Anxiety and Panic attacks

[Alison]

I have suffered with chronic anxiety for the last 2 years with panic attacks.
I was wondering what has worked for other people. Treatments, courses, or natural supplements. I sure could use some tips. Yes I have gone to the Dr.
Right now I'm seeing a naturalpath.
Thanks.

[Sarah]

I am the biggest ball of anxiety in the world. Everybody always thinks I'm so relaxed all the time or whatever because I'm like.. laid back, but it's really just because I'm so physically worn out from the emotional hell I put myself through. I guess that's why it's never really mattered that much to me about what other people think about how I am, the things I say, or the things that I do.

I've been prescribed everything under the sun. None of that **** works except for valium sometimes, and talking about it with a dr. only makes me feel 100,000 times worse. I guess it's that whole feeling broken thing, and I don't like to open up anyway. I mean, I'll tell anybody that I'm crazy, just not why.

On really bad days, I write journal/essay entries. That helps then.. but otherwise, I guess it's just something to suffer through. Nod and smile.

Are there certain triggers.. like driving.. that cause your panic attacks, or is it just anything? I fall into the anything category. There's no one particular thing that stresses me out.. it's just the combination of everything.

[Alison]

Hi Sarah. Thanks for sharing. Nothing seems to trigger my attacks. The strange thing is, most of them happen out of a deep sleep. Like an hour after I have fallen to sleep. Right now I'm taking L-Theanine and natural progesterone that my naturalpathic Dr. has given me. It is to early to tell if they are working yet.
My heart goes out to you.
Alison

[gypsyangels]

Hi Alison,
I share your burden
I have suffered from this mental illness all my life and have had 3 break downs
I was always hyperactive as a child and back then the normal thing to say was "they grow out of it",
unfortunately I didnt and was formally diagnise when I was
20.
I went and had an assessment and started therapy, which helped, but I was still struggling to cope, so my doctor suggested medication and I found that the medication and therapy has given me quality of life
I also sought a natropath, and that too worked but I found the therapy helped in re educating my mind to deal with the attacks
Tests have also shown that my illness is biological and genetic-its just the way my body is made so I do my best to cope. My motto is "if I go to bed at night and ive coped , then it has been a good day"
It is one of the cruelest mental illness in this day and age and it is a terrible frightening experience that I wouldnt wish on anyone.
It may take a little while to work out what medication suits you best-I have tried many and have found a balance with what Im taking now.
The important thing is to stay on your medication, even if you are feeling good-to treat the attacks properly they suggest a 12 month period. Many people start taking their medication and after a while start to feel better so they stop and the attacks return-I also have done that too with terrible consequences
This illness can be successfully treated, so please dont despair, just make sure you have a great doctor who knows what they are on about and have a support system around you-I didnt and it was a lot harder.
Please contact me if you have any more questions or just need to talk-it makes it easier to deal with if you can talk about [email protected]
Take care,
Gypsy xo

[Sorcerer386]

Ah, the wonderful world of panic attacks. I remember it all too well. Here are some things to at least think about:

Medication CAN be your friend. People with anxiety, for some reason, do not like taking medication. When I was going through my initial breakdown, I was scared to death to take the medication. After all, I had already tried Celexa and it drove me crazy. I still hold today that it made my anxiety ten times worse, and it's what sparked my breakdown. However, after seeing a psychiatrist, I was placed on Serzone which has seemingly worked wonders for me, along with Xanax. The thing is, you do have to find the right medication for you. I was lucky enough to get the right medication on my second try, while some people test many more before they find the right one. And, while other people have successfully overcome anxiety without medication, sometimes it's just necessary to be on for a while until you can get control of the anxiety. I wish the medication wouldn't make me so tired, but I would much rather be a little zonked out than deal with those panic attacks.

As for therapy, honestly, I would find somebody who has gone through the same thing and has overcome it, or at least is in a position where they understand what you are going through. I began seeing a therapy group that is actually run by a friend of my mother's. Sidebar and inspirational story: she suffered with anxiety for 20 some years and was at the point where she couldn't leave her house. Every day, though, she pushed herself to get out of the house and walk down the street. For a while she would walk to the second house down the street then walk back. Then she would VERY slowly increase the distance. And each time she would record the positivity of doing this simple task, because it wasn't simple for her. In order to overcome anxiety, it is imperative that you change your thought patterns. However, and not to be pessimistic...

It is going to take a LONG time to even get into a position of control over the attacks. I remember thinking to myself, "I'm changing my thoughts. When I have negative thoughts, I am stopping them and replacing them. When I feel an attack coming on, I tell myself it is just anxiety, it's uncomfortable, but it's not dangerous. Why isn't it working?" It wasn't working because although you make a conscious effort to change those thoughts, it can take years for your brain to be trained to unconsciously replace them. You mentioned that most of yours come in your sleep. Well, after I started this group and was able to consciously change my thoughts, I still had attacks, and ALWAYS while sleeping. Mine would occur almost exactly two hours after falling asleep...every single one, two hours after on the nose. But, the reason, I think, is because of what I've said. When you are asleep, you are unconscious, so your brain is still having those bad thoughts because it just isn't trained yet. I really think it takes years before it is properly trained to unconsciously stop thinking negative thoughts.

The main thing is changing the way you think about things, and sometimes medication helps you through that period. It's been five years for me, five years actually on April 8th, and I have just now reached the point where I was able to go off of one Xanax pill. So instead of taking one in the afternoon and one at night, I only take the one at night, and that's just so that I know I will sleep well. My next goal is to be off that Xanax at night, but I set my goal for two years from last January when I stopped taking the afternoon Xanax. That's a long time it seems, but not when it comes to overcoming anxiety. Setting realistic and almost too simple goals is another key, because each time you accomplish that goal, it's a positive feeling.

Sorry I wrote a book...I've scrutinized my anxiety so much and I could go on for hours about it. This is just the tip of the iceburg, and I hope some of it helps.

[NoSpeedLimit]

I had SEVERE anxiety growing up and into high school. Sometimes it would get so bad that I would literally pass out. I graduated High School 1 1/2 years early so that I wouldn't have to deal with the anxiety of school anymore. My doctor put me on Lexapro but it was a little expensive for me at the time. I took it for about 5 months and I saw a big difference but decided to stop taking the medication to see what would happen. Then I got a job as a waitress and thought "Oh gosh how am I ever going to do this?" But I made myself...and 1 1/2 years later I am anxiety free. For some reason waitressing(sp?) cured it! Once in awhile I feel it coming back but I just tell myself that if I let myself have a panic attack I will lose my job. And if I lose my job I can't afford to go see Stevie Nicks! lol I hope it all works out for you. I wouldn't wish anxiety upon my wosrt enemy...it is the worst feeling in the world.

[estranged4life]

I'm having one right now...pulse starting racing and it felt like my heart was going to pound through.

Called Deb at the hospital, trying to unwind and calm down...deep breaths, deep breaths

[Sarah]

Originally Posted by Sorcerer386

Sorry I wrote a book...I've scrutinized my anxiety so much and I could go on for hours about it. This is just the tip of the iceburg, and I hope some of it helps.

oh no. you're a me. i bet you can write an essay in like, 5 minutes. especially on a topic like this.

i'm not scared of the medication, i just can't deal with it. here is my list of crazy-people drugs:

zoloft
paxil
celexa
prozac
sarafem (same damn thing)
lexapro
effexor
and the obvious, xanax.

zoloft and paxil worked best for lots of things, but i was taking a lot of zoloft in order for it to feel like it worked, and paxil completed geeked me out. it's like, i'm fine, but my focus gets way intense, so if i get a little off balance, it's easy for me to go off the deep end.

i feel like all that stuff has messed up my mind. i need to go back to school, but i could not possibly add studying to my mix. i just can't do that kind of thinking anymore, because my mind power is eaten up with excessive anxiety from every day little ****.

[Ghost_Tracker]

Originally Posted by Alison

I have suffered with chronic anxiety for the last 2 years with panic attacks.
I was wondering what has worked for other people. Treatments, courses, or natural supplements. I sure could use some tips. Yes I have gone to the Dr.
Right now I'm seeing a naturalpath.
Thanks.

This might sound silly and I admit that in a way I'm "talking out of my you-know-what" here, but -



Try as hard as you can to get a good night's sleep at night. A good, peaceful 8 or 9 hours.
Sounds simplistic, I know.

But it really can work wonders.

On Edit: I just read the bit about how this can happen to you sometimes when you're sleeping. oops!
I'd still like to offer the suggestion though. It just seems to me that with a good night's sleep, you may feel more relaxed and therefore more able to deal with it when it happens, more likely to "get control back," etc. Also, have you thought of breathing exercises? Another simplistic example, I admit; but maybe in today's society we tend to reach for the complex answer first simply because it's complex, assuming that complexity means it's more likely to work. Maybe part of the answer is "staring you right in the face," and is actually quite simple.

[Alison]

update: I have not had a panic attack for 6 nights. Even though, I still get boughts of heavy anxiety in the later afternoon or evenings. I think the progestrone cream is starting to work. It does help to keep focused on the good things in life. Like yesturday, on my day off, I spend the whole day taking pictures. Focusing on your passions help.

[JazmenFlowers]

as a long-time sufferer of panic and anxiety attacks and OCD, the only thing that helped me was medication. I'm not on it anymore, but while I was on it, it allowed me to figure out what it was that brought them on and how to avoid those factors as much as possible. I still have them and probably always will, but I've learned to deal with them in a much more efficient manner.