Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Anxiety anyone???

Mine is definitely internal -- I can have a panic attack about the dumbest things! And even I know they're dumb, even as I'm hyperventilating... I think just about anything will do - just whatever happens to be at hand when it hits.

I think, though, if I felt like I didn't have control over my life I would be "honestly" anxious -- hormones or no hormones. I don't know if I really did have control over things as a kid or if I was just blissfully ignorant, but either way works!

That does sound inconvenient at the very least!

Does this happen often?

It's not often a full blown panic attack... otherwise I'd be all over the antidepressants right now! LOL But about, oh, once a month or so I have one or two nights of not a whole heck of a lot of sleep, and that week I'm "twitchier" than usual. Inconvenient, but not awful.

Yeah, I was on antidepressants for about 5 minutes for my migraines--BAD reaction for me! Worse than the migraines (and that's saying something!)

Personally, if it isn't more than just inconvenient, I'd do exactly what you're doing and avoid the meds.

(Note: this is totally my limited experience, and I do think that antidepressants can be lifesavers! I'm not anti-meds.)

So how do you handle those "twitchy" days? It seems like it would be hard given that you have a child.

I can behave myself, provided there aren't any particular anxiety-producing incidents (anything involving large beetles, for instance....eek!) which I'm likely to completely overreact to. No one really suffers except me, and frequently some professional somebody or other gets extra work. Usually someone in the insect-related fields (exterminator, handyman armed with caulk and expanding foam, chimney sweep...)

Oddly enough (and this goes with the "dumb" part), spiders don't bother me at all. Even when I was bitten by a black widow (ow!) it didn't have the same effect that just having to go out to the compost bin at dusk when everything is crawling in there... eewwwwwwwwwww... Honestly I'd rather be bitten by another black widow than come face to face with the larger beetles. But retiring to the arctic would also be good.

I had meds for the PPD (since there was nothing to do about the sleep deprivation! LOL) and they worked, but with irritating side effects. I know I could take them again, but it's not really that bad.

Thanks for sharing. This is very interesting.

My son told me yesterday that the "second hand stress" I was exposing him to was worse than second hand smoke.

I wish I knew how to stop the stress. My stress now is "situational" but I can't do anything about the situation. I wish I could have given my son the normal, carefree childhood but it wasn't possible. I don't know of any way to not feel stressed about watching my mother, who was a wonderful mom and more like a best friend, very slowly die (six years now) and watching my dad who used to be so strong look so tired and sad all the time while he tries to take care of her 24 hours a day with only me and my 10 year old son available to take care of her when he has to go to the store or doctor. My sisters work full time but they do bring meals on the days that I don't. My son and I take lunch to my parents several days a week and visit for hours. This is the kind of socialization my son gets at the moment instead of being with other kids his age so I stress about this too. When we take care of my mother there are things I have a lot of trouble doing like helping her up off the floor when she falls or helping her change her adult diaper when she is sick and it is leaking all over the floor and she won't stop when I ask her to and when she does she gets mad at me because she doesn't remember who I am and my son is in the next room worried about me. He has seen and heard things because of my mothers illness that I wish he hadn't. I feel this is one of the reasons he seems more like an adult instead of a kid, but like he told me once, we have to deal with what is, instead of the way it should be. He is way too mature for his age. Like his adult sister said, it is like he just skipped childhood.

I have asked him many times if he would rather go back to school instead of homeschooling but he always says no and I think he knows that he is a big help to me.

I know I let him stay on the computer too long and watch too many educational shows that he loves because I know it is an escape for him and he has friends online. He learns all kinds of interesting things and shares them with me. Learning something new and interesting is often the only way we find a little bit of happiness. We don't go outside much because when we walk down the road all we see is cows and we just don't want to see any more cows. Cows just don't hold our interest enough to take our minds off the stressful things we are dealing with.

Dealing with stress is why I had trouble making him do math when he wanted to learn about everything else instead. In survival mode sometimes you just have to let some things go and I did. Now that I see that this could go on for another year or two or three I realize that I will just have to make him do a certain amount of math every day and listen to him complain.

I got a prescription for something to help with anxiety but I rarely take them because they make me very tired and I can't be tired.

We also have to not watch the news when DS is around. And had to switch yahoo to kidsyahoo.com, prob did that a bit late.
Does your DS tell you what his nightmares are about? Prob things he shouldn't be worrying about at his age right?

Hi Lori,
Boy sounds like you and your son have your hands full.
I would admit yep I am anxious too so that doesn't help matters for your kids. I am on meds for thyroid disease and anti-seizure meds but not taking anxiety meds.
Doesn't it break your heart to see your DS worry.
Does it feel too like they are alone and not even family understands what they are going through.
Having to dumb down his speech so the other kids can understand him has to be heartbreaking. Wearing a brace on top of it makes it all the more difficult.

Boy Lori you have a lot going on.
How can you homeschool w/everything.
Have you homeschooled his whole life?
I was thinking about it for a last resort but everyone in the world seems so against it.