How to cope with the physical symptoms of anxiety

[Alfiemoon1]

I am having a tough time at the moment and am getting terrible anxiety symptoms I have started sertraline again tonight just need some help while it kicks in
Unable to eat feel like I have a lump in my throat
Upset stomach
Dizziness vertigo seems to have come back
Heaving but not being sick
Pins and needles
To name a few
Any techniques for dealing with these to get me through until the meds kick in I can’t be off work as it’s a new temporary with the possibility of being made permanent and I can’t do anything about the situations causing the anxiety I just have to ride through it

I find listening to this helps.

Thank u I will try that

I ended up on propranolol as well as ADs as I couldn't cope with the physical symptoms. What also helps is music, something slow and soothing or if you can, something more upbeat that you sing loudly to. Singing helps as you have to regulate your breathing to do it.

Hot water bottle on your stomach helps with feeling sick. Ice pack on the back of your neck for those horrible cold sweats.

Hi Alfiemoon I also just started Sertraline yesterday and I feel your struggle! I was in work yesterday and working from home today but my anxiety is sky high right now. I'm going to try kick mysrlf out for a short run to see if that helps with the jitters. Something I use when I feel in crisis is EFT tapping - give it a Google it sounds mad but you tap certain points of your body while saying an affirmation and it can be really calming. Good luck on your journey, keep in touch we can compare notes!

Good luck firefly I was wide awake all last night have been on it before for low mood pmt Etc I found it kicked in really quickly. I’ve never had anxiety before so hopefully it will help that as well

I usually get fast heart rate, hot and sweaty, chest discomfort, trembling, feeling slightly short of breath and restless.
Soothing breathing helps - slow breathing with expiration longer than insertion, exercise especially intense eg running on spot, cold water on hands and face, going outside , grounding such as five things to see, four to hear, three to feel eg feet on ground, wind in hair, two to taste and one to smell.

Thanks this is all really helpful. Day 3 today only managed a couple of hours sleep last night and feeling pretty tired and down today

Some good exercises here on how to stay in your window of tolerance or get back into it - which can be difficult when anxiety kicks in. www.complextrauma.uk/uploads/2/3/9/4/23949705/tolerance_window_short_wot_handout.pdf
I know it’s a trauma website but the handout is really useful for anxiety.

Propranolol helps me. It is a beta blocker so it doesn't make you fuzzy or have lots of brain side effects iyswim. You can just take it as and when or do 3 per day. I'd go back to the GP and ask for this. Some of the symptoms could be sertraline side effects?
I've also had a tablet you dissolve in your cheek for nausea related to anxiety. I can't remember the name but was on prescription.
For me extreme physical symptoms from anxiety are hard to manage on my own. So these drugs help and I'm then focused on calming down rather than the physical sensations.

This might sound weak, but a long gentle walk in the woods or along the beach (if you can) etc can often help you relax if your anxiety isn;t too bad.

Once it gets to a point where this doesn't work, only drugs helped me and it was Mirtazapine that really got me through a very bad bout of anxiety.

I love going out walking my dog it always makes me feel better just struggling to do it at the moment due to working 10 hour shifts 5 days a week

Hi, I try to breathe deeply and stop whatever I am doing for a few minutes to focus on my breathing and find that helps. I get breathlessness and vertigo hope the tablets start to work soon xx

When I have a panic attack, I remember what a close friend said; your heart/body can’t keep up that rate for long so it will pass. This helped me out during a panic attack on the tube recently.
Also listening to classical or pop music helps me. I’m currently watching last night of the proms - very soothing.
It’s horrible though, hope you feel better.

Really helpful thread, thanks OP. My therapist recommended counting backward in 7s from a really hard number like 92. Or visualisations (your ‘happy place’). But I’m always in the market for other ideas.

It’s horrible, isn’t it?

Propranolol

Take a breath in, fill your belly then your chest. Exhale long and slow as though you’re blowing up a balloon (I make a little o shape with my lips to help slow it down).
Focus on the air moving between your lips.

Don’t do too many in one go or you will end up dizzy!

Exercise. Get sweaty and out of breath.

At my worst neither medication

(propranolol, diazepam) nor relaxation techniques were a match for my physical symptoms. Only strenuous physical activity broke the cycle.

@CapybarasLoveCake .

I wish that were true for me. At my worst, my heart rate didn't drop below about 140 bpm for about 3 days straight, 24 hours a day. Didn't sleep a wink, lying there, staring at the ceiling, sweating with my heart pounding out of my chest hour after hour, all day, all night, nonstop. Could't eat anything and could barely function. I literally lived minute to minute in absolute full on panic mode as if I wear about to jump out of an aeroplane.

Eventually dragged myself to the Dr in tears, mumbled what the matter was through short, sharp breaths and was prescribed Zimovane which saved my life.

I believe that mindfulness, techniques, exercise, being around animals and nature etc are fine and successful strategies up to a certain level of anxiety and panic, however once you go beyond this level, only drugs can help, at least in my experience.

I keep busy. Even if I don't have the energy cleaning, dog walking reading anything to keep my mind busy

I needed to take diazepam to get me to a point that I could start trying to help myself. I’m four weeks into sertraline and anxiety is easing. Stopped waking up with a pounding heart and needing to go to the toilet 🤢Combination of the diazepam, talking to people about all my crazy thoughts and trying to do something a bit normal even just hanging up a bit of washing or tidying. But I know the feeling is so overwhelming and feels like it will never end but it will get better. Sometimes it feels like one step toward then ten back again but you’ll get there. I’ve been trying to use the headspace app to learn relaxation but it’s early days with that. Hope things get better for you x

Where I struggle with mindfulness and other relaxation techniques is that my brain catastrophises things that to a rational person, they could understand but not get overly anxious over, however to me, it's the end of the world, life or death and my entire existence depends on the outcome that I cannot control to the point where I am in total and utter panic. I find that at this stage, I'm way too far gone to use self control techniques and only medication can get me under control.

Days later when rationality comes back, you reflect on how ridiculous you were feeling, but it doesn't stop it happening again, nor help you feeling the way you do when it does.

Having suffered with anxiety/panic and depression, I'd take depression every day of the week and twice on Sundays over anxiety.

The only thing that works for me is exercise and preferably power walking outside for 45 mins to an hour. The symptoms noticeably decrease after 15 - 20 mins and I find it preventative.

The drugs made me worse (as the song says).

I am learning to sit with it and let it pass rather than fight it.

I found this book helpful: www.waterstones.com/book/first-we-make-the-beast-beautiful/sarah-wilson/9780552175029

I agree with the people saying exercise, also learning mindfulness was helpful for me. These were long-term helps though, they don't necessarily help in the immediate crisis.

I do remember once being so fed up with the symptoms that I actually lay down on the bed and said "right, anxiety, do what you like, just don't expect me to take any notice because I'm fed up with you." And my mind went into this space where it felt calm even though my body was doing all this werid stuff. I'm not sure I could even do it again if I tried.