Will it ever go away? Help!!

[panicked]

Hi everyone,

I've been suffering from anxiety for about six weeks now- I know thats not a long time but it feels like a lifetime.

I had my third baby 10 weeks ago. My other two children are 4 and 2 years, so I have my hands full. Six weeks ago I had two full-on panic attacks- not knowing what they were I spent 36 hrs in hosptial, they were especially thorough as I'd just had a baby. coming back from the hospital the anxiety started...At first it was chest pains and palpiatatons, but is has changed as the weeks have progressed. I have an almost constant feeling of not being there and in the last week I have been dizzy and nauseous.

My health visitor does not think that this is Post Natal Depression and to be honest I don't feel depressed- just sick of feeling this way. Can it go as quickly as it came?

[michelle-lee]

i have been having panic attacks for the last year and a few months now and i have been told that they can go as quickly as they come. just try to enjoy your children.

m.snyman

[SOBAY310]

Hi Panicked,

Personally I feel that the anxiety/panic attacks you are having can go away. It seems from everything I am gathering that this thing we are dealing with is just all mental. For instance, if everyone replied back to you saying there is no hope and you will always feel this way, you would probably have a panic attack on the spot and feel crummy forever. On the other hand, if we all replied back and said you will be fine, it will go away, etc, then you would feel good and would probably cope better.

The truth of the matter is that it really is all in the mind. The more you think about it, the worse it gets. Focus on the important facts:
-You can't die from a panic attack
-You won't go mentally ill
-There is actually nothing wrong with your body or brain
-Millions of people are coping with the same exact thing

Those aren't just things to reassure you, those are facts and that is the type of thing that should make you feel better. For a lot of us the anxiety/panic attacks will come and go. Just know that when you it does come around that nothing bad will happen to you and think of it as just an uncomfortable feeling that will pass.

Everything passes with time...you'll see.

Joe

"If you think growing up is tough, then you're just not grown up enough" - Barenaked Ladies

[PUGLETMUM]

hi panicked, like the other replys to your post i am going to say the same thing and that is yes they can go away but in my own experience they will not go away while you are demanding them to, i got this theory from an american book called 'don't panic' and until i got that book 4 years ago i was like a headless chicken,i did not have a damn clue how to get this thing to stop, so i know exactly how you feel. the key to this theory is that while you are demanding it to stop and getting more and more panicked by all the symptoms unfortunately you are releasing more and more adrenaline into you system ensuring that the anxiety/panic remains!!! unbelievable but 100% true. please help yourself to get better so you can enjoy your babies like the other person said, and stop demanding that your anxiety goes, because everytime you notice that it has'nt gone or that a new symptom has started you are piling more and more adrnaline into your system, what you have to do is just simlpy say to yourself OKAY i accept these feelings for as long as they last and they may last a very long time, but if you really FEEL that you can tolerate it then it does get better, but it is'nt a trick, you have to really accept it, but at the same time you have to ignore thiose negative thoughts and worries that are catastophic in nature by replacing them with statements that we are all capable of having, the voice that deep deep down knows that you are not going to go mad or die, but has been drowed out by the voice that says everything is wrong, this voice is the key to getting better, please start to reverse this situation by not accepting the negative, catastophic worries, and ACCEPTING everything you are feeling and not demanding that the physical symptoms go now!!! i hope this makes sense good luck emmas

[pinkpenny1uk]

hiya,
i too haven't been suffering from anxiety and panic attacks for a long period of time. mine started last december and came totally out of the blue.

the first couple of months were so bad, i really thought i was dying and that i had every terminal illness going.

since then i have been on medication and have been to see a councillor. although these aren't a cure i have felt myself having less anxious feelings and my panic attacks aren't as frequent.

maybe its because i tend to try and not dwell on my symptoms as much as i did. although i still have bad days when i do think i'm suffering from one thing or another.
i'm trying now to focus on one day at a time rather then think about what i'll be like in a months time.

[W.I.F.T.S.]

I was doing an exercise out of a book that I'm reading (Gloria Thomas, Anxiety Toolbox- very good) and it required me to summon up feelings of panic and anxiety and I couldn't do it!! Other books have likened anxiety to a dragon and we're knights or king arthur. If you go out and seek the dragon it puts it on the back foot and you have a distinct advantage.

I guess I'm getting lost in my own metaphors a bit there. Say for example that I'm driving and I feel anxious the word that comes into my head is 'no', I want to slam the breaks on, I don't want to go any further, I don't want to do anything. Whereas if I say 'yes' and go with the flow the fear and anxiety soon disappates.

Go towards the things that you fear and you will find that they are actually a mirage in the desert. Go with the flow.

Believe me, I know how hard it is, I've had it for 4 years. Thinking of it another way, it's like continually eating a food that you don't like. At first you pull your face and it's horrendous, then slowly you get to accept it until finally your taste buds change and you actually quite enjoy it. I used to hate Guinness, it tasted like tarmac, but I liked the idea of it. I have had half a Guinness every time I go out for over a year and (finally) I quite enjoy the taste of it, it wouldn't be a huge leap for me to have a pint!!! Still don't like celery though he he

Ships in harbour are safe..but that's not what ships were built for.

[PUGLETMUM]

hi all, what w.i.f.t.s said i believe is the only way to get better! this theory is also in my book - that is the one that asks us to avtively encourage our symptoms! anybody please just try it if you are on the verge of a panic, and it really works, just say to your symptons 'get as bad as you can' and amazingly they actually get less! but you do have to have your head in a certain place to start doing this, but once you do you can apply it slowly to all of your situations that make you anxious/panic hope this helps emmas

[Daisybun]

I have to agree with everything that emma and wish have said. The more we fight it the worse it gets as fear breeds fear. The more we are scared of the anxiety and the symptoms the more we feed it. i know it is hard to do but the way forward is the just accept it, float with it. The Clare Weeks book is excellent and there are others that explain why panic and anxiety happen, how they work and how to deal with it. the solution is not easy but it is achieveable. Please don't worry about 'How long' the more you do the more anxiety takes hold. It is one day at a time, look for the positives in that day too.

Take care
Daisybun

'This too will pass'

[Two heads]

i think it is due to you having a baby as it has happened almost just after.I do beleive that it can be caused by your hormones. I to have had anxiety since giving brith last year and have never had it befor in my life and im 31 years old!
My doc thinks its some sort of post partem.Im not depressed
Anxiety can be brought on after having a child the same as with depression.Doc thinks its caused by hormones the same as a woman going through the menopause can suffer anxiety for the frist time in there lifes.
I think if you feel bad go to your doc as health vistors dont always realise how bad you are really feeling inside.At the end of the day they are only nurses and caut really help you hun.xxxx

[peteb11]

hey ppl, hmmm thats a hard 1 isnt it will it go away? well anxiety and panic is the bodys natural warning system of danger so everybody experianses it at some point, picture this, ur in bed at night fast asleep, crash! u wake, ur hearts pounding u shake get hot probably feel sick breathing faster, sound familiar? thats panic warning u ur adrenaling is going wild, anyway u get up go down stairs and its just the cat knocked a bottle over, panic over, its hard to explain but u have a panic attack and u cant see y u had it? no1 knows maybe things uve been through trigger it, anyway uve had 1 and u begin to think wat is wrong so u panic again and again every time its worse coz ur convinced theres sumin wrong, anyway then the anxious feeling kicks in, wat if u have a panic attack while ur out wat will u do wat will ur mates think! o no panic more, just think of this the reason u feel so ill wen ur panickin or anxious is because ur body producess adrenaling, with is sent to ur muscles hence the ackes, to ur lungs and heart hence the fast heart rate, and fast breathing, also the reason u feel ill is because the body only sends adrenaling to the vital organs witch u would need to escape danger, so, the stomach bladder, ur head ends of fingers and feet are in a way shut off coz there not important thats y u feel u need the loo quick coz the body will empty the bowls and ur fingers and toes go cold or numb coz the blood is used to pump the heart and feed the muscles, and ur head goes light and dizzy coz the blood is rushing throught ur heart and muscles..so if anything wen ur panicking or anxious u r more alert and ur deffinatly not ill, its the bodys way of escaping from danger..remember no1 has ever died from a panic attack..anyways after a few weeks u will probably start to have wierd thoughts, repetetive thoughts and i mean very very wierd thoughts of going insane crazy, and things like that. its a very hard cycle to break but it can b done, get help talk to ur doctor, tablets help but the only way to get over it or controll it is in ur head! hope all that atleast makes u feel abit better...my arms hurt lol

p.baxter

[chucklehound]

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE BIRTH OF YOUR BABY!!!!!:D[^]:D[^]:D
Hope you start to feel better soon

Take care

Chuckle

xxxx

[panicked]

Thnak you to all who responded and I will try to do the tips suggested- I definately think it gets worse when I think about it:D

Jo