Progress

[Upside Down Eagle]

I have been trying the techniques mentioned by others in the thread "re-claiming your body" that I posted. I am happy to announce that it is working. I haven't thrown a screaming fit in seven days, although I'm a bit hesitant to feel good about it for fear that I will re-lapse into it (the screaming fits were my comfort zone).

As I started to descend more back into my body I'm also feeling this huge amount of tension and pain in it. I'm not sure how to deal with that one yet, but I just try to relax, take slow walks were I look at everything around and breathe deeply. Also, I will be trying holistic body massage soon.

As for the images I was seeing, I've noticed they started to dissipate as I take back my own space. I notice when I'm fearful or feeling unstable and defensive, they still come back. I am also just starting to understand their dynamic better, the way they work. I hope I can figure them out as I regain more calm in my life.

f I do relapse in any of the next days or weeks, I want to realize that it is just a temporary fall-back and that I have the opportunity, the ability and the responsbility (towards myself) to regain my control and composure. I want to realize that I can be happy, hold my head up, and not let it get to me too much. :)

 

[Mary]

The pain in my body was relieved by massage, practicing asanas (the physical positions of yoga) and getting help from my chiropractor. One problem I had was tingling in my arms that was sometimes painful. My massage therapist massaged my arms and could not relieve it. My chiropractor figured out that, during panic attacks, as I hunched my body tensely forward, I was repeatedly shortening my minor pectoral muscle, which was pushing on a major nerve (this is a common problem for people who use computers, too, as that muscle gets shortened and presses on the nerve and they start getting pain). He gave me some stretches to do and I asked my massage therapist to work on the area every time I saw her. The symptoms decreased significantly at an incredible rate. (The point of this being to say to try all sorts of different healers/look at nerve and muscular connections to smooth out the pain).

Good luck.

 

[The Albatross]

Yeah, the pain thing. I remember going through that too. I kept popping back out and finally had to ask her to teach me how to do it myself so I could "put myself back in behind my eyes" (how I would describe it). Do what you can to ease the discomfort by stretching, tai chi worked great for me, long hot showers... and maybe some muscle tightening/relaxation exercises. I would hard contract each muscle or muscle group and hold it as long as I could then relax it from head to toe to feel the relaxation come in. There is a name for it but I don't remember just now what it is. I did do massage, but needed deeper tissue work and ended up with a rolfer.

Hoping it eases for you soon and congratulations Radise on your success with the techniques for this full week!!!

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

I was repeatedly shortening my minor pectoral muscle, which was pushing on a major nerve

With me the pain tends to concentrate in my chest, but then if I extend any limb it actually feels like there's pieces of glass flowing through my veins... but I think the chest pain is also related to trying to breathe correctly, as before I was more used to hyperventilating than to really breathing.

tai chi worked great for me, long hot showers... and maybe some muscle tightening/relaxation exercises

Yeah I do the exercises :) But Tai Chi also sounds really good, that's a great idea. I also try to just be more active, and do stuff that brings the tension out (today, I went inline skating) and try to relax while doing so.

I did have a small re-lapse this week, feeling lots of anger again, but trying to deal with it in an adult way now. :tup: