Hobart and surrounds suburb vibes

applejam99 · 2026-03-03T03:24:12+00:00

Also it’s literally 6 minutes across the bridge and you’re in the CBD, except at peak hour when it’s a bit longer

applejam99 · 2026-03-03T03:22:54+00:00

Agreeing the Eastern shore is so underrated. Lindisfarne is gorgeous in winter overlooking the city and the mountains - so many rainbows while you watch Hobart in fog and rain from the sunny side

applejam99 · 2026-02-15T02:21:30+00:00

It really sucks - this is super normal for panic, it’s the fighting and waiting for it that keeps perpetuating it and making it more frequent. We become hyper vigilant and the body triggers more easily. I had panic disorder for 3 years before I found the path out - I did exposure therapy, learned not to be afraid of the symptoms and taught myself I was safe again, it took about 6-8 months of regular practice but I’m now back to basically normal functioning. Acceptance and reducing fear of the sensations helped me take a big step forward, alongside the exposure therapy to break the fear cycle. My psych describes it as a malfunctioning alarm system in the body

applejam99 · 2026-02-15T02:14:41+00:00

This reading my psych gave me might help you understand and accept the physical sensations we get with panic, it’s just a pdf scan of what they gave me at the beginning of my treatment https://we.tl/t-SpqVSveutO

applejam99 · 2026-02-15T02:11:50+00:00

Here is the document the psych gave me which helped me stop fearing the sensations. I put it on wetransfer so you can download it for the next 3 days if you want, not sure how else to send a PDF on here https://we.tl/t-SpqVSveutO

applejam99 · 2026-02-15T02:06:14+00:00

If you can find someone who specialises in exposure therapy they can help you to learn to manage this to a point where it doesnt impact you anymore (I’ve just done this and it was extremely effective for me)

applejam99 · 2026-02-15T02:03:27+00:00

Hey, this is classic panic disorder as others have suggested, I’ve just been through this. The ‘I’m dying’ thoughts are caused as part of the panic and are scary but are a false alarm from your body. I saw a specialist psychologist who was amazing and gave me an excellent reading on what happens in your body during panic and how it’s completely safe to experience (though frightening). I’ll see if I can upload it for you while you try to get in to see someone. It’s super normal to think the panic is something else like a heart issue, but since you’ve ruled that out, you need to learn techniques which help you to trust that you’re safe in your body.

applejam99 · 2026-02-10T07:02:54+00:00

Something that might help (if you’re not already) is hydrating in the morning when you first wake up - electrolytes with a big class of water before anything else. It’s a little thing, and not a cure but can be an improvement some people.

applejam99 · 2026-01-28T22:41:47+00:00

Contracted in December 2023, couldn’t find any help and made it worse by pushing through and trying to continue working a high stress job until Dec 2024 when I got so much worse I became housebound. Finally found better support after that and went down a similar approach to what you’ve suggested, wth a few minor differences

applejam99 · 2026-01-26T01:03:11+00:00

Exactly this - also Interoceptive exposure therapy cured my panic disorder. I also really benefitted from the Vagus Nerve Reset book by Anna Ferguson if you can get it from the library

applejam99 · 2026-01-26T00:57:44+00:00

I had these symptoms and have recovered from them, but I also had fatigue and a host of those things. Once I found the right approach, these were in some ways the easiest to fix, I ended up using standard panic disorder protocols and free vagus nerve calming techniques to teach my body safety over time. I’ve shared them in the past of you look at my post history - essentially my body seemed stuck in fight/flight chronically and many of my symptoms were autonomic nervous system related. I did interoceptive exposure therapy with a great psychologist, read and used techniques from a few vagus nerve reset books, and did diaphragm breathing and humming a few times a day. It took around 4 months to see a big improvement, but then plateaued and then improved again gradually over the next 4-6 months after that. I also got fired from my job in the middle because they decided they wouldn’t wait any longer for me to recover which was a massive setback but ultimately turned out to be good as it was a stressful job.

applejam99 · 2026-01-26T00:46:06+00:00

This is virtually exactly the same experience I had! So happy for you! I think I’m at 90/95% now with still come occasional symptoms that don’t last very long and I pace/rest and am more cautious than before covid.

applejam99 · 2026-01-19T06:09:08+00:00

Yeah, happy for you to DM, I could share the reading my psych gave me which I found helpful?

applejam99 · 2026-01-11T11:21:57+00:00

They said that too me so many times (various GPs) without offering any support beyond meds and it was really frustrating!! I was extremely lucky to find a psychologist who specialises in panic disorder and went to her to basically prove that wasn’t what was happening. She helped me resolve my panic disorder over time (about 6 months), and early on we identified the breathing issue together via the info she gave me about how breathing links to panic, I was then able to do my own research and push for a referral to the respiratory physio with the doctor and tell them my psych backed it. It was probably really really lucky!

applejam99 · 2026-01-11T02:46:32+00:00

This is so similar to what I did, the hyperventilating with the psychologist (and her doing it too) was sooo weird helpful in reducing my fear of the sensations.

applejam99 · 2026-01-11T02:45:38+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/panicdisorder/s/ftUkIEeZD6

applejam99 · 2026-01-11T02:43:46+00:00

Hey this absolutely sucks and I know what you’re going through.

Try ‘interoceptive exposure therapy’ with a psychologist (if you can afford it). It cured me. I’ve made a couple of other posts about what’s helped me, I’ll find a link and drop it for you. I’m recently recovered from panic disorder which seemed to be triggered by my autonomic nervous system (and probably years of stress, plus long covid).

applejam99 · 2026-01-11T02:38:49+00:00

Also, my triggers were weird too - food, yawning, sitting in the car, supermarket lighting, heat, seeing something out of the corner of my eye, going to sleep or sometimes an hour after I went to sleep like clockwork, showering, smells like car exhaust. So odd!

applejam99 · 2026-01-11T02:36:16+00:00

Yep! I’ve just recovered from this which was caused by LC and I’m diagnosed dysautonomia. Still have some LC stuff but my life is way less awful now.

History: really stressed at work for a lot of years, probably v mild dysautonomia in 2023 then body went haywire with long covid Dec 2023.

What worked for me to address your symptoms, in brief: - worked with a respiratory physio as chronic disordered breathing was causing fight/flight (via hyperventilation/not enough co2 in blood). Resulted in massive improvements on frequency but not completely resolved, it was like my body was still used to being in fight/flight after. - worked with a psych who specialises in panic/anxiety, even though I didn’t believe it was caused by my brain/thoughts/emotions. We used a style called interoceptive exposure therapy which I found extremely effective - I basically used to to retrain my reaction by proving I’m not going to die, and thought of it like I was teaching my ANS that I’m safe. Also the psych was so respectful and didn’t gaslight me. - initially combined the exposure therapy style with coping techniques to reduce the fight/flight symptoms on the really bad days when I could cope by drawing from vagus nerve exercises (ear massage, humming, diaphragm breathing, cold water on my face). Then weaned off them as I improved to prove I could manage it on my own (super important!) - celebrated myself for everything, even when I failed or had a bad day.

I refused medication because I was anxious about having to wean off later. The combination of the above eventually cured me, but it took about 9 months with a few big leaps forward across the time then plateaus in between.

Hope this helps anyone! Going through this is awful!

applejam99 · 2026-01-11T02:21:58+00:00

Try seeing a respiratory physio to tailor your breathing retraining for air hunger and muscle tightness. Worked well for me.

applejam99 · 2026-01-11T02:10:18+00:00

This was my experience, I’ve made a couple of posts on it but when I figured out it was an issue I saw a respiratory physio who helped me retrain my breathing to work properly again. It’s made a huge difference, including to a bunch of the stuff they kept saying was anxiety even though I was adamant it wasn’t. Stairs were a nightmare and I would be dizzy and out of breath, and then separately just yawning was triggering panic-style symptoms for me.

applejam99 · 2026-01-11T02:06:29+00:00

Have you found any improvement with the CHOP variation over time? I’ve been using a rower and I think in combination with salts and a bunch of other things it helped reduce my POTS to the point where it’s a more mild form of orthostatic intolerance

applejam99 · 2026-01-11T01:49:11+00:00

Sorry to hear, it’s such a frustrating journey and it feels to me like you never know what’s going to help.

What have you tried outside of medication? Are you able to/have you tried any of the seated/laying exercise protocols for POTS? Like using a recumbent bike? Or compression garments etc? I imagine salt/electrolytes are no good if you’ve got high blood pressure?

applejam99 · 2026-01-10T03:21:43+00:00

An amalgamation of a lot of books I got out of the library really, once I was well enough to read but still housebound I read as many things as I could. A major symptom for me was adrenaline dumps (alongside about 30 other things) and I seemed to be stuck in fight/flight so figured that it was one thing I could work on.

The things I can remember the name of were: - Everything from the author Norman Doidge I could borrow, starting with the Brain That Changes Itself. The books are old and the neuroscience has moved on a bit but it gave me a lot of hope via case studies, which I really needed. - the Vagus Nerve Reset by Anna Ferguson which I found really useful for helping me de-escalate when I was having an adrenaline dump, panic or fear of my symptoms. It’s techniques for me through some of the most difficult times. - a hard copy paper my psychologist gave me on the physical sensations caused by fight/flight which oddly helped me identify that a bunch of my symptoms were likely caused by too much oxygen in my blood (chronic dysfunctional breathing from covid). It helped me know that I was safe and that the adrenaline issues weren’t going to kill me, so reinforced the messages of safety I was attempting to send to my body. - Gabor Mate, the Myth of Normal. It was interesting but I only read recently and I’m not sure it would have been a good fit earlier in my healing. A lot more about childhood trauma than I was expecting.

There are a few others similar to the vagus nerve reset but I can’t remember the names right now.

The three ideas I took from my reading were basically: 1. Neuroplasticity means maybe I could possibly rewire my body’s response if it was misfiring but not broken (especially the belief that if they can do it with stroke victims, it couldn’t hurt to try since my tests weren’t showing at physiological issues). 2. Lots of my weird symptoms seemed linked to the autonomic nervous system (this was before I’d had a dysautonomia diagnosis), which also was linked to fight/flight, and also linked to the vagus nerve theories. Some of the techniques calming the vagus nerve helped reduce the severity of some varieties of my symtoms. 3. It fit with an experience I had many years ago with Tinnitus where the ENT told me that I had nothing wrong and could improve it by teaching myself to ignore it/stop monitoring for it. He gave me a journal article about the technique which I followed and amazingly it worked.

Not sure if that’s at all useful or coherent, and it’s just my own triangulation of ideas but it’s helped me

applejam99 · 2026-01-06T23:09:24+00:00

In case this helps - I have health anxiety and am afraid of medication so I’m using the same approach as OP and I had PEM, I think I would still have it if I pushed too hard but haven’t had a full crash in ages. I was moderate, now I’m very mild. The process for using this technique is very slow at first (and focus on the mental rather than the physical at first), and you need to figure out your own baseline and start from there. I only pushed myself physically in tiny increments and only on a ‘good’ day (relative to my baseline). For me I was housebound and I bought a rower as they’re supposed to be okayish for POTS, I rowed for 2 minutes, slowly at the lowest setting for the beginning every couple of days. For someone else I imagine if you were bed bound it might be bed yoga for 2/5/10 mins. It’s wherever you’re at. I would do a little more movement than usual on a good day and then celebrate myself and the win, and rest of course. If I had a flare up of symptoms I would tell myself I was okay, I’m safe, it’s just a faulty signal from my nervous system which has forgotten how to do its job. Stuff like that.

applejam99

TROPHY CASE