I need someone to understand

[Sarahj8079]

Hi I'm new and hope people on this site can help me.

For the last 3 months I have been getting panic attacks that have increased in severity from me being able to control them to nearly being unconscious. I thought driving was the trigger to start with as I work 1 hours drive from home. I tried different routes, radio cd nothing worked and on Thursday I ended up stopping at a random doctors breathing 55 to the minute, chest pains, dizziness and shaking all over. I have visited my doctor who has taken bloods and prescribed propranolol which I'm to frightened to take.

I have sorted out lifts to work so I don't have to drive but I'm still getting the anxiety attacks but I don't know what the trigger is. I'm finding the whole situation very hard to cope with. I constantly feel tired, dizzy and sick. I have chest pains near my left breast, some numbness in my fingers, and sharp shooting pains in my head, can all this really be down to anxiety?

Also my partner doesn't seem to understand how ill all this is making me feel.

Please someone help me

[pinkdove]

:welcome: To nmp sarah, sorry you are feeling so bad, but yes anxiety can be that bad,you are doing the right thing getting a lift to work, your dr has prescribed propanolol, which is a beta blocker, and will help with your anxiety symptoms, so why not give it a go, i have taken it and it helps, why not ask your partner to have a read through some of the articled on here, it may give him a better understanding on how you feel, i'm sure you will get lots of help on here, wishing you luck x

[Sarahj8079]

Hi pinkdove
Thank you for being kind enough to reply it means a lot, I know I should at least try the medication as until I do I'm not helping myself but I am one of these people who thinks the side effects outweigh the benefits which is a silly attitude to have.
I find it hard to believe how quickly things changed to being a bit jittery to having attacks 2 to 3 times a day, that's why I can't work out what the trigger is.
How are you getting on now? Have you learnt how to cope?

[Rod]

The trigger is fear. Dont worry about the trigger its not important. As soon as you think you find it there will be another one ready to take its place. You can worry about the anxiety and it will keep coming as long as it scares you. You will after a while realize that it cannot hurt you in any way only make you feel very uncomfortable. Changing routes and radio stations will only work until the time they dont work then you will feel worse. The Anxiety is you, not any outside thing. Speak to your Doctor about medication which you may well need initially, but in the longer terming its losing the fear of the symptoms that will make it go away.
Next time if you can if even for only a little while dont try and fight it, just let it come and let it pass. Remember your not alone.

Also dont try and worry about each individual symptom, just think of them as Anxiety and they cant hurt you.

[jo_jo]

Hey Sarah,
Hope your feeling abit better!Ive had panic attacks for the past 4years and honestly it does get better!

Chin up!xxxx

[xJust_Sarahx]

Hi
i completely understand where you are coming from. im 24 now and i have been suffering from panic attacks since i was about 15/16. It took me a while to be able to actually control them type thing. Although now and then i still get so bad to the point i cant control it.. like yesterday because it happened when i was alone i ended up callin 999 even though i think i knew deep down that it was a panic attack.

What gets to me the most is not just the fact of the breathlessness and the sweating and chest pain etc but its that complete fear of what to do.. i feel like either running on to a road to end my life so it stops there or just going frantic screaming for help!!

However, neither obviously does me any good so what i have learned to do is when i get that feeling of been on edge i know that at some point whether it be now or later on that im going to have a panic attack. So i just take a deep breathe in and slow breathe out, i try so hard to divert my mind although my mind has made me be able to multi task such as try and take my mind of it and it be there, but i just try and sit through it, when you start getting to the point your breathless i just try holding my breathe and then re starting my breathing slowly, if you can hold your breathe and start it then its obvious its just a panic attack because you wouldnt be able to control it other wise. The more you panic and go frantic the more the adrenaline rushes though your viens and the more breathless and the faster your heart pumps. Its just learning how to get over them split few seconds of utter panic.. like the feeling your dying.

[ronski]

Sarah your explanation of your attacks gives so much information to what probably is occurring and what you may be doing to exacerbate the anxiety. The complete fear is how adrenaline is supposed to work to encourage you to run or fight, its physiological action is to make you feel uncomfortable. Surging adrenaline will never be pleasant and that is something all panic attack sufferers must understand.
Your slow deep breath may be the mistake your making, if you are slightly hyperventilating due to anxiety then it will change your blood gases to a alkaline value which would give you unpleasent symptoms. By taking a deep breath you just exacerbate the symptoms because you are washing out more carbon dioxide. I would suggest you try just to breath normally. You also state you try and sit the attack out, try walking as most panic attacks will disperse with low demand activity such as walking.
With panic attacks the cure is loosing the fear of them. Trying to stop your mind thinking about them is like trying to not think about white elephants if you have been asked to think about pink elephants as an alternative.
That first fear comes from your subconscious mind so you have no control over that. The fear of that initial stirring is called the second fear and that comes from your conscious mind. It's that that allows the release of adrenaline, so to stop your panic you must encourage it to come, in fact invite it to do its worst. What you will experience is a complete dispersion of the attack as you lose your fear. If you lose your fear you will never have another panic attack, it just cannot present if the fear is not there.

[pinkdove]

Hi pinkdove
Thank you for being kind enough to reply it means a lot, I know I should at least try the medication as until I do I'm not helping myself but I am one of these people who thinks the side effects outweigh the benefits which is a silly attitude to have.
I find it hard to believe how quickly things changed to being a bit jittery to having attacks 2 to 3 times a day, that's why I can't work out what the trigger is.
How are you getting on now? Have you learnt how to cope?
Hi sarah i know how hard it is to start meds, but i am so much better now, since i started meds, also had a lot of help earlier this year from my psyc doctor, remember the side effects are short lived, and not everyone gets them, but for me the benefits were so good, i'm glad i stuck with it. wishing you luck x

[Sarahj8079]

Thank you for your kind replies.

I have tried walking it off but as I get dizzy when having an attack it looks like I am drunk lol and its not a pleasant feeling!

I know the meds will help me but again its the fear, Im trying to be rational and say I cant feel any worse than I do at the moment and that the doctor would not prescribe them if they were going to do me harm but I still cant bring myself to take them.

I have been sitting calmly at my desk thinking of nothing but work and suddenly the screen moves, I know its an attack coming on and try to continue working but the shaking wont stop!!!

[Gembutt]

Hiya Sarah, I have been struggling with panic attacks for 5/6 years now and always been so frightened to start the medication but I went to the doctors last week and he prescribed me sertraline.. I was so scared to start them and sat there for half an hour with the tablet in my hands.
I managed to take it eventually and been on them for 4 days now.. and trust me if I can do it you can!
My doctor said with sertraline you don't need to be weaned off either because it goes down 50% each day you don't take it so it does it itself for you, meaning if you don't want to stay on them then you don't have to.
But give it a try Sarah! :)

[Sarahj8079]

Thansk Gembutt

Im gonna wait until I get home then bite the bullet and take one, wish me luck!

Am glad you are getting your attacks sorted out too x