Anxiety
Comments
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MelissaDallas, thanks for the link. I also think the NIH information is compelling.
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my therapist suggested magnesium for anxiety but I didn't feel a difference...not even placebo, lol
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It might take awhile before you'll notice a difference. Here is an interesting article from Psychology Today about Mg for anxiety: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201106/magnesium-and-the-brain-the-original-chill-pillIt should work systemically so takes time to really be effective, the article discusses several possible mechanisms of action.
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I do know that adding Mg to nervous/anxious horses in training for competition has a positive effect. It does take a while to see results - 4 - 8 weeks for most. Shorter for some longer for some.
Of course, horses are not humans but are mammals.
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Thank you for the great graphic. Helps put it all in perspective sometimes.
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Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for the link---that was an interesting article. I tired that Natural Calm powder stuff a couple of times and then gave up on it. So it's more of a long term effect!
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MTWoman: What do you think about Dream Water for sleep? The first two weeks when I was literally not spleeping more than 3-4 hours a night and literally couldn't work from the stress, my surgeon's office suggested melatonin (the main ingredient in Dream water, though there are other ingredients in it as well).
It seems to work for me -- kind of gently lulls me to sleep. I still wake up early or sometimes in the middle of the night, but it does help. I'm trying not to take it nightly. Should I worry about getting attached to it, or it causing any other problems?I'll ask my therapist about it too, but would love to know your thoughts. (Or anyone else here struggling with hard time sleeping due to anxiety/stress)
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EpicSquirrel,
So dream water is a lovely product. There are 3 main 'active' ingredients. Melatonin is the first. That is a compound that is naturally made in our bodies, although levels naturally decline as we age (which leads many elderly people to sleep less). I remember (quite a long time ago) studies were done to see if ingestion of melatonin would have similar effects to naturally produced melatonin. Thankfully, the answer is yes.
Some people experience a bit of fogginess upon waking from melatonin, but I do not. I love it. It is not habit forming (other than sometimes people are reluctant to stop taking it if they've had episodes of insomnia and are anxious about it returning). In our natural state, melatonin levels start to go up when we near bedtime and help us initiate sleep. (they also go down during the night as our wakefulness hormones start to increase)The next active ingredient is GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid). I love this too, and have taken it with great effect when my mind has been too active and unable to shut down at night. So, our bodies have an excitatory response, the Glutaminergic system. This is the system that becomes active when we are anxious and keeps us awake and restless. Glutamate is the most common of those neurotransmitters. The opposite response is represented by the Gabanergic system. (GABA is a neurotransmitter) This is the calming or quieting system in our bodies. So GABA sort of tells our mind it's time to slow down, time to rest.
The combination of the two of them means that your body is getting the hormonal signal that it's time to sleep and that your brain is winding down so that you are able to engage in sleep.
5HTP is the last ingredient. That is a precursor for Seratonin - and an effective way of increasing serotonin in the brain, which leads to regulated sleep and anxiety.
Please do ask your therapist about it. My thoughts would be that if you have problems sleeping, that leaves you more vulnerable to anxiety. So if you need help with sleep right now, and respond well to dream water, use it! I think that as you work with your therapist, and your ability to use anxiety management skills improves (and you are out of treatment, which is a pretty big stressor for most of us) you may feel like you don't need it anymore; which would be a signal to stop. Keeping a bottle in your fridge just in case sounds like a very reasonable strategy. I'll be interested in hearing what your therapist says!
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ok thank you MTWoman! This helps me feel less worried about taking it for now. I'll ask her about it and let you know her take on it also.
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awesome!
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Thanks, great post. I was hyperventilating at biopsy today and then sat in my car and cried for half hour afterwards. Four days wait now . . .
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Hi Anxious to the max.....I was like that too....cried and cried and cried--it's what had to happen. It's ok to do that!
Hoping for good results for you!
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Sorry you had such a hard time anxious_to_the_max! Crying is perfectly acceptable, and warranted at times like these. If you find yourself hyperventilating, however, best to focus on counting your breath and exhale one count longer than you inhale. Then, as you can, start to increase the count (say, from 3 to 4 on the inhale and 4 to 5 on the exhale). That should slow down your heart rate and make you begin to feel less panicky. Good luck for rapid and B9 results!
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@MTwoman The psychologist I'm seeing specializes in anxiety. Her take was the same as yours, that the Dream Water is totally fine for me to take during this time to help me sleep, she's glad it helps me, thinks melatonin is fine, and that getting some more sleep is good and outweighs any other minor concerns about it for now
She also said it is a normal reaction for me to feel stress/anxiety right now and I should try to "be ok" with that for now, and not let the fact that I have anxiety over this cause me more anxiety. Well, she said it in better words than that but you get the idea
It made me feel a lot better. 0 -
@gb2115 something as simple as hearing someone else just cried and cried has helped me today. Thank you.
One minute I'm fine, the next I'm planning a holiday with my family with certainty that the results will be bad.
I hope for benign but aknowledge if that benign was a guarantee they wouldn't be subjecting my poor breast to all these awful tests
Yes MTwoman I need to breathe better! I thought they were going to end up doing the needle draining (whatever that was) and the biopsy in the wrong spot I was freaking out so much.
They were lovely though
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epicsquirrel, I am so glad you're having a positive experience with your therapist and that you're feeling better overall. That is so good to hear!
anxious_to_the_max, I'm sure they're pretty used to people being nervous and "freaking out" as even the word biopsy can be frightening.
Hoping you get b9 results as well!0 -
Anxious to the max---I am so glad that helped you. Hoping for the best for you!
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im 17, and for about 3 years ive felt a pain that is specific to just one little spot on the left side of my left breast. it hasnt grown, and i feel discomfort when i lay on that side and pain when i touch it. im worried. if it was breast cancer, would it grow and would i have already noticed more problems? because it has stayed the same for 3 years. thank
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mlany, So sorry you are here with concerns about your breast health. Per the site rules, you do need to be 18 to post, but I'm going to suggest that you do 2 things, the first is talk to your mother about this and the second is ask her to get you an appointment with a doctor to discuss it. Any new or concerning changes should be discussed with your doctor. There is almost no chance that it is cancer. See these statistics by Cancer.gov:
- Age 30 . . . . . . 0.44 percent (or 1 in 227)
- Age 40 . . . . . . 1.47 percent (or 1 in 68)
- Age 50 . . . . . . 2.38 percent (or 1 in 42)
- Age 60 . . . . . . 3.56 percent (or 1 in 28)
- Age 70 . . . . . . 3.82 percent (or 1 in 26)
Notice that they don't even list the percent risk for women under 30 as it is so statistically improbable. Take comfort from that, and please do talk to your doctor about your concerns. There are many things that can happen in the breast that aren't cancer, but should be looked at just the same.
Take care and good luck!
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bump
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Here is a nice discussion on the Mayo website about meditation:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858
and here is a link on the UCLA site that gives you free guided meditations in either English or Spanish:
http://marc.ucla.edu/mindful-meditations
Why not give it a try?
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Where can I find Valerian root? is it a tea? I am having the worst time sleeping while waiting for lumpectomy resukts
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Sjb, so sorry you're having sleep problems. It is so difficult to think straight, be calm or effective when you can't get good sleep. Try going to a place where they have high quality herbs and supplements. Where I live, there is a Coop (a local whole foods cooperative) and an herbal nutrition center that carry these types of things. If you have a Whole Foods or any store that tends to sell high quality natural products, they will likely carry it. You can get Valerian root in powder (capsule or tablet form), tincture or already prepared in a tea. ((hugs))
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Thank you! I will go to my local heath food store tomorrow and look for it.
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Great! and hope your sleep improves!
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bump
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another thing is google "sleep hygiene" also has some good ideas to use
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Tpralph, Excellent! I am a big fan of sleep hygiene. That includes things like: having a routine at bedtime, going to sleep at the same time each night, making sure your room is as dark, quiet and cool as possible, eliminating blue light (from tv, computers etc) at least an hour before you want to go to sleep*, making sure to be hydrated (but not too close to bedtime) and perhaps doing some breathing or relaxing prior to sleep. I like to have a book to read, but not a new one that might catch my attention and activate my brain, usually one I've read before so I can close it at the right time.
*blue light is absorbed by special photo receptors in the eyeball. the blue light can delay the release of melatonin by the brain, causing us to have more difficulty initiating sleep
Anyone else have tips to help get good sleep for others who may be struggling?
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hello,
I have anxiety due to several ops and illnesses (not cancer) in 4 years. All I can say, is that anxiety is exhausting. Just recovering from ovary removal, and my mind is like a wild monkey, jumping from tree to tree, wondering what else is going to hit me. One thing I have noticed is that it takes time to control it. Hypnosis with therapist is helping. As for sleeping, Ativan has become my friend and I would love to get rid of it but not easy...any suggestions? Been taking 1mg-2mg a da for 4 years now
I'm learning not to worry about things until they happen, not easy but learning!
Best
Alicki
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Alicki, step by step. working with a therapist on techniques that help you manage your anxiety is step one. When you're ready, "getting rid" of Ativan after daily doses for 4 years will take some time. Your prescribing physician should come up with a very slow taper plan with several plateaus built in. Those will serve several purposes. The first is to make sure you don't have any withdrawal symptoms, which can happen with medicines in that class (benzodiazepine). The next is to make sure you don't have what is called "rebound anxiety" which can happen when you come off of benzos. That is a phenomenon that goes something like this: benzos are particularly good at reducing feelings of anxiety to the point that people who previously had the anxiety think that it is "normal" NOT to feel any. (which isn't true, we all have feelings of anxiety, they are nature's way of telling us to pay attention/something's up) So when someone reduces their dose and has some feelings of anxiety, it creates more anxiety in response. The third is time, to do what you are currently doing. Working to address how you manage your anxiety. If you go slowly, and build your skills, you will most likely be able to significantly reduce, if not fully discontinue your Ativan. But only when you're ready. You can have a conversation with your therapist about preparing, and what might be signals that you are ready. In the meantime, GOOD FOR YOU for first asking for medicines to help when you needed them, and second for working towards managing your "monkey brain" that many of us experience. ((hugs))
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