runaway train! It seems to come out of left field! So now i am staying alert to the warning signs, so that i can stay out of the hospital and stay mentally healthy... and i just wanted to thank everyone here for their help and support... it is very much appreciated...

Stay healthy and God bless,
Joshua:thumbs-up
 
Great news Josh, and well done. Don't beat yourself up though if you relapse, because you will, have no doubt about it. Even if you do recognise it, acknowledge it for what it is, what it means, and learn how to process it and then come back out. You do that, you will have it down to a fine art and your relapse times will get progressively less each time, providing you continue identifying the causes and finding realistic solutions.

Obviously your applying the techniques and skills that work best for you, and that is whats important. Well done Josh... and great work.
 
Hey Josh:

I learned the hard way that I always have to keep my guard up. I always have this "low level" anxiety / chest tightness thing going. It's always there and I just deal with it. Then all of a sudden a few weeks back I get this attack like I'm really really afraid of something that's about to happen. The super chest tightness lasted about a week before it moved into my thoat and neck. Then my increased meds started kicking in and I was back to "normal" after about two weeks. NOT FUN!!!

A friend of mine told me that I should learn "Progressive Relaxation", but I think any relaxation technique will help as I really don't use anything right now except my meds.

Keep up the good work Josh. We're praying for you.


Bob
 
You are doing great Josh, keep up the work keeping you well.
 
Hey Josh:


A friend of mine told me that I should learn "Progressive Relaxation", but I think any relaxation technique will help as I really don't use anything right now except my meds.
Bob,
Please tell me more about this "Progressive Relaxation"... i am very interested!!:think:

God bless,
Josh
 
Progressive Relaxation

Josh:

Sorry it took me a few days to get back with you on this. Following is part of an email between Darcie and myself. Read the whole thing and check out the links I sent Darcie, especially that first link.
Hi Bob, sorry I forgot - I knew you had to get home, and needed to talk to Pat. It was good to see you again - wish it wasn't always sad circumstances, though!

RE the progressive relaxation,
The first link you sent is good. One thing you can change, if you want, is that you can do both limbs, R and L, at the same time, unless it doesn't work, then do them separately. With practice, people can progress to being able to relax standing or sitting, and later can actually get the relaxation feeling anywhere, anytime, without going through the whole thing, because the body "recognizes" what it feels like to be relaxed.
Throughout the day, when you are somewhere that you can't do the entire exercise, take an inventory of muscle groups and see which ones are tense, (for most people, it will be the neck/shoulders), and tense/relax these.

Two more key exercises follow. One can be done anywhere (almost), and the other takes 20 minutes for 4 days in a row (and then can be repeated if needed).

Take care,
--Darcie


FOCUS EXERCISE
This exercise helps control focus/concentration, for times when one has a task that it is difficult to concentrate on because of repetitive thoughts or stuff that "stops me from being here now":

1. With the tips of the first two fingers of the dominant hand, tap lightly on the back of the other hand, at the base of the first two fingers (not between thumb and first), for 30-60 seconds.

2. With eyes open or closed, roll eyes in circles, the circles as large as possible. First do one direction, then reverse direction. Do 3 times in each direction.

3. Sing, hum, (or "sing" in you head) a song, any song, from beginning to end of the song.

4. Last part of focus exercise: math. If you are good at math, subtract an uneven number (between 1-20) from 100, and go down to the low teens or twenties with the subtraction. If you don't do a lot of math daily, instead of that, recite (aloud or in your head) one of the times tables (don't do 5's - is too easy). Example: 3X2=6, 3X3=9, 3X4=12, 3X5=15, 3X6=18.....


FINALLY, my personal favorite exercise that is good for PTSD and any other condition involving repetitive or racing thoughts that affect sleep or concentration:

STRESS WRITING
This exercise activates and uses the "brain-hand" connection. It will help organize thoughts and patterns, and will help reduce repetitive or racing thoughts. It is not "journaling". The end product is not a nice, legible record that you would want to read again - the actual product of this exercise is organized, calmer thoughts and better concentration.

The results of stress writing come from performing the act of getting thoughts and feelngs out of the brain and onto the paper - the process of doing so is the important part, not the paper that has the writing on it.

Guidelines:
  • This must be done four days in a row, for 20 minutes in a single session each of the four days. The days must be consecutive.
  • If you skip a day, when you start again you are starting over from day one.
Instructions:
  • Get a stack of unlined paper and some pens or pencils (your preference of writing tool).
  • Before you start writing on the first day, create a Log. Divide one sheet of paper into 4 sections numbered 1 through 4 (representing the 4 dates you will be writing). Write the dates corresponding to the 4 days.
  • When you are ready to write, write the start time (the time it will be when you start writing) on the Log in the appropriate date section. Next to the start time, write the time it will be when 20 minutes from start time have elapsed, and label this "Stop time".
  • Set the Log aside so you can just glance at it as you write, if you need to check the timing to see when you are done.
Getting it on Paper:
  • Write fast and messy. You think faster than you could possibly write, anyway, so don't slow things down by trying to be neat. (Neatness does not count in this exercise!)
  • Write large. (Have a lot of paper handy)
  • Write thoughts and feelings as they come. If you have been dealing with a particular issue, come back to thoughts on that every once in awhile.
  • Do not censor what you write.
  • Do not write complete sentences. To be quick, use single words or expressions, even symbols or other stylizations- anything that represent the thoughts and feelings you are getting onto the paper right now.
  • Do not be concerned with grammar or spelling.
  • Again: don't censor. If you find yourself about to write something that contradicts something you already wrote, just keep writing it anyway. Contradiction is sometimes how we think.
  • If you are about to repeat something you already wrote, again, keep on writing - it's not unusual to have the same thought more than once.
  • If you get stuck, write about what happened at work, or what you ate, or something that happened 2 years ago or 20 years ago - anything to get going writing again.
  • When you are done, do whatever you want with the paper. Some people burn their pages daily, and others simply shred them.Keep the LOG (which just has the dates on it), until you are done with the 4th writing day in a row.
  • Just remember throughout the exercise that this is not a diary, nor a journal. The priority is the act of writing, not the paper with the writing on it. It is not meant to be read again, and hopefully you were writing so fast that you couldn't read most of it, anyway.
Hi Darci​
Guess we forgot to go over that Progressive Relaxation. I Googled it and got a bunch back. The first link here looks like a good description and the others seen to be sessions.​
http://www.guidetopsychology.com/pmr.htm​
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~rccc/Relax.htm​
http://www.ukhypnosis.com/ProgRela.htm​
http://www.breastcancer.org/comp_med_pmr.html​
That other one I mentioned is Holographic Repattening. It was useful for me when I was down in the very depths of despair over that guy at work thing.​
http://www.repatterning.org/​
http://www.megahrgroups.com/hr/​
 
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