PS. I have read a lot of things on google about this, but I alway find I learn more from people who have been there, done that!

I get hypervigilance too. Therapy and anti-anxiety meds might help. One coping strategy is to live in the moment and take things day by day. Try to take solace in the times when you ware safe and enjoying something simple without letting other worries ruin it.

Welcome to the board sweetie.... I am so sorry that you're going through this.... I think people can develop and a lot of coping skills such a mindfulness, meditation and therapy can help.... We both have concurrent things going on ... I find a benzo helps a great deal with this and you can take it sublingual (under the tongue) and it works very quickly.... Gentle hug......xo

welcome and hugs. oh that hypervigilance is a bear and it kept me locked in so much pain. what helped me the most was being able to sleep, to really let go and sleep all out. i see a dr for medication that helps me and it makes all the difference.

it is good you are here to talk about it too. xo

Thanks for the comments. I've been off benzos for about 3 years, I do not want to go back on. My goal is getting off drugs, I take so many. I'm working on Wellbutrin right now. But this started before I started cutting down Wellbutrin. (One dropped out of my clothes or something about 2 years ago. I pounced on it with glee, although I did not need it at that time. That is why I don't want to go back on!)

I think some of the other things you have mentioned are great. I have slipped away from my Christian meditation. I will have to get back into that! However, I do not remember a time in my life I was safe. This is a life time thing. Although sometimes I am able to cope, in spite of it, right now is not that time.

I am not living in the moment. On my kitchen table, as I eat supper, I have three thousand Greek flash cards on the table, which I am reviewing for my Biblical Greek exam. Perhaps some of this is coming out of the fact that I am really tired of writing exams? Maybe I should reconsider a Ph.D? I hate to give into anything. But I think some of my stress is coming out of this. I guess this is why I should have done all this when I was young, and didn't have enough brains to worry! I always got straight A's, but it was not a big deal. Perhaps they higher you go up the educational ladder, the more stressful it becomes?

Hi, Marlene. You sound a lot like me. I have tried to make it without medication and for me it doesn't work. I need to be on something. Being frozen is no fun at all. I improved after having my Prozac dose increased. Do you struggle with anxiety also? My stomach burns almost constantly and I don't like to leave the house even to go to the store. I have started doing adult coloring and listening to calm music and it's helped a lot. Praying is helpful also. I know what it's like when you need to talk to someone, like, right now. I am curious about your education. I am a Christian also. Hope to hear from you soon.

I will have to think about what you have said, Shergog about medicine. I'd like to learn to cope naturally, but as I have learned with so many other things, sometimes that does not happen.

I don't really think I have anxiety, unless I am in total denial. I don't like to go out of the house, but I have just spent 2 years in an RA med failure, where I could not go out. It's still hard even now, I have so many deformities. I'm not anxious about it, but maybe I am in denial about that, too? I have a colouring books and crayons, but my daughter recommended I not do it, because my hands and wrists and so forth are so damaged. I do think maybe doing it for a short time daily, could be helpful.

I have a BA in physical geography, a teacher's certificate and an MDiv. I was just taking Intermediate Biblical Greek as a prerequisite for my Ph.D. Only, I am not sure if I am going to do it. I don't know if it is something I want to do, or God wants me to do. My class was on-line, so more not getting out of the house. I've been forcing myself into the garden and to drive a bit more, but just realizing how I had isolated my self made me realize I was in more trouble than I thought!

Hi Marlene. Welcome back.

During the years I used meds, I never did find a med strong enough to block my hyper-vigilance. I am a child sex trafficking survivor and my hyper-vigilance is more over-developed than a Kamikaze Berserker. My most trusted pros and I suspect I am stuck with it for life. We don't get to re-shape the Atlantic Ocean, either.

Awareness and channeling are the tools I have developed to cope with ^it^. I keep ^it^ on my radar at all times and begin channeling exercises with the first wave of the Nag Flag. I ply lots of extra self-care during the periods my hyper-vigilance is acting up. Hyper-vigilance is a seriously draining condition which stresses out every cell in my body. Extra self-care needed.

But that is me. Gentle support while you sort what it is for you. Be patient with the process.

Welcome back.

This might sound really crazy but I just read a book called, Reverse arthritis in 30 days. I bought it on Amazon and it worked for me. There's a lot of information but I do remember the author suffered from chronic arthritis ( he's also a doctor). And he states that ' green tea' actually cures rheumatoid arthritis. I don't wish to make claims. Perhaps you could do some research online. All I can say is that it works really well for me and I have recommended the book to a friend with arthritis and it worked for her too. I think you may need to release some deep emotional traumas which could be the trigger for you feeling ' frozen.' I believe EFT ( tapping on blocked meridian lines on the face and hands) Emotional freedom technique could help you. It's used for post traumatic stress disorder. Again, you could look it up online. I do hope you make a good recovery and feel better soon.

Kidney disease hit me in 2011, so for the last 6 years I've had to find other ways to manage my PTSD from three categories of trauma from childhood (combat as a missionary kid abroad, sexual assaults, domestic violence). Since I have PTSD from 3 categories, there is a broad range of things that can trigger me. I can't just avoid one category of things and get through my day like that. Instead, I have to work from the assumption that I will be triggered, so what to do then.

I'm allowed one single med and it's Prazosin for nightmares. That helps with the first thing, which is sleep. Then during the day I have pain. I've got a herniated disk up high between my shoulder blades, a herniated disk in the lower back, and a cyst at the end of the lower spine that gets inflamed and then pushes on where all the spine's nerves join there. Plus, during the day I get flashbacks I want to manage in a way to prevent them from becoming panic attacks in the classroom in front of students when I teach.

That's where meditation has come in. I took 5 years of weekly Buddhist meditation classes when I got diagnosed. I'm not great at it, but I did learn to detach from my emotions and my pain and let them pass rather than going bonkers in frustration whenever I could control their onset. The meditation helped me live with the fact that I can't control emotions and pain, but I can look at them like the weather. Weather affects me (rain gets me wet) but it doesn't define me. I live through it until a sunshine filled day.

Therapy was key, though, for me to understand where my hypervigilance came from. I was in a car bombing at age 9, and that's one of the places where it had its origins. My therapist was a VA doc who was used to having good conversations about bad things that shoot your adrenaline up, and he taught me that I could calmly discuss those memories and make them into a coherent life story for the purpose of accepting myself.

That's the triple mix that's helped me, all reinforced by coming here every day since June 2012, when my docs had to take away all of my meds for the sake of my kidneys. It's worked for 5 years for me now.

yes, definitely therapy. it gets me out and talking with someone. it is of paramount importance to me to find the good enough one though. going, the exercise of going is important - but going and having a negative experience is not good. i have had, for the most part, positive experience if not excellent.

i am just beginning again with therapy. i took a break for awhile. i had one who went too far too fast - i didn';t know that was a possibility. we learn, we process, we carry on : )

yes, therapy is so important to me. i suffered more than once in my life with agoraphobia. this last time it began with yrs of being physically sick and being forced to spend extended amounts of time on bed rest and at home resting. sort of forced isolation really. it snuck back into my life and boom there it was.

i beat it : ) more sort of sneaked around it. not being able to drive during that time, i made appointments with the disabled access van for dr's appointments. when it arrived, i needed to be ready and head right out there to get on. the drivers were kind and helpful and that took all the fear away. it was amazing.

my psych doc did explain that it often is the best plan to use the medication if you need it, to break through an issue and then wean off the medication as you become stronger. perhaps you won't need to do this.

often times, illness can masquerade as anxiety as weill. when i have a sinus infection - it feels exactly like an anxiety attack beginning - and can become one. other things mimic anxiety beginnings. health issues exacerbate PTSD and vice versa.

p.s. i once had a psychologist hypnotise me for sleep : ) i went twice. it was so long ago, the dr. recorded the sessions onto a cassette tape : ) he gave me the tape to listen to as i was in bed preparing to sleep. it worked for me for years - until i wore out the tape. it continues to work when i remember to press my hand the way he taught me. something that works for some people very well - others not at all. hugs

So sorry you are going through this. Im on depression medication and I also take xanax as needed. I actually barely ever take it because I hate relying on medication bit I had a recent traumatic event and was also paralyzed with fear and would not get up from the couch. I took a xanax and immediately could think normally and wasn't afraid. However, I am now talking to a therapist on ways to deal w anxiety. I know some are against meds but there are times I would not be functioning if it weren't for them. Good luck...stay strong!

I really appreciate everyone talking with me, sharing what has worked for you, and also your experiences. It makes me feel not as alone as I was. I've been holding this inside for far too long!

I forced myself out of the house for a ladies tea this morning, and I really enjoyed it. Then, I pushed myself to go get some food for the quails, and some loose tea for me. I ended up tipping over several times, my knee cap snapped out of place once, with several people helping save me. It wore me out terribly, so perhaps the going out part is still about the Rheumatoid Arthritis, and not about PTSD? Or a bit of both!

Squirrel, the disease I have is a serious autoimmune disease called Rheumatoid Arthritis, which if you want to compare, is in the same family as lupus. It attacks, joints, tendons, skin, organs like the kidneys, lungs, heart and brain. I take 3 cancer drugs and it is barely under control. It is the body attacking itself, and I have terrible deformities. I really detest these quack nostrums and books people sell to try and convince people that this disease will magically go away with green tea extract. Not at all! I'm not upset with you at all Squirrel, I realize you were just trying to help! I'm upset at the shysters and tricksters who offer "cures" for a serious and incurable disease. I always say, "Give me the double blind studies, and maybe I will believe." Of course, there are none. And if there was some purported cure on the market, I already have tried it, and it didn't work. So now, I just say, "not for me!"

Anyway, I stopped playing victim in my own mind last night, which was not easy to do. I'm not sure if it will last, esp. if the trigger returns. But I don't think I could have done that without the support of everyone here.

Thank you to all of you!

Belated here, Marlene, and hi! I've tried the no-meds route for fibro (worked for a bit but needed meds to get there) and hope to less reliant on meds for PTSD someday, so I feel you there. RA is a horrible disease, and teh anxiety/pain/stress must be incredibly intense, so... Just... you're not alone, if you need more help give a shout, and I'm with you. One more "drink the magic fruit juice" shill... *headdesk*

Blessings and healing.