Paralyzed From Anxiety?

[trapped]

I don't know what could be wrong with me, other than A) I'm dying or B) I'm going crazy... or maybe it's both...

I've had this happen before, but it was about a year ago, and there was good reason for it- I was riding in my friends car, we were driving thru LA. I got really anxious and had some flashbacks, which got me more anxious, and my friend started yelling at me... and it kept escalating until I couldn't physically even move my hands or anything. Okay, so there wasn't a good reason still to not be able to move... but there was a better reason... I freaked out and went to the doctor like 5 times within the following 3 days cuz I was convinced I had something seriously wrong, he said it was normal with extreme anxiety, but couldn't explain it to me.

Then tonight I had a similar thing, but no triggers, no flashbacks... just a bit of anxiety about leaving for the residential program. I couldn't physically even wiggle my fingers, not even a tiny bit- which made the anxiety escalate. I'm still calming down from it, and still having a hard time functioning and I don't really know what to do about it all.

Is this just a normal anxiety thing, or a PTSD thing, or is it related to something else? Is there anything I can do to stop it from happening? Has anyone else ever experienced this?

 

[Seeking_Nirvana]

I think it's "fight or flight" mode one gets in when they are triggered. I generally don't freeze but start swinging or taking off running, so I don't know about the numbing affect.

Can I ask you why your friend was yelling at you to put you in such a state of mind? You don't have to answer, but maybe consider that if she does this on a regular basis it might be wise to re-evaluate your friendship.

It might be a good idea to see a doctor though. Just for safety because numb hands can be a precursor to some heart issues or a stroke.

Take care
Tammy

 

[dust]

Hi,

this sounds like it could be the freeze part of the flight/fight mode. I get it too... the thing that helps me when this happens is to consciously change the situation that I am in. So, if I start to freeze, I make myself do something else - go for a run, walk, cycle ride. In fact, inducing the flight mode when freezing is very helpful to me. It can take sometime to come round, but I am getting quicker and the more aware I am of triggers the better I am at dealing with it.

I also use grounding techniques to get me back: looking/feeling/smelling/touching.

Hope this is helpful and good luck with it all,

dust

 

[liv now]

Hi. I have experienced something similar i think. It started initially because I had very intense flashbacks and then someone in my life at present did something that reminded me of my flashbacks which was like a double whammy. My body couldn't cope with the extreme stress it was under so it started to shut down things it didn't need. I freaked out at first as I thought I was dying or having a stroke. For me it started with my feet and legs. They felt weak at first and then tingly and then I couldn't move them and I felt paralysed. These sensations then spread to the rest of my body. I had these experiences for about 6 months. After awhile they started happening without any apparent trigger. A very scarey time of my life when I felt i had no control over my body. I asked a doctor and she thought it was a like a shock reaction. She gave the example of a man who had just found out his wife and child had been killed and he just couldn't cope on any level with the news so his body just shut down. I asked my therapist and she thought it was the "flight/fight" mode. I believe what was happening to me was that I was remembering past trauma; trauma that I had disowned. I had people in my life who were triggering this and the enormity of what I was remembering was so intense my body couldn't cope.
I wish I knew how to help you. All I can do is tell you what I did. I stopped trying to fight these "shut downs". The more I fought them the more intense they became. Sometimes this meant I had to sit on the floor motionless for an hour until my body started to slowly feel sensations again. And then I felt so cold and drained. I remember ringing my therapist terrified and in hysterics desperately wanting her to tell me how to make them stop. She didn't know how to help which made it even worse. I needed someone to tell me it was going to be alright and that I would get through this. I started telling myself this but it worked better for me when someone else did this. Sometimes if I was able to calm myself or seriously distract myself right in the beginning this numbness didn't spread to my whole body.

I don't know if what you are experiencing is the same as what I went through but if it is it is apparently something that is part of ptsd ( so I have been told ) I don't have these shut downs anymore. I think it is because I have accepted and owned a lot of trauma that in the past i dissociated or didn't want to know about it. This is just my opinion though. Take care. You are in my prayers.:Hug_emoticon:

 

[Auburngirl]

This is a typical symptom for me, and I've experienced it many many many times. I was told there are three responses: fight, flight and freeze. The last is like a deer in the headlights. For me this usually links with dissociation - so my body freezes and my mind leaves. I usually can't move or talk, and sometimes my sense of hearing changes, and my vision (things become louder and brighter as I come out of it).

I find grounding techniques help- try to pay attention to your breathing, and locate physical sensations (ie I can feel my bum touching the seat, my feet in my shoes, my face is hot, I can feel the wind on my arm). If you can move at all (while coming out) doing things that involve tasting (ie orange juice, something sour), changing temperature (making yourself hot or cold), changing physical position (for me sitting up if I was lying down) help. Also, trying to relax your muscles instead of focusing so hard on fighting it. In terms of medication taking a sedative (anti-anxiety drug) can help too. Now that I'm getting better, I try to identify what spooked me and talk myself through it a bit. Now I'm usually not totally mute the whole time but may have pretty limited conversation (ie I can answer yes or no, I can make simple choices).

People are often quite freaked out by this, so I try to explain to those who might witness it (ie people I date), and also say I'm happy to talk about it, but right after an episode is not a good time. It's easy to get caught in a cycle of going in and out, so right after I need to focus on staying present. Talking about it can make an episode come on.

I also find this happens more frequently when I'm stressed, tired, or hungry (in addition to being triggered of course). I've found yoga to have been helpful (breathing techniques and stretching muscles), and developing skills of comforting and calming myself. I hope some of this helps! I was also very freaked out when this first started happening to me - I'd also sometimes lose time which I found alarming. I still have these episodes, but they are milder, I'm usually not completely frozen, they are shorter, I don't feel like I'm going "as deep" when I dissociate, etc.

It is important to deal with this though, I was warned that the brain develops a habit of using this as a method of escape, so you do want to try to stop it in its tracks (gently).

 

[TLight]

My whole body completely froze up, muscles so tense I could barely walk. This happened when I was 29. I'm 44 now and still feel like I'm trapped in a tensed, nerve spasming, torture chamber..............it sucks.

 

[Gunchief]

I think this is the difference with mil ptsd, when mine occur I either deal with the cause directly and then the roller coaster starts after dealing with it or get the hell out of Dodge. Freeze has never occured.
Thats has got to be a very strange and scary place to be.
Dave

 

[dust]

Dave,

I think the kind of response depends on the kind of trauma. The freeze response is a conditioned response - often associated with child abuse or being in a situation where there was no escape, so the freeze response is evoked as a survival mechanism. Yours will be different I guess, either fighting back or running away.

That's how I understand it anyway - all of the responses are necessary in survival situations, but become disorders when they just keep popping back into daily life!

dust

 

[Gunchief]

Thank you Dust makes sense

 

[ningamer]

That's happened to me before. Not a lot though, maybe 5 times total.

When it first happened, I was on the public bus and my hands started to get a little tingly and the tingling got bigger and bigger until my arms, hands, and face was almost petrified to this tingling. Then my body went numb and I couldn't breathe very well. My pulse was VERY weak but very fast. So I got off at the nearest stop and had to sit down on the curb.

From there the feelings got worse. My eyes started twitching so bad that my vision was "vibrating". Everything began to look ghostly and unreal. I was paralyzed on the curb for a good 15-20 mins before I began to get a hold of things. After that I felt extremely weak and could barely walk.

The paralyzing feeling sucks. When I tried to move my hands it was almost like an electric jolt that paralyzed me more.

I never knew what caused it or even what it was. It didn't feel a panic attack, or mental breakdown, or anything else I've experienced. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a seizure though. I nearly lost consciousness. What I can tell you is that these "paralyzing anxiety" attacks were happening when my PTSD was just starting to develop. So who knows, maybe it is a PTSD thing...

 

[Maze7]

I get this freezing too. I know where it comes from. I froze for the first time when I witnessed by brother being violently assaulted by my dad and with the possibility the yelling was dads way of dealing with dad possibly abused him as a child. I just froze and I felt so much guilt from freezing and not protecting my 16 year old brother from the screaming and yelling attack while he was organsing/working which was a good thing.

Unfortunately ever since that day, I seem to freeze whenever I get slightly anxious about something. I think the freezing has become a permanent aquired way my flight/ freeze/fight response deals with life now.

 

[Auburngirl]

Maze - while I haven't managed to lose this, it has lessened a lot with treatment. If you can find someone who can teach grounding techniques and help relieve your anxiety, it really helps. I don't know if you've found this, but for me this symptom was often accompanied (and still is) with extreme fatigue - so lessening it also means I can do more, don't need as much sleep and have more energy.