I rock when I’m stressed by it feels more like an urge to release something. This past week I’m rocking quite madly, I’m going through distressing physical symptoms, also have a lot of study pressure and am fighting delusion with all my might, if i rock i keep up with it all, it’s like I’m racing my thoughts and if I’m not rocking I’m jiggling my legs. I don’t think it’s meds but I just want to stop my mum thinks it’s optional but it doesn’t feel that way and she’s either angry or worried that I’m doing it a lot. I have an appointment with my nurse and I often gently rock in sessions but at the moment it’s rather wild more fast and deeper. I’m embarrassed. I was doing it in my art class (which is with people who don’t have mental health issues and no-one apart from the teacher talked to me-I get the impression he must know someone who does it because he talked to me normally which was a relief) and I’ve got pottery in a bit but it won’t be judged there. I just want to hide I want it to stop, but it’s like it releases something.
I know some people on here also mention the rock and I wonder if you have any tips on how to make it less obvious? Or calm it down? It hasn’t been this bad in a while.
I’d appreciate any tips.
I hope your day is letting you cope as best as possible,
Go steady,
Meg.
I’m a rocker…
I do rock. Sometimes I can’t tell I’m doing it. I just sort of shut down and look at the floor and rock. My sis will put her arm around me like a side hug and sort of help bring me out of it. My parents will put a hand on my shoulder and give my a gentle nudge back out of my head. I will need to stand up a moment and sort of shake it off. A trip to the washroom will usually reset the brain.
Sometimes I can feel myself doing it… then I know it’s agitation or un-burnt energy so I have to get up and go outside. My sis has an old dead cell phone, and when I am rocking or having a glitch in public, she’ll hand me the phone and tell me, “It’s for you, would you like to take it outside?”
It’s a nice common excuse to leave the table. I used to just excuse myself for a smoke, but I’m quitting smoking.
Also just standing up. I do apologize and say I just have a small cramp and just need to stand a moment. That will help.
If I have a day where I’m rocking a lot, then I have to go for a swim or a long walk and just burn the energy otherwise, I won’t sleep well.
My personal joke… I will sometimes rock on purpose because it freaks my Aunt out and she doesn’t like it so she will go away and stop talking to me…
It’s often a side-effect of meds. When I was on high doses of Navane (years ago) I would rock side to side, putting weight from one foot to the other. I couldn’t help it,even though I know it looked weird. My mom called it "Your dancin’ "…Cogentin, Benadryl and anti anxiety meds help it to be diminished. I do recall though that when I was anxious I could shut out my environment and get lost in the motion…It was like being rocked to sleep. A means of self comforting.
This is called akathisia. It is a neurological side effect of many antipsychotics, but not all. Usually a dose reduction will knock it out. However you may need some propranolol (Inderal) to treat it. Inderal has emerged as the leading contender for akathisia. Cogentin, Artane, and Benadryl now play a much more reduced role, although some people experience relief with Cogentin.
I was rocking in my seat before my logic final this morning. I used to rock when I wasnt drunk. Try to listen to some positive music and chew gum or something- if I were to start again I would smoke a cigarette while listening to music.
my clinical psychologist said that rocking and touching fingers again and again, is a way of distracting the mind from unwanted thoughts…i do it , but mostly the clicking fingers thing …
it is normal so my therapist said, well normal for ptsd, sz etc…
take care
Thank you all, I think I may have aspects of akathisia with my leg jiggling but with the rocking I think it’s more trying to distract and I also sometimes don’t realise I do it. The reason I think it’s anxiety is because today at my nurse appointment we did a mindfulness exercise and I stopped rocking completely because I was focused on the noises we were concentrating on I’d start rocking again as soon as my thoughts kicked in. But after ten minutes of that, it stopped and I felt the most relaxed I’ve been this past week I was sore because I didn’t realise how tense I’ve been.
Thank you for the suggestions, I will get up and walk, put headphones in and I’ve got a chair that kind of rocks, it’s my favourite chair at the moment!
This helps and being where I am I know no-one like me even though I know they must be around but I feel very alone and here I feel understood and less of an outcast!
