Anxiety Support Group

Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...

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Smoke Detector anxiety

Ellocin
Ellocin
okay, I feel a little silly posting this but smoke detectors really agitate me. I used to not care that mine wasn't working but recently one of the units in the complex I live in had a fire this past weekend and the tenant didn't survive...so needless to say I made sure my smoke detector is back in working order. My problem now is (not only the issue with noise if it goes off) but now every time I cook or have a shower (alarm is really close to the bathroom door and steam sometimes will set it off) I'm afraid it will go off. This is making my anxiety go off the chart and I'm almost afraid to do the things that are necessity because I'm so afraid it will go off. I feel like I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. How do I calm my anxiety down so I can function and still have necessary safety measures in place? I may be a little extra sensitive right now because of this just happening a few days ago and losing a neighbour but I've had anxiety issues with smoke detectors for a long long time and I know I need to figure out a way to work past this. I can't use prescription medication for anxiety other then my prozac due to other health issues...so looking for non medical methods/suggestions. Thanks.
LuckyEmpath
LuckyEmpath
I don't care for the noise of smoke detectors either but they do not raise my anxiety like it seems to be doing for you. I have approached each of my fears by getting to the root of the problem - or the actual cause. I do not like loud noises either and I also do not like urgency - something that a smoke detector creates for us. I don't like loud noises because my childhood home was loud. I don't like urgency because of my childhood home life and from being sexually abused. As I have healed the root cause my dislike of loud noises and fear of urgency have reduced.

You could try doing some EFT tapping. I have started doing this lately because I am cleaning up some small pieces of my past and it is helping me a lot. Here is a link to one that may be helpful for you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP70Et2d3Lw I like this guy, Brad Yates, because he is very calm and soothing. He has dozens of video's out there for you to try. If this doesn't work the next suggestion I have is to find a therapist so that you can get to the root of your issue.

Take care
MilesQ8784
MilesQ8784
I thought I would write here because you are not alone, I lived in a complex were the CO detector went off whenever it wanted, sometimes even when I was out of state and it did scare me. The thing that put me at ease with it was having the fire department, city and maintenance look at it. Having as much information as I could about how it worked helped me sleep better, I think the other suggestions are great as well, I like this thing I made in my DBT class, we called it a first aid kit, Has all these happy things in it, like for me, pictures of my Dad and I, notes from my girlfriend, smelly candles, rosemary, things like that. I keep it in my bedroom under my bed. When I struggle with anxiety I pull it out and I think of the things that are in there. Hope this works.
sky711
sky711
@Ellocin....Do what I did...You take a dust pan and wave it fast under the smoke detector, it will stop right away. Also sometimes when I'm home all day and cooking I take the batteries out and put them back in before I go to bed. Best to put a note on the fridge to remind you to put the batteries back in. Safety first.
Hope this helps you
Ellocin
Ellocin
thanks for your suggestions, I'll consider and try all that seem appropriate to me. I'll talk to my psychiatrist when I see her in a couple weeks as well. As for taking the batteries out, that isn't an option with this smoke detector. It doesn't take batteries...it's wired in and as much as I hate when it goes off I know I need to learn how to get a grip on my anxiety and learn how to function with it working.