confused about my panic attacks

[grace.M]

ok so just a post to try and clear up a few things.. firstly I'm not sure weather my panic attacks are getting better, or my GAD has just been making them seem better because I'm almost constantly anxious/on edge, as a pose to just having panic attacks in the evening.. I usually have quite high anxiety levels

so my last panic attack was pretty distressing for me, i haven't been that bad in months.. i panicked and got upset at the same time, so i left the situation because i could feel the pressure building up on my forehead, i ran to the bathroom... i felt hopeless and burst into tears, i lost control of my breathing and then all my muscles started to tense up..i found it really hard to stand up, and i ended up sitting in the bath trying to calm myself down, my boyfriend came in to try and help calm me down but i couldn't even concentrate on what he was saying and was clutching at my chest, coughing, catching my breath and shaking... worst feeling ever right? i found it really hard to relax and after the main waves of panic phased out i felt totally numb and achy and had no idea how id gotten that bad, the last 2 panic attacks i had i managed to calm myself down before i couldn't move or talk.

my main question is if you ever really get used to panic attacks? because i feel all the ones I've had before were a lot worse, but I'm not sure if Its because i very rarely get a break from the worry... i just feel because I've had it so long I'm starting to go into denial over weather its a big problem or not :unsure: my filmily seem to think its something i can just pull myself out of... and this last panic attack has knocked me back a bit with how i kind of felt i was getting better... what kind of things set panic attacks off for you?

[cazzy]

I thought i was the only person out there feeling like you ,im so sorry how you feeling like this ,i know how you feeling , i must have had 3-4 panic attacks in 1 day today and overall in the last few days ive had occuring ones on and off ,but went a whole week without having one and at the moment im so hard on myself giving diazepam up ,im feeling even more anxious i got to take 1 .....im a little confused as some say dont fight it and others say distract yourself from it ....which 1 do you take ?? fight it or leave it ?? i got so frustrated today trying either 1 of them i become angry with myself ,but in a good way it calmed me down,angry for the fact of feeling like i was and angry with the fact im not letting this panic get to me anymore ,im so cheesed off with it all ....sorry for rant !! .....im feeling should i go back to the doctors ,only to be fobbed off its all in my mind and theres help out there ,Yes! and you have to wait for it grrr ! and my family members telling me how strong i am and pull yourself together,if only they felt like what we do ...sorry ranting again ....i did find today chewing on chewing gum helped ,i dont know why but the tension in my face i drew to chewing like mad and how crazy as it sounds i dont know if you have tried breathing into a paper bag ,like a prescription bag or something similar ,i find when i have difficulty breathing ,doing this helps alot , it makes me feel quite light headed but sends me for a cat knap and i wake up feeling okaish and breathing normally ...but todays panic attacks seemed to be on the fact i was getting breathless from doing my days work of being physically active ,climbing up and downstairs all day . i think i focused on my breathing ,that i was out of breath and thought im going to bring an attack on and thats what caused mine today xx

[grace.M]

thanks for your reply cazzy :) i also don't know whats better.. i always find distracting myself is better than going through the panic attack, but some people say this might just cause heightened anxiety, so I'm not sure... i used to get panic attacks purely because of feeling like i can't breath properly.. i even got panicy today over feeling like i can't swallow properly and waking up in panic is always a bother :/ but I'm probably just over anxious because until now i wasn't worried about panic attacks... I'm still not sure why i got so bad all over again :weep: