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20-05-14, 10:15
Hi, ex panic disorder sufferer here, just wanted to share a little story about something that happened to me yesterday, which previously would have cause me a major freak out and extremely high levels of anxiety.
I drove out of a car park in the center of town onto a 4 lane stretch of road when i heard a big bang and my car died :-( i was alone, with low battery on my mobile and i have no breakdown cover (naughty i know) immediately all i could think was 'lots of money to get towed away' 'hundreds to fix car' 'i am stranded here and all i want to do is go home in case i start to panic'..
Well a family friend who is a mechanic came and got me, took me home, then went back for the car, to tow it away and fix it etc. On the side of the road when he had a listen to the car he was doing that head-shaking, 'it's knackered' kind of thing and my stomach just dropped.. I not only had the problem of breaking down whilst driving but also of potentially huge repair bill.
Anyway, throughout the whole hour or so at the side of the road and the rest of the evening at home (wondering where i will get money from) i did not have a panic attack! Couple of moments of sweaty palms and heart rate high but no full panic.. :yahoo:
If someone asked me yesterday what would be most likely to cause me to have an attack nowadays i would have said that exact situation.. BUT it didn't! I was able to think clearly, phone who i needed to phone to sort the situation out, and think logically. Having just finished a talking therapy for anxiety i can honestly say if i have learned anything by overcoming panic disorder it is that we are ALWAYS stronger than we think and we are ALL equipped with the inner tools to cope with whatever is around the corner, of course, sometimes we cannot cope, but you are always stronger than you believe.. i know when you have anxiety you can slip into that 'i couldn't cope with x, y,z' mentality sometimes.
Not sure if this will help anyone but i hope anyone who is suffering panic finds this useful :-) (was going to put this in success stories section but not sure if anyone would read!)
I drove out of a car park in the center of town onto a 4 lane stretch of road when i heard a big bang and my car died :-( i was alone, with low battery on my mobile and i have no breakdown cover (naughty i know) immediately all i could think was 'lots of money to get towed away' 'hundreds to fix car' 'i am stranded here and all i want to do is go home in case i start to panic'..
Well a family friend who is a mechanic came and got me, took me home, then went back for the car, to tow it away and fix it etc. On the side of the road when he had a listen to the car he was doing that head-shaking, 'it's knackered' kind of thing and my stomach just dropped.. I not only had the problem of breaking down whilst driving but also of potentially huge repair bill.
Anyway, throughout the whole hour or so at the side of the road and the rest of the evening at home (wondering where i will get money from) i did not have a panic attack! Couple of moments of sweaty palms and heart rate high but no full panic.. :yahoo:
If someone asked me yesterday what would be most likely to cause me to have an attack nowadays i would have said that exact situation.. BUT it didn't! I was able to think clearly, phone who i needed to phone to sort the situation out, and think logically. Having just finished a talking therapy for anxiety i can honestly say if i have learned anything by overcoming panic disorder it is that we are ALWAYS stronger than we think and we are ALL equipped with the inner tools to cope with whatever is around the corner, of course, sometimes we cannot cope, but you are always stronger than you believe.. i know when you have anxiety you can slip into that 'i couldn't cope with x, y,z' mentality sometimes.
Not sure if this will help anyone but i hope anyone who is suffering panic finds this useful :-) (was going to put this in success stories section but not sure if anyone would read!)