Good days bad days

[Joto369]

I've started feeling better following a difficult last year but get so frustrated with feeling ok one day and then not good the next. Is this normal when stress is calming? Friday night I went out to a gig with my sister.had a brilliant night, slept great (different bed too! ) and had a good day though ended up full of cold! Last night slept from 7pm to 6am woke once a bit anxious and felt really flat when I woke. Weepy and back to spaced out land. Is this a normal recovery process?

Everyone has good days and bad days and this was definately more pronounced for me when I was quite poorly with PTSD. I realised that pacing myself was key. I would run round doing loads on my good days then crash down after. When I was strict with myself about pacing and only doing 1 or 2 things even on my good days I managed to even things out a lot. I've gradually increased what I do but the priciples are the same. To start with if I had a big event I would accept that that might be the only thing I could cope with that week, and have a very quiet few days before and after. Even now I had a long and stressgful journey last week one day and had a bad episode of discociation (spaced out land) at work the next day, rather than push myself I came home sick after 1 1/2 hours as I knew I wasn't coping and then managed work again the day after.

So yes its normal, but pacing yourself can really help. Its amazed me how long it is taking to get back to normal but I am going in the right direction.

Thanks for your thoughts. It's half term next week so I'm looking forward to a week of rest. I've just booked a concert in March which I'm looking forward to so have lots of good things happening but I understand totally about pacing myself - I'm not very patient! Work are also helping by sorting out that I don't have to do such an early start which will help as getting up at 5am and a 17 mile commute isn't good. I'm looking nearer home too but not going to leave unless it's a really good move. Glad to hear you're on the mend too

Glad to hear work are supporting you. My work have been great too, but I am also impatient.

I think the really important thing is to see the bad days as a blip and accept them and also to have coping strategies in place. Booking things to look forward to is really positive.

I agree with positive thinking too. I'm back at work and though I felt ok this morning I'm now feeling spaced out and anxious but trying to accept it and steadily busy myself!

Had an amazing day on Wednesday followed by two ok days but just wanted to be positive and say that given time and a bit of hard work things are getting easier

And boom!!! Tuesday felt amazing - almost 100% the usual me. Yesterday had 2.5hrs counselling nothing stressful but left me drained. Went for a shop then met friend for lunch. Felt spaced + busy cafe = pamic attack out of nowhere. Three in succession. This morning levels are raised and I could cry. It's such an awful s**y thing anxiety

So sorry Joto be kind to yourself, take some time out if you can. Councelling is exhausting and 2.5 hours sounds pretty intense. If you can learn from this and give yourself a quiet day after councelling.

Hi nolongeranxiouscarer! Firstly so pleased you're feeling better! I won't be going back to that counsellor. He very much believes anxiety is caused purely by food/diet and whilst that does play a part I think it's a lot more than that. I also don't feel I achieved much on the two sessions I've been. Yesterday was a better day - went for a nice walk. Awake at 4 again this morning and feeling brighter but it's the anxiety that's worse. I'm back at work Monday which will help as I won't sit going over it all the time. My anxiety fixes on eating (hence Wednesday episode when I ate quickly) and now I'm anxious everytime I eat. Which is rubbish! 😟

I think this is one of the most frustrating things about recovering from Anxiety - I suspect that many people have had a potential recovery blown off course by not realising that this is inevitable. The best explanation I read was that your body becomes sensitized to anxiety triggers and can therefore be responding to things you haven't even consciously noticed. So you beat yourself up wondering why today was different to yesterday but you will probably not be able to identify the reason. Your body will eventually calm down but it will take time.

The wonderful Dr Claire Weekes wrote quite extensively about this - apparently one patient said "I get so tired of the up and down sometimes I think I'd rather just stay down!!"

I have been (fingers crossed) stable for a couple of years but still get anxiety surges - I've progressed to the point where I can not take them too seriously and wait for things to calm down but it took a while !

Glad things feel a bit easier. Hope you can find a councellor who is a better fit for you soon. Personally I highly reccomend nlp ( neurolinguistic programming ) as it has changed my life dramatically for the better twice now. Keep working on pacing yourself. A training day at work yesterday has wiped me out so I've gone straight to bed when I've got home tonight and got a few hours kip, planning a quirt weekend to recover.

Quiet weekend

Thanks both. It all makes perfect sense when written down but here I am up and anxious!!! I feel like I'm getting on with my life yet get these waves of anxiety or weepiness that knock me sideways. Yesterday I took the dog out in the morning sun which was lovely, went for a swim and then pottered in the garden planting and tidying. Sounds great? Yes but whilst walking I was spaced out and foggy headed and at one point in the garden I just broke down and sobbed. (The latter triggered as my youngest son was chatting to his big brother in Oz and I miss him so much). I then ended up with a nausea inducing migraine which I fell asleep with at 730 hence waking now. Hopefully I'll get back to sleep and tomorrow will be a better day. Hope so I'm trying acupunctire!!!!

Grrrrrrr two panic attacks in the last half an hour. Managed to calm myself down with distraction and a chat with son in Oz but it's so bloody frustrating. I went for the acupuncture assessment but it was a Chinese place and they said I also needed herbal medicine at a cost of 45 a week. Plus the acupuncture cost = 90 a week. Not a chance! !! I asked for just acupuncture and he said no it would have to be both. I'm looking elsewhere. I'm still getting the awful spaced feeling in the day which clears up eventually and the anxiety is not as bad as it was but don't feel depressed at all. I'm guessing it's all still the stress of my husbands infidelity and the car accident and my stress trigger being too high! Will watch some rubbish tv til I nod off

Good days, bad days.. Can I suggest a diary and see how much your cycle influences how you feel? If there is a pattern, you can discount hormones and allow yourself to concentrate on the underlying recovery.

Regardless, well done for keeping on.

Thanks it's not easy. Im a bugger for starting a mood diary and then forgetting when I feel better!!! Being in the throes of perimenopause doesn't help wit all that entails so I'll make sure I start this and keep it up! Fabulous news that our school has got outstanding so a good day - along with the blue sky and sunshine. Would rather be walking the dog though