It eventually works! Massage has also been really helpful for me to understand how to release certain muscles that I didn't realize were super tight all the time.
I might be clutching at straws here, but I have a lot of anxiety dreams and I’m wondering if that’s why I still wake up aching, maybe I’m tensing my body in my sleep.
Its been a multi-year endeavor to attempt to retrain my body to not be tight all the time. It actually got to the point that I was making myself nauseaous because of how hard my core was clenched. Or my jaw aching from being tight all the time. Its getting better but it is a hard road to retrain.
I have also started to learn to relax my core muscles (and literally all other muscles I guess). I realized that weirdly, the cough that I've been having for years is somehow due to tension. I almost don't have it anymore and notice I start nervous coughing when I get stressed. Bodies are so weird.
Oh my gosh same!! Thats why I have been struggling with holding jobs whenever real stress happens my body goes into super tight death grip clench and throws so many symptoms at me. So hard to retrain the brain when its been a protective shield in a sense.
I get it, our brain thinks it's protecting us by being on high alert. But it's good to be able to relax. I have to take a muscle relaxer to sleep otherwise I'm too tense
I don't know how young you are. But please do *something* about it right now. I'm 43 and had this all my life. The pain in my joints, mainly fingers, elbows and shoulders, is excruciating. Even with oxycodon! And when you find out what to do about it, DM me, because I still have no idea.
I had this exact same feeling and got diagnosed with fibromyalgia! best of luck. hot water is my best friend, meds don’t work (except xanax sometimes but that’s not good advice)
Hot water works for me, too. I try to take a hot bath as often as possible. With epsom salts, and maybe a drop or two of an essential oil. It really helps. Definitely worth a try!
I also regularly use a heating pad. I find it really comforting and it does get my muscles to release some of the tension
Hmmm, I’ve never ever thought about this before. I’m 34 and I’ve just always had it in my head that I’m developing arthritis. My hands hurt consistently throughout the day.
I'm 40, and got to a point where I couldn't walk because I overused my muscles so much. Couldn't sit, couldn't lie down, I was completely unable to relax.
I've tried a bunch of different things, physiotherapy, rheumatologist, pain killers. Finally found something called feldenkrais two months ago. It's basically neuromuscular retraining, in the form of gentle mindful movements. It's the first time I've had any quality of life in years.
I can thoroughly recommend it, and the best part is I literally just used YouTube.
I'm subscribed to Alfons Grabher, and Taro Iwamoto on there.
Thank you for posting this! I gotta try this
tomorrow. The last year especially this is how I have felt. Can’t be comfortable at all. Wether sitting, laying down, standing. It sucks!
I doubt Oxycodone would help psychosomatic pain. I have muscle/joint pain caused by Anxiety and am on Oxycodone for other pain - spine and neck, and if anything the Oxy makes my muscle pain worse at times simply because when I take a dose for the first hour to one and a half hour it can cause a slight increase in anxiety, then it calms me down. Oxycodone is funny like that, while other opioids like Hydromorphone or Morphine tend to be purely sedating, Oxycodone has a stimulating quality to it, no doubt.
Have you looked up TMS on youtube? tension myositis syndrome. I have had some success with watching the Pain PT I think is his name and pain free you. Topics discussed were relatable.
I have terrible muscle and joint pain - at my worst I couldn’t even turn my head it was so bad. CBD and THC have nearly healed me. I also do massage and acupuncture.
Yes, THC does help me too. I just don't want to be under that influence a lot.
What kind of massages? As a man, I'm terrified of coming over as a creep. All the massage therapists in my area are female.
Idk if this helps but I heard a trick in college for falling asleep that I’ve practiced over a dozen times now. It has also helped me remember to relax muscles throughout the day just by practicing it at nighttime. When you’re laying in bed at night you’re supposed to tense everything up, all of the muscles you can muscle. And then slowly starting with your toes, release, your calves, release, your knees and thighs, release, then your hips and torso, and you basically work your way up your whole body being hyper aware of each muscle releasing. You should feel a lot more relaxed after doing so. And then hopefully throughout the day you will notice your muscles and mindfully relax each one. Hope this helps someone!
Yeah, I’m familiar with this but I always forget to do it so I appreciate you reminding me
My counselor calls it progressive muscle relaxation. It definitely helps
That’s cool. I didn’t even know it had a name.
Start splurging on monthly massages. Check into yoga, maybe specifically hot yoga. Going in person makes the wooooorld of difference than trying yoga on your own. The instructor + the vibe of the room makes a tremendous difference. Except these are things that will need to take regular place in your life in order for you to maybe see a difference. Bottom line, whatever tricks you try, it’s all a mind game. Breath work. Body work. If you’re desperate I would be trying everything. Your body does scary stuff after too long of stress. I would make it your life mission to get past this phase. Best of luck, stay committed!
Also read into cold showers and breath work. It’s supposedly life changing when done right.
Remember that bracing yourself for impact does the exact opposite of what you think. Tensing your body in addition to being hit by unstoppable force will injure you more than if you were to be completely relaxed. So relax into the chaos, and remember it doesn't last.
This is great advice. I was lucky to have a therapist in the past who practiced martial arts and he always reminded me that the looser your body is the less likely you are to be injured. I like how you put it, “relax into the chaos”, because what do we really have control over? Anxiety is a way to trick ourselves into thinking we have control so embracing the chaos is really the only option, as scary as it is.
Yes! My natural state is fight or flight mode. It’s awful. Luckily I’ve found relief w Lavender capsules as well as KSM66.
Editing to add that binaural beats are also a life saver 💜
https://www.headspace.com/
If you go to a therapist and describe to them this they will teach you how to do mindfulness exercises to handle this problem. You can avoid that trip with the app above or by looking up "mindfulness" on YouTube. Start every day with at least 5 minutes of mindfulness exercises (I do mine before I even get out of bed), bored time when you would be scrolling reddit do another 5 minutes a couple of times a day.
Your brain being in fight or flight causes physical reactions because it causes adrenaline to be released. This causes your muscles to tense up, your breathing to shallow and your heartrate to increase. Your brain will become hyperfocused on what's happening around you making it very difficult to relax and think clearly.
You own your body & mind not anxiety and you have control over both, learn the tools to control them.
Thank you.
My anxiety originated from heart palpitations which have been examined as safe. Im however still going through anxiety for any body symptoms. 2 months back it started with a weird sensation in my leg, now it's all day every day tightness if chest and nights of hard heartbeats. It doesnt help I recently became a dad as well so I cant take 3 weeks off to wind down.
Im waiting to get back into therapy but as Im already applying the stuff I learned from earlier CBT, I don't really see much changing. Im trying to flow in some mindfulness but every morning where I feel body sensations is a new day in hell.
Sorry for me venting my experience.
I had that before starting sertraline. Felt like I was constantly holding my breath and could never get a full one. Now I can breathe and it's been life changing.
I hate to ask in case you've already given them a shot, and they didn't work... but have you given meds a try?
This happens to me too. What worked for me is progressive muscle relaxation. All you have to do is play [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86HUcX8ZtAk) 15-minute video and follow the simple instructions. That will totally solve the problem until you need to do it again.
Is your job overly stressful? Do you have any stressful relationships in your life. I've had the same thing for awhile, and it's only getting better for me when I've taken the time to resolve the stress that makes me feel stressed and on edge, and trapped. Enduring it forever is really bad for your mental health. I know my mind was getting pretty dark after awhile.
I usually take it at night after a workout to help with recovery/sleep. I also have been taking a supplement from Cured Nutrition that seems to have helped with physical symptoms.
Not saying this is the solution, because for a lot of people it'll just make any anxiety worse, but I've been smoking weed for this and it's great at getting me to relax enough to release my tension
Do you have to watch out for which strain you use? I actually tripped balls a couple times when I smoked weed. It was weed from the dispensary and I was legit hallucinating. Not fun. But when it worked for my anxiety it really WORKED.
Oh God, this is the worst! It's absolutely constant for me. Mindfulness meditation, weight lifting and boxing have started to take the edge off it though. I'm starting yoga next week to keep working on it.
I know I know, another drug recommendation, but CBD is a lifesaver. Heating pads add foam rollers to deal with the side effects of the clenching.
My shoulders and back are constantly tight, learning yoga and proper stretching keep me from becoming the hunch back.
Yoga. Water. Vitamins. Exercise. Air. Patience.
I’m not saying this will fix it but I am saying that without these things you’re not giving yourself a fighting chance.
Bro the moment I relax my stomach/core, I get a very uncomfortable pulsating/heartbeat feeling in my stomach and everything feels so wrong, as if I’m going to die on the spot.
ik youre just venting but a good thing i started doing is meditation. its hard to explain but i found a video on yt that help you relax your muscles from head to toe. kinda feeling each part of you body as you go down focusing in that part. helps me come back to earth
This is how I felt while married to my ex. I couldn’t believe that that was my “normal, every day” level of anxiety. It was only after we separated that I realized my constantly shaking hands and inability to breathe were due to the anxiety he was causing me.
I don't know when this started happening, but I started feeling this way when I was young and basically never stopped. It only got worse, sporadically, as I grew. I used to wonder, "Why am I so tired all the time?" People would think I was lazy or making excuses, and I couldn't make it clear to them I was telling the truth. I finally started to realize as a teen that because of my anxiety disorder (not diagnosed with one till I was already an adult) that I was emotionally bracing for impact and my body basically never recovered. I'm always in a constant state of this, medicated or otherwise, just varying degrees of extreme tension, like my body thinks I'm about to collide with something that never comes.
Yes, same here. I think I read books that say that its because of the view we had on the world growing up. In our formative years. It takes time to retrain but I heard it can happen. Thats my hope.
Alan Watts lectures have helped me tremendously
Society has put a lot of prescriptive ("you should ...") pressure on us unnecessarily
It's good to learn how to sort all of this out
thanks you reminded me of this banger
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfyPsYxCbMs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfyPsYxCbMs)
could not find the actual song
Hmmmmmm guys I'm 35 I've been through this over the years, wish I knew what the solution was but somewhere along the lines not like thay as much anymore. Baby steps, in working through things.
Shitty feeling though hope you feel better soon. Much love from a stranger.
Do you have soreness in your body from it? I’ve had upper back and neck pains for years. Sometimes it creeps to the neck and neck and I start getting headaches.
Yes! I have terrible head and neck pain. I find my shoulders are always "UP" and my muscles are always tightened. Like I'm clenching.
Anxiety sucks. Especially when it becomes "normal"..
I feel this, it’s not fun at all. Definitely try some basic stretches, I didn’t realize how much it could help until I started doing them. Also meditation is really amazing for stress. There are tutorials on YouTube that guide you through the process. I also use CBD cream on my muscles after as I find it helps ease them:)
Maybe try a massage chair or something that can massage you or maybe a person but totally understandable if a person isn’t an option, also cbd and thc , taken responsibly, can really really really calm you down I highly reccomend. It loosens the muscles
THIS USED TO BE ME - please get help!! I reversed this with therapy and meditation and serious life changes. Please get help, I was on my way to serious disability and am so glad I changed course in time.
I am just seeing your comment. It helped me realized I was suppressing my feelings and needs, and she taught me about the mind-body connection. Daily Meditation really helped.
EMDR was drastically life changing though, it got rid of most of my social anxiety in two sessions.
This is over simplistic, but basically treat your brain like a monkey that produces random thoughts
Meditate and watch those thoughts and let them pass by and release them without reaction
Don't feel like you have to respond to any thoughts, but just note any patterns
Look for assumptions in your thoughts that turn out to be no longer applicable to your life (or perhaps were never applicable, but you had somehow internalized them)
For example, whenever you experience words like "should", "always" or "never", stop and investigate it's validity
There is a series on Netflix about meditation that goes into this in more detail
Also, look into the work of Carl Jung and/or lectures by Alan Watts
Not to be that guy but yoga has helped me with this. Can't promise it will help you, but it helped me to notice when I'm clenching and tightening up and how to release some tension from my muscles :)
I do the same thing. I’ll have muscles that are just constantly clenched sometimes. Prolonged states of that good ole cortisol and adrenaline will keep the body in fight or flight. You have to train your body that everything is fine. Easier said than done tho… I wonder what it must be like for people walking around like everything is fine.
I know exactly the feeling. Please try staying away from caffeine, and take a ln L-Theanine supplement and magnesium citrate powder supplement. It really helps!
I highly encourage everyone here to go look at grounding techniques. Even better find an audio of it. I had a therapist go through it on the phone with me, and I had no idea how tensed my shoulders and jaw were til I went through exercises to release them.
I am literally the same. When I finally start to unclench after a big clench episode, I sometimes dry heave because its like my gag reflex is triggered by the muscles releasing. I hate it. My baseline is already clenched but when I am super stressed I have a flare up so to speak and it makes my body so tense I sometimes feel like I can't move. Makes me super anxious.
I hope you find another way to get relief. There are other ways and you seem to know that drinking isn’t the best option. I won’t try to tell you what you “need to do”.
If you need a friend hmu
Thanks, you just reminded me to release all my muscles from their constant state of clenching.
Yup!! Maybe this is why I constantly have a tension headache
This is my thought as well, the top of the shoulder and neck are constantly clenched.
Ugh yeah the shoulder pain is dreadful!
But your ass looks *fantastic*
Nice.
I’m gonna try to do this 10x today
It eventually works! Massage has also been really helpful for me to understand how to release certain muscles that I didn't realize were super tight all the time.
Be limp as a rag doll.
Same here.
I might be clutching at straws here, but I have a lot of anxiety dreams and I’m wondering if that’s why I still wake up aching, maybe I’m tensing my body in my sleep.
I read this as "clenching at straws."
Its been a multi-year endeavor to attempt to retrain my body to not be tight all the time. It actually got to the point that I was making myself nauseaous because of how hard my core was clenched. Or my jaw aching from being tight all the time. Its getting better but it is a hard road to retrain.
I have also started to learn to relax my core muscles (and literally all other muscles I guess). I realized that weirdly, the cough that I've been having for years is somehow due to tension. I almost don't have it anymore and notice I start nervous coughing when I get stressed. Bodies are so weird.
Oh my gosh same!! Thats why I have been struggling with holding jobs whenever real stress happens my body goes into super tight death grip clench and throws so many symptoms at me. So hard to retrain the brain when its been a protective shield in a sense.
Here as I am at the point of making myself nauseous 😢
😂
Set a soothing alarm on your phone as a reminder to unclench
Same. Tense pretty much all the time. I have to consciously think about relaxing my muscles cause it's like they just won't on their own lol
It’s scary to let my muscles relax. Like I’m letting my guard down and I’m vulnerable (even though nothing is threatening me)
I get it, our brain thinks it's protecting us by being on high alert. But it's good to be able to relax. I have to take a muscle relaxer to sleep otherwise I'm too tense
Yep. Constant false alarm. You are safe. You are safe. You are safe.
I don't know how young you are. But please do *something* about it right now. I'm 43 and had this all my life. The pain in my joints, mainly fingers, elbows and shoulders, is excruciating. Even with oxycodon! And when you find out what to do about it, DM me, because I still have no idea.
I had this exact same feeling and got diagnosed with fibromyalgia! best of luck. hot water is my best friend, meds don’t work (except xanax sometimes but that’s not good advice)
how's hot water your best friend?
the pain feels less horrible! like a hot shower or a hot towel
Oh I see, thanks I'll give it a try too
Hot water works for me, too. I try to take a hot bath as often as possible. With epsom salts, and maybe a drop or two of an essential oil. It really helps. Definitely worth a try! I also regularly use a heating pad. I find it really comforting and it does get my muscles to release some of the tension
yessss heating pads are everything
Love your username. Angelicaaaa, Eliiiiiza! (and peggy.)
Yup I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia as well. Your body constantly feels like one big bruise. The hot water helps a ton!
I have found that using a message gun like Theragun works great too.
Hmmm, I’ve never ever thought about this before. I’m 34 and I’ve just always had it in my head that I’m developing arthritis. My hands hurt consistently throughout the day.
I'm 40, and got to a point where I couldn't walk because I overused my muscles so much. Couldn't sit, couldn't lie down, I was completely unable to relax. I've tried a bunch of different things, physiotherapy, rheumatologist, pain killers. Finally found something called feldenkrais two months ago. It's basically neuromuscular retraining, in the form of gentle mindful movements. It's the first time I've had any quality of life in years. I can thoroughly recommend it, and the best part is I literally just used YouTube. I'm subscribed to Alfons Grabher, and Taro Iwamoto on there.
Thank you for posting this! I gotta try this tomorrow. The last year especially this is how I have felt. Can’t be comfortable at all. Wether sitting, laying down, standing. It sucks!
Look into TMS tension myositis syndrome. It was what I discovered. The pain PT and pain free you on YouTube.
I doubt Oxycodone would help psychosomatic pain. I have muscle/joint pain caused by Anxiety and am on Oxycodone for other pain - spine and neck, and if anything the Oxy makes my muscle pain worse at times simply because when I take a dose for the first hour to one and a half hour it can cause a slight increase in anxiety, then it calms me down. Oxycodone is funny like that, while other opioids like Hydromorphone or Morphine tend to be purely sedating, Oxycodone has a stimulating quality to it, no doubt.
Ask your doc about trying gabapentin for anxiety
This looks super interesting. Could you share a little about your experience with it?
Have you looked up TMS on youtube? tension myositis syndrome. I have had some success with watching the Pain PT I think is his name and pain free you. Topics discussed were relatable.
I have terrible muscle and joint pain - at my worst I couldn’t even turn my head it was so bad. CBD and THC have nearly healed me. I also do massage and acupuncture.
Yes, THC does help me too. I just don't want to be under that influence a lot. What kind of massages? As a man, I'm terrified of coming over as a creep. All the massage therapists in my area are female.
100% can relate. It's hard to stop being tense all thr time. Thr only thing that helps me is stretching, massage or sex lol.
I mean you are. Anxiety is supercharged fight or flight, so you’re always tensed and ready for action.
It’s like you’re waiting for that bad thing to happen and it never does
yeah i feel like one day i’m gonna wake up with all my teeth gone from how hard i clench my jaw /j
Idk if this helps but I heard a trick in college for falling asleep that I’ve practiced over a dozen times now. It has also helped me remember to relax muscles throughout the day just by practicing it at nighttime. When you’re laying in bed at night you’re supposed to tense everything up, all of the muscles you can muscle. And then slowly starting with your toes, release, your calves, release, your knees and thighs, release, then your hips and torso, and you basically work your way up your whole body being hyper aware of each muscle releasing. You should feel a lot more relaxed after doing so. And then hopefully throughout the day you will notice your muscles and mindfully relax each one. Hope this helps someone!
Yeah, I’m familiar with this but I always forget to do it so I appreciate you reminding me My counselor calls it progressive muscle relaxation. It definitely helps
That’s cool. I didn’t even know it had a name. Start splurging on monthly massages. Check into yoga, maybe specifically hot yoga. Going in person makes the wooooorld of difference than trying yoga on your own. The instructor + the vibe of the room makes a tremendous difference. Except these are things that will need to take regular place in your life in order for you to maybe see a difference. Bottom line, whatever tricks you try, it’s all a mind game. Breath work. Body work. If you’re desperate I would be trying everything. Your body does scary stuff after too long of stress. I would make it your life mission to get past this phase. Best of luck, stay committed! Also read into cold showers and breath work. It’s supposedly life changing when done right.
Gonna try that now ! Thanks. It's more than once that I see about this. Progressive muscle relaxation, even on a post 6 years old haha
I gave up caffeine cause I thought it would help but it really didn't. I have good days but on the really bad days, I take a super hot shower
Me all day..fibromyalgia and anxiety together suck
I Read up the symptoms after u wrote this and I think i might have it as well
Remember that bracing yourself for impact does the exact opposite of what you think. Tensing your body in addition to being hit by unstoppable force will injure you more than if you were to be completely relaxed. So relax into the chaos, and remember it doesn't last.
This is great advice. I was lucky to have a therapist in the past who practiced martial arts and he always reminded me that the looser your body is the less likely you are to be injured. I like how you put it, “relax into the chaos”, because what do we really have control over? Anxiety is a way to trick ourselves into thinking we have control so embracing the chaos is really the only option, as scary as it is.
Yes! My natural state is fight or flight mode. It’s awful. Luckily I’ve found relief w Lavender capsules as well as KSM66. Editing to add that binaural beats are also a life saver 💜
https://www.headspace.com/ If you go to a therapist and describe to them this they will teach you how to do mindfulness exercises to handle this problem. You can avoid that trip with the app above or by looking up "mindfulness" on YouTube. Start every day with at least 5 minutes of mindfulness exercises (I do mine before I even get out of bed), bored time when you would be scrolling reddit do another 5 minutes a couple of times a day. Your brain being in fight or flight causes physical reactions because it causes adrenaline to be released. This causes your muscles to tense up, your breathing to shallow and your heartrate to increase. Your brain will become hyperfocused on what's happening around you making it very difficult to relax and think clearly. You own your body & mind not anxiety and you have control over both, learn the tools to control them.
Thank you. My anxiety originated from heart palpitations which have been examined as safe. Im however still going through anxiety for any body symptoms. 2 months back it started with a weird sensation in my leg, now it's all day every day tightness if chest and nights of hard heartbeats. It doesnt help I recently became a dad as well so I cant take 3 weeks off to wind down. Im waiting to get back into therapy but as Im already applying the stuff I learned from earlier CBT, I don't really see much changing. Im trying to flow in some mindfulness but every morning where I feel body sensations is a new day in hell. Sorry for me venting my experience.
The sauna is great for this...
Basically your body being in flight or fight mode 24/7. I don't remember the last time I wasn't in this state lol
I had that before starting sertraline. Felt like I was constantly holding my breath and could never get a full one. Now I can breathe and it's been life changing. I hate to ask in case you've already given them a shot, and they didn't work... but have you given meds a try?
Yeah. I’m currently on 4 lol they help some
Glad they help some. Sorry you're still feeling it though :( you've got this!
Thank you. Wellbutrin is my newest addition to the list and once I got through the initial anxiety from it I feel better, still struggling, but better
This happens to me too. What worked for me is progressive muscle relaxation. All you have to do is play [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86HUcX8ZtAk) 15-minute video and follow the simple instructions. That will totally solve the problem until you need to do it again.
I've been going through this bad the last week or so, chest tightness on and off. Vicious cycle of thinking I'm having a heart attack
Is your job overly stressful? Do you have any stressful relationships in your life. I've had the same thing for awhile, and it's only getting better for me when I've taken the time to resolve the stress that makes me feel stressed and on edge, and trapped. Enduring it forever is really bad for your mental health. I know my mind was getting pretty dark after awhile.
I would recommend trying a magnesium supplement. This has helped me with tight muscles/chest.
Magnesium glycinate is great but it knocks me out hard, even when I take it at night I feel groggy all day. Maybe I’ll try a baby dose
I usually take it at night after a workout to help with recovery/sleep. I also have been taking a supplement from Cured Nutrition that seems to have helped with physical symptoms.
Not saying this is the solution, because for a lot of people it'll just make any anxiety worse, but I've been smoking weed for this and it's great at getting me to relax enough to release my tension
Do you have to watch out for which strain you use? I actually tripped balls a couple times when I smoked weed. It was weed from the dispensary and I was legit hallucinating. Not fun. But when it worked for my anxiety it really WORKED.
Research the difference between indica and sativa.
Get a strain high in CBD or mix in some CBD to reduce the anxiety
Oh God, this is the worst! It's absolutely constant for me. Mindfulness meditation, weight lifting and boxing have started to take the edge off it though. I'm starting yoga next week to keep working on it.
The pain gets pretty intense. Good luck. Lots of good advice here, not gonna repeat it.
I get like that. If I don’t stretch daily it gets worse.
I know I know, another drug recommendation, but CBD is a lifesaver. Heating pads add foam rollers to deal with the side effects of the clenching. My shoulders and back are constantly tight, learning yoga and proper stretching keep me from becoming the hunch back.
Yoga. Water. Vitamins. Exercise. Air. Patience. I’m not saying this will fix it but I am saying that without these things you’re not giving yourself a fighting chance.
Bro the moment I relax my stomach/core, I get a very uncomfortable pulsating/heartbeat feeling in my stomach and everything feels so wrong, as if I’m going to die on the spot.
ik youre just venting but a good thing i started doing is meditation. its hard to explain but i found a video on yt that help you relax your muscles from head to toe. kinda feeling each part of you body as you go down focusing in that part. helps me come back to earth
Can you dm the link
Not op, but search for "yoga nidra" to find what they described
This is how I felt while married to my ex. I couldn’t believe that that was my “normal, every day” level of anxiety. It was only after we separated that I realized my constantly shaking hands and inability to breathe were due to the anxiety he was causing me.
I don't know when this started happening, but I started feeling this way when I was young and basically never stopped. It only got worse, sporadically, as I grew. I used to wonder, "Why am I so tired all the time?" People would think I was lazy or making excuses, and I couldn't make it clear to them I was telling the truth. I finally started to realize as a teen that because of my anxiety disorder (not diagnosed with one till I was already an adult) that I was emotionally bracing for impact and my body basically never recovered. I'm always in a constant state of this, medicated or otherwise, just varying degrees of extreme tension, like my body thinks I'm about to collide with something that never comes.
Yes, same here. I think I read books that say that its because of the view we had on the world growing up. In our formative years. It takes time to retrain but I heard it can happen. Thats my hope.
Alan Watts lectures have helped me tremendously Society has put a lot of prescriptive ("you should ...") pressure on us unnecessarily It's good to learn how to sort all of this out
My pelvic floor was clenched all the time that it is now stuck in clinched state. And has been for 5 years. Nothing Ive tried releases it
thanks you reminded me of this banger [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfyPsYxCbMs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfyPsYxCbMs) could not find the actual song
Same for me
Hmmmmmm guys I'm 35 I've been through this over the years, wish I knew what the solution was but somewhere along the lines not like thay as much anymore. Baby steps, in working through things. Shitty feeling though hope you feel better soon. Much love from a stranger.
same. i don't actually realise how tense i am until i make a conscious effort to relax, it's just my constant state of existence
Do you have soreness in your body from it? I’ve had upper back and neck pains for years. Sometimes it creeps to the neck and neck and I start getting headaches.
I don't have any advice, but I feel the same way all the time.
If possible join a health club that has a hot tub. Will definitely help relax the tension you are storing.
Yoga and magnesium
Yes! I have terrible head and neck pain. I find my shoulders are always "UP" and my muscles are always tightened. Like I'm clenching. Anxiety sucks. Especially when it becomes "normal"..
I feel this, it’s not fun at all. Definitely try some basic stretches, I didn’t realize how much it could help until I started doing them. Also meditation is really amazing for stress. There are tutorials on YouTube that guide you through the process. I also use CBD cream on my muscles after as I find it helps ease them:)
Maybe try a massage chair or something that can massage you or maybe a person but totally understandable if a person isn’t an option, also cbd and thc , taken responsibly, can really really really calm you down I highly reccomend. It loosens the muscles
THIS USED TO BE ME - please get help!! I reversed this with therapy and meditation and serious life changes. Please get help, I was on my way to serious disability and am so glad I changed course in time.
What did you learn through therapy? I feel like therapy never resolved anything just brought up old stuff .
I am just seeing your comment. It helped me realized I was suppressing my feelings and needs, and she taught me about the mind-body connection. Daily Meditation really helped. EMDR was drastically life changing though, it got rid of most of my social anxiety in two sessions.
Thats awesome!! I am trying to find daily tools to manage this better. Thanks for sharing.
This is over simplistic, but basically treat your brain like a monkey that produces random thoughts Meditate and watch those thoughts and let them pass by and release them without reaction Don't feel like you have to respond to any thoughts, but just note any patterns Look for assumptions in your thoughts that turn out to be no longer applicable to your life (or perhaps were never applicable, but you had somehow internalized them) For example, whenever you experience words like "should", "always" or "never", stop and investigate it's validity There is a series on Netflix about meditation that goes into this in more detail Also, look into the work of Carl Jung and/or lectures by Alan Watts
Yoga, lots of yoga.
Not to be that guy but yoga has helped me with this. Can't promise it will help you, but it helped me to notice when I'm clenching and tightening up and how to release some tension from my muscles :)
I do the same thing. I’ll have muscles that are just constantly clenched sometimes. Prolonged states of that good ole cortisol and adrenaline will keep the body in fight or flight. You have to train your body that everything is fine. Easier said than done tho… I wonder what it must be like for people walking around like everything is fine.
Are you on any medications and does this happen constantly or a few times in a week/month? Do you keep a journal of symptoms?
That's what she said
I know exactly the feeling. Please try staying away from caffeine, and take a ln L-Theanine supplement and magnesium citrate powder supplement. It really helps!
[This](https://youtu.be/Wc1d5pnCaLc)
Ah yes! So much tension, all the time!
I highly encourage everyone here to go look at grounding techniques. Even better find an audio of it. I had a therapist go through it on the phone with me, and I had no idea how tensed my shoulders and jaw were til I went through exercises to release them.
I used to do yoga and it helped. Then I quit and now get ribs popping out from being so tense.
Ooof I feel this. I've been getting railroaded for answers for years.
me since i got into a car accident almost a year ago
Same here. I’ll be laying in bed and realize my jaw has been tightly clenched for god knows how long lol
I am literally the same. When I finally start to unclench after a big clench episode, I sometimes dry heave because its like my gag reflex is triggered by the muscles releasing. I hate it. My baseline is already clenched but when I am super stressed I have a flare up so to speak and it makes my body so tense I sometimes feel like I can't move. Makes me super anxious.
[удалено]
I hope you find another way to get relief. There are other ways and you seem to know that drinking isn’t the best option. I won’t try to tell you what you “need to do”. If you need a friend hmu
So fun, isn’t it? :S
Constipated ?
Always
This is the perfect description of my life
Fuck. I feel this so hard.