Re: [aiws] I need help badly

[David Ng]

When my symptoms were at their worst, I found the best way for it to go away was to breathe, slow down my heart, and continue through my day like nothing was wrong. For me, the worst thing to do was to panic - if I did, my vision would feel even more disconnected and I would feel further away from my body.  If I treated the attack like something I knew would go away, as just a temporary hiccup in the day, the warped perception would recede.  With practice, I was able to function normally even during an attack.  

Another thing that helped me was talking about the experience with a non-judgmental friend in a totally objective way and trying to describe what I saw and felt (mine was more visual and spacial, not audio).  Talking about it this way ended up being kind of fun and I think took away some of the stress of the episodes when they occurred.  

You may also want to try to learn simple meditation.  When I was in college I learned a technique that simply involved focusing on your breath.  I think it was after this that my AIWS really receded.  Today I experience symptoms maybe once a year.

On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 1:18 PM, Sean <ssee...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have been suffering with aiw syndrome for many years. In the begining it was just a mild annoyance but right now it's unbearably bad. I was put on fluoxitone about a year ago for anxiety and depression and that helped quite in the beginning but right now it doesn't help as much as it did in the beginning. I don't know who to talk to about it(I feel like my parents don't believe me and/or sick of hearing me complain about it) or if there is any hope for treatment but the whole situation has me pretty down.

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[Dawn Morris]

In my sons case he had certain food and non prescription drug triggers.  Keep a food diary. See an allergist. The amount and frequency of eating the food had and effect. Antihistamines like Claritin and Zantac helped. He often craved the food which is just weird but true. For him dextromathorphan was a big one. Celery and aspertame and salami were all bad.

Also talk to a counsellor to help you cope. Stress, being tired and illness were also triggers. The school counselors are an option if your parents won't take you to an outside one. Good luck

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[David Ng]

For me it subsided in college, probably around your age, shortly after I started meditating (likely 19 years old).  Sounds like your symptoms are worse than mine were, but I really do believe meditation can help.   Meditation doesn't need to be spiritual and you don't need to do yoga Ommmmms, it should be a personal and no-pressure exercise.  Here's a simple guide that is similar to what I learned which is essentially focusing on breath and simplicity.

http://stopandbreathe.com/2011/03/04/meditation-101-a-10-step-beginners-guide/ 

I also have a friend who advocates using a candle so you can focus on it...but I think with AIWS, that may be distracting.

On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 3:32 PM, Sean <ssee...@gmail.com> wrote:

What age were you when it started to subside? I'm 20 but it's been on the same bad level for 2 years. I feel like it have permanently messed up my vision (or at least how my brain process's my vision) as I see things much bigger than they appear all of the time. The more I think about it or focus on it is when it develops into an episode where it gets so bad and start to panic and have to stay in bed for hour until it passes.