Anxiety … It starts with butterflies, then the clammy hands, tingling feet, dizziness and nausea, until finally in order to prevent passing out I have to either lie down or somehow get my head lower than my heart. Usually this involves bending over so far that it looks as though I am interested in looking at my knickers.
These deeply unpleasant sensations also occur if I am too hot, dehydrated and/or haven’t eaten enough.
Embarrassingly this happened on my second date with The Colonel. I had been a teensy bit overexcited, had forgotten to eat all day and was wearing a rather natty little dress of the faintly Grecian variety with lots of lengths of fabric wrapped round me. Alas, I think I had bound myself up slightly too tightly, and promptly had a little fainting episode. Not awfully sexy having your not-quite-boyfriend shove your head between your thighs, but I suppose I should be grateful that he didn’t give me a fireman’s lift and douse me in cold water.
I digress … my point here is this. Apart from the dehydration and lack of food causes for these symptoms, I have found that more often than not, my brain is confusing anxiety, with excitement.
Now this anxiety is really just a way of my body and brain recognising that there is a potential danger. It is simply preparing for fight or flight. As we know, in times gone by, the Sabre-toothed tiger approaching the entrance to the cave required some serious action. A delicate fainting, reaching for the smelling salts or practicing my breathing techniques would probably have resulted in ‘Kitty’s lunchtime’.
However, it’s perhaps a little unnecessary to have these rather extreme reactions when I am standing on a chair to change a lightbulb, or kneeling on the kitchen unit trying to reach the top cupboard. It can be a fairly long winded task to change a lightbulb if every few minutes as the adrenaline starts racing through my body, I have to be upended and forced to look at my knickers again.
So I have taken to changing my thought process.
Each time I feel those dizzying, clammy, nauseous feelings of anxiety I say (out loud) …
“Oooh! I am so excited! What fun I am having!” several times and then repeat, and again …
Now slightly simple, unhinged and odd I may well be, but slap me down with a feather, it jolly well does the trick. And dare I say it, on a par with, if not better than, my previous deep breathing exercises.
It appears that by forcibly telling myself that I am excited rather than fearful repeatedly whilst doing the stressful and loathsome task, I can overcome the need for a little lie down or reach for the sick bucket.
So I shall persevere with this and fingers crossed it could be the way forward … I suppose the only worry is if I try to incorporate both past and previous remedies. I suspect that by saying, “Oooh! I am so excited! What fun I am having!” whilst my head is up my skirt and I am heavy breathing, I may well be sectioned or frankly, arrested.
Katie x
How does your anxiety manifest itself? And what do you do?
This is really interesting! I am a fainter too, and just the thought of ‘now would be a really bad time to faint’ can be enough to send me spinning, e.g. at the top of an escalator/on the motorway/up a tree on ‘Go Ape’. I will try the excited self-talk!
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Ha! Oh I can completely relate to this! Give it a go and let me know …
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I have yet to faint. But the other symptoms are familiar. My OCD is very difficult to explain. But, blind panic would be a comparable sensation. I used to drink a lot of beer to get the intrusive thoughts out of my head.
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Yes, I can understand why you drank beer … I’m thinking it has similarities to depression, as in, it momentarily eases the symptoms but never gets to the root of the issue and causes more problems along the way and even worse long term?
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My anxiety mostly shows up physically, with butterflies, racing heart, and tightness in the chest. I tell myself this is anxiety, I’ve had this before, and it’s not going to hurt me. The content of the self-talk may be different from yours, but the effect is the same – engaging the rational brain to knock some sense into the sabre-tooth tiger-obsessed brain.
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Yes!! And I like your way, it’s very calming. I shall try this too.
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Ha ha ha! I love your last paragraph.
I’m currently working on my own reactions; which, similar to Stephen’s, involve withdrawing from the stress and consuming chocolate.
I think I’ll try yours. The kids’ll think I’m a bit crazy for it, but my sanity is already in question around here. 🙂
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And I love your last sentence! That’s made my day!
Ahhh chocolate! I think that perhaps I’m substituting chocolate and beer for ginger nut biscuits. Don’t worry about what the children think, just tell them you’re having a little loopy moment!
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😀 More like loopy life…
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😁
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I wonder what ginger snaps dipped in beer taste like? Mmmmmm….
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Nooooo! Surely they’d go all floppy and flaccid and bits would drop off into the glass resulting in cloudy beer? 😳
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I tend to get heart palpitations as the very first sign. Usually, I can just accept that I’m not having a heart attack, but it took me years to get that far.
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Awww those heart palpitations are very scary … I’m sending you a huge hug via cyberspace 💕
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I think this is a great insight, that our bodies combine what they perceive AND what we tell them about it. I’m glad it works for you–it has been good for me for a while, and it is also possible to ruin your day by obsessing about the negative too–we all know people who have a tiny symptom, look online for it, and convince themselves they need surgery ASAP.
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Oh yes! We could all convince ourselves that we have a terminal illness with too much googling. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and reading 😊
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I get very aggitated and shakey and start to forget things. Normally I need to eat regular and missing breakfast later manifests as anxiety. I also tend to he anxious about being anxious. Stupid really. My husband would approve of your technique as he feels we shouldn’t be negative.
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Not stupid, completely normal! Yes, eating regularly is tricky for me too … I lack the self discipline and am so easily distracted. I wonder, do your geese calm you down? I bet they do. They’re so lovely. X
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Didn’t reply to you. Probably out cleaning chicken poop! Yeah the geese are great therapy. Who couldn’t resist cuddling a duvet on two feet!
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Ha! Yup, now that you put it like that … I want a goose!
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You are funny Katie. One speculates if this post had a spike in stats as I suspect your last one with ‘knickers’ in the title did? Er, yes, I just realised I said I am curious about your knickers. I blame the food at the in-laws last night for my not thinking straight. Though obviously I AM straight or would not be thinking about ladies underwear in the first place. Or would I? Where was I anyway? Oh yes:
Anxiety symptoms? No fainting but my tinnitus suddenly gets deafening and my throat constricts painfully. Looking at my knickers ( or anyone elses) has not helped so far but am willing to experiment further.
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Ha!!! That’s very funny!! Well, do let me know if looking at your knickers, or anyone else’s, helps … in actual fact, I suspect the latter might; distraction is a powerful tool. (You might get a slap though!)
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What is life without risk? 😉😄
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Ha!!
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Hi Katie
I am glad that you are finding ways to help you control your symptoms.
Wishing you a 2019 full of new discoveries and beautiful surprises! Blessings! 🙂
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Thank you and have a wonderful New Year too! 😊
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Thanks very much for reading! Katie
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Ooh, I can relate to this Katie on so many levels and I love the way you’ve spun it around. I remember an anxiety attack I had in a supermarket a few years ago. Now if I’d only known your technique I could have tried to feel excited instead. 😊 Great self talk. For me deep breathing always gets me past those horrible heart palpitations and feelings of dread.
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Oh I’m so glad you can relate to this! Sometimes I do feel rather daft explaining how my brain works! Yes, deep breathing is brilliant isn’t it!
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Yep, sure is. And you shouldn’t feel daft, your writing is not just relatable but very entertaining. 🙂
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Thanks!
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Worth trying!
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Reblogged this on Change The Code.
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Thank you so much! Katie
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No problem at all!
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