[luluinthefog]

I am completely paralyzed by fear lately. I am afraid of everything. Everything I see or hear scares me. I am constantly in fight or flight mode and can feel adrenaline coursing through my body. I feel like I am in a closet looking through a peephole watching a murderer walk closer and closer, and just knowing he's going to open the door and kill me. This is pure, primal fear. Xanax alleviates it for a short time but then it comes right back. It is the most terrifying and debilitating feeling I can imagine. Obviously when I feel like this my dpdr intensifies greatly, leading to a feeling like I'm going crazy which makes me feel even more afraid. I just finished tapering off of effexor, could this be why? Everything in me just wants to run to the hospital but I know they can't help me. It is so disheartening to know there's nowhere you can go for help. Have any of you dealt with this feeling? I have tried meditation but it scares me, exercise scares me, talking to other people scared me. I look at my dog whom I love so much and I'm just filled with fear. I can't live like this. To be honest I would do anything to make it stop. Please help.

 

[Phantasm]

Hi, lulu, I'm so sorry to hear you are feeling this way, and yes, after my last nervous breakdown I felt the same way, I was a nervous wreck, shaking like a leaf and scared of everything. Nothing helped, but I started taking spirulina - the only thing I could take without panicking - and ashwaghanda helped too.

What I did do was attend to the things I could attend to, like self-supporting dialogue, countering negative voices and building constructive ones. As awful as it all feels, it is all just paranoia and bad conditioning, so keep dismissing it all as just that.

The subconscious is sometimes likened to a garden, and many of the bad seeds aren't planted by us, they came from negative people, but we can start weeding and replanting, so I would say to start thinking in the ways you would like to be, just as if it's already happened. When you're half-asleep, Imagine how it would feel to be completely recovered. Persist and don't be discouraged by anyone, expectation is direction.

Focusing on the things you can do also has the added benefit of taking your mind off symptoms, which are usually irrelevant anyway, but we can build them up too much. Play video games if you are feeling immediately anxious, while reminding yourself it's just paranoia and you are completely safe. It's just kinks your mind needs to untangle.

 

[Al_pk]

Hi Lulu. I'm sorry, you sound in a real bad way right now. In the past year I've suffered similarly. I would feel panic and fear when talking about anything reality related. I couldnt engage in my old interests because the topic of history would freak me out because of its time element. The cosmos would freak me out existentially. The ocean, heights, memes. Everything terrified me, its a horrible state of mind. The best advice i recieved was to just sit with the fear and truly feel it. it's just bad energy that needs releasing and when you feel it it's done. Ive recently started to get alot better.

Alex

 

[forestx5]

I went through that. It can only be sustained for so long. Then, a meltdown occurs. Afterward, a very slow process of healing takes place. Very slow. Painfully slow.

I often wondered what the point of it was? Was it necessary for my brain to meltdown, so that it could rebuild itself? I just don't know. I'm pretty sure a lot of suicides

occur during this process. Horror doesn't begin to describe it. But, there is hope Where there is life, there is hope. I found that to also be true.

 

[James_80]

I am completely paralyzed by fear lately. I am afraid of everything. Everything I see or hear scares me. I am constantly in fight or flight mode and can feel adrenaline coursing through my body. I feel like I am in a closet looking through a peephole watching a murderer walk closer and closer, and just knowing he's going to open the door and kill me. This is pure, primal fear. Xanax alleviates it for a short time but then it comes right back. It is the most terrifying and debilitating feeling I can imagine. Obviously when I feel like this my dpdr intensifies greatly, leading to a feeling like I'm going crazy which makes me feel even more afraid. I just finished tapering off of effexor, could this be why? Everything in me just wants to run to the hospital but I know they can't help me. It is so disheartening to know there's nowhere you can go for help. Have any of you dealt with this feeling? I have tried meditation but it scares me, exercise scares me, talking to other people scared me. I look at my dog whom I love so much and I'm just filled with fear. I can't live like this. To be honest I would do anything to make it stop. Please help.

No doubt it is because you have recently finished taking the Effexor. It is renowned for causing extreme withdrawal. It should ease up in a few weeks. Why were you taken off it? Was it causing intolerable side effects or was it not working? Maybe you could extend the taper, withdrawing from it very very slowly or try taking briefly taking Fluoxetine (Prozac), which has a less extreme withdrawal and doesn't usually require a long taper.

If you don't want to take any more antidepressants then you can still take action to reduce that extreme high level of fear. I would advise not drinking any alcohol, reduce caffeine to a minimum (no caffeine after midday), take time out from responsibilities if you can, rest as much as possible and spend time with good friends and family. I've felt that awful extreme fear myself. Like you are existing in your own personal horror film. It will get better with time and a bit of self care.

 

[Shan84]

I swear I’m going through the exact same thing at the moment, I’ve never been this scared in my life. Mine was triggered from a bad reaction to an antidepressant switch. I feel somewhat less alone reading your story. Im currently on Xanax for it but it seems to wear off fast and I’m right back into that tense paralyzing fear of literally everything. I’m scared to look in the mirror I’m scared to go into one room into another shower in my own home! I’ll I can do is lay in bed in my own misery. Panic attacks wake me up every single morning I get these burst of hotness come over my body and my heart races 0 to 60 it feels like. I clinch my hands so hard at night they bleed! My nerves are shot my dr wants to throw me into a mental hospital and that thought alone gives me unbearable anxiety. I’m not a threat to myself or anyone for that matter. So I don’t see a need for it. I’m just praying this new antidepressant kicks fast because I’m beyond miserable right now. Let me tell u about Effexor I was in it and the withdrawals are HELL so I can almost promise you that triggered it. I’m so so sorry you’re going through this. But you’re absolutely not alone.

 

[Psyborg]

I know everything of this shit

last weekend I had 3 days of the worst anxiety and panic in my entire life so far . I didnt take ativan even though I probably should have

funnily enough me not taking anything and enduring these 3 days have improved my mental health dramatically . my dp is better , my anxiety is better , everything is better . I am only waiting for tuesday to talk with my doc again because right now I am afraid to have a serious illness (which was the cause of my panic for 3 days)

what you should do is to try thinking rationally and calm yourself down with LOGIC ...even if this is hard . also talk with your physician and ask him if you can work out (you most likely can work out) and if you can then start doing light exercises etc.

also eat these foods they help :

- macadamia nuts

- bananas

- cashews

- salmon

 

[Shan84]

So Ativan made your dp worse you think? My anxiety started with a antidepressant switch. Bad reaction to it. I see my dr tomorrow and shockingly I’m too scared to because my nerves are that bad

 

[Psyborg]

So Ativan made your dp worse you think? My anxiety started with a antidepressant switch. Bad reaction to it. I see my dr tomorrow and shockingly I'm too scared to because my nerves are that bad

are you asking me ? if yes :

I took half an ativan 2 years ago or so when I had a panic episode thinking I am going crazy and the ativan calmed me down for 3-4 days and THEN ....boom .....worst months of my life . I had horrible obsessions and anxiety .

but I think taking ativan was unavoidable that day . like I said last week I should also have taken it because I was in an emergency state for 3 whole days but I refused to take it and endured it with willpower which dramatically improved my dp and mental health in general for some odd reason . I have the feeling that when you endure panic and anxiety etc. naturally that your brain raises good hormones or something