I've been experiencing the most extreme potent cocktail of burnout, depression, trauma anxiety from this disorder that I repressed to an Inception level.
Get professional help! If you're unsure if you should go to the hospital or other crisis response, the answer is yes.
So I'm sharing what works personally and has honestly kept me from self harm during max wave symptoms in hopes it'll help someone:
Be willing to deeply analyze what you're go to relief is, having AI act as an Occupational Therapist. This made me far more aware of the sensory thing I'm looking for.
Create a sensory log and be willing to experiment. Go in optimistic and tell the voice in your head saying "this is stupid, I know what works", try stuff in the category that works for you, for me it's proprioceptive, vestibular, tactile mostly. Track what works, what doesn't, why. Assign a benefit score 1-10, how long from until you feel more right, and how long it lasts after stopping. I learned a lot, found stuff that sounded stupid but worked
Start a Captain's Log, " I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." -William Ernest Henley. I did it to take away the barriers to entry and a bit of humor. I write in short blunt statements like a ship captain on a voyage, cuz I kind of am. Use whatever creativity to get it started
Activate your support network. People close enough to trust, you don't need to tell them anything besides "I'm going through something, here's how you can help (reach out saying you're thinking of me). This has given me significant strength.
Healthy distractions: the goal is to overwhelm the anxiety/panic- think intense sensory things: loud music, very spicy food, crazy visually stimulating video, moving fast (careful, don't speed). DO NOT try to "self medicate" with drugs or alcohol. Also just staying busy can really help.
Look into grounding techniques- for me, carrying light weight while blasting music is restorative, it was quite unexpected
Be kind to yourself, treat your health as number one, everything else second. Its the airline oxygen analogy, you can't be there for [insert excuse] if you don't save yourself first. Treat it as organized proactive therapy. Don't take it lying down, fight back, take control
Y'all might have very different experiences or techniques, but if just one of these tips saves someone, I'll be happy.