How to cope with anxiety?

[[Al...]]

I've been suffering from massive mental anxiety, how am I supposed to cope with that? I can't distract myself since I can't focus on anything. Everything I try is in vain, the thoughts just keep haunting me; I feel like Im doing everything wrong, I have health-, social- and general anxiety. The problem just intensifies because of depersonalization (Im hyper aware of my thoughts).

I've tried mindfulness, meditation, drawing, gaming, reading. I try to accept that they're just thoughts, but I subconsiously keep suppressing them, which makes me suffer even more.

Im open for suggestions.

 

Peace.

[[Tr...]]

My psych Dr. put me on Mirtazapine and then switched me to Trazodone for anxiety after I withdrew from Xanax. I'm no longer on either one, but they helped at the time. 

[[no...]]

Ashwaghanda can be very effective. I use that, black seed oil and megadosingvitamin c for cortisol control. There aren't any anxiety medications I can think of that don't carry a risk of dependency, or that don't act on the same receptors as benzos. You could try phenibut, but there are withdrawals from that, albeit a couple days of withdrawal vs months for benzos. Kava can be amazing for anxiety. What works for me the most is taking a strenuous walk. Works out the physical anxiety as well as calming my mind. Stretching seems to help a lot. But most of all any sort of distraction that you can think of. Perhaps doing something productive that will distract you but make you feel a sense of accomplishment

[[Fe...]]

I write every though an every feeling down, it usually helps brake the panick attack (even if I couldn't focus very well on writing normal sentences). I was very nervous all day long for months, that was indeed very hard to cope with but when I started breathing exercises it just disappeared after a couple of weeks. . When I'm in dp/dr I panick as well and eat a banana, Wich seems to help a bit. Hope it will calm down soon for you! 

[[be...]]

Distraction is something I had to learn in early withdrawal. First for a seconds at a time and sometimes even minutes. Now I can distract for hours at a time.  It has been three years since my CT withdrawal and I still use the distraction skills I learned. I use them to manage my high anxiety.  It was anxiety that put me on benzos in the first place over a decade ago. It is something I will probably always have.

[[Al...]]

My psych Dr. put me on Mirtazapine and then switched me to Trazodone for anxiety after I withdrew from Xanax. I'm no longer on either one, but they helped at the time.

Won't take any SSRI or anything for this. I'm willing to try agomelatine (valdoxan) for 2 months since it's supposed to not have any w/d and it helps you sleep, we shall see..

 

Ashwaghanda can be very effective. I use that, black seed oil and megadosingvitamin c for cortisol control. There aren't any anxiety medications I can think of that don't carry a risk of dependency, or that don't act on the same receptors as benzos. You could try phenibut, but there are withdrawals from that, albeit a couple days of withdrawal vs months for benzos. Kava can be amazing for anxiety. What works for me the most is taking a strenuous walk. Works out the physical anxiety as well as calming my mind. Stretching seems to help a lot. But most of all any sort of distraction that you can think of. Perhaps doing something productive that will distract you but make you feel a sense of accomplishment

I'm using L-Theanine atm. and it helps me calm down a bit, but the intrusive thoughts are just so damn overwhelming I can't handle them. I had ~10km walk today, really helped, but since I go to school I can't go for walks whenever I want. Kava is illegal to order in where I live (tho I've been thinking still trying my luck and order it..), and I assume phenibut is also. I've tried stretching, but mostly I just have too much time to think there also. Been thinking to start doing yoga, but I don't know about it yet.

 

I write every though an every feeling down, it usually helps brake the panick attack (even if I couldn't focus very well on writing normal sentences). I was very nervous all day long for months, that was indeed very hard to cope with but when I started breathing exercises it just disappeared after a couple of weeks. . When I'm in dp/dr I panick as well and eat a banana, Wich seems to help a bit. Hope it will calm down soon for you! 

As said above, I go to school and I can't be writing everything down then. I will try this at home tho!

 

Distraction is something I had to learn in early withdrawal. First for a seconds at a time and sometimes even minutes. Now I can distract for hours at a time.  It has been three years since my CT withdrawal and I still use the distraction skills I learned. I use them to manage my high anxiety.  It was anxiety that put me on benzos in the first place over a decade ago. It is something I will probably always have.

Nice to hear that you've learned it, makes me believe I can do it too. And sorry to hear that you have it still after so long, I hope you can get rid of it at some point!

 

Thanks for your contribution guys, I will try something to distract me when I'm at school. Might take my jar (yes, a jar) of L-Theanine with me and snort it trough out the day like it's 1980's in Miami.. 

[[Tr...]]

My psych Dr. put me on Mirtazapine and then switched me to Trazodone for anxiety after I withdrew from Xanax. I'm no longer on either one, but they helped at the time.

Won't take any SSRI or anything for this. I'm willing to try agomelatine (valdoxan) for 2 months since it's supposed to not have any w/d and it helps you sleep, we shall see..

Neither one of the medications I mentioned are SSRIs. I tried Valdoxan, in my experience it was a complete waste of time, actually made me feel worse. Wishing you the best of luck.

[[Tr...]]

I find it helps to keep a journal and also to write lists of things I'm worried about or feel i need to do. Keeping a journal allows me to take all those thoughts that race around my head and put them down in a linear form. It actually helps to articulate in language what is just free floating ideas and fears. I sometimes have to think for a moment to actually understand what I'm thinking and how to express it and this allows me to get a better understanding of what the fear or anxiety is. It's actually diving deeper into what's going on without being overwhelmed by it. I can write for about 45 minutes every other day or so. I also find that I can work things out through the process of writing. So many times I'll start writing about things I'm worried about and by the time I'm done I've figured out a solution or I've gotten a better perspective on it to where the anxiety has diminished greatly. It helps me see some of the distortions in my thinking.

 

This also keeps me from suppressing my thoughts, which never works. Just get all those thoughts out in the open and accept that you have them. You don't have to agree with them, or follow up on them, but it helps to just acknowledge that you have them and accept yourself.

 

Writing down lists allows me to get all the free floating commitments and to-dos down on paper so I can stop thinking about them. i get so overwhelmed by things I need to do and ruminate over them. Getting them down in a list lets my mind be free so I can relax easier.