ARGHHH....PANIC ATTACK!

[belle]

Going up the town this morning i felt okay but my stomach isn't feeling right due to painkillers i am taking to help chronic toothache. Anyway...i was walking round okay(ish) with my husband and he wanted to pay in a cheque in the Abbey and i needed to go 6 shops down and get some stationary. Off i went but my stomach was really playing up and i hadn't got my usual "safe" bottle of coke i carry with me. In the stationary shop i had to wait for quite a while to be served then i went back into the Abbey where my husband still had not been seen. He was pretty close to the desk but i could feel the panic rising and my heartbeat getting faster. It was his turn to be seen and BAM...as soon as he handed the cheque over to pay in my panic attack hit, full flow! Heart going mad....check, nausea....check, shaking hands....check, whole weird body sensations.....check! OMG - I just wanted to get the hell out of there, but i couldn't....or should i say....WOULDN'T. I recalled something that i read that you HAVE to sit out the panic attack to realise that its harmless (despite the nausea and my fear of puking RIGHT THERE IN THE FRONT OF MY IRRATIONAL MIND!!!!). I can HONESTLY say the panic attack probably lasted about 10 seconds at the peak. I then carried on and did a bit more shopping.
I feel pretty crap now and i don't want to do much, but i've got to go to work :(

SarahC

[Lousy Hero]

can i just say a big WELL DONE for staying with it, and not running like im sure i would have. Alhtough it may not seem like it, youve taken a big step forward by riding that panic attack, and it wasnt in a safe environment for you at all. So all the more reason for you to be pleased with yourself. Yes you're going to feel like crap after such an aggressive panic attack but i really think you should be proud of what you did and now you know life doesnt end when you have one, mastering them should be that little bit easier.

Well done you !

Religion? Communism? No, Love is the Opiate of the People

[Piglet]

Sarah this is a post any one of us could have made.

I felt similiar in Marks & Spencers food hall last night - I am trying to go there a few times a week to get myself back into shopping again. Even though I had the youngest piglet with me I still did feel like I wanted to throw the shopping down and run screaming from the store. It was that bit busier last night and I didn't really like it but I told myself to let it wash over me.

I still think we only get good at something if we keep practising at it. Don't let the experience put you off, just think of it as a crap practice session and the next one will be better.

Love Piglet x

"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?" said Piglet.
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.

[Eveline]

I read a lot about 'riding the panic attack' and not running away from it, but I wonder... It helps me to get out in the fresh air, to go for a walk. Not a panic driven out of control running out of the house kind of walk, but to just get dressed (mine usually set off right after waking up, especially if I wake up after just a few hours of sleep or shorter than that..) and go out. Is that running away, or is it a coping technique?

I have had two attacks recently where I could not leave the house. My fiance works nights, and I had the attacks at 2 am, not really a time I'd like to go out for a walk around the neighbourhood.... If he had been with me, maybe we would've, but now I had to 'ride it out' and it lasted a lot (!) longer than it would've if I had been able to go out.

[Insomniac]

Hi Sarah

Well done for sitting that out. Having a PA is bad enough, but deciding to sit it out and not let it control you by leaving the situation or whatever is brilliant. AND you did some more shopping after as well!

I know you felt crap. The adrenaline and fear takes a toll on our bodies even when its over we feel rough. But count this as a success. That may sound odd, but you did stay and even though you felt awful you weren't sick. Well done you!





Lisa.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

[honeybee3939]

Hi Sarah,


Im realy pleased you didnt let the panic get the better of you, its always an easy option just to get out of that sittuation. A BIG well done to you, and to carry on shopping as well ! Good on you gal, be proud Sarah with what you have achieved.:D


Love

Andrea
xxxx

[sal]

You are not going mad hun it is a blip You are a strong person. Believe in yourself xxxxx





Love Sal xx


Dont mess up the best things in your life, just because at present you are unsure who you are.


"Life is a distance and to travel that distance you were given the strength and guidance to do so".