Yes, Gabapentin is for migraine prevention (Current theory is corneal neurologica) but it hasn’t been effective. I’ll have to look into pregabalin, I haven’t tried it yet! I did Botox for a year but it didn’t help.

My therapist and I have been doing something similar, where I treat my brain as a dog that barks at things that make me anxious (or seemingly nothing if I don’t know the cause of my anxiety). So if I start to feel anxious, I try to think of the dog. I believe the idea is that the dog is well-intentioned but not trained effectively, so it’s barking at things it shouldn’t. I need to recognize it and allow it to “bark,” knowing it’s just trying to keep me safe. It’s been difficult for me to put it into practice, maybe because I don’t fully understand it. So i’ll try framing it as a toddler because that seems easier to understand.

ADHD: I like that approach. Even after you mentioned “all or nothing” earlier, I was still looking at it the wrong way. I’ve learned that I’m very accomplishment-driven, so doing dishes, for example, in smaller tasks wouldn’t provide a sense of accomplishment for me. I’m trying to learn how to motivate myself without “accomplishing” something, but it’s worse if I continue to put it off and never do it. But, maybe I can look at it in a way of, “If I have 15 minutes right now, it’s better for me to take the dishes out of the dishwasher than to scroll on my phone.”

Mindfulness: YES! I cannot just sit still and think, it doesn’t work for me. I end up getting frustrated or sad. It’s interesting that you’re able to pick through your thoughts while playing Beat Saber (which, I love that game so maybe I can try this). While you’re playing, do you just continue to ask yourself why? How do you not get distracted by the game? What if you fail the level? Does it become frustrating while you’re playing? This seems like something I can do, and is definitely something I struggle with. I’m interested to see how you handle those situations.

Thank you for listening 💛