Summary
Host Shelley Shearer shares a deeply personal account of how a float tank session helped her recover from a severe anxiety breakdown. Living with fibromyalgia and dealing with tax season stress, Shelley experienced a full-on anxiety attack that left her hyperventilating and briefly feeling suicidal. After taking Seroquel (an antipsychotic she describes as making her a "drooling idiot") and sleeping for 24 hours, her friend Brenda -- who has Lyme disease and had been floating for months -- convinced her to try a float tank. Shelley describes her first float as a dream come true. Despite initial concerns about claustrophobia, she found the experience of floating effortlessly in Epsom salt water incredibly therapeutic for her chronic pain, anxiety, and mental chatter. The magnesium absorption from the Epsom salts helped with her leg pain, and the sensory deprivation gave her overwhelmed nervous system the break it desperately needed. She references Dr. Axe's research on how floating affects cortisol and serotonin levels, directly addressing the chemical imbalances that drive anxiety. The episode is a raw, honest account of someone with chronic illness discovering floating as a wellness tool. Shelley connects her experience to broader themes of stress in modern life, the importance of understanding your love language (hers is physical touch), and how people with conditions like fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, and lupus can benefit from the zero-stress environment of a float tank. She discusses how her friend Brenda, who deals with chronic Lyme, has found consistent relief through regular floating.
Key Points
- Float tanks can provide significant relief for people with chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia by creating a zero-stress, zero-gravity environment
- Epsom salt absorption during floating helps with pain management through transdermal magnesium delivery
- Floating can help reset cortisol and serotonin levels, directly addressing the chemical imbalances that drive anxiety
- People with high levels of mental chatter and anxiety may find floating particularly beneficial as the sensory deprivation quiets the nervous system
- Initial claustrophobia concerns are common but often dissolve once inside the tank, though some people may need to crack the door on early sessions
- Chronic conditions like fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, and lupus can benefit from the absence of gravitational and sensory stress during floating
- Floating can serve as a non-pharmaceutical alternative for managing anxiety and stress, compared to medications like Seroquel that may have significant side effects
Key Moments
Float tank immediately lifted severe anxiety after a full breakdown
Shelley describes how after experiencing a full anxiety breakdown from compounding stress and fibromyalgia, her first 90-minute float immediately produced a dramatic shift, leaving her feeling euphoric and pain-free after being in deep distress just 48 hours earlier.
"drains our adrenal glands. It is, you know, stress is killing us in North America, just killing us as a nation. And there's two nations. I talk about Canada, United States quite kind of conglomerately because I live on the 49th parallel and we have very similar cultures in a lot of ways. And it is very detrimental to me. Stress, unfortunately, with fibromyalgia, that is just like poison for my body. But unfortunately, not only have I got a"
Epsom salt floating relieves chronic fibromyalgia pain
Shelley explains that floating in Epsom salt water provides effortless buoyancy with zero stress on the body, and the magnesium absorption stops leg aching and chronic pain from fibromyalgia, making it wonderful for people with chronic pain conditions.
"salty water that you float effortlessly. So there's literally no stress on the body. And Epsom salts, by the way, are incredibly beneficial to your body. You're filling there, you're absorbing the magnesium. So a lot of my leg aching and stuff stops. So it's wonderful for people with chronic pain, Lyme, fibromyalgia, lupus, things like that."
Cortisol from chronic stress will give you a heart attack
Shelley stresses the importance of controlling cortisol, warning that the constant fight-or-flight adrenaline from chronic stress causes insomnia, memory loss, and heart attacks, and that floating is one of the most effective ways to bring cortisol levels down.
"just get through tax season. And in April and May, you are going to have a whole new lease on life. And this is the stuff that will make sense to you when that time comes. And I'm thinking, okay, you know what? I can do that. Because this problem with anxiety is a good portion of it is built up in your mind. So unfortunately, we get overwhelmed. Our cortisol levels get way too high. We get into that fight or flight mode of stress. And"
90 minutes went by so fast she wanted to do a 3-hour session
After her first float, Shelley was so transformed from her severe anxiety episode that the 90-minute session felt incredibly fast, and she immediately wanted to try a back-to-back three-hour float to extend the experience.
"When I took it a year ago, not realizing what it was, I didn't do the research first, it kind of made me a drooling idiot. It's supposed to level you out, but it's doing it chemically and artificially. And unfortunately, it just makes me so sleepy, I just can't get anything accomplished. So I took a Seroquel pill that evening and slept for basically 24 hours. I basically got up enough to let the dog out to go to the washroom and feed the animals, and I was good for nothing until Thursday night."
