How do I overcome the constant unease I feel?

[V0latile]

It's relentless and makes life hell for me. I guess it falls under anxiety. The constant unease is a subtle sensation I feel, but it still affects me completely.

 

[GinaIsReady]

Medication and/or stop giving a fuck.

 

[Nem]

I hear you, I feel the same way. For myself ctb seems to be the only way to fix it for good
Peace/hugs

 

[Lotus]

I can relate to what you're going through. I haven't really got any suggestions to how to handle it in therapy. It's not like I'm having any specific worries, it's just a constant, physical unease. It just amazes my psychiatrist even though he has nothing good to come up with for it to get better. He can't seem to figure out why I'm having it this way. I have tried with antidepressants that also will ease anxiety, but it doesn't work. Also, I don't feel like the health care system or my family really understands the discomfort I'm in. It's really hard to explain this kind of unease.

I also look at CTB as a way out of it.

 

[randomz]

I have the same problem and my way of dealing with it is medication, immersing myself in an entertainment medium (video games, books, TV shows, etc), meditation and stop giving a fuck about most of my problems in general. It's still not completely fixed but these methods kinda work for me.
Constant anxiety is a very shitty problem to have but it can definetely be eased with the right methods for every individual.

 

[chris8000]

Here are some things that can help:

1. Mindfulness meditation, I can't over emphasise how useful this is for a variety of psychological problems.
2. CBT, again very useful
3. Medication
4. I don't use medication, but I do use medicinal herbs such as ashwagandha, American skullcap, and St. John's wort that are legal and can work well

 

[randomz]

Here are some things that can help:

1. Mindfulness meditation, I can't over emphasise how useful this is for a variety of psychological problems.
2. CBT, again very useful
3. Medication
4. I don't use medication, but I do use medicinal herbs such as ashwagandha, American skullcap, and St. John's wort that are legal and can work well

By medication I also meant herbal solutions such as passion flower and valerian root. I found passion flower to be very helpful with anxiety attacks.

 

[chris8000]

Yeah passionflower is good, a good pair is passionflower tincture and the fresh tincture of American skullcap, good synergy there

I found valerian drained my energy over time so I just use that for sleep.

 

[PaYo]

Medication, i have read mediTAtion.

 

[ARW3N]

My guess is that my profile pic is an accurate description of your unease, right? Join the club!

 

[V0latile]

My guess is that my profile pic is an accurate description of your unease, right? Join the club!

My pic is

 

[ARW3N]

My pic is

What bridge is that?

 

[LMLN]

The only thing that takes it away is xanax or alcohol. Terrible I know. But I've tried everything else.

 

[ManWithNoName]

It's relentless and makes life hell for me. I guess it falls under anxiety. The constant unease is a subtle sensation I feel, but it still affects me completely.

Acupuncture can work wonders if done by highly skilled doctors. My recommendation is by someone from China who has been practicing for 35+ years.

I think I know what you are experiencing -- this constant undercurrent of angst...there is nothing specifically causing it, yet it's always there?

or stop giving a fuck.

Indeed sometimes it can ride itself out because eventually the time is enough to cancel itself out.

 

[Throwawaysoul]

Acupuncture can work wonders if done by highly skilled doctors. My recommendation is by someone from China who has been practicing for 35+ years.

I'll try anything. I have a few questions.
How many sessions does it take to feel relief? How long was the relief last between sessions? Where did they poke you? I'm sure it varies, but how much did you pay?

Thanks :)

 

[V0latile]

Yea

Acupuncture can work wonders if done by highly skilled doctors. My recommendation is by someone from China who has been practicing for 35+ years.

I think I know what you are experiencing -- this constant undercurrent of angst...there is nothing specifically causing it, yet it's always there?

Indeed sometimes it can ride itself out because eventually the time is enough to cancel itself out.

yeah an undercurrent of angst. How common is it?

What bridge is that?

I don't know. Are you considering jumping? It's my method. If it wasn't so scary, I would've done it already

 

[ManWithNoName]

I'll try anything. I have a few questions.
How many sessions does it take to feel relief? How long was the relief last between sessions? Where did they poke you? I'm sure it varies, but how much did you pay?

Thanks :)

It depends on skillfulness of the doctor, and severity of the symptoms, but it is not uncommon to do around 12-15 sessions. Typically one would do three sessions per week, say for 4 weeks. Then you should wait a week or two and see how you feel because acupuncture's healing process happens shortly after the treatment. After about two weeks maybe do one final follow up session.

Keep in mind too that acupuncture is an art as well as a science.

Yea

yeah an undercurrent of angst. How common is it?

I don't know how common it is, but it seems to be a symptom that is familiar with me as well as another friend of mine who went through an existentialist crisis.

What's most upsetting is that there seems to be no obvious source of that feeling that would make sense—such as a loved one dying, or losing one's job, or car accident, etc.—but instead it's like a constant undercurrent like if some demonic force simply making one feel both shitty and threatened at the same time.

I would suggest avoiding alcohol which for me would agitate my symptoms. I'm not much of a pot smoker at all, but if you partake in the consumption of weed, assuming it's just the basic marijuana, I'd recommend hitting a joint before you go to bed—unless you suspect that the angst could be coming from the weed—sometimes that happens.

 

[Misanthrope]

Something worth considering is exercise. Feel free to roll your eyes I don't care. The efficacy of it speaks for itself. Kicks the crap out of most things and you at least won't risk permanent side effects. Want me to dig up peer-reviewed sources I will? Lately, I can't be bothered as rarely does anyone read them anyway.

Same goes for meditation as well especially the variant that uses muscle relaxing techniques. I can't comment on spiritual things.

We are not meant to live sedentary lives living vicariously through screens terrified of the media distortion that live inside our head like an ever-present tiger ready to pounce.

No idea if you sit and stew over things. Have imaginary conversations in your head with people who have slighted you, or ruminate on past events. The thing with brains is they don't truly recognise a memory or imagined event from if something is happening in the now, nightmares don't help either. So you reignite all that stress. All though stress should be renamed brain damage because that is pretty much what it does. There is nothing trivial about chronic anxiety especially if it was renamed ongoing brain damage.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160121121818.htm

So find a method to run from your tiger as a means to trick your brain into thinking you escaped the threat. Literal running has been shown to work well and has a bunch of benefits. You might get to relax for a bit until attacked by your mind again. If though your mind is chronically attacking you then you need to put your focus on what lies beneath and how true it is? You say there is this vague sense of unease, so that makes me wonder if you come from a background of abuse or an unstable upbringing?

Bad news if you come from a background of long term abuse or instability this sense of unease is tough to ever get entirely gone. For the same reason, deer don't just relax when aware of predators, especially if they have been mauled by one.

All you can do is try and analyse what your predators are. Fair to say life, in general, can feel like a predator. If you have been hurt a lot shutting down from that sense is hard. Probably what that constant sense of unease is that can't be resolved. To avoid a predator is to be alert to them in the first place. This likely leaves you aware of every nuance of the behaviour of people around you and your environment, everything gets filtered through a lens of looking for the threat.

Either takes therapy work to undo the ingrained damage. Sadly that requires a competent therapist and the capacity to stare at the predators of the past. My stepfather haunted me a long while after I was out of that situation and I did not truly know it until a breakdown. I benefited from C.A.T because it explored the past and how that fed my anxieties to the point of being crippled by them. I beat that shit and in doing so also figured out how not to give a fuck and for it to be okay to offend and upset people and not be everyone's doormat.

Also maybe the sense of unease is based on a multitude of genuine threats that exist beyond the glow of a screen. Things beyond your capacity to control but can eventually hurt you. Most people naturally shut off from that focused in the now of daily routines. But if you have been mauled by predators it is just another predator ominously lurking making it hard to ignore.

Again it is hard to shut down from that. So you have to force it by doing something that feeds personal passions you can get lost in or vent that pent up feeling through movement. As well as find acceptance in not being able to fix things that are beyond your control in the first place. Then recognise being anxious about these threats does not improve anything. It is just wasted energy. That energy is better spent on what is improvable in your life or has value worth sinking time into. Instead of wishing for a less toxic stupid world full of predators. Because this basically is it. In that acceptance, there is a kind of relief. Well, that is true for me. I have blathered enough.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Something worth considering is exercise. Feel free to roll your eyes I don't care. The efficacy of it speaks for itself.

Indeed - I should have mentioned this myself as excercise plays a major roll in the fight against agnst.

 

[chris8000]

If your doing acupuncture, you might want to look into five element Qi-gong as well, it is working with the same "energy" acupuncture works with, but my experience of it is that it is more effective, at least, for relaxation and state of mind. It's a bit easier than meditation for some people, because there is more physical movement involved, you sort of wave your hands around, but much easier to learn than tai chi - that I gave up on.