Clarification?
 

Hi everybody. It's been a tough 3 days. .

..I was wearing my face shield at the time and face mask. I was on my way to work, I take transit. My buddy hit me with his stupid tool kit ( not very hard) on the bottom part of the face shield ( face shield is just made of plastic) . He was joking around.
Thankfully the tool kit didn't make contact with my head. However, It made contact with the bottom of face shield, right right under the chin. The tool kit didn't touch any part of my head.

However, it startled me in a bad way. I felt the hit go to my forehead. In the past I have had a few concussions and PCS. Man, it sucks. After it happened, My anxiety was activated in a bad away. I have mild headaches on the forehead, a little foggy and a little tired. I don't feel right.

I feel i have a concussion but I think its anxiety. I thought I had my anxiety under control but it's back. I am so angry. I will get thru this. Gonna take time thou. I had to get this off my chest.

Thank you for reading. On a positive, i feel a little better.. getting there..What else can i do? -Alex

The body chemistry caused by a startle like that can set anxiety roaring back.
If you know this is a problem, you can try to learn calming skills. Breathing is the first skill to learn. Finding something to focus on can help.

Find low stress/low excitement things to stay busy with.

I have rescue meds for these time. Propranolol if by pulse and blood pressure get high. The propranolol usually works. I needed a Klonopin/clonazapan a few times before I learned to settle my mind and body.

I have not needed either in years but until I learned to settle my mind, things could get miserable.

So, i am learning to do alot of breathing. Keeping busy to get my mind off my anxiety. Its working. Hopefully, i can get stop the anxiety one day. Thank you for the advice Mark...

I learned to slow my breathing. I'm claustrophobic. I had to learn to settle my breathing when I would get in a claustrophobia inducing environment. I still am claustrophobic but as soon as I recognize the anxiety kicking in, I stop and focus on calming my breathing and shutting off auditory stimuli. Often, I needed to move away from an over-stimulating environment.

You need to add to the calmed breathing a thought pattern of, "That was just a bump. It was not an injury."

I am gonna make this a habit part of my coping strategy. breathing, calmness, removing my self from the situation.

I will consult my employee assistance program. I believe they have counsellors who deal with this sort of thing. I have a long road ahead of me but it will be ok..

Question, has anybody taken medication to deal with their anxiety? I have been anxious all my life. Since, I recovered from pcs, I feel like when i am stressed out, the headaches come back...

Anxiety meds create a whole new set of issues.

There are other ways of reducing anxiety responses. Not perfect but much better than an SSRI or benzo.

Nutritional supplementation is a foundation. Removing anxiety foods from the diet are also important......caffeine.....

Changing living environments and habits make a big difference.

I replaced a med with 5-HTP very successfully.