Triggered?

[Bookoffee]

I do not know what is going on with me today. I was doing great this morning then WHAM! something happened, not sure what, but I am shaking, scared, and noise is bothering me. I am trying to keep myself together but I am crawling out of my skin, having bad thoughts and getting sick. I don't know what to do.

 

[Jane.l]

I was like that yesterday and I did something I have never tried before - I lay down on my bed and went out like a light - it was like my body knew I just needed to be unconscious - I felt much better after - I usually can't sleep at night let alone the day.

Walking outside can help, listening to music - anything to just try and shift the focus - I know that's much much easier said than done - hope it soon passes - that's the other thing that helps - to remember however hellish it is now it will pass .

 

[Justmehere]

Sounds like you were triggered or maybe a flashback. Sound sensitivity is a sign of sympathetic arousal and hypervigalence.

Try 4 square breathing. Take a breath in for 4 seconds, hold 4 seconds, and breathe out 4 seconds. This will chemically send a signal to your body that it's safe and it will kick in the parasympathetic system to help calm things down.

Another thing you can try is grounding - holding ice, counting and describing the things around you, etc. This will help bring you into the present moment and bring you out of your body responding like the past danger is happening now.

 

[Kas_Can_Fly]

I have had it on and off for the past three days (it's exhausting) but yesterday I was so dissociated. Be sure to take extra good care of yourself for the next few days and go easy on yourself. Do you know what you were doing (or others around you) just before it started? Mine was just a very loud thud upstairs which would never usually upset me, but it definitely hit a nerve.

E-hugs, or as my phone is trying to autocorrect it to eggs, take your pick!

 

[Bookoffee]

I have used all coping skills I could think is today and nothing is helping. I am having real bad intrusive thoughts and te noise outside and inside my head are so loud. I can't stay at work any longer.

 

[Justmehere]

Good that you recognize you are past what you can handle at work.

I know the anxiety you are feeling is super intense and I also know from other posts that you have been working on various patterns of avoidance that you very understandably struggle with.

So while I think it's good you are leaving work, I also encourage you also to not completely isolate and avoid these feelings - doing so will likely make it worse over the long run. I know, so easy to say, so hard to do - at least it's really hard for me to do.

Part of healing means letting yourself feel some anxiety and experiencing that things are still safe.

Something that I do when feeling overwhelmed is remind myself over and over that "something in my present is reminding me of the past, and it's over now." I also try to view my anxiety as like trying to endure the flu. I don't need to act in the feelings, but good self care can help it pass sooner.

And if none of this advice fits where you are at today, then please disregard! I hope you start feeling better soon. :hug:

 

[Kas_Can_Fly]

May I recommend the app called Ambiance can be found on the Android and Apple appstore, if you have a smart phone. There's a free version which works just as well. The other day I put in my headphones which are slightly noise cancelling (but not so much that you can't hear what's going on around you) and listened to the sound of "rain on a tent" but there a literally thousands to choose from from nature sounds to the sounds of a tumble dryer, and so on and so on. They all loop together and go on indefinitely and can be quite calming.