Tag: sadness

This Isn’t An Ode To Panic Disorder…

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I’ve hated you since I started experiencing panic attacks

No

Even before that

I hated you when I saw what you did to my father

How merciless you were

I hated how vulnerable you made him

I hated how scared you made me feel

When I started having my own panic attacks

I wasn’t unsure or surprised by your arrival

I was just upset

I was angry that I couldn’t fend you off

Especially after having seen first hand the damage you caused

I was frustrated

And you grew stronger

I had my very first panic attack waiting to board a plane

That sense of helplessness and feeling of being trapped

Allowed you to flourish

And you grew stronger

I got more frustrated

I became depressed

At what I perceived as my failure

Failure of what?

Outrun you of course

Break the pattern

And you grew stronger

Throughout the years and the numerous times you showed up

You stole bits and pieces from me

From my identity

From the experiences I stopped myself from having

I can’t count how many things I’ve missed out on because I was just too damn scared of you

And you grew stronger

I didn’t know that it was me who fed you

I didn’t know it was me that built you up

I vacillated between fighting you and being so terrified of you that I hid behind medications and isolation

I’m bone tired of fighting

I’m drained of the energy it takes to be afraid

I’ve been living with you my entire life in one form of another

You haven’t killed me

Yet

I was hurt because of you

The people around me were hurt because of you

But it was I, who allowed that to happen

Not you

You were never strong

It was always me that was strong

Always fighting against you

And

Hiding when self preservation took over

I used so much energy trying to not let you win

That I didn’t realize

I could end this epic battle

By waving a white flag

I spent so much time hating you

When I should have been understanding you

Because you were struggling like me

You were the outcome of the bad day, bad week, bad month that I’d had

You were what my body needed to expel to move on

I was too consumed by the symptoms you gave me

The shortness of breath, the stomach cramps, the heart palpitations, the depersonalization

To see that those symptoms came up because I dreaded your arrival

I’m sorry that I didn’t see you for what you really are

You’re me

And we’re in this together

So

If my body and mind feel like they need to have a panic attack…

Well I guess it’s ok

We will get through this

It’ll be uncomfortable

But it will pass

Just like it always has

And I promise to try not to be so hard on you

If you promise to do the same

Who knows?

Maybe one day

I’ll even write a poem about how grateful I am for your existence

I’d tell you not to hold your breath

But we both know I’d be lying

So I’ll just say this

I get it, Panic Disorder

I really do

I’m only sorry that it’s taken me so long

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Dear Anxiety,

angelagagz3 Comments

You’re a thief

Always taking

Never giving

You’re deceitful

And dishonest

You’re a master manipulator

And you thrive on the fear you create

You’re a jealous thief

Stealing away happiness

And love

Even robbing old memories

Making them turn sour

You’re a callous thief

Full of pain you can’t wait to inflict on others

Desperate to infiltrate every last happy place

You’re a cruel thief

Taking away the innocence of childhoods

And destroying what should be carefree teenage years

Annihilating adulthood with haphazardly thrown bombs

You’re a cowardly thief

Preying on people in their weakest moments

Victimizing the same people over and over again

Taunting them repeatedly

You are words that haunt

You are living nightmares that plague

You’ve stolen so much

That all we can do is pull at our hair and cry in frustration

Shouting that turns into whispered pleas

To just leave us alone

Wondering what we need to do

What more we need to sacrifice

To satisfy you

Spending entire lives

Serving life sentences

Paying penance for what we can’t control

All because of you

You’re nothing but a thief…

‘Hope Is Being Able To See That There Is Light Despite All Of The Darkness.’ Desmond Tutu

angelagagz4 Comments

It’s an exciting time of year

It’s back to school time for a lot of people

Kids going back to school

Teachers and support staff heading back to work

A time for newness

Opportunity

Change

And me

Well I’m still home

Still

I don’t think I like that word anymore

It has such negative connotations

Like something is dragging on

And I guess this is

It’s sort of like living in purgatory

In between two worlds

….

I had to stop writing

I can’t seem to think about the kids or work without feeling so sad

The kind of sad where hot tears escape your eyes

Where it feels like you just picked a scab

And it’s red and raw and bleeding all over again

But it hurts so much more than the initial cut

Ugh

This isn’t where I want to still be

Still

Again that fucking word

Haunting me

Reminding me

I want to look back at my work memories fondly

Not with this gaping hole in my heart

Intellectually I know that I needed this time off

That I still do

There was and is a lot going on

That doesn’t

However

Stop me from wishing it didn’t have to be this way

I miss the kids I worked with

I miss the ones I haven’t even had the opportunity to have met yet

I miss getting to know them

Learning their stories

I miss finding ways to help them become better, stronger versions of themselves

It’s not entirely altruistic though

I selfishly miss seeing myself through their young admiring eyes

Looking at me like I held all the secrets to life

Looking at me with hope

Hope

I never managed to have much use of it

For myself

But always

Always managed to find even the smallest droplet for them

…

In this purgatory I find myself stuck in

I don’t belong in the work world

I don’t belong in the sick world

I don’t belong with the hopeful

I don’t belong with non hopefuls

I’m stuck lingering in between all of these worlds

With hope seeping out of my open wounds

Without a hope of saving a drop

But for those special kids in my heart

I’ll find a way

To save and keep a droplet of hope locked up tight

Just in case you need it…

Project Take Down Paxil 👊

angelagagz4 Comments

I feel like I should apologize for being MIA lately

But I’m not really sorry

Because it’s for a good reason

It’s for me

Last Wednesday I dropped my Paxil dosage from 40mg to 30mg

I won’t pretend I was totally cool with it

I had a lot of reservations

But I also really wanted to do it

There were some shitty days obviously

Two days when my anxiety spiked to an uncomfortable level and I needed to take more Ativan

Several days where I had dizzy spells that came and went

But I survived

I can tell the following things helped:

Writing affirmations daily

Trying to stay busy

Doing a lot of introspection over the root of my anxiety

Now today I went down to 20mg

Last nite I was really starting to psych myself out of doing this

I kept thinking ‘woah 20 is a big drop from 40’

Then J. reminded me that I was going from 40mg to 20mg

I’ve been on 30mg and am stable there

Now I’m dropping 10mg again

Which I successfully did last week

I needed to hear that

It helped ease my fear

I made him write it out so I could print it

I’ve already reread it a few times

Along with some other affirmations

I need to keep reminding myself that I’ve already dropped 10mg and while unpleasant

I survived it

I’m still safe

I’m still here

And most of all

If I did it once

I CAN most certainly do it again

Changing the narrative helps

Taking the unknown and making it something familiar

Removes the fear

For anyone else out there struggling with anxiety

If I’ve got this

You’ve got this

Hard and uncomfortable as it is

We have what makes people into warriors

I’m going to remember all of the difficult things I’ve been through in my life

I’m scrappy

I am a fighter

Think of everything you’ve survived

I hope you keep fighting

Because I will too

That’s what warriors do

Here we go…again

angelagagz14 Comments

After much deliberation

And talking with my doctor and psychiatrist

I’ve decided to try getting off the Paxil again

Although the first time didn’t go so well

I both want and need to do this

I’ve made a list of reasons why I need to do it

I won’t bore you with the details

I’m gonna try again

Differently

I’ll be tapering by 10mg a week

With the possibility of taking up to 4-5 Ativan a day if necessary

While part of me thinks this would be easy if I take all the Ativan

I know that it’ll be one more thing to wean myself from

So for now

They will stay be on my side

There if I need them

I’m trying a few other things

Like trying to be active and busier with other things

Physically and mentally

I’m also trying to go into this with a different mindset

I’m trying to remind myself this time around that I’ve faced many many challenges in my life

Some uncomfortable

Unpleasant

Painful

And I’ve survived

I hope one day this will be another thing I can add to my list of things that I survived

Wish me luck 🤞

What I wish you knew

angelagagz6 Comments

Once upon a time I saw a medium

Who told me that someone very close to me has been living their entire life with one foot in the grave

I thought to myself then as I still do now

That it was the most perfect way to describe this person

As a loved one of this person

It’s frustrating and maddening that they can’t shake it off

And see the love around them

Now as a person who can relate all too well

It’s frustrating for a different reason

The people around don’t understand

They don’t understand why that one foot stays firmly planted in the grave

They don’t see how hard it is to keep the other foot out of that fucking grave

They don’t get the difficulty making it through one day is, one function, one more appointment

I wish they knew…

It’s like constantly treading water to keep my head above it

My limbs feel exhausted

My brain keeps wondering when it’s an acceptable time to admit defeat and give up

My heart feels hollow

There’s a bone weary tiredness that permeates throughout every cell in my body and into my brain

I can go to sleep sometimes and sleep for hours

Wake up and feel like it’s never enough

Or I can lie in bed staring at the ceiling

Thinking that if I wished hard enough

I could make this all go away

I’m 36 years old

I can’t even remember a time before this

That’s fucked up

I mean

Surely I know there was one

I just can’t for the life of me picture myself in it

The present is like living in a post apocalyptic world

Where everything is bleak, tarnished and there is no hope

I can say for certain

This is not an enjoyable place to be

Living this way is not only exhausting

It’s also like having a flu you can’t shake off

No matter how many medications you’ve tried and doctors you’ve seen

Yet, even with the desire to feel better

The flu rages on

When you can’t remember a before

And you can’t see a future

The world becomes very narrow

It becomes the perfect setting for a dystopian society in a novel

Of which, one may want to read about

But no one wants to actually live in

It feels like I’ve become the main character in this novel

Searching for a way out

Up against opponents like doctors, employers, insurers

Trying to find allies

Unsure of who you can really trust

Like every good story

There’s a time constraint

I start to fear that I’m running out of time

I’ve read so many books where someone who needs help

Gets saved by a hero

In some form

I know that my story is different

There is no one coming to save the day

It’s just me

Still trying to find some way to fully live in this world

With both my feet firmly planted on the ground beneath me

‘Deep in the heart of my soul, I’ll feel so glad to go.’ The Smiths

angelagagz5 Comments

Disclaimer: I write this blog as a form of release. It’s cathartic. Please don’t tell me my feelings are wrong. This isn’t the place for that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What if this is as good as it gets

I keep replaying that in my mind

My heart doesn’t want it to be true

It lies to me

It tells me that it’s gotta get better than this

It weaves stories of a made up future that doesn’t include pain and sadness

And most certainly doesn’t include a disease as fucked up as Multiple Sclerosis

It knows just what to lure me with

It doesn’t bother with lies about riches and fame and fortune

My heart shows me a future that is serene

Days filled with thoughts that don’t make you feel like you’re going crazy

Nights slept through instead of worrying obsessively about what will happen next

It shows me a calm that I have never known in this world

It shows me a future that I instinctually know will never be mine

My mind is always there to remind me of what I already know

The heart doesn’t listen

Like they say

The heart wants what it wants

And so that traitor continues to beat

Thump thump thump

Sometimes the pounding is so loud and it reverberates through my entire body

Callously letting me know

That it’s still there

My mind always racing

To catch up to the beats of my heart

Ensuring it’s repetitive voice isn’t lost

So I continue

Another day filled with my heart and mind at war

Another day spent fighting and trying to drown out the noise

That nobody but me can ever hear

Still I wonder if it’s easier

To fight battles that exist outside the walls of your own skin and bones

So now I imagine a future

Without the lies of harmony and calm

With an enemy on the outside

My heart and mind finally calling a truce

And letting me Rest In Peace