How to Get Out of Fight or Flight & Stay Out of Fight or Flight in 5 Easy Steps
Dealing with Mast Cell activation Syndrome, Lyme Disease, Mold, and various PTSDs is hard enough let alone trying to combat this illness when you can’t get out of your way. Or at least that’s how I feel.
I’ve been there. Countless days where I can’t get anything done because I’ve exhausted myself with panic attack after panic attack or frozen myself in fear of the what ifs only to face another day of awful Mast Cell, Lyme, and Mold symptoms. After many years of trying everything, I learned the secret to getting out of fight or flight and how to stay out of fight or flight.
In this blog post, I’m sharing the 5 steps to get out of fight or flight that I have found to be the most helpful. I’ll be covering:
• How I stay out of fight or flight
• The impact of Fight or Flight on your our bodies.
• What is Grounding?
• What is EMDR?
• What is DBT?
• Why prioritizing getting out of fight or flight is so important for healing.
Let me walk you through the tried-and-true methods to successfully get out of fight or flight that I have tried and continue to use. So, if you are tired of not panicking, Freezing, and wishing you had your time back, you are in the right place! All of that is about to change for you!
How I Stay out of Fight or Flight
Looking back, I’ve always struggled with being in Fight or Flight. Honestly, I can’t picture a time when I wasn’t struggling with Fight or Flight. Throughout my adolescent years, I would have panic attacks over what seemed like everything. Nothing helped until I discovered alcohol. I was 16 when I first tried alcohol. After that introduction, I began to self-medicate with alcohol. Fast forward to my adult years, I continued to use alcohol to help manage my PTSD. Then boom, my health took a massive turn, and I started reacting to EVERYTHING, including alcohol. So abruptly I was forced to face my PTSD. Fortunately, this turn in my health was a wake-up call to assess what I was doing with my life, including my self-care practices.
After the initial panic of reacting to things I had previously not, I began to research and come up with a new health plan for myself. I read blog after blog, research article after research article and the common theme was the negative effects of fight or flight on chronic illnesses. I searched high and low for a practitioner to help me disengage from the constant fight-or-flight cycle I was experiencing. I had a really hard time understanding why EMDR was so much better at treating PTSD than conventional talk therapy. I had been in talk therapy since my early 20s and thought that I had identified my issues and that I was fine. I soon realized that wasn’t the case when I was exposed to a trigger and had a massive panic attack.
From there, I started trialing different tools to help me get out of Fight or flight. After a couple of months, I started to feel a better sense of self-awareness and continued to improve my self-regulating skills. The tools I found were now part of a routine that was easy to maintain month in and out.
I can now say that my health is on the up and up. I’m no longer reacting to as many things as I had previously reacted to. I’m able to do everyday activities without feeling exhausted. I’m no longer turning down plans with friends, or canceling plans because I’m able to self-regulate and stay regulated during the day, helping my body recover and repair.
So here is what I learned and how to implement it for yourself. This is exactly how to develop a self-care routine that you can stick to daily.
Step 1: Create a routine.
As humans we thrive on routines, the more we do something the more our bodies recognize it as normal, and we adapt. These routines once established begin to tell our mind and body that we are safe. As Americans, we wear stress like a badge of honor. We are somehow more important the more stress we carry. This is not the case, and we must acknowledge this as an unhealthy behavior that keeps us sick. While unlearning this unhealthy behavior I replaced the behavior with acts of self-care and gratitude. These tasks include meditating, belly breathing, grounding, stretching, acupuncture, and Epsom salt baths.
Step 2: The Impact of Fight or Flight and How to get out of it
The Fight or Flight response historically is in place to help humans survive. This goes back to the caveman days when large predators were very much capable of killing humans. The fight or flight response once initiated assists the body to fight off a predator or to run from a predator. The problem lies when this response is activated and doesn’t turn off. The body is in a constant sympathetic state where our adrenals are on constant overload. Common causes of this activation are trauma. I want to acknowledge that trauma looks different for everyone. I had a tough time recognizing my trauma because it didn’t look like trauma experienced by others. A classic view of what trauma looks like is the trauma experienced by the military. Yes, this is one form but there are many more, like physical, sexual, and psychological trauma. This can go back to childhood, or it can be a specific effect in adulthood. I found several things helpful when dealing with fight or flight. Some of my favorites are EMDR, DBT, grounding, meditation, and restorative yoga. Click here for more information on these topics.
Step 3: What is Grounding
Your adrenals play a significant role in your sleep-wake pattern. There are several cycles your adrenals go through when your body is in constant fight or flight. The initial stage feels like a rush of endorphins keeping your body and mind sharp for what it perceives as a threat. The second stage is where your adrenals get day and night mixed, and you can’t fall asleep till early am. The third stage is when your adrenals are completely fatigued, and your body can’t seem to get enough sleep. It is essential to support your adrenals through all these phases. The more support you give them, the quicker you can move out of these phases. I found a combination of things were needed to help support my adrenals. These things include a sleep routine, sea salt, fats, light exercise, and avoiding caffeine. I found avoiding caffeine the hardest one of all. Naturally, when we are tired, we want that coffee, tea, or some sort of caffeinated beverage to get us through the day. Unfortunately, caffeine further disrupts the imbalance of our adrenals and should be avoided.
Step 4: What is EMDR
Most of us have experienced some form of trauma during our lives. Whether it's one event or multiple events within one lifetime the body still reacts to this trauma. Our bodies are amazingly resilient and have a knack for getting us through these traumas but what happens when our bodies continue to react as though those traumatic events are still going on? This is where EMDR is helpful. EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. This type of therapy helps individuals process and reduce the emotional impact of traumatic events. Before starting EMDR I found myself reacting to every problem as if it was a trauma. I had a very small window of emotional tolerance. It was not only affecting my job, and relationships but was also affecting my health. Once I was consistent with EMDR I noticed a huge difference in the amount of histamine reactions I was having, and my emotional window improved. However, I noticed that I hit a plateau with EMDR. I was unable to move forward with processing the big traumas that I had experienced in childhood. This is when I added DBT therapy.
Step 5: What is DBT
DBT stands for dialectical behavioral therapy. So, what does this wordy description mean? It gives you the coping skills to expand your emotional tolerance window. This was helpful not only for moving forward with EMDR but also for my relationships. I was unable to be fully present when I perceived a situation to be unpleasant. Thinking of all the difficult conversations we have with our partners, yea I couldn’t fully engage in these conversations so I would either agree with my partner or freeze and not provide a response at all. When DBT was first recommended by my therapist I had a hard time understanding how this therapy would help me. I held onto the fact that DBT was originally designed to help people with borderline personality disorders. I kept saying to myself “But that’s not my diagnosis”. However, DBT has been very helpful to those with PTSD, and I have that, so I tried it out. I do DBT in a group setting virtually which gives me the ability to complete this from the comfort of my home. It also allows me to practice my coping skills/ tools within my home. This helps me practice when I do have a difficult conversation at home. I already know where my tools are, and I can use them quickly. This also prepares me for when I am out in public and find myself outside my emotional window. Some of the physical tools I use to keep me within my emotional window are my weighted blanket, essential oil roller, and frozen lemon. Click here for the weighted blanket I use. Click here for the essential oil rollers I use. When I’m unable to use these tools I use tapping, deep breathing, and walking. Click here for my blog on these topics.
Why Prioritizing Getting out of Fight or Flight is important for healing
When your Mast Cell reactions are increasing, you start to feel panicked and don’t know where to focus what little energy you do have on certain tasks. In my experience breaking down the big picture into manageable tasks is the only way to keep calm and make changes. When we look at the whole picture, we see the mountain before us. This is a daunting task for anyone. So, focusing on resting and improving our sleep quality is essential to the big picture. It's in my opinion the basis of our health and without it, we cannot progress. I found that my reactions were more severe and frequent when I did not sleep well. I have since learned to avoid my triggers even more so on days that my sleep is less optimal. Click here for more information on how I manage my mast cell symptoms. When we don’t sleep well our body is unable to repair and recover, this in turn makes our body react more to what it perceives as a potential danger. The more quality sleep I got the fewer reactions I had day to day.
While wrapping up this topic I encourage you to prioritize yourself and give your body what it needs! I was where you were, overwhelmed and discouraged. But I want to give you that hope and confidence to take charge and start the healing process.
