I never saw myself as having anxiety, but I’ve been feeling into it a lot lately with much shaking and teeth chattering. The shaking just keeps going unless I stop. Maybe too much of this is overwhelm and trigger, and it led to being sent to A&E with a very high blood pressure.” I assume A&E is a name for emergency. “Seven hours there crammed amongst lots of spluttering children led to horrendous flu, and now my blood pressure is perfectly normal, but heart rate still high. Not been ill like this in a decade. It’s been agonizing. Feels like endurance and suffering are inevitable and relentless.
Call Tag: overwhelm
My daughter was born at the start of COVID when stress was high and I was having career uncertainty. I remember I freaked out when she was born, and recently through SBSM, I realized how this moment was kind of a stored survival stress that made me see parenting as scary and overwhelming. Any tips on how to work on fully releasing that so I can shift my relationship with parenting? I recently started tapping into the joy of parenting after those insights, and I want to experience this fully.
I often experience overwhelming grief, shame, shutdown, or experience a feeling in the center of my chest like a vice grip clamping down in mid-conversation, and or in social situations. When this happens, it’s extremely difficult for me to attend or even get viable sentences out. Then I feel more shame for being unable to engage and enjoy, and it becomes a vicious cycle. If I’m not able to remove myself to take a quick break or reset, how do I manage this in the moment?
I noticed my mom and myself playing out a pattern of going into complaining, emphasizing hardships, the obstacles in life, et cetera. My mom does it with me and I do it as well in other relationships. If they feel sorry for me, then they will take care of me. If I am doing okay, then there will be no attention, love and safety, but too much responsibility being asked of.
How does use of alcohol, whether moderate or excessive, impact this work? I find that it’s easier for me to access my emotions when I drink alcohol, and I don’t know why. However, use of alcohol makes me more anxious in general. I feel like while it can be helpful in some ways, it’s more damaging than helpful in the long run.
Yesterday I felt, again, into the trap of using my little regained energy and pushing through things without noticing my body. At the end of the day, I felt so hyper when I tried to sit down and get in touch with my body. I felt like fleeing and looking for distractions as the sensations were so uncomfortable. Tightness in the chest, throat, heart area. Having a history of physical and emotional abuse, I noticed that is how I usually go through every single day. Any recommendations to work with that?”
I saw a short video on Irene’s Instagram where the vagus nerve was mentioned, and Irene said something about the vagus nerve being very popular to work with today. But her expression hinted about this not being enough. I’m very interested in knowing about her reaction to vagus nerve techniques.
Would practicing neurosensory exercises regularly help calm the hypersensitivity over time?
“I have some pretty significant preverbal shock trauma. When I have built enough capacity to release this, what might it look like? Can it come on without warning? Might it bring me to my knees? Since it’s preverbal, knowing what I know from my experience with psychedelics, will it be messy, and childish, and confusing? I guess I’m just curious if it might come out of nowhere and resemble having to, like, go to the bathroom really badly and not being able to hold it
From the nervous system perspective, when do you know you are above your capacity? In other words, what are the signs that you’re overwhelmed?