Frenchy
29-06-15, 21:33
Hi All
Just wanted to say hello. Have been lurking for a few weeks now, but I thought it was time to step out from the shadows!
I'm quite new to this panic/anxiety thing and I'll keep my story brief, as I think the details would probably end up being a trigger for some folks in the HA forum, but my panic attacks started a couple of months ago, due to a health problem and following a week in hospital.
I've never experienced anything like a panic attack before. The first time was....traumatic and it happened shortly after being discharged from hospital. When it hit, I really didn't know what was happening to me. I thought I was going crazy. I actually thought I was going to die and in the end I wound up in A&E - mere days after being discharged! It was after this episode - and speaking to my sister, who has suffered from anxiety in the past, that I realised what had happened to me. The last few weeks have been a new kind of struggle for me (but I realise that's really a drop in the ocean compared to the length of time others have had to struggle with this).
For the first couple of weeks I was having panic attacks every day and night, many of them lasting hours and hours at a time. The memories of my medical trauma and hospital stay were fresh in my mind and I really lacked the skills to manage or break myself out of them. Most days only sheer exhaustion ended them. I was already signed off work for 3 weeks due to my medical issue and I spent almost all that time home alone constantly fighting this rising panic. It was a dark couple of weeks, coupled with horrible thoughts of suicide, or getting myself committed to a mental ward - just so I could feel safer in a hospital setting.
I went to my doctor who referred me to a psychotherapist to try and deal with this - and he prescribed me with some Diazepam in the meantime. The Diazepam really helped... or at least it helped me to get to sleep at night. Nights are just the worst. I tried listening to therapeutic music, kalms and Rescue Remedy and I was already on Beta Bockers (related to my medical condition). I bought herbal tea too with chamomile and valerian root extract and went through a nightly routine to try and make the nights more bearable.
Anyway another few weeks have gone by and I have had one session with a therapist (not really that helpful yet) however the panic attacks have now lessened in frequency. I still have the occasional attack (every few days or so) and have today had to go back to my doctor today to ask for some more Diazepam - not to take regularly, but really just as an "in case of emergency" back up if I get an attack I can't manage.
I really never appreciated the true power (and treachery) of the mind before now. The ability that just a few chemical reactions have to make you feel so bad, so totally helpless and so completely desperate.... Well, I'll never underestimate the power of the mind again, that's for sure. I stumbled across this website one day and it has actually helped to read other stories and know that I am not alone.
So anyway... that's a brief synopsis. I have a bit of a journey ahead of me both medically and mentally it seems but I wanted to say Hello and send positive vibes to everyone out there :)
Just wanted to say hello. Have been lurking for a few weeks now, but I thought it was time to step out from the shadows!
I'm quite new to this panic/anxiety thing and I'll keep my story brief, as I think the details would probably end up being a trigger for some folks in the HA forum, but my panic attacks started a couple of months ago, due to a health problem and following a week in hospital.
I've never experienced anything like a panic attack before. The first time was....traumatic and it happened shortly after being discharged from hospital. When it hit, I really didn't know what was happening to me. I thought I was going crazy. I actually thought I was going to die and in the end I wound up in A&E - mere days after being discharged! It was after this episode - and speaking to my sister, who has suffered from anxiety in the past, that I realised what had happened to me. The last few weeks have been a new kind of struggle for me (but I realise that's really a drop in the ocean compared to the length of time others have had to struggle with this).
For the first couple of weeks I was having panic attacks every day and night, many of them lasting hours and hours at a time. The memories of my medical trauma and hospital stay were fresh in my mind and I really lacked the skills to manage or break myself out of them. Most days only sheer exhaustion ended them. I was already signed off work for 3 weeks due to my medical issue and I spent almost all that time home alone constantly fighting this rising panic. It was a dark couple of weeks, coupled with horrible thoughts of suicide, or getting myself committed to a mental ward - just so I could feel safer in a hospital setting.
I went to my doctor who referred me to a psychotherapist to try and deal with this - and he prescribed me with some Diazepam in the meantime. The Diazepam really helped... or at least it helped me to get to sleep at night. Nights are just the worst. I tried listening to therapeutic music, kalms and Rescue Remedy and I was already on Beta Bockers (related to my medical condition). I bought herbal tea too with chamomile and valerian root extract and went through a nightly routine to try and make the nights more bearable.
Anyway another few weeks have gone by and I have had one session with a therapist (not really that helpful yet) however the panic attacks have now lessened in frequency. I still have the occasional attack (every few days or so) and have today had to go back to my doctor today to ask for some more Diazepam - not to take regularly, but really just as an "in case of emergency" back up if I get an attack I can't manage.
I really never appreciated the true power (and treachery) of the mind before now. The ability that just a few chemical reactions have to make you feel so bad, so totally helpless and so completely desperate.... Well, I'll never underestimate the power of the mind again, that's for sure. I stumbled across this website one day and it has actually helped to read other stories and know that I am not alone.
So anyway... that's a brief synopsis. I have a bit of a journey ahead of me both medically and mentally it seems but I wanted to say Hello and send positive vibes to everyone out there :)