Relaxation induced anxiety

[burns]

Hello,
First time to do this.
Middle aged male.
Has anyone heard of relaxation induced anxiety?
I can relax at the drop of a hat and feel fine,but will only sleep approx. four hours. If I stay relaxed will suffer physical and mental fatigue,and will feel wrecked.
I have tried a lot of different therapy's but no joy.

burns.

 

[Halo]

Hi Burns and welcome to Psychlinks :welcome2:

Unfortunately I haven't heard about what you are described but I hope that reading some threads on here in the Anxiety section will help.

 

[ladylore]

Welcome to Psychlinks.

 

[healthbound]

Hey Burns,

Welcome to psychlinks!

I have experienced relaxation induced anxiety. My experience is a bit different then yours though. I would get anxiety or panic attacks whenever I tried any relaxation or meditation techniques (except yoga - maybe because of the physical movement and I could focus on that?). I don't have it anymore, but it was very prevalent when I first began learning about relaxation.

What suggestions did your doctor/therapist give you as a way to deal with it?

Don't forget there are many possible causes for interrupted sleep (sleep apnea, acid reflux, crummy bed, depression, anxiety etc). Have you explored any of those?

 

[burns]

Hi everybody.
Thank you for the welcome.
I was interested to read Healthbound had experienced RIA.
Was Yoga a real help? And did you find a cure?
I find anything that physically relaxes me does not work.
Symptoms start with ringing in ears then physical and mental fatigue.
I'm afraid no joy from therapist.

burns.

 

[sister-ray]

Hi Burns and welcome

The only thing I have experince which is slightly similar is getting up to fast from relaxation or meditation, or being interupted when relaxing/meditating,, that can cause ringing in my ears and palpatations and make me feel quite ill for a short while, I was always told to come out of any relaxation or meditation slowly to stop this happening, I should imagine waking up to quickly from sleep would do the same. Im not expert but maybe you only need 4 hours sleep, some people dont need as much sleep as others.

 

[healthbound]

Was Yoga a real help?

Ya, yoga really helped me actually. I also did some acupuncture. The acupuncture helped me relax, but not right away. Maybe after about 4 - 6 weeks of getting it 2x per week and doing yoga 2x per week as well. And the yoga didn't work right away either, but it was less anxiety provoking than any of the other relaxation techniques I was trying. The worst one for me was the guided imagery where I was "guided" to find a "safe" place. I broke out into full-on panic attack mode with that one, lol.

Symptoms start with ringing in ears then physical and mental fatigue.

Interestingly, when you mentioned "ringing in ears", it reminded me of when I first recall experiencing anxiety. It was at night as soon as I got into bed (I've always struggled with "bed time"). I was probably in grade 3 or 4. As soon as I got in bed, my ears would start ringing and everything else seemed to fade somehow. My face and ears would then become red and hot and the ringing would continue - sometimes to the point where I felt "out of my body" or separate from the environment. My mom didn't know what it was and my dad didn't acknowledge it. He said I was faking it just to get out of going to bed. Soon it began affecting my days too. I was terrified about feeling the anxiety again knowing night would be back in a few hours. My mom figured I was possessed or my room was possessed and she had an old school catholic priest perform an exorcism in my room. It didn't help. So as I got older, I learned various ways of distracting myself -many of them very destructive.

Sooooo....

And did you find a cure?

Not completely, but I did finally learn some healthier ways of coping. I learned the most effecting techniques a couple years ago. Most of them are pretty basic and/or based on mindfulness. Basic but effective things that help me elevate anxiety and sleep disturbances are:
-Getting any kind of exercise for at least 20mins a day
-Limiting caffeine (including coffee, tea, pop and chocolate) and
-Limiting sugar

Those are things I could do immediately. The other things that helped took a bit more time. It might sound odd, but I learned to allow all my thoughts and anxiety/feelings instead of trying to push them away. The more I try to stop or change my experience, the more anxious and frustrated I get. So, I would pretend my thoughts were on a scrolling marque and I would watch them enter my mind and then leave my mind
with no attachment. I would try not to follow the thoughts through...I would just notice the words of the thought and that was it). No matter what the thoughts were...I wouldn't stop them...I'd just observe them.

Same with my emotions. So, if I felt anxiety, I would just try to notice it. For me I feel anxiety in a specific place in my stomach (except for when I was younger when I got the ear ringing etc). I'd try to pay attention to how the sensations felt but not deem them good or bad.

I'd often get spinning on one train of thoughts or forget that I was just paying attention to how the anxiety felt and I'd have to bring my focus back without getting mad at myself for getting side tracked.

It may sound goofy, but using these techniques worked for me. They helped me be objective and somewhat detached in a way. They took the pressure off of the part of me that panicked about panicking. And eventually it subsided.

Aaaaaaaand when I'm not into being all-mindful-n-stuff, I watch TV until I'm so exhausted, I can barely think and need to go to sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. Or I read a book in bed until I go cross eyed.

I'm afraid no joy from therapist.

"joy from therapist" is a rare find

The therapists that were leading the relaxation techniques (the ones that were NOT working for me) explained that I had relaxation induced anxiety. They were very patient with me and just kept trying. But it wasn't until I began mild yoga and acupuncture (at another place) that I was able to make some progress.

What about you...Has this been something you've been experiencing all your life or periodically? Or is it a relatively new experience for you?

Sorry for the long winded message...I'm a rambler.

 

[amastie]

Hi,

this thread was started by Burns in the Introductions forum but I thought best to reply here.

From the experience of different forms of meditation as well as insights I've received, I arrived at form of meditation which is extremely helpful for me to relax, to still my mind and also to release my need to overeat. It happens, however, that every time I have started to feel its great effect there has suddenly occurred an upsurge of fear and what I can best describe as losing myself in a state of panic. It doesn't arise slowly, but erupts from my pelvis and surges violently through my body. In that moment, I become not me. (It is called dissociation and is the subject of a different forum, but it is can often be brought on overwhelming terror).

With that, even though the practice of meditation will have enabled me to lose weight, I am now suddenly overcome by a desperate need to eat and to *gain* weight, usually more than I lost.

For me, relaxing to a deep level gets me in touch with a part of myself that is not yet healed, a part I think that heeds to be heard and yet has no voice. It has happened each time I have practised that meditation. Now, I'm too frightened to do it for long.

So yes, Burns, I know that relation can create anxiety. Other people have responded to your thread (in the Introductions forum) with their own reactions. This is mine. I don't expect that we have the same reasons for it. I only wanted to add my experience of it to the mix.

By the way, my way of overcoming this reaction has been a mixture of anti-anxiety medication (a Godsend in managing most days), seeing a psychiatrist who specializes in dissociation, as well as spiritual counselling to best get to the fears which confront me at those times. It is the spiritual counselling which seems to be having the most effect so far, but I'm still working on it, and can see no guarantee of an end.

All the best,

amastie