What do you do when your baseline level of anxiety is high?
I've had anxiety since I was a kid, I'm 24 now. I used to have a lot of panic attacks but it's been 4 years since the last one.
The last few weeks, my anxiety has been high but in a physical sense. There's nothing I am worrying about, I don't have anything stressful coming up, but my body feels so tense. I can't relax and I can't focus on things, I just keep zoning out. I am on sertraline 50mg and in CBT therapy. I mentioned it to my therapist in our last session but I had something bigger that we were speaking about so not much was said about it.
I just can't seem to calm my body down
@neonTortoise93998
There could be a lot of causes to what you describe.
It could even be nothing to do with your anxiety and so maybe a trip to the doctor might be a good idea, to check it is nothing else.
I'm sure your therapist is going to be much better able to help than me. But I can totally relate to having multiple things to deal with and having to prioritize.
You’ve had anxiety for a very long time. And dealing with that has likely taken a lot of energy.
What I wondered, is do you need to do anything about it? I couldn't help wondering if your body has been busy dealing with stuff, and not been able to say "I'm tired". And maybe, as you are making such progress with the panic attacks, maybe your body is just saying "and now I need some attention, please. In other words, maybe this experience is part of the recovery, rather than part of the problem. You know, like when you've had flu, and afterwards you feel exhausted and achey. And maybe just listening to your body and saying "OK you want to zone out for a bit" might be all you need to do?
Progressive muscle relaxation also springs to mind.
But as I say, I'm really not the professional on this, so don't do anything that doesn't feel right for you.
