Help - cold air

[angieb]

Hiya again

To follow on from my post regarding the return of two awful panic attacks on Frida I am struggling again today.

I did my very best to not let it back in yesterday, in teh morning I even felt nervous about putting petrol in mt car in case I could not go in to pay for it. I was absolutely fine and as the day went on I got better and better, did a huge food shop in Tesco's went out and bought a new carpet all without problem but...

today I returned to the shop where I freaked on Friday - felt 100% OK up the first isle then hit the fridges then BAM - mass onslaught of panic the cold air literally hit my lungs and I could not breathe, my face went cold aand heart raced. I managed to stay in the shop but all the time kept saying to myself you must have angina - that gets worse when walking upstairs or hills and in cold air????? I know I am being stupid, I have been in this shop twice a week for the past six months surely if it was angina it would not have waited till now.

Does anybody else suffer with cold air? I have now started to think the winter is coming what if I get house bound again :(

So sorry to be here negative again after doing so very well - feel it is spiraling out of my control.

Thanks for listening.

[Meg]

Angie ,

Well done for yesterday all day plus staying there during the panic.

When you suddenly breath in cold air it does constrict the bronchioles just like cold water constricts skin pores, so in essence you are right that it does chnage your breathing pattern.

Maybe go back to the shop and very slowly approach the fridges and afer each step stand and get used to the changes within you, taking a few steps back to warmer climes as necessary before approching the cooler section again. Play with it and get used to it.

This is not angina.


*I have now started to think the winter is coming what if I get house bound again * This is a great example of extreme negative thinking.


Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?

[Karen]

Hi Angie

You did brilliantly with all you achieved yesterday, as well as staying in the shop while you were panicking today.

Instead of telling yourself that the breathing symptoms were angina, you could use some positive self-talk and reassure yourself that you are safe.

If this were angina it wouldn't only occur in one place at one time.

I too notice the breathing problem in sudden cold environments.

Hope you are feeling better now.

Karen



It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.

[mjh74]

Hi angie,

Well done for sticking it out in the shop, this is brilliant!
Funnily (or not) as the case my be, my throat anxiety started with a panic attack in the FREEZING cold where I felt my throat constricting. For the first 2 months after I would stay in the house with the heating on full whack, I'm surpised I didn't dehydrate. This has also left me anxious regards to winter coming. Hopefully in my 'less anxious' state of mind, I won't get into a blind panic at the feeling of cold air rushing down my throat and into my lungs.

You're not alone angie....

Best wishes,

Mark x

[rick]

Way to be tough, angie!

Cold air (and gloomy weather) subcosciouly (sp?) make me prone to PAs, since I had my horrible ones in the dead of winter. We had a spate of cool, overcast days here, and I caught myself worrying, "Wow... this is how it felt when all that happened..."

So, to show the PA monster who was boss, I went out with my pals and played a round of golf, gloomy weather and all!

The moral is - do what you did. Whether just symptoms or a full blown PA, try your best to stare it in the face and not blink.

It's hard, though.... Believe me I know! But now we know we can do it.

Isn't that great?

Take care

rick

It is better to be a free bird than a captive king...

[angieb]

Hi everyone

Thank you for your kind comments

Meg - Wow, re-read my post how negative!!!!! I guess I was just feeling really low and down after Friday and scared again. Much more poitive today.

This morning at 7.30am I had to pop down to the garden shed to put some trousers in the tumble dryer. It was really cold, damp and foggy and I got half wat down the garden and Froze, by the time I got to the shed I was untterly convinced that I could not breathe, full on chest pounding the whole deal - got back to the kitchen in a blind panic and thought to myself - WHAT THE???

So put a coat on over my PJ's and made myself a cup of tea and then like a mad woman walked around the garden for 15 mins drinking my tea and allowing myself to feel the sensations of cold air up my nose, down my throat into my lungs and you what - 5 mins out there and I noticed that my heart had stopped pounding and that I could enjoy a lung full of fresh cold air.

So my new thought for the day is OK - I have triggered the panic response again but I can if I choose bx!dy handle it and switch it off:(

Keep you all posted and that you again for your support - good to know you are not alone when thinking you have lost the plot

[Karen]

Well done Angie. Great to hear you sounding more positive today.

Karen



It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.