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Thread: You can do it. Steps that helped me

  1. #1

    You can do it. Steps that helped me

    Hey there.

    This is going to be a bit of a read, but it's basically steps I have taken that have helped me regain parts of my life back. Some of these may work for you, but really I just want you to know that success is a real and obtainable thing.

    So I've been lurking on this forum since my first major panic attack back in late February. Long story short it came out of nowhere. I was living life at my regular pace and one Monday morning I had a full blown attack. Didn't sleep for 2 days, and was constantly feelings like every day was my last. I've never felt so helpless and scared. It was like I'd lost any resemblance of what or who "I" was, who I use to be. I would spend every day just fighting my own conscience. I Lost my job, became sociably isolated and didn't speak to my family for a month.
    I stared over the edge a few times, and I was losing hope but I decided I wasn't going to go down without a fight.

    I'm writing this from a much better place now, and I just wanted to give back my experiences and what helped me piece some parts of myself back together.

    First step I took: Getting a full doctors check up. This was great in just making me feel comfortable in my physical health again. I was caught in a feedback loop with my anxiety manifesting in physical symptoms (especially my heart) so I just decided I needed to get everything tested and just have faith in the results. Everything for me came back reasonably good and I bought a heart and blood pressure monitor so I could do the occasional check up at home.

    Second step: Opening up to my family and friends. Being so isolated was damaging to me. After a month I finally called my parents and went over to our family home and just sat with them and told them straight up that "I feel like I'm losing it". My parents are from the "there's nothing wrong with you, grow up" school in regards to mental health so I had to make them understand I just needed them to listen right now and not comment. I then went to my closest friends, who were worried because I hadn't contacted them (I never turned my phone on and stopped going online after the attack). This was a breakthrough because I didn't even realise that some of them were also suffering with anxiety. I wasn't alone, and I had people that I could talk too.

    Third step: I made some lifestyle changes. I changed my diet and gave up: fried chicken (don't know why but this really helped, I use to eat fried hot wings pretty much daily) I also quit all caffeine and alcohol. I made sure to walk every morning and would take my camera with me and just focus on taking photograph so I could try and shift my mind. I wouldn't make it out everyday, sometimes It was just too difficult but fresh air helped me.

    Fourth Step: This was probably the hardest, but the best thing I did. I actually tried to face my anxiety by myself. Just let the feelings of fear, stress and depression have at me. I ran a bath (something I use to love doing but since my attack just showering was stressful) lit some candles, incense the whole nine yards. I then closed my eyes and submitted, I just stopped fighting my mind. I want to stress that this was really hard. Up until this point I was running from my feelings and letting the fear take over, I didn't want to give my mind any space and so I was mentally exhausted all day from trying to fight my own thoughts. Let me tell you, this bath felt like an entirety. But when I opened my eyes I was still here. It was a revelation for me. These feelings I had couldn't actually stop me from physically living, and that was so hard for me to grasp until this point. I try every day now to spend at least 10 minutes letting my mental guard down. It got easier.


    Finally: I started an anxiety diary. At the end of every day I'd write how the day had gone, what sensations and feeling were most prominent and how it ranked in regards to other days. Sometimes there were improvement sometimes there wasn't. But just knowing that some days were better than others gave me hope.

    I know there is more work to be done, but I just want you to know that there are ways to get your life back. Each of you will find your own method, but you shouldn't give up. You will win!

    Peace and Love

    Milo
    Last edited by Milo_AJ; 19-07-17 at 00:14.

  2. #2

    Re: You can do it. Steps that helped me

    Inspireing post .Thank you for shareing .Peace and love David ..

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