Comment by Escapado | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Escapado | Hacker News Reader

Used to have panic attacks and constant anxiety (without knowing what they are and what was wrong with me) every day for about 2 years triggered by a bad cannabis experience . Turned out I was predespositioned and it runs in my dads family. It started to mix with depression. 7 Years later I still sometimes get panic attacks and anxiety and dystonic thoughts, especially when my perceived stress is high (I work as a freelance SE). I have identified following long term factors that help bringing frequency and severity down significantly (talking about going from daily to maybe once every few months): - Exercise 4 times a week (preferably running) - Eat healthy (I cut sugar and eat according to an app 90% of the time) - Being outside every day and exposing myself to sunlight - Balancing alone time with social time according to my needs - Walk away from things that stress me out for no real benefit (that also means walking away from people) - Do not overpromise

Factors that help me coping when it hits anyway: - Breath slowly, deeply and on exhale remind myself that its only temporary - Put my feet on a cold floor - Smile and nod - Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (google it) - Walk outside

Having strong anxiety (from family and especially a bad mushroom experience that let me wrecked), I can only strongly recommend Escapadl advice.

The best combination has been cutting sugar definitely plus a lot of sports (freeletics + a lot of running. Running helps A LOT)

You can't imagine how sugar affects anxiety before cutting it entirely. This is insane. Just having some sugar raises my anxiety for a few days.

Just try to follow Escapado advice and you'll endure it way more easily.

I remember that my therapist (highly recommend that too if possible, being in germany health insurance automatically covers it) after seeing me suffer for a long time pressed me to exercise which I had not done in years (I was pretty skinny too). When I started running I hated the first two times. I could not run for more than 2km and I was done afterwards. Third time magically I could run for 3km without feeling like I was dying. Fast forward 3 or 4 months of running every other day I was running 10km and it almost felt like a positive form of addiction and I was even getting runners high from time to time.

I vividly remember one day around that time I was on my way to a therapy session and I started crying in joy while on my bike, literally sobbing because I was so happy about how much my life has improved simply by changing this one variable. I went from "I don't know if I can live like this another year" to "I love my life and I can accept my handicap as an occasional unwanted companion but now I define what my life is and not my anxiety".

FWIW, rubbing down / interacting with a cat also seems to help massively.

Are you using a kind of self-administered EMDR for short term stress relief?

Yes. I went to therapy for a while and my therapist tried it with me and it felt beneficial. Not that my anxiety went away but I lessened notably which to be honest surprised me. After doing it in two consecutive sessions she told me I can always try the same procedure at home and instead of following her hand I can pick two spots on the wall and move my eyes between them while going through the process internally. I found it works equally well and I still use it as a tool which helps.

Which app do you use for eating?

I use Feastr and complement it with Captain Cook if I feel like trying something new. Took me about a month to pick out what I liked (I am vegetarian and I try to gain weight) and which dont take too long to prepare. I definitely spend more time preparing food this way (more than i save from just buying groceries once a week instead of 2-3 times a week)but I see that as the cost of living healthy.

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