Racing Thoughts And Anxiety

[NIKI]

I do have racing intrusive thoughts and obsessive thoughts about the past abuse. I am practicing "mindfulness" to tell myself that these thoughts are about the past, they are not happening now. Just bad memories. To stay in the present.

When trying to sleep I use one of those noise machines (waves, rain noise, white noise etc.) to help keep the intrusive thoughs down.

Anxiety shows up for me by wanting to isolate. To be alone so no one is judging me.

 

[Cindy532]

Those are good ideas, NIKI, thanks. My family is from Massachusetts. =)

 

[Kb3]

Hi Cindy, I've been cutting down on my sleep meds, so this is becoming a bigger issue for me again.

I try to be mindful and tolerant of my racing thoughts and I also pray, but if they don't stop, and I've been lying in bed for hours trying to fall asleep, I do end up getting really pissed off with myself.

I will read something calm, and if that doesn't work, I give in and take an extra 12.5 or 25 mgs of Seroquel.

It is very hard for me to accept that anything besides 7-8 hours of unbroken sleep is acceptable, and that is not doing me any favours frankly. Even people without PTSD have trouble sleeping!

It's just really hard to stick with that line of thinking in the middle of the night though:(.

Journalling sounds like a great idea, and so does writing random chore related things down so that they can be dealt with in the morning.

I have just started taking magnesium supplements to see if relaxing my muscles will help me to relax my mind and reduce the racing thoughts as well.

I'm also addressing this in therapy, hoping that I can learn better ways to deal with my anxiety.

If anyone cracks this one please let the rest of us know!!!

 

[Deleted member 1860]

My obsessive thinking used to be off the charts. I've never been Dx with OCD, but if OCD is worse, I don't know how those people get through life! My obsessive thinking has dramatically decreased over time with my neurofeedback treatments. It's amazing how I just let things go now whereas in the past I would obsess, obsess, obsess!!! I know my family notices as I no longer bring up the same issues over and over again looking for constant reassurance.

As for the stomach issues, I have them, too. Anxiety meds don't help. My GP rx'ed me an antispasmodic and I have to pick it up tomorrow. I don't need it right now as it was prescribed two weeks ago (gotta love insurance companies!!) and the pain has since gone away. I'll keep it on hand as I know the pain will be back at some point.

 

[Sazza]

I have this issue on a major level, not only about the past and replaying whats happened but in an everyday context aswell. My head plays on words from coversations or on meanings, it drives me round the twist and stops me focusing on anything else as the thoughts are so obseessive and intrusive. I have to wrote things down to remember and it all gets jumbled as so much in my head it gets lost the thoughts just go on and on. For me aswell the really affects conversations with people espeically on a medical level, when im asked questions my head is racing so fast that i often can't focus on questions or don't give accurate answer because i doubt myself that much cause of all the congestion in my head.

On physical levels the anxiety also affects me with bad indigestion, i also get palpatations and alot of chest pain and tightness, headaches. The thoughts are worse at times of stress but are something i have always suffered with prior to PTSD, it gets tiring living in our heads ah. For me i have not really found much to be useful as of yet, what meds are you all on for this?

 

[Gamereign555]

I take citalopram for my symptoms and then xanax if things get bad. Anxiety will usually give me gastrointestinal problems, messing up digestion. If my anxiety goes unchecked it will always give me acid reflux. I actually worked myself into an ulcer, or near ulcer type situation. I had tried tums but it wouldn't go away, I ended up needing pepcid and tagement at the same time for about 3 months to heal it. After that I can manage the pain with pepcid and tums and by taking a xanax if I need to calm down. I have noticed this connection between anxiety and acid reflux with me awhile ago.