Feeling anxious for no apparent reason — tips?

[FrankensteinIsTheMonster]

What do other people do if/when they get this?

I listen to some music from the Meditative Mind channel on YouTube, really helps clear out negative energy I find.

Thanks, will check it out. Have some time to get through before I can see my psychiatrist and get back on meds that work for me, so anything that helps us useful.

*is useful

Breathe out. Instead of taking a deep breath, exhale deeply a few times.

@ILoveShula

Breathe out. Instead of taking a deep breath, exhale deeply a few times.

Ooh that's odd. I gave it a go and it made me feel more anxious. So, definitely had an effect but not the one I'm looking for… perhaps I'm doing it wrong. But thanks for the suggestion!

Exercise. The only thing that sorts out my unexplained anxiety.

Eating and drinking something really cold (like ice pops) helps the anxious feelings in my chest.

Exercise helps me. Either something brisk to get up my heart rate or a good swim.
Also self indulgence - bath, nice treaty food, early night. Sometimes I just need to be alone for an afternoon to detach from the world and watch trash tv.

If it's really bad, diazepam but I appreciate that's not always an easy solution! Baths are good too and something shit on TV.

Irritatingly, I've let my fitness slip so far that I have to stop before I reach anxiety-killing levels 🙄 Something to work on…

Never heard of frozen food for anxiety before! Will give that a try.

If you drink alcohol, cut it out completely. It has a profound effect on anxiety. Smaller but similar gains from cutting out caffeine (decaf coffee and tea only) and reducing sugar where possible (dessert after a meal is fine but don't eat a bag of sweets on their own).

Calypso I have some lorazepam but I generally avoid using it unless I really can't cope in any other way, and there's some task I absolutely need to accomplish.

Brisk walk helps me a lot

What it does is make you breathe in deeply afterwards

You need to breathe out really slowly and deeply from the diaphragm first. Do it a few times. It helps regulate your breathing.

The important part of breathing is the getting rid of used air.

It works for me. Not fully but it helps.

Something else I do is consider factors like did I sleep ok the night before. I know if I had a bad night, so I can calm myself by telling myself I had poor sleep and it's making me feel like I have anxiety..

Thanks for the ideas belimoo — I pretty much don't drink alcohol (maybe once every few months I'll have a small bottle of cider and often don't finish it), and eat a low sugar diet for diabetes control. I cut out caffeine for a while as I was on a medication it didn't mix with, but it's been creeping back in again in recent weeks now I'm allowed it — could try quitting again I guess.

Yeah my sleep is fucked which I know doesn't help.

Have you tried B12? And maybe magnesium?

Beta blockers

I already supplement magnesium and my B12 levels are fine (am coeliac so have had blood tests etc.) — thanks for the suggestion tho, good thing to check.

Beta blockers also good stuff but contraindicated for me unfortunately (asthma/fainting).

Lots of things to try here while I'm waiting to get back on my meds 👍🏻 Thanks for all the suggestions.

Bring myself to the present. Focus on what I can hear, feel, taste, see (if I have eyes open) but reeeeeeeally focus on these like in obsessive detail until I forget I was anxious.

Sorry to hear my ideas aren't helpful. If you're coeliac. Have you had your other vitamin and mineral levels tested?

You say B12 is ok but what is the actual level? How about vitamin D, ferritin and folate? All of those could be low if you aren't digesting properly and could contribute to mood issues.

Sorry if you've mentioned this already but have you tried meditating? I thought it was nonsense but found 10 minutes morning and night made a difference, in conjunction with other things. for you, anxiety is awful.

I walk a couple of miles daily to clear my head. I've cut down on caffeine and switched to decaff coffee. I also find giving the house a good deep clean and declutter helps my anxiety.

beli, no, it's helpful…

I've moved area and am having difficulty getting hold of my actual blood levels from the new service 🙄 It's been a whole thing; they seem very paternalistic and unwilling to give me actual numbers, just telling me it's fine, while insisting that my GP can access the results when they actually can't, and also discharging me without the follow-up I would've got from the service in my old area (things like a repeat endoscopy to check healing)… that reminds me, I must ring the gastro secretary again in the morning to see if they ever did get my follow-up tTG-IgA result 😒

I do use some relaxation and mindfulness techniques, yes, mostly from an ACT perspective.