Anonymous mother_russia 2w

I’m sorry you’re going through that and it’s rough to recover from. Do you have a therapist or people around you that could help you find ways to cope with it?

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Anonymous mother_russia 2w

i only had a tube for 3 days until i told them to take it out or i’d take it out myself, so for the rest of the summer i just had to exclusively drink feeding tube formula so i could give my guts a rest. i don’t have a therapist rn bc mine dumped me for being too complex, and i can’t afford a new one. my chronically friends mostly have gp and are trying to get feeding tubes so not really the people to talk to about it yk. but i mostly do fine, its been months since i was last triggered

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Anonymous OP 2w

before this ofc. it was 6 years ago so i think being triggered a couple times a year is a reasonable level and not too debilitating?

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Anonymous OP 2w

That’s totally understandable. Do you have many tools to help you at least when you know you’ll have to see a trigger or after a panic attack has started?

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Anonymous mother_russia 2w

kind of? i have a small freezable weighted blanket to calm my vagus nerve when i get home but in the moment i kind of default to dissociating

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Anonymous OP 2w

Alright then maybe I could help by sharing what helped me cope with similar ptsd symptoms? Ultimately that was the only truly helpful thing therapy had taught me for ptsd.

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Anonymous mother_russia 2w

i’d appreciate it! my therapist was out of her depth so i’m willing to try anything that might be useful

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Anonymous OP 2w

Alrighty! I’ll come back tomorrow with a list!

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Anonymous OP 2w

Okay so here are some tools to maybe help when you have already been triggered: 1. If your panic attacks come with hyperventilation or you get lightheaded during them, use a soft breatheable cloth to hold over your mouth. I use fuzzy throw blankets or my long sleeves typically. It helps force your body to breathe normally and it’s comforting to remember nothing is in your nose.

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Anonymous OP 2w

2. Spicy foods, extreme mint, or really sour foods/candies can help to immediately ground your brain to what’s happening in the moment. It just makes your brain go “wtf” and it’s something easy to carry around with you just in case! 3. Keeping comfort foods/smells/movies/etc. around so that coming down from the panic is easier. Just being kind to yourself and giving yourself a soft place to land.

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Anonymous OP 2w

4. Counting numbers out of order, trying to memorize long sequences of numbers, trying to do long division or multiplication, etc. are all helpful to activate a different part of your brain so are great things to start doing if you feel the panic rising (especially if you’re saying it out loud or have a person you repeat after). 5. I personally found that loud music and drawing on myself was really helpful to drown out the stress and anxiety

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Anonymous OP 2w

6. Saying out loud (while under a weighted blanket or really comfortable somewhere) that you are okay, you are at (address), you are wearing (whatever), etc. and just keep naming things currently happening rather than what your brain is telling you is happening. This with self soothing like crossed arms and tapping on each shoulder rhythmically. (If you are going to do this, try tapping yourself at other times when you are safe and happy to help your brain pavlov it with joy and safety)

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Anonymous OP 2w

You could try to do exposure therapy but you would want to do individual research on how to safely do exposure therapy to try to reduce triggers, I had to do that because my triggers were things I couldn’t avoid, but it’s not a route you have to go down.

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