A few thoughts from someone who recovered

[krogothzero]

I thought I would drop back here as this place was a good resource back when I was suffering from panic attacks and eventually GAD, its coming up to 3 years now since I have recovered. Dare I say it as painful as it was literally going through what seemed to be death day after day I feel I have come out of it a better person in the end. I feel that the undercurrents that cause those symptoms have always been there in me it was just environmental factors that messed things up. I feel that now I can cope better with anything than I could before I went through those bad experiences. Being a quite introverted person I was quite impressed with myself when recently at a decent sized event I actually spent far long using the radio mic / on stage than any other member of staff which would have made be quite anxious even before the aforementioned experiences.

Whilst I wouldn't wish it on anyone I do think once you recover you come out of it a far stronger person. I'll leave you with a few thoughts that might help:

1. I wouldn't recommend SSRI's, from what I have read whilst it can help seems people have more problem starting and ending the course (Don't stop if you've started already!!). I reacted badly to the first Citalopram pill I took so I never went on them.
2. Betablockers work wonders at taking the edge off as a lot of the experience is adrenaline driven.
3. Do as much exercise as you can! a) it keeps adrenaline levels down and b) it helps burn off dodgy other chemicals in your bloodstream (Ever notice how you feel like crap for 2 days after a panic attack?). Remember all emotions are chemical reactions which have waste products.
4. If you think your heart is skipping beats / getting sharp chest pains. Firstly get checked out but in my case I found I was due to my hyperventilation (Keep an eye on that too!). I was doing the vast majority of my breathy fast / shallow and only with the upper part of my chest which happens when your panicing (Catch 22?). Once I had been doing it for a while I get twinges in my chest (Que heart attack thoughts) due to the fact the muscles were getting tiered. If you experience this try breathing without moving the top part of your chest, purely diaphragm-ic deep (slow!!) breathing if you can.
5. If things ever get too much, just stay in the now. The past and the future are only virtual from our perspective and cannot hurt us and also time spent on them steals time from the now diminishing your experience.
6. Don't be overly identified with that large lump of space dust you have borrowed and will eventually have to give back which you call you. But care for it and it will care for you, make sure you eat well lots of veg, multi mineral suppliments and cut any thing really refined if you can such as sugar, white bread etc. I used to really feel changes in my blood sugar and changes in diet can mess with you a bit in their own right. Admittedly I splurged a pack of ferrero rocher today due to the amount of exercise I've been through this week but don't spread that around
7. I was always very introspective about my panic attacks as I had a small background in psychology and noticed that they were nearly always caused by thought loops. Your brain is a big circuit and it'll go into overload if put into a loop, break the loop and you stop it dead if its that type of panic attack.
8. You'll not doubt have social pressures which you don't really need. Cue fight club introduction, your not your condo, your not your .. etc.
9. (Tries not to sound hippy like) Many things in life are a choice between love and hate, it might just be your hate for the condition that is fuelling it. The brain seems to have limited capacity/energy for thoughts simultaneously and by not feeding it, it may just stop. If you have been suffering for a while (It was 1.5 years for me *sigh*) and have been checked out, if your having an attack just sit back and chill out - you might be in proverbial hell but have a laugh about it as its very very unlikely you'll drop dead on the spot even given the extra stress on your system (Second mention on being careful on identification..).

Anyhow if your suffering hope you recover asap.
*hugs*

[Going home]

What a great thread thanks (but its 'cue' not Que, and 'muscles' not mussels sorry...I have a thing about spelling because I make loads of mistakes too, well I am ill after all ) I found it very interesting and informative. Glad you're in recovery.

Best wishes
Anna xxx

[smpomeroy]

How nice of you to share your positive experience and Im glad to hear of your recovery, that gives people hope.


Anna - picky much?? LOL

[Vixxy]

Thanks for your tips. I think we all know what we have to do, but its just hard to do it whilst youre in the grip of anxiety.
I really need to start exercising. Its the one thing Ive not really tried, mainly because im so unfit now due to my anxiety that I get scared im going to do myself a mischief !

[krogothzero]

LOL Anna, I blame my Dyslexia / writing it early in the morning ;D. Fixed it as I try to be a bit of a grammar Nazi myself!

[Vixxy]

What kind of exercise did you start off with krog?

[jothenurse]

I'm also interested in how you started exercising. I used to be an avid exerciser, but part of my panic disorder exhibited bad palpitations, so I gave it up. Now, I am slowly trying to get back into it (per MD orders) - I have started walking, and did mow part of my lawn. Originally I was afraid to just walk up the stairs.
The other question I have, is that I know how important nutrition is (I have lost around 20 pounds) - my psychiatrist put me on ativan 1 mg twice a day to lower the anxiety and to hopefully help me eat. I get really gaggy, re especially in the morning, and I try to eat, but it is hard to eat while you are
gaggy. It scares me, because if I can't get my weight to start getting better I may have to to to the hospital, and I don't want to do that. I am doing better in most other areas - exercising some, driving, going to do errands. I am still on a medical leave. So, if I could just get over the gaggy part (and unfortunately I have a phobia about throwing up which doesn't help), and gain some weight, I think I would be making some good progress. Any suggestions? Did this happen to you and what helped? I was not able to take the SSRI's either (med phobia, plus they made me feel sick).

[gladyscourt]

krogoth that is really good to read thank u for posting! Its the chest pains that annoy me so much i know its where u tense up so much right?

[krogothzero]

I just went to a generic branded gym when it wasn't overly busy. At that point it was pretty much free floating anxiety all the time so the way I saw it even if I stayed home I'd just be anxious. I felt it was worth the pay-off whatever happened, although I was on beta blockers at the time so there was a reduced chance of anything happening. Given you don't really make contact with anyone there I didn't worry about things socially. There is also the fact there will be staff trained with first aid etc which well makes it safer in my opinion than being alone at home should the worst have happened.

Its the boost to the metabolism rate which will help burn things off, for me that really involved 30+ mins of keeping my heart rate 130+. Being hooked up to a treadmill and actually knowing your heart rate helped keep me relaxed, I could never get above 145 bpm on the blockers though. These days I do MMA which is much more intense than the gym and quite socially involved which is something I don't think i'd have been able to do back then.

@jothenurse

Make sure your not tensing up / hyperventilating with your upper chest would be my first suggestion, it took quite a bit of mental effort when I first noticed it to truly counter that. I did quite a bit of research and as long as you have been checked out and had an ECG, single skipped beats really don't mean anything as they are quite common. Perceived palpitations and chest twinges from the above were really indistinguishable for a long time for me.

Apart from maybe making me a bit nackered at times and not being able to get my heart rate up really high I didn't see any negative side effects from the beta blockers. I know reactions to them are very rare but its important to remember its an aid not a solution, no pill would have fixed this for me.

Nutrition was very important to me, if I ate things which had a high GI it would give me masses of energy for a short time which may have been hard to control. I was working on the general principle of when your buzzing on a load of refined carbs it was easier to have an attack as there is the energy there to do it. If I kept to eating low GI foods I was less on edge which helped keep things relaxed, didn't give up choc' though lol I just went raw with that. I am sure a nutritionist could say a lot more but I don't really think you need much more than common sense, cleaner foods such as organic etc helped a little but they are a luxury (Chems aren't good even without anxiety and you don't need any more in the boiling pot if you do have it). Not sure on the feeling gaggy, whilst I can't claim to know you from your post it does sound psychosomatic. To be quite honest I don't see anything wrong with throwing up and there even many situations where it can be quite appropriate! As daft as it seems if its actually the action throwing up which messes with you rather than something social then just go do it sensibly, its not pleasant or good for your teeth but it'll be worth it if it helps you get over it. Don't throw your energy against things a lot of the world is what you make it :-)

[Veronica H]

this is such a useful post and I am so pleased that you have a handle on it. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us.

Veronicax