It Seems My Inability to Handle Stress May Be Catching Up With Me

For the last few days I've felt like my chest is contracting as I breathe in and out. It subsides after a while but never really goes away.

It doesn't help that school started this week and one of my classes intimidates me. During these times I wear my frustration on my sleeve, though I suppose I always have.

If anyone else has felt like this and has any pointers, let me know in the comments. Would be nice to have this under control sooner rather than later. One thing's for sure: I'm sick and tired of this shit.

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Pricknick's picture

I'm sick and tired of this shit.

Do you know somebody close and trustworthy that you can talk to face to face?
Always remember you're not alone. Everybody experiences these feelings to one degree or another.
Peace.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

What about a mild dose of Xanax? Pot if it doesn’t make you paranoid. Anxiety is high everywhere. Sorry for your very stressful circumstances.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

what is going on.
They are in good position to help.
Hospitals and clinics might just be in order, my friend.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Bollox Ref's picture

Hopefully, spouse and family can help you get through these educational 'waverings'.

Good luck.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

snoopydawg's picture

just to make sure that there isn't something wrong. Even though you are stressed you can be having some type of problem.

Focus on your breathing in a quiet setting and try to clear your mind of all stressful thoughts. Imagery is a great way to do this. Remember a place where you were happy and at peace and go there in your mind. When I did this I held a special rock in my hand and that helped me stay in the moment.

Good luck and I'm glad you spoke up and reached out.

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You're not alone. Do you feel anxiety? Find someone you trust or at least respect or like and spend time with them, let them know you're stressed, as On The Cusp says. There should be a school counseling resource which might help. Many students are stressed.
Remember this: too much blood co2 can feel just like anxiety. When people get tense, they tend to do quick shallow breathing. This doesn't allow blood co2 to exchange for oxygen as it should, and the excess co2 can feel just like anxiety. Try some deep, slow, breathing in a nice or quiet place.
See if that helps.
And yes, take a politics vacation as dkmich suggests -- it will still be here when you're ready. Several common herbal supplements are good for calming. Without knowing your medical condition, it would be a mistake and illegal for me to advise for specifics, but maybe your doctor or nurse could tell you whether herbs are right for you. Ask them about chamomile tea, and others. But check before trying supplements, to be safe. They can interact with meds.
Deep breathing should be safe and satisfying.
I find Tuvan throat singing to be soothing, if that's your cup of tea. Look for Alash Ensemble on the tubes, especially their first cd "Alash". They're nice people. If you don't like them, try other serene music.

Breathe deep, and know that people care about you.

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WoodsDweller's picture

like you're holding tension in your body. It's a feedback mechanism, tension in your life is reflected in muscle tension which increases mental tension.
As mentioned above, breathing is important in managing muscle tension.
Start with your jaw. You're almost certainly holding tension there. Give it a stretch. Gently (!) stretch your neck. Ear slowly to shoulder, take a couple of breaths while you do it, then back up then to the other side. Stretch your arms, etc. The whole thing takes maybe a minute, do it a few times per day.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

dystopian's picture

This might help, it does for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=147&v=92i5m3tV5XY

Fuck that: an honest meditation

As you think, you are. Make it good.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

have someplace Loud you can go? Where people can't hear you? Because I find Screaming helps tremendously. I'm talking get it ALL out from below the gut red in the face LOUD Screaming. It Does work.
Or, you can punish your body with some Other physical exercise that goes deeper into the physique than the mind stress reaches.
Everybody else is saying breathe, breathe, breathe. . . I'm just suggesting something to do for the Exhale!

And no, I Didn't mention herb, THAT should be a given.
As well, you are Not alone. It just Feels that way sometimes, Bruddah.
find Your peace

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

How are you feeling?

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Big Al's picture

music helps calm me some. You hang in there.

[video:https://youtu.be/3WJ1cf3nrLE]

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studentofearth's picture

breathing problem checked out. Regular provider or an immediate care center, emergency room not first choice. Extra stress, anger and pain are hard on the body and can cause a separate physical condition that needs addressed. Do not ask for an anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medication, or mention you think the breathing is stress related. If you do some practitioners will stop thinking about all possible causes and close up the visit. Let them perform as full a history, ask questions and do as full physical exam as possible. If their opinion is then it could be stress related - it more likely is.

The advice in the comments on stress reduction, meditation, yelling and focusing thoughts are good for both short term until you see someone and to incorporate in a long-term plan to prevent more problems that could come in time or minimize this one.

Exercise and movement are essential for good health. If I remember there are limitations, but you could probably do many of the exercises in the Sit and be Fit programs. It would be great if you could find a pool to simply walk around letting the water lift your body into a normal position. Another interesting program is therapeutic equine. Unfortunately usually expensive and not too many programs around the country.

Keep us updated - we care.

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Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

Lily O Lady's picture

a new app called Calm which, though free, tries to get you to pay $80/year. Still, I’m hoping it can help him to deal with stress at least a bit.

He had real problems with stress when he was taking classes at technical college. I understand your difficulties. They are very real.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

mhagle's picture

I can only add that I appreciate you and wish you the best in your efforts to reduce stress.

Namaste

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

mhagle's picture

I can only add that I appreciate you and wish you the best in your efforts to reduce stress.

Namaste

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Meditation is supposed to be good. I can't do it yet, but like calculus (which I also can't do) I know it's really useful.

Sometimes I just think about people who have gone through tough times. When I was a kid in NY there were friends parents that survived WW2, in the camps or fled shelling and fought for their lives. They some how made it. Sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and crawl through the broken glass, because the only way out is through the middle. You've prob. done that a bunch of times already. Sucks for sure.

I haven't had the chest constricting thing, I get more of an overload where I'm screaming inside "STOP!STOP!STOP!! If I could just grab one thing to hold onto I'll be ok". Then there's actual puking part of "if I gotta deal with this one more time I'm gonna puke" thing.

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Anja Geitz's picture

Hope you are doing a little better today. Think you've been given some good advice here for the short term. While I'd add that chanting helps calm me when I feel an anxiety attack coming on, I would definitely follow the advice of getting a full medical work up as it relates to your difficulty in breathing.

Be well
NMRK

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

The Aspie Corner's picture

@Anja Geitz I think the most difficult aspect of this semester is that I'm taking two classes in subjects I haven't touched in roughly 12 years (English Composition and Algebra). I've been told I'm good at both math and English, yet I struggle with them. A lot.

Coupled with taking a class like Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis (VERY intimidating, so much so there's only two other students in the class. The teacher seems to think I'll be okay so that's a good sign.) and a class centered around Java and it's definitely anxiety inducing.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

@The Aspie Corner @The Aspie Corner

Just keep in mind that it's all just steps, and take them one at a time. No magic, no genius, just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Except for those damn word problems, like
If an egg and a half costs a cent and a half, how many 3 cent stamps are in a dozen?

snicker. going for a laugh. (ducking)

Seriously, tho, the school should have a clinic. Let them take a look at you.

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Anja Geitz's picture

@The Aspie Corner

It always helped me to take things one step at a time. Once I did that, learning algebra became a process that I did not entirely dislike. Good luck!

https://www.thoughtco.com/overcoming-math-anxiety-2312581

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

The Aspie Corner's picture

@Anja Geitz @Anja Geitz PatrickJMT

I've always had a lot of trouble with math books...well, with books in general. This has helped even with just Complex Numbers so I'll definitely be referring to it as I go along.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Anja Geitz's picture

@The Aspie Corner

Back in the day when I was in school, we didn't have the Internet. It's a great resource. Like I said, take it a step at a time.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Hawkfish's picture

Twice, actually and it totally sucks. I feel for you. Here’s what I know.

As the second shrink explained it to me, anxiety is caused when the brain tries to control something it can’t control. Lots of conditions are examples of this: PTSD is an attempt to control the past, OCD attempts to control the future. I was simply trying to control my body, but it had similar results.

What helped me was Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and medication. CBT is trendy, but anxiety is one thing it is proven to help with. Basically you learn to push back against the negative thoughts. It took me three years the second time around, but it stuck. Meditation is a way of doing this.

For medication, there are a bunch of options. Xanex (mentioned above) is for acute, immediate problems and has a rapid onset and decay. Myself I was on clomezapan which has the opposite profile and works for long term treatment. It did tend to make me not give a fcuk but that was what I needed for a while.

So my advice is to find a decent shrink. And don’t get medical advice from random people on the internet...

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

@Hawkfish
to add the disclosure about medical advice. Herbalists and non-medical people are very careful about that. I think it's safe to describe medications, but not recommend them. After all, you're talking in public here.

And I'm glad you beat your anxiety. It can be crippling, I've had periods. But one of the first things I learned was how shallow breathing can induce physiological anxiety,from blood acidosis. Too much co2 in the blood feels like classical anxiety, and can be induced by tense, shallow breathing, causing respiratory acidosis.
from https://www.healthline.com/health/respiratory-acidosis
"Initial signs of acute respiratory acidosis include:

headache
anxiety
blurred vision
restlessness
confusion"

In any case, Aspie, I hope you got it checked out. How are you feeling?

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The Aspie Corner's picture

@pindar's revenge Thanks for asking.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

@The Aspie Corner

Keep doing whatever helped, but if it persists, definitely seek medical advice.

All the best.

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