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Post emdr anxiety relief tips?

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AliciaEff

Confident
Hello everyone,

I recently got back into EMDR and I have found that I have had increased anxiety. Just in general I feel anxious about life and I am unsure how to cope right now. It’s been harder to sleep and I often feel the need to yell random sounds in order to relieve some stress, but I don’t want to scare my loves ones.

Does anyone have any tips for dealing that have worked for them? My main goal is to be able to lie down to sleep and be able to stay there. I always listen to tv shows at bedtime because I need them to distract my brain, but now that doesn’t seem like enough and I keep grabbing my phone to play a game or read the news (or type this post).

Any thoughts are welcome :) thanks
 
I'm commenting mostly because I want to follow this thread. I was going to do emdr again, but doing some "parts" work revealed that I shouldn't do that now, I'm just not entirely ready. Emdr helped me years ago, but it also "brought" up stuff I was willing to face. So I have the exact way of relieving the anxiety by speaking out loudly random things. I have to be careful when other family members are around. My husband said I've yelling "disturbing" things while I'm asleep at night that wake him up. I have no memory of doing that. Sometimes I'm afraid to go to sleep because some dreams are so startling-like I am having fun in my dream and I open a door to a house and suddenly my abuser in the door smiling at me. It is a nightmare and I do sceam in the dream! So not sure I want to fall asleep... I don't have any tips for it. When I'm completely distracted with work I am good to go. Nights are harder. Thus it's after midnight and here I am on myptsd. Have you tried stretching, or tai chi or ballet? Holding a difficult balance/stretching pose for 15 seconds does help me-either martial arts pose, or yoga pose, or pilates pose. Holding different ballet poses -that kind of thing-. 12-15 seconds holding the pose. Then do it again on the other side. I do that throughout the day when I'm anxious
 
My emdr T recommended an ap called “anxiety release.” You have to purchase it and have ear buds because it is emdr based. (There is a guide and sounds ping right and left) I did get it and I find myself falling asleep while listening to it. It has really helped me during high anxiety moments. My T uses it as well. The other suggestion I have came from my T this week. Stay moving. When all of the processing is swirling around in your head, get out in nature and move. You can also try writing down what is bugging you, symbolically tear it up and immediately ground yourself. Do this morning and night. It was actually invented by a doctor for patients to write down their physical pain and ground, but was later found to work for emotional pain.

I wish you luck. My emdr struggles were very difficult last week. I do understand how hard it can be.
 
hithere

Thanks I haven’t tried any stretching or yoga. My last session was on Friday and super disturbing for me, so really at this point I haven’t tried anything extra and same I’m on here just because I can’t sleep. I’m not sure if I have ever yelled while asleep, but I do have panic attacks in my nightmares that wake me up and my partner has told me that I hyperventilate and open my eyes while looking around the room while still asleep
 
hithere

Thanks I haven’t tried any stretching or yoga. My last session was on Friday and super dis...
I meant to write that emdr brought things up decades ago that I was NOT ready to face. I fled therapy, threw myself into workaholism. So, I've done the same with the panic attacks at night, too. I'm trying NOT to abuse substances or food...that's the easiest way to deal with these anxious, too much energy nights. So that's why I wanted to follow this thread and see if anyone has any suggestions for times like now...
 
I’ve been preparing for EMDR for many years. I have a trusted trauma therapist who, when I ask when we’re going to start EMDR, do no harm. By that, he means that I need to be able to sit with a memory without craving escape first. Thinking about thinking about memories still upsets me. I am always interested to read others experience with it since I would like freedom from intrusive memories. He is very cautious with this tool. I wish I could get to the place I need to be in order to do EMDR.
 
I use exercise. I wish I had work I could do that was interesting you know? Sitting around being anxious is the worst. I always hated whatever I was doing for work and wanted to get back to sitting around being anxious. I'm even a little sick of the gym but, when I change up into my workout stuff something happens to me. It's when I put the headphones on. I have 4 songs in my iPod and I don't have to talk and my body knows what's going to happen. It's not sex but it's like sex. It fixes me for awhile. I don't think it works for everyone. It works for me though.
 
Well I managed to sleep for a few hours last night and then get up form work. I almost called in, which really just means I’d work from home, but I never get as much done at home and I feel guilty. Anyway I’m about to get in the car to leave and I really want to bring my teddy bear to work with me. I haven’t used it in a while, but I brought it out last night to help me sleep and now it just seems like petting it all day will make me feel better, but I can’t imagine that going over well at the office
 
Well I managed to sleep for a few hours last night and then get up form work. I almost called in, whi...
ah. I had a guy a worked for who had his childhood teddy on his bookshelf behind his desk where everyone could see it. He was quite proud of his teddy and obviously had affection for it and wasn't ashame of it all. He was successful and a very likable guy. Some times when we own it it just seems natural. It worked for him. He was very self-possed and confidant. That I'm not! ha Hope you had a better day. I'm about to go to work too very LATE
 
Last week, after EMDR, I immediately listened to an audio book on the way home from session and then went on a few errands. That helped, last week. Today's session was a doozy and threw me for a loop even though I tried to distract by listening to an audio book and going to get my nails done. I even ranted in my diary but that just made me feel like I was simply treading water with little relief. I think, at the moment, though, the "swirling" seems to be calming down.
 
Today is only Tuesday. I feel like i responded to this post 6 months ago. Time is so weird!

When I work a full day I always think the next day is at least two days after. Like I think “a few days ago...” when I talk about memories from the day before
 
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