I feel like no matter what I do, I physically feel anxious. Jelly legs, shortness of breath, shaking, heart flutters. Even when I don’t think I’m overly anxious it won’t go away. How do I break this? I’m in therapy and ERP. I went off my SSRI 6 months ago. I want to go back on it but not ready to go through the first couple of weeks of suffering on it yet
Not only that, but the chronic stress actually causes the anxious thoughts. The thoughts are actually a way our body tries to reduce the stress in the short term, but they increase stress long-term
@Anonymous I never thought of it that way. That makes total sense
@Anonymous So true
@Anonymous Facts
Great question. Adrenaline is the drug our body uses to control our fight-or-flight response. Chronic stress, overworking, etc. Increase adrenaline and keep us in feeling hypertension. Going for a walk, getting a good night's rest, music, meditation, resting, cutting back on work can all reduce stress and get you out of fight-or-flight.
@Anonymous I work about 60 hours a week (not because I’m in love with work like some people, my job is just insane, ugh) but I also read that people become addicted to it if you are always “on.” I’m trying to meditate but of course my mind goes back to work. I dream about work, too. I just want an easy fix, a switch somewhere on my body to turn my adrenaline off, and I guess that’s not a thing. I will keep working at meditating. Ive been trying to walk but I get anxious when I have jelly legs. I was working out 3x a week for over a year but I started getting anxiety about feeling shaky so I stopped a month ago. I’ve been trying to stop working at 50 hours but that’s not always possible
It sounds like you're overworking. It also sounds like you're also pretty intelligent and driven. You're right, there is no easy "quick fix". You're also right that we become addicted to overworking because our body pours out adrenaline that feels so good in the moment, but when the adrenaline comes down we can't cope with the stress, so we need more adrenaline and hence more work. It's a vicious cycle.
@Anonymous Thank you, that makes me feel better. I guess seeing someone spell it out kind of puts it in perspective. I am driven, if I was more intelligent I would have picked a different career, lol. I climbed the corporate ladder, which is what I wanted, but I don’t think I realized the cost on the way up. I will keep trying to set boundaries and make time for meditating. Thank you for listening and your thoughtful response 😊🙏🏻
When ur body is in that state the ocd and anxiety feed off that . Waking works time by the pool or beach . Yoga , taking baths anything that stops you for a little while so u have time to breath instead of constantly running in ur mind
@alex0523 I struggle to stop my mind for yoga, any tips?
@OCDMM You don’t need to stop thinking it’s impossible to stop ur brain and shut it off but if u can try to focus is things in the room like how ur body feels how it smells in the room how the temperature of the room is it will take the focus off the ocd and will teach ur brain to focus on the things u can see touch feel hear . We can’t relax when we are in a state of panic which is always when we’re in a loop so if we can brake that for even a little that should help relax u don’t try to shut off ur brain it won’t work it will make it louder just try to let it focus on somthing else
@alex0523 Thank you. I will work on that. I’m struggling so bad with a decision to take another job or not. I want to take it but then you responding to this old post and seeing what I wrote here makes me feel like it’s a sign to not climb the corporate ladder anymore. OCD sucks, Idk what’s real and what’s my magical thinking
@OCDMM Sometimes making a list helps putting things on paper makes it out of ur brain and also seeing it
@alex0523 That’s a good idea, thank you
@OCDMM Wishing u the best
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond
