keeping things moving with CBD
It’s no surprise that I suffer from anxiety. It runs in my family on my dad’s side and I’ve dealt with all the fun chaos it causes ever since I was little. At first I had no idea how to control it. I’d have panic attacks that seemingly came out of nowhere. Later in college I learned what my panic attack triggers were: lack of sleep/ exhaustion, high stress, and extreme drinking or dehydration. Basically all the things that make most people pissed off or grumpy always gave me panic attacks! Cool!
Whenever people who don’t have diagnosed anxiety experience one, they say it feels like a heart attack. Though I’ve never had a heart attack myself, I can attest to panic attacks being painful, scary, and exhausting. However once you know what to look for, the scariness factor lessens and it becomes more of an annoying bodily function you have to deal with when life is crazy or you just haven’t been taking great care of yourself. I normally refer to panic attacks as “stress hiccups”.
Whenever a panic attack struck, I’d immediately notice how hard it was to breathe. Then my heart would race. Then I’d be hyperventilating and everyone would try to come up to me, hold me, tell me to breathe, that I wasn’t dying and basically do the opposite of what was helpful. Over the years I’ve learned how to prevent, spot, and work through them. My panic attacks can last anywhere from 10-45 mins. They’re super embarrassing if I have them in front of friends because everyone wants to help but no one really knows what they’re supposed to do (HINT: just give em some space). What works for me is propping myself up against a wall, let myself hyperventilate out the anxiety my body is feeling because holding it in only makes it worse and just wait till it passes and my body calms down. Occasionally, if I have CBD near me, I take a vial of it to help ease the attack.
But learning how to calm my anxiety in 2020 was difficult. All my tricks no longer worked as well and I’d go to bed with nightmares and wake up with a clenched jaw and thus be exhausted and on edge all day. Panic attacks always suck in the moment but what sucks the most is what comes after. You’re left with zero energy and would kill to feel calm and productive. All you can do is lay low the entire day and be cool with accomplishing nothing WHICH SUCKS. Luckily a CBD based alternative to downing coffee and dehydrating yourself further exists. When I started taking Highline Wellness’ CBD Energy gummies, I was. a bit skeptical. Normally adding caffeine to my regimen would only. make my anxiety worse but these gummies are a game changer.
On days when I’d feel exhausted and hadn’t gotten much sleep, I’d take a gummy in the morning then go about my routine of cleaning the house, and answering emails. Eventually I’d have a small cup of coffee in the afternoon instead of the first thing in the morning. I felt that I was able to swerve panic attacks by having an added boost of energy all while staying calm. MIND BLOWING. In fact on NYE my boyfriend and I were both feeling sluggish and exhausted. We thought we be home from our friends house by 1am since we didn’t have the energy to stay out at all. Before heading out at 8pm we chewed a CBD Energy gummy instead of reaching fora Red Bull and slowly but surely, the exhaustion disappeared and we were able to hang with friends until 4am. We weren’t wired or super awake, just not exhausted! By 4:30am we were sound asleep and woke up feeling great. These gummies will for sure be my best friend whenever I feel the need to reel in my anxiety and keep it from ruining a perfectly good day (or night!)
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