My physical symptoms cause fear/ increased anxiety...how do you deal with it?

[[su...]]

I'm still new at this; day 11..... and am so aware of every tingle, twitch, muscle tension, feeling of off-balance to name a few....and  I think it makes my already anxious self even more anxious.  How do you deal with these physical perceptions causing anxiety??   

[[...]]

I'm sorry you're struggling.  The physical symptoms can make it difficult to remain calm at times.

There are a few things you could try such as diaphragmatic breathing, positive self talk, meditation, yoga. 

Also, remind yourself that it is withdrawal and it will pass.  You're healing.

 

[[av...]]

My worst symptom throughout his ordeal is what you are describing: physical symptoms causing health anxiety. My journey began with numbness in my fingers while I was taking Xanax. After I stopped, and a few weeks after, I had lots of head pressure, twitches, burning in the legs, more weird numbness, and numbness on my lip which for some reason was the worst symptom of all, not counting the cyclical health anxiety. But at just over 5 months out I am feeling much better, almost back to normal, but of course waiting for that not to be true. My advice, keep a positive attitude and don't research any symptoms onthe Internet. That only made it worse for me.

[[Be...]]

I'm still new at this; day 11..... and am so aware of every tingle, twitch, muscle tension, feeling of off-balance to name a few....and  I think it makes my already anxious self even more anxious.  How do you deal with these physical perceptions causing anxiety?? 

 

I think my main strategies - besides my anxiety management techniques, like controlled breathing, walking, etc. - were to (1) view those sensations as signs my GABA system was healing and the benzo was leaving my body; and (2) find things to do that kept my mind off those feelings.  And kept reminding myself that it was temporary phase I needed to go through to get to where I wanted to be.

BTW, I do think working on anxiety lowering strategies is really important and right breathing is a huge part of that.  Anxiety alone can cause a lot of the symptoms we associate with benzo w/d.  Good luck with day 12 and beyond. 

[[Bi...]]

Sunnyside,

 

I agree with Beeper. I know when I'm laying in bed and my stomach is bloated and I feel head pressure; I think the worse sometimes, but I think this is my anxiety. Anxiety alone is enough to cause other symptoms. Anxiety does raise other s/x's, try not to worry. I know, harder said than done.. but what else can one do. Just take it a day at a time.

 

Hang in there, Billy

[[at...]]

Breathing exercises made me feel worse and yoga was not an option for me at 11 days out because I was such a mess. So what I did is the following:

 

Stay out of bright light keep things dim, no loud sounds or anything that you feel is overwhelming your nervous system. If you can watch TV try to distract yourself with it. I found my fav TV shows would upset me (no idea why they did) so I would find shows that didn't. There was a time I couldn't watch tv though, so depends on what you are able to do at this point.

 

If you can handle youtube try to watch educational videos this can help keep the mind busy trying to learn something new. Light relaxing music if you can handle it.

 

If all else fails cry till you feel better. Crying is really under rated, but it helps

[[Ho...]]

I'm still new at this; day 11..... and am so aware of every tingle, twitch, muscle tension, feeling of off-balance to name a few....and  I think it makes my already anxious self even more anxious.  How do you deal with these physical perceptions causing anxiety?? 

 

All you have to do, is get good at convincing yourself that symptoms are harmless. They really are. 

 

When I first get hit with new symptoms, they kind of freak me out a bit at first, then I guess I learn to cope and they don't bother me near as much.