Any tips for getting rid of feeling of dread?

[ImpendingDoom1]

This evening I feel absolutely sick with anxiety, like something terrible is going to happen. I do have a lot of stress going on, and have had for a long time, but usually I manage to get through the day ok. But tonight I can’t shake this feeling and wondered if anyone had any tips for getting rid of this horrible feeling? I just don’t know what to do with myself. The blood is rushing in my head, my stomach is in knots and I feel a strong sense of doom. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep feeling like this.

I'm sorry you feel like this. I got some beta blockers and they can help with the physical symptoms x

@Jezzballs2000 I will (try!) to speak to my doctor and see if they can prescribe anything, but I was hoping for some ideas to get through the night x

Honestly I read trashy books on Kindle or watch a comedy. And eat chocolate. If I can’t sleep I don’t force myself to try - I might have a shower and use some nice moisturiser before having another attempt.

I really hope your sense of dread subsides, it’s utterly horrible. Sending hugs.

Try and find a happy thought, even if it is a fantasy. And hang on to it. Try hard to push any bad thoughts from your mind and keep getting back to the happy one.
I know it sounds trite but that's what I used to do if having feelings of dread.

I hope you feel better soon.

Try some meditation/ deep breathing exercises.

Is there anything that has helped before . ? Antihistamines sometimes take the edge off things . Read or watch TV. Try to distract yourself . The morning will come x

I hope you can get through the night and tomorrow you get a prescription for beta blockers...total game changer.

Lately I have been writing stuff down either on paper or in the notes section of my phone. I start with something like why do I feel like this or how do I feel and try and flow from there and I find it often helps. I got very stressed and anxious earlier this evening after looking at a grumpy work email and it completely took over my mind while I was trying to do bedtime with my son. I realised that it was a combination of things- feeling ashamed when I make mistakes at work, feeling guilty because I'm going away for a few days, feeling stressed about trying to get eveything done before I go and, for me, this sort of reflection can help take some of the dread out of it. I started off trying to just say to myself 'it's nothing! I shouldn't be stressed' but then remembered this cheesy motto of 'you have to feel it to heal it'- naff but helps me remember not to shy away from bad feelings but to try and lessen their power by examining how I'm feeling. This may not work for you so please don't feel like it needs to apply if it doesn't. I hope you feel better soon x

Also distraction is really helpful as other people have said x

Watch a Sandra Bullock movie on your phone in the bath while eating some chocolate buttons.

Impending doom can be a medical symptom as well as anxiety related. If you do get anxiety then it's very likely to be that, try a warm bath, and some deep breathing as it'll make you feel better anyway. Find a meditation app on your phone.

If you don't feel better in the morning, try and see your GP.

Do you drink caffeinated drinks? That started to give me feelings of impending doom a few years back.

I know this place and it’s awful. Would you be able to exercise, maybe tomorrow? You are brimming with adrenaline that your mind is creating, and it has nowhere to go. I was in a desperate place like this and I read that getting my heart rate up would help, consistently, every day. So I started jogging, just a little bit. And it really works. Once the adrenaline has burnt down to a more normal level, it starts to put a stick in the spokes of the anxiety wheel, it gradually starts to slow down and your mind and racing thoughts will also slow down. It’s so hard to make a start but so worth it.

and this book. Even if you can’t exercise right now, this book really helped me.

At Last a Life https://amzn.eu/d/aotZIXZ

it also helps to remind yourself that the body can feel like it is literally dying when you’re under this much stress. But it is a reaction to your thoughts, it does not mean that you are in any real-life danger. Your mind is just misfiring at the moment but you are safe, and this feeling will fade eventually.

Put some really cheesy dance music on, have a drink if you want and dance around the kitchen like no one is watching. Then have a shower, read a very boring book and hopefully you will nod off.

Thank you all, I’ve already tried distracting myself with trash TV but that hasn’t worked. I’m terrible at meditating, I can’t ever stop my mind from wandering. I honestly don’t have the energy to start to unpick why I feel like this, I have chronic fatigue and I am overwhelmed with life in general at the moment. It’s so long since I had any happy thoughts I don’t think I could imagine having one to push the bad ones away. Things seem to get worse not better. I also have PTSD and my sleep has been terrible lately, if I hear the slightest noise I feel like I’m about to have a heart attack and I get a massive surge of adrenaline, and then I’m awake for hours (related to stuff from my past). I’m so sick of living like this. I also have high blood pressure and I’ve just done a reading and it’s through the roof tonight.

I have some THC honey that a friend gave me a couple of years ago in the fridge, maybe some of that and a long bath? I don’t think it could make things any worse anyway!

I think about my favourite holiday. I imagine waking up in the morning, having a coffee on the terrace in the warm sunshine, then think about food, places to visit 🩷

Thanks I’ll have a look at that book. No caffeinated drinks, I don’t drink tea or coffee, I have the occasional can of Coke but not since the weekend.

I used to get these regularly OP, I described it as that feeling when you just wake up and then remember you've got a dentist appointment or something ☹️. For me it was linked to hormones, do you think it's the same for you?

Anyway, three things helped me enormously. One (and I know it sounds weird!) is to just acknowledge it, out loud. Saying out loud "OK, I have a doom but there's nothing wrong, I'm safe, it's alright" did start to settle me a bit. Secondly, I'd have a hot chocolate. More filling in your stomach I think than a tea or coffee, and very comforting and sweet. Finally, and this is too late for you tonight I'm afraid, is I used the Neom Perfect Night's Sleep Pillow Spray. Half a dozen squirts of that on my pillow really helped when combined with the breathing routine that they recommend (I think it was in for 7 seconds, out for 11). I slept so well after that.

Hope you're able to get a good rest tonight.

I wouldn’t take anything with thc if i were you, it can increase anxiety.

@CarrieMoonbeams yes that’s what it’s like, like I’m waiting to go and see the headmistress or something. Thank you for the ideas, I do have hot chocolate in the cupboard.

I like Tansy Forrest hypnotherapy on YouTube. She does ones on anxiety, stress and sleep. It's very rare that it doesn't send me to sleep.

As for hormones…no idea! I’m well into peri and my periods are all over the shop so I don’t know whether I’m coming or going there. I do take a supplement which generally stabilizes the peri symptoms.

@Dryt good point. I don’t need The Fear on top of The Fear.

Yoga Nidra podcasts might help, and my therapist told me to try a ‘self hug’ for a couple of minutes every now and then, which sounds and looks strange but does sometimes seem to do something. But constant decaffeinated hot drinks to hold and something funny on YouTube/podcast/audiobook are definitely my go tos

I used to get episodes of this when I was in my late teens. With hindsight, it was when I’d just left school and during my year out, and I was coping for the first time with not having structured time imposed on me; I was also taking trips abroad on my own for the first time and processing the fact that most of my unhappiness and friendship issues at school had resulted from being bullied. It was a lot to handle all at once.

It may be that you need to address the root cause of whatever stress you’re currently under, depending on its nature. It may be preferable, for instance, to give up or change a job that isn’t right for you - I may be way off the mark with this example but making a decision to change something can be a big relief.