Fed Up

U

uksam

Well-known member
Being anxious, sweating, and the resulting anxiety-induced-sweating is so exhausting. I know I'm preaching to the choir, and this may not be a stimulating discussion, but I feel like I need to get it off my chest.

I'm fed up with being trapped in this anxious, sweaty body. I'm fed up with the first thing my brain thinking about when planning to go somewhere is: will I get hot and sweaty just getting to the place?! I'm fed up with feeling trapped and like I need to leave when I'm in a room full of people.

I've tried everything I can think of: I cut out coffee and hot drinks but after a couple of months without - no change; I tried sage supplements - nothing; I'm trying valerian to help reduce anxiety - no noticeable change yet; glycopyrrolate is great at stopping sweating, but is also excellent at giving the worst dry mouth after just an hour, taking 1 mg, and it lasts for at least 24 hours; topical antiperspirants also sort of work but aren't very useful for craniofacial and chest/back.

I don't want to spend my life on pills, I just want this to go away. I'm not a bad person, yet I have to deal with all this, every morning, and throughout every day.
 
S

Sprawling

Well-known member
Sacrament said:
Break the cycle.
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Cheap easy advice. Easily said than done. I've had HH for over 50 years. The best one can do is accept the HH. Anxiety on the other hand is a a different kind of animal that sometimes requires medication. One thing effects the other in a vicious cycle.

Sweating less can produce less anxiety sometimes. I say sometimes because in the past few years I've been experiencing more anxiety attacks outside of my HH. Short term meds (klonopin) can give you a anxiety vacation. Also look into "Phenibt." It has helped me at times of anxiety. Mainly I take a steady dose every other day to help me sleep.
 
Sacrament

Sacrament

Well-known member
uksam said:
Thanks. How?
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Well, you have two thought processes to choose from when you're about to head out to battle:

1) I'm going to get anxious, I'm going to sweat, people are going to notice it and judge me and that's just going to make it worse.
2) It's okay to feel anxiety, and it's okay to sweat a little. I just have to focus on my breathing to keep it under control, and accept the anxiety with a smile instead of struggling, so as not to make it worse. I will make an effort to focus outwardly (interactions with other people, whatever it is you're doing, how other people feel and what they've been up to, etc), so as to prevent all my inner monologues, traps and alarms to start harming me.

By negatively anticipating a certain outcome, you're pretty much causing it (or at least making it worse). If I go somewhere and I'm afraid my face will turn red, and I'm constantly thinking about it, there's a pretty high chance that my face will go red, because my body's already giving in to the threat and my mind's passing the message. If you're walking on a high rope and you keep thinking of what'll happen to you if you fall, or you're terrified that you'll fall, chances are you're going to fall.

The trick is to accept what you feel but not seeing it as some sort of evil creature that's stealing your own life away from you. By flipping around the way you think and feel about being anxious or sweating, by opening up space for those feelings to wander around your mind freely (like watching cars passing by your window), they lose their power. It takes time, exposure and it can be a hit or miss a lot of times, but eventually you realize you're reprogramming your mind, and thus the way your body reacts, because you're in control of what your mind does to you, and you choose how much it affects or hinders you.
 
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U

uksam

Well-known member
Sacrament said:
Well, you have two thought processes to choose from when you're about to head out to battle:

1) I'm going to get anxious, I'm going to sweat, people are going to notice it and judge me and that's just going to make it worse.
2) It's okay to feel anxiety, and it's okay to sweat a little. I just have to focus on my breathing to keep it under control, and accept the anxiety with a smile instead of struggling, so as not to make it worse. I will make an effort to focus outwardly (interactions with other people, whatever it is you're doing, how other people feel and what they've been up to, etc), so as to prevent all my inner monologues, traps and alarms to start harming me.

By negatively anticipating a certain outcome, you're pretty much causing it (or at least making it worse). If I go somewhere and I'm afraid my face will turn red, and I'm constantly thinking about it, there's a pretty high chance that my face will go red, because my body's already giving in to the threat and my mind's passing the message. If you're walking on a high rope and you keep thinking of what'll happen to you if you fall, or you're terrified that you'll fall, chances are you're going to fall.

The trick is to accept what you feel but not seeing it as some sort of evil creature that's stealing your own life away from you. By flipping around the way you think and feel about being anxious or sweating, by opening up space for those feelings to wander around your mind freely (like watching cars passing by your window), they lose their power. It takes time, exposure and it can be a hit or miss a lot of times, but eventually you realize you're reprogramming your mind, and thus the way your body reacts, because you're in control of what your mind does to you, and you choose how much it affects or hinders you.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I have been trying this more and more recently. I know that a change of mental attitude towards this is one of the best ways of beating it, but recently despite trying things haven't really improved. If anything it feels worse lately.

But I'll keep trying, like we all do
 
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