Good Day - Anxiety Scale

I have a scale I rate my anxiety level on.

0 - base level, or how I've come to feel what normal for me is. I am still anxious, but it would take something out of the ordinary stressful to send me into an anxiety attack. This is a functional level. I can interact with my close friends and family without a problem. I can 'fake' being fine though 'faking it' can often push me into more anxiety. Pretty easy to get me to go out.

1 - am visibly 'disturbed' to people unfamiliar with me but generally won't interact with those I don't know well (ie, hand tremors, bouncy leg), though close friends and family don't tend to notice or don't say anything. Need to stick to the very familiar and can only tolerate small disturbances (ie, the phone ringing repeatedly) without being pushed into a mild-moderate attack. Takes some pushing to get me to go out.

2 - I seem 'off' to even those close to me. Any repeat small disturbance (including a disturbance that happened days or weeks ago if it caused an attack) will make make the anxiety worse. Nearly 100% likely to have at least a short-term (no more than a few hours) attack at some point during the day. Won't go out unless it is something I enjoy or have no other choice but to do. Have to be careful of my clothing choices as they can cause a claustrophobic type anxiety-attack. Need to be sure to have glucose tablets (to treat hypoglycemia) with me.

3 - Multiple short-term/mild or single moderate (all day) anxiety attack. May even wake up in an anxiety attack even if I was fine the night before. Muscle spasms tend to start at this level. Won't go out for things I enjoy and will only go out for things I absolutely must do but will not go out alone. Will get out of 'outside' clothing and into 'inside' clothing the moment I step in the door if I was out. If out, will wander down every single aisle of a store (OCD) and seem rather aimless or 'lost'. Will yell and be easily frustrated by tasks I am used to doing. Tendency towards insomnia but not always. This level and higher can have attacks with no known trigger.

4 - Constant long term anxiety attack, indederminate amound of time. Little/nothing can be done to stop physiological symptoms even if for short burst can distract myself from the mental anxiety. Any disturbance is like throwing fuel on the fire and only time will let the fire burn down. Highly prone to repetitive or OCD actions (patterns, constantly repeating a game to get it 'perfect', stacking objects). Will not go out or get dressed. If already out will be on the verge of tears or crying, clingly tightly to whoever I am with. Hypoglycemic through the entire attack. Tend to have insomnia more often than not, able to get to sleep but never for more than 30 minutes at a time.

5, type A (adrenaline type) - Full blown major anxiety attack. Crying, panic, terror. High pulse rate, chest pain, muscle spasms. Highly hypoglycemic, blood sugar can drop 30-40 points within 15-30 minutes of onset of the attack and will continue to drop so it becomes an absolute must to get sugars into my system and need help doing so because I'd end up dropping/breaking/spilling things. Insomnia. Will not sleep without the help of heavy sedatives. Unknown period of total insomnia (longest time awake in attack has been 40 hours) as sedatives will be taken sooner or later. Will fall into level 4 after sleeping 10-12 hours.

5, type B (shutdown type) - Full blown major anxiety attack. Initial physical symptoms similar to type A but quickly (an hour or two) will end up asleep for up to 18-20 hours. Will fall into level 4 after waking but for a shorter time than type A. Generally 'out of it' and depressed for several days.

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With that being said, the last few months in particular have seen 'normal' as somewhere between a 1 and 2, or not fully functional without help, with at least three days a week (on average) being a 3 or higher. Grocery day was definetely a level 4 day. Had two level 5 type A attacks (type B is far less common), in the last few months. Starting this blog was definetely an OCD moment/hours.

I feel like I've really wound down from grocery day, and would rate today as a good day somewhere between a 2 and 3. At the same time the thought is also depressing to think that a good day means only feeling like your body just ran a marathon once and knowing I will likely be able to get to sleep without much effort tonight.

******* By the way, yes, I know low blood sugar can cause anxiety but I've figured out the 'chicken or the egg' arguement years ago. Just because my blood sugar drops doesn't mean I'm anxious or having an anxiety attack... but if I am having a major anxiety attack my blood sugar will drop. We've tested this theory before. Test blood sugar and get a normal reading. Do something that will induce an anxiety attack and test blood sugar again and get a low reading.