Anxiety & feeling overwhelmed

[veronica73]

Tonight I'm feeling really anxious and even having some pain again...I know some of what's triggering it. As I mentioned in an earlier thread one of my dogs is sick and we're not sure what's going on. Every time I am in the house and awake I'm waiting for her next vomiting episode/pee accident/behavioral issue. I just don't even like to be home lately. I got home tonight after work and had about 1/2 hour to relax before I had a phone call with one of my clients and then during that time the vet called and I was talking with her for 20 minutes.

I know this is just life stuff but I'm having a really, really hard time dealing with it lately (plus everything else plus old-repressed TMS-causing emotions). And then I think well, if I'm having such a hard time with her being sick, how will I do when she dies? She's an old dog. And then how will I deal with more serious problems like my aging parents...

I've been dealing with anxiety pretty much my whole life and I know it always passes and that I usually don't feel like this. Still, I'm having a tough night. Any insights from anyone would be so welcome.

thanks for listening!

~ Veronica

 

[Peter Zafirides]

Veronica,

Hang in there. What you are feeling is the very essence of the human condition. All of us feel that pull of isolation and time passing. Never forget your strength and your resilience. This moment will pass. You are NOT alone.

- Dr. Z

PS: Here are some quotes that I find soothing. I hope they help you in some small way:

Many people need desperately to receive this message: 'I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.
-- Kurt Vonnegut


Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.
-- Swami Vivekananda


When they are alone they want to be with others, and when they are with others they want to be alone. After all, human beings are like that.
-- Gertrude Stein

 

[chumba]

veronica, hope you are feelong better today. From everything Ive experienced and read, anxiety and TMS are closely related. One of my biggest struggles is managing the thoughts that generate anxiety and feed the TMS. The good news is eventually we always get through it.

 

[happystar]

Hi Veronica, hope you are feeling better this morning. I can totally relate to you. One anxious thought feeds another one and so on, triggering TMS. I've been there many times in the last year. And as you I start thinking on how I will cope with other future things in my life if I cannot cope with my present. The thought that does give me a little peace is that God (or your Higher Power) knows what he is doing and so I leave everything in His hands. I believe everything happens for a reason and we must learn from every experience. After all, this great thing called Life is about experiences and what we learn from them to be better people. I know, it is easier said than done but when I think about this things seem a bit easier. A big hug for you today!

 

[veronica73]

Thanks, Dr. Z, chumba, and happystar. I feel better today. Actually after I posted that I decided to make myself watch tv for a while with my boyfriend and my roommate. Then I realized the pain was pretty much gone and I was feeling less anxious.

Dr. Z, thanks for your insights & the quotes. I can especially relate to the Kurt Vonnegut quote...sometimes being in pain or being anxious feels so isolating and yet I know that others feel like this and that I have a lot of good people in my life who support me.

Also, there's something about watching someone else suffer (in this case my dog) that is so triggering for me. I'm trying to just stay present to what's happening in the moment--she is actually doing very well today.

 

[Justina]

Hey Veronica, glad to hear you and your dog are feeling better today. I understand how terrible it is to watch someone else suffer. You feel so helpless and out of control because all you want to do is make them better and that's entirely out of your hands.

 

[Peter Zafirides]

Thanks, Dr. Z, chumba, and happystar. I feel better today. Actually after I posted that I decided to make myself watch tv for a while with my boyfriend and my roommate. Then I realized the pain was pretty much gone and I was feeling less anxious.

Dr. Z, thanks for your insights & the quotes. I can especially relate to the Kurt Vonnegut quote...sometimes being in pain or being anxious feels so isolating and yet I know that others feel like this and that I have a lot of good people in my life who support me.

Also, there's something about watching someone else suffer (in this case my dog) that is so triggering for me. I'm trying to just stay present to what's happening in the moment--she is actually doing very well today.

Veronica,

Your strength - and belief in yourself - got your through a tough moment.

Never forget that. YOU did that.

It is good to know you are feeling better

-Dr. Z

 

[veronica73]

Thanks so much, Dr. Z

 

[sewmuch]

Hi Veronica,

Sorry you are having a hard time. It is so hard when our canine and feline family members are not well. We lost our kitty of 16 in February and it was, and is, hard. We knew she was sick for awhile and the day would come. What has helped me in the last several months is awareness and acceptance of impermanence. Everything in the cycle of life passes. This is hard because we so much want our loved ones and the good things to stay the way they are. However, accepting and being aware of that impermanence, I became more present and focused when spending my time with my kitty and realized and was happy that we had given her a great life of love and care, and she had given double that love back.

This does not mean we do not feel pain and sorrow, but I tried to focus on the moment and monitor her situation for her comfort. I too am very much of a worrier so going with the flow and rhythm is hard, and I work on it daily. Also, I have aging parents. I help where I can, try to consider a little of the future, know it will be tough whatever and whenever it happens, but also try not to dwell. So many things we worry about never come about. (I had a funny magnet that said "See, worrying works. 99% of the things I worry about never happen!")

I also liked Dr Z's quote

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.
-- Swami Vivekananda

For me that is another reminder of being in the present and living life, physically and mentally to the fullest without undue regret and undue worry. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not here, but I have today.

 

[Forest]

Hi Veronica,
I had a funny magnet that said "See, worrying works. 99% of the things I worry about never happen!")

What a wonderful reminder! So much of TMS is worrying if you are ever going to get better and we worry all the time that we are weak and frail. But in reality we are really strong and not just physically. In one of Dr. Z's Healthy Mind podcasts he mentioned something similar about how people with TMS and chronic pain go through and overcome so much adversity.

Living with chronic pain is tough and everyone who gets to this point, where they are doing the TMS approach, is extremely strong and has overcome a lot. Having TMS knowledge fully sink into our unconscious can take some time and retraining our learned nervepathways is difficult, but we have already accomplished so much by getting to this point.

We all have the strength to become pain free. TMSers worry so much that we are weak and can't become pain free and return to being active, but the evidence, much like this quote, suggest otherwise.