- Username
- Anxiousashley
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Hey Ashley, I can imagine how frustrated and stressed you are, so please know that you are seen and heard by me❤️ When I developed my anxiety disorder, I went from tolerating coffee fine, to ‘completely not’ being able to! You are not a failure for not being able to handle coffee at the moment!! Don’t punish your body for feeling what it feels. If you are already experiencing issues with anxiety, caffeine is a stimulant, and will excacerbate anything that is related to energy (anxiety). When I drank coffee at the peak of my anxiety disorder, it would give me a delayed (&severe) panic attack about 4-5 hours after drinking. There are so many different reasons why this may have happened - and whether our reasons align, I’m not sure, but I can only assume they do considering we both have OCD and seem to have had the same problem. My advice is work on getting your anxiety under control, however that may look for you. This may take a while, so please don’t rush. I didn’t drink coffee for about 5 months, and then I got my anxiety under control, and I drink multiple cups a day and I’m fine now. Of course, I’m not sure you actually want to drink coffee - so if you don’t, tea is a good trade off With the Easter situation you’re talking about, my therapist always told me to NEVER avoid a situation in fear of a panic. This is a hard pill to swallow, but please heed this advice - please. You don’t know how much you’re missing when you avoid something. Leaning into fear is actually you’re ticket to peace - funnily enough. Go for Easter, I don’t know you, but if you do I will be proud of you just knowing. Do Not Let OCD Rule You Ever.
Thank you. This means a lot I know I should go
I loved coffee but totally agree about the caffeine. Haven't had coffee in about a yr and a half. As far as Easter... you know what you need to do? You need to go! Your anxiety and OCD is giving you those thoughts. They are just thoughts! What if you go and have a great time and everyone else does too because you were there? You could try a script ERP before you go to help reduce some of the anxiety before.... like I may or may not have a panic attack at my family Easter gathering. I accept that uncertainty and I choose to go anyways. Do you already do ERP? If so, you know that saying that script and feeling your anxiety rise and then decrease by at least half before stopping will help you and that is how you get better, you don't get better by avoiding things because of a thought. Good luck to you. And go enjoy your family!
🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
I feel this I’m worried coffee is like a drug for me because I feel differently
Have you tried decaf coffee? I mean it’s not 100% the same but it does the trick and the best thing is that it doesn’t contain the caffeine that makes you feel anxious. I switched to that a while ago and I’m pretty calm. As far as Easter! I agree with Jess, just go and don’t avoid anything! Show yourself that you’re capable of having a good time!
I usually drink coffee every day, but always a cappuccino. Today I had straight granulated coffee, and I was shaking so bad and felt EXTREMELY anxious. I told my mum, and she looked at me like, ‘c’mon’ and I felt so embarrassed because I could feel my heart beating through my chest and I felt like I was going to die. On top of this, I was going with my friend to a job interview, and I had to pick up some contact lenses before. I had my glasses on, and they were crooked so I sat on a bench with my friend to put my contact lenses in, and I couldn’t get them in because my hand was shaking so violently! Eventually I did, but it was so annoying. Like I had no emotional anxiety, but I was shaking like a leaf. And then we got into the place, and it was a room full of people. I wasn’t emotionally nervous but I was so self-conscious of how physically anxious my body was, and how shaky I was that I started to panic. For some reason, my vision went SO weird, like I can’t describe it. It just felt like something shifted and, as someone with intense health anxiety, this really freaked me out and I was struggling to concentrate. It eventually died down, but it was so stressful and embarrassing like my actual face was shaking!! Like my cheek!! Like WHAT! Just thought I’d write it here to see if anyone’s had a similar experience!
I recently learned that caffeine doesn't give us "energy". It works by activating the flight or fight response releasing adrenaline and cortisol into the system that makes us more alert as if there is danger (anxiety) and by blocking the tiredness chemical adenosine receptors so we feel less sleepy than we naturally would. I am over 6 weeks caffeine free now and find that when I do get wound up I can come back to base line easier. Also I find that things don't annoy me so much as they used to. I just had a bad 2 days with OCD so of course it's not perfect for me but a lot of people say that they get huge improvement in anxiety when they gave up caffeine.. Just an idea for you!
I am having really bad anxiety today and just want to take an anxiety pill to help me relax, but then I have ocd intrusive thoughts telling me something bad will happen if I take it or I will go crazy or something.
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