Panic stations again. Please help!

[Natalie x]

Hi. I have been doing quite well on the whole anxiety front; 3 weeks ago me and my boyfriend booked a last minute holiday to Spain which we are just back from on Tuesday. This for me was a big achievement. I had a great time minus a few blips when I was there which I managed to get through with the help of my boyfriend. I've been trying hard to put my anxieties to one side, but have now gone into panic mode again. A while ago my head started to feel weirf and everything seemed quite bright and feeling funny which has caused my mind to go into overdrive with the "what-if's". I've put my glasses on to see if that'll help. Can anyone relate or offer some re-assurance please? Thanks x

[Bethie]

You mentioned in your post that when you have panic attacks everything becomes very bright. That has always been a component of my panic attacks: everything is very bright and a bit unreal, as though I need to put on sunglasses. You are the only person other than myself who I have ever seen list vision brightness as a symptom of panic attacks. I have searched the internet, looking at the lists of panic symptoms, and I have never seen a single comment about everything seeming way, way too bright. I know exactly how you feel when that happens as it happens to me. When I was having the panic attacks last week, I called my psychiatrist, told him what was happening and saw him immediately. He adjusted many of my medications, lowering the strength in some, adding a new med, and increasing the dose of another. I am presently back to normal, panic free, after about 6 days of crushing, staggering hell. While I would never, ever tell anyone to see a doctor or follow some sort of treatment, I can say that without my psychiatrist I would be lost. The treatment I received from my psychiatrist during my attacks brought me back to normal. Good luck, and thank you for mentioning that everything looks bright when you panic. I thought that I was the only person on earth that experiences that symptom. Good luck to you. I wish you only the best.

[daisydoo]

I can never go in sunlight without my sunglasses everything seems to bright and in my face. Try and look at,it as a bonous that no one can see the bags under my eyes when i drop the kids off in a morning. Thou do need to get cooler glasses i think. I never had this before my anxiety so have always linked it with that

[Natalie x]

Hi Bethie. Thank you for your reply. I have had the vision thing a few times which has freaked me out. It is the "what-if's" that really scare me the most when I get certain feelings. Has anyone any tips in what they do as a means of distraction? x