Help Anxiety is Raised

chickyclg

My anxiety is so raised right now, like right now I feel like my heart is pounding.  What's worse is I have know clue why.  I have literally been in bed all day so there is no reason for all of this.  It started about a couple of hours ago and now I am paranoid that it is going to hurt the babies.  Any advice on how to lower it??

ForeverAmberNicole

I'm sorry, idk. Can you call your doctors office, talk to a nurse. hoping you feel better soon

chickyclg

I have an appointment tomorrow at 11 and was gonna talk to them about it.

mandamoochie

I've had crazy anixety with this pregnancy I can relate. Luckily my dh has kept me pretty grounded and help make it dissipate a bit... ive pondered calling the dr office.. probably the best bet. Let us know how it.goes and take care of yourself.

one2andnow3

Talk deep breaths and try to slow your mind or just focus on one thing that makes you happy.

I had bad anxiety about a year and a half ago. I talked to my dr and she suggested to envision a stop sign and slowly spell the letters. It helped because I learned not to let those feeling come on.

Hope you feel better.

megsehc

This is a trick I learned for my OCD: put one hand on your belly, one on your chest. Breathe in normally to the count of 3 making sure hand on chest stays quiet and hand on belly moves. Say "relax" or some other calming phrase and then breathe out to the count of 3. Repeat. This does take a little practice but works well when you can implement it as it's designed to get more oxygen to your brain (extremely slow breathing does not help). I would probably call though especially if this happens again. Sounds like a panic attack since it came out of no where. Feel free to PM me for more tips if you'd like:) Hope I doesn't happen again...

HeyStVincent

I echo others - talk to a doctor or a nurse about it.  I'm glad you're going in to see your provider tomorrow! @CharlieFox30 had some good advice - if you have chest pain and/or shortness of breath you should probably go to the ER...even if you just think it's a panic attack.  Everyone (including the ER staff) would much rather you come in thinking you're having a heart attack when it's really a panic attack as opposed to you "waiting it out" and having it be something that is imminently dangerous to your health.

As far as relaxation goes, try to focus on your breath and making your breath calm.  @megsehc had some good advice!

Allegralbc

Exercise exercise exercise. Go for a long walk, get your heart rate up it will seriously help!

Allegralbc

Running helps even more but if you're not a runner, not a good time to start.

XSweetieO0O

I loved @megsehc response. I have terrible anxiety so I understand your pain and am sorry you're going through this. I don't know if you're religious but when I'm worried I often pray or meditate. I try to take deep breaths and if I know what is causing my anxiety I try to think of how realistic my fears are. It doesn't always help but that's where I'm at.

Izzy0927

I've struggled with horrible anxiety for years, and nothing brings it out like progrnancy hormone changes for me. My two go to exercises to curb anxiety attacks are:
1) Breathe in, counting (in your head) to 5. Breathe out slowly, counting to 10. If the lengths don't work for you, just pick something else that takes twice as long to breathe out as it takes to breathe in. Make sure the breath in is deep enough though, so you don't make yourself hyperventalate. Repeat 10 or so times, or until you feel better.
2) When I'm too far gone to be able to count my breathing, I google pictures of baby animals. It sounds silly, but it always works for me. Baby bear cubs in particular always help. My shrink told me it works because it's distracting a part of my brain that associates the images with happy, soothing thoughts, and that hormone starts to flood my brain and help me relax.

I hope you get some relief, and at the very least, I hope you have a helpful talk with your doctor tomorrow. No one should have to live with anxiety.

bclove87

My best friend had anxiety throughout her pregnancy and it always helped to bitch about something... If I could get her on a tangeant it would get her mind off things

chickyclg

Thanks guys the slow breathing techniques really helped.  Unfortunately I am on modified bed rest so exercise is out of the question for now, but I might try it when I get off.