Anxiety and Super Sensitivity

[Bu🤠ns]

I've already shared this story and method with some of you individually but the results have been so effective that I feel it warrants a post of its own.
Recently, I found myself in a state of perpetual anxiety.  I couldn't quite explain why or how this happened but I it was there and at one point I felt absolutely 'sure' I was going insane.

Then I came across this audio book by a psychologist, Dr. Claire Weeks.  ( Amazon link )

The premise to her solution for this anxiety is actually really simple and I'm going to spell it out here because I figure if it helped me out, it's worth repeating.

First, people find themselves, for various reasons--even those unknown, in a state of super sensitivity.  Weeks would say that sometimes post-surgery, even if totally successful might be enough to cause this.  In this state of super sensitivity, a person's feelings and sensations become exaggerated.  The body's sympathetic nervous system--the fight/flight response--will go into overload causing an exceptional amount of panic.  The super sensitive person, however, thinks he's freaking the fuck out.  

What happens during these events, Weeks elaborates, is that actually TWO forms of panic occur rather than one.  The first panic is caused by that rush of adrenaline that happens when the fight/flight kicks in.  The body is working as it should.

The super sensitive person will experience this exaggerated adrenaline rush and add a second layer of panic on top of the original enhanced panic.  Only it happens so quickly that it's barely even noticeable.

The good news is that the body will heal itself from this super-sensitive state if just simply given enough time to do so.  The problem comes in when people keep adding that second panic thus perpetuating this state of super sensitivity.  Thoughts go batshit insane.  People think they're dying or having a heart attack or stroke. People become afraid they might hurt someone or themselves.  The mind, being so exhausted, loses a certain ability for rationality.

Her solution, in a word, is "Acceptance".  While at first it seems a little phoned in but in practice, I can't even explain how useful it was.  One just accepts that first over exaggerated panic while consciously not adding that second panic.  The idea is to fully feel that first panic and allow it to pass through the body...to run its course.

Weeks later refers to it as a practice.  That one can't expect it to never happen again, but to look at each panic attack as an opportunity to accept oneself as one is.

The wife would tell me that I was "doing it to myself" and I understood that intellectually but I didn't quite feel it. How do i STOP doing this to myself.  Well it worked...I began to become more aware of the state of super sensitivity and how it manifested inside me.  A couple of attacks later it was over--vanished.

So I figure this is useful info to file away.  I don't normally try to sound like a self-help expert but this just happened to work.  

Peace, folks  

[Whatever]

This is excellent.  I'm glad I found it.  It worked for you?  How long did it take?  Days?  Weeks?

[Reginald Ret]

My anxiety is often caused by uncertainty and the trick that works for me is to give up all hope that anything will ever get better.
Then there is no uncertainty and i can do anything i set my mind to. 
For me the fear of failing is more crippling than actual failing and once i accept that failure will happen 100% of the time, the fear disappears.

It's strange and kinda fucked up, but it works for me.

[Bu🤠ns]

This is excellent.  I'm glad I found it.  It worked for you?  How long did it take?  Days?  Weeks?

The panic attacks ceased immediately.  I still felt a sort of fluttery in my solar plexus for a couple days which was indicative of my super sensitivity. That eventually went away after about a week.

I'll still get that 'feeling' that would spark the subsequent attack...but instead of adding that second level of panic i would use it as an opportunity to practice the 'awareness of the adrenaline'  which eventually fades away.

Regret's 'giving up hope' rings very similar to that same attitude of total acceptance.  If, as many folk who have panic attacks usually feel, that they're dying..well then the attitude is like allowing yourself to die if that's what is going to happen.

and if all else fails, Stroke the furry walls. 

[Whatever]

This is excellent.  I'm glad I found it.  It worked for you?  How long did it take?  Days?  Weeks?

The panic attacks ceased immediately.  I still felt a sort of fluttery in my solar plexus for a couple days which was indicative of my super sensitivity. That eventually went away after about a week.

I'll still get that 'feeling' that would spark the subsequent attack...but instead of adding that second level of panic i would use it as an opportunity to practice the 'awareness of the adrenaline'  which eventually fades away.

Regret's 'giving up hope' rings very similar to that same attitude of total acceptance.  If, as many folk who have panic attacks usually feel, that they're dying..well then the attitude is like allowing yourself to die if that's what is going to happen.

and if all else fails, Stroke the furry walls. 

  OMG too funny we just rented that movie last night.

I see what you mean and I will have to work on this.  I think part of my problem is I am such a control freak, I have a really hard time giving in and just letting shit go. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I thought I had an anxiety disorder for many years, but then it turned out that I have stress-induced premature atrial contractions. Functionally, though, they seem terribly similar.

[Bu🤠ns]

This is excellent.  I'm glad I found it.  It worked for you?  How long did it take?  Days?  Weeks?

The panic attacks ceased immediately.  I still felt a sort of fluttery in my solar plexus for a couple days which was indicative of my super sensitivity. That eventually went away after about a week.

I'll still get that 'feeling' that would spark the subsequent attack...but instead of adding that second level of panic i would use it as an opportunity to practice the 'awareness of the adrenaline'  which eventually fades away.

Regret's 'giving up hope' rings very similar to that same attitude of total acceptance.  If, as many folk who have panic attacks usually feel, that they're dying..well then the attitude is like allowing yourself to die if that's what is going to happen.

and if all else fails, Stroke the furry walls. 

  OMG too funny we just rented that movie last night.

I see what you mean and I will have to work on this.  I think part of my problem is I am such a control freak, I have a really hard time giving in and just letting shit go. 

Heh, Strangely enough,  i too watched that last night

I can understand the not letting shit go. Pure observation tends to help.  Like if you're watching a horror movie and you identify or become absorbed in the film, the tendency is to become frightened.  But if you glance at the television set holding the movie it ceases to be 'real' but 'just a film'.  The idea, i think, is to identify with the framing of the situation rather than the situation itself.

IOW, when there is panic, there's the panic itself and then there's the one who notices the panic.  The noticer, or the 'awareness of' the panic is just like a mirror reflecting whatever is cast upon it and, basically, separate from the panic.  So by taking your attention to that point of view, you won't NOT panic but you won't be identified with the panic and more often the panic's intensity becomes less and less.

Burns,
will beat down the panic like he does with topics of conversation  

[Bu🤠ns]

I thought I had an anxiety disorder for many years, but then it turned out that I have stress-induced premature atrial contractions. Functionally, though, they seem terribly similar.

That makes sense.  The same sort of situation happened to my dad's old friend. 

Since you mentioned that it should probable be noted that Dr. Weeks repeatedly mentions that before trying the techniques to go see a medical doctor to make sure the heart is strong before assuming that the pounding in the chest is 'natural'.

Good call out, Nigel, I almost forgot about that disclaimer.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

LOL yeah, I was on tranquilizers and everything, and was always confused that it made me not give a shit about anything but I still had physical symptoms. Doctors should really consider sorting that shit out before prescribing meds for anxiety.

[Bu🤠ns]

Also 2 other methods for handling anxiety from CSH et. al.'s Tantra Without Tears:

1. When having severe anxiety reactions "deliberately intensify the horrifying images in [your] mind." Then when the experience becomes unbearable imagine everyone, including yourself, in diapers.  Although I've found that picturing everyone wearing what David Bowie would wear circa 1970 is much more useful.  The idea they explain is "to relativize you and the situation. It is to give you perspective and, thus, power."

2. The other technique is from some unnamed "guru": "Take your greatest worry, whatever it is, wherever you are, and hod your breath as long as you can. See what happens to your greatest worry, see what happens to your greatest fear, see what happens to your greatest anxiety."

They also point out that most self-help books say the same thing but that people identify with the author to hold them over and keep them busy rather than actually practicing these techniques. I've totally fallen into that trap before so I can relate. They emphasize the "ability to focus and the ability to remember: Once you focus and remember you can apply.

[Bu🤠ns]

LOL yeah, I was on tranquilizers and everything, and was always confused that it made me not give a shit about anything but I still had physical symptoms. Doctors should really consider sorting that shit out before prescribing meds for anxiety.

Even in my case where I was having the run-of-the-mill anxiety attac,k taking tranqs just made me feel more detached and thus even more sensitive.  I couldn't even handle Tylenol PM

So I can imagine any given situation can potentially be pretty touchy.

[PennyMagnum]

Eh. I was diagnosed as bipolar I a few years back and I freak out about stupid shit all the time. My mind tends to attach itself to one idea and then exaggerates it and then the train of thought splits off into other under layers of the same thought and it just spins, spins, spins. Anyway, point being, I can't help it ALL the time, but the technique I use to relax myself and prevent panic attacks is very similar to what you're describing.

Of course, smoking the shit out of my lungs helps too. At least, I like to think it does.