Confront it head on

[nomorepanic]

My advice about Panic Attacks is to confornt them head on and NEVER give in. Do not let them rule your life - you must take control. I am still a sufferer but I am getting there slowly :-)

[Joanne]

Good Advice. I hope you are getting better.

I get anxiety attacks, but not very often now. Usually I feel panic rising in social situations- where I suddenly feel ' magnified' or the centre of attention.
My worst fear ( and only fear- really) is at night. I hate going to bed. I panic about shadows/ things in the room! I am very rational- so I don't know where this fear comes from. It vanishes as soon as morning comes. Today- I bought Holland and Barrett Peaceful Night Herbal Tablets. Hopefully these will help me get a more restful sleep. Will post results. Ok, bye for now, Jo[:I]

p.s..... can u include an ' introduce yourselves' topic on the main page?

[nomorepanic]

Hi Joanne

Thanks for the posting. Sorry to hear that you suffer at night. I have never found that a problem though I do no sleep every well. I would be interested to hear how the tablets work, so please let me know.

Good idea about the introduce yourselves - I shall add the page now :-)

Nicola

[Andy]

Dear nomorepanic/Joanne,

Im 24 and have a panic desorder, 7 years ago my dad died and they started on that very day, my doctor gave me pills that didnt work and i didnt know what else to do.
When they first started I had one every other week, but recently I started to get them everytime I was in a surtain situation, which could be one every day.
I lost my job because I couldnt stay in the building at that point I was all out of ideas, until I started going to hypnotherapy.
Now im starting a new job and getting on with my life, I am happy you have started a web page for people to visit, and I hope this page will help people as much as it as helped me.

bye for now Andy

[Rachel]

Joanne - I also have Holland & Barrett Herbal Peaceful night so I know what you are going through! I bought them around the second week I started having panic attacks. Though I only did use them the once.
It's so true though about confronting your panic attacks straight away and the longer you leave it the worse they seem to get. At the moment I'm not suffering from massive attacks any more as I have learnt how to handle them. But when I do feel one coming on I deal with it straight away before it gets out of control. This website has helped me a great deal - I used to look at the symtoms page and when the symtoms that I was having were listed it made me feel very much at ease because it confirmed that I really was just having a panic attack. The more you worry and get scared the worse it gets- next time you feel one coming on - relax and think about something else (watch a comedy - talk to someone, try to laugh) I know it's easy to say but these simple things ended up being my cure. Hope you are all doing well. xx

[bruce]

i agree with everyone that confronting it is good, i started to think that i wanted to train my brain through some sort of therapy to "forget" about wehn i used drugs in one dredful day which gave me my first panic attack. then i really though about it more and decided no, i do not want to forget. if i were to then i may go back to using drugs again and have to go through this crap all over again then again if i remember it and deal with it and beat it then ti will bury the potential for these attacks to take over my life and in the future i will be a great coper with problems which actually ends problems. i go to cognitive behavioral therapy, i have done tests to make sure its not a physical problem, i take prescribed meds klonopin/clonezepam, and i read everything i can on the internet to educate myself on my problem. this really helps if you can then narrow down to what is exactly wrong with you. learning as much as you can eliminates symptoms or makes you laugh as they happen, "i M GETTING LIGHT HEADED, HA I HAVE BEEN THRU THIS BEFORE, NO BIG DEAL." what i am working on now is formulating relationships with people who i can trust. by that i mean people who i can explain my situation to an confide in, people who i can place in high positions and expect them to come thru for me. be this friends, a girlfriend or both. having people who will be there must inevitably help as when i came forward with this and sought help i did nothing but get better and better and better. now it is A VERY RARE OCCASION WHEN I GET A PANIC ATTACK, when it happens i feel so incredibly capable to deal with it. i dont think anyone could possibl understnad what we have gone thru unless they have gone thru it themselves and i think that we are all better people for beating this although i would not like to subscribe to the panic ever again, there was nothing i liked about it but i think that as i continue to feel myself i will learn to cherish life as it is fragile and what seems to be perfect is in fact potentially flawed and also what seems to be everlastingly bad is in fact never as horrendous as it seems. to all, beat anxiey into the grave by facing the problem as responsibly as possible, help does exist! for me the more i read about and learned about this the better i felt, the same will happen for you, bruce.

i am here as a result of my continuing efforts to lead an anxiety free life

[Chant]

I agree with you a 100 percent. It's very hard to face panic attacks but it seems to be the best solution. I'm working on it too. When I frist got panic attacks the world did'nt know what they were! Now here I am at 50 learning how to get rid of them!
Cahnt

[Chant]

I"m new here so I don't know if my frist reply went through. I just wanted to say that I agree with confronting panic attacks head on. I know it's hard.
Just think when I frist got panic attacks the world did'nt have any idea what they were. Today at fifty I am learning to face them and get better. One little step at a time!!
Chant:yesyes:

[marie1974]

hi and yes i totally agree, everything i have ever gotten over and recovered from is from facing it head on.

at times i have thought i was never gonna get there but you do. hugs everyone xxx

[ladybird64]

I didn't know where to post this so I thought I would tag it on to this thread. :)
I have just bought the Claire Weeks book and I'm a little confused. When I had my therapy last year I was told to "face the bully and not let it win." Even the title of this thread says to "confront it head on" which is what I thought I was trying to do but the books says to have "utter acceptance" which is a concept I'm struggling with straight away, is it really possible to really accept it? I have read further into the book but can't seem to come to terms with the acceptance bit as I'm fighting an inward battle with myself, I don't know if I can accept something that has affected my life for so long.
I guess that the fact that I'm fighting myself is futile but I have been fighting for so long in so many areas of my life I don't know any other way to deal with things.
Actually as I'm writing this, I have realised what the problem is..I'm scared to accept it and I'm angry that someone has even dared suggest that I should. (God, that was difficult for me to write :blush: )
I am an optimist and do believe that I can feel a little better in myself but if anyone here has any words of wisdom to get me past this first hurdle, I would appreciate it.

Thanks

[nomorepanic]

Wow this is an old post of mine lol

[honeybee3939]

And they are very wise words Nic:winks:

:hugs: :hugs:

Andrea
xxxxx

[titchjd]

I feel exactly the same Lady bird ...1 person says fight it and distract yourself then another says accept it and welcome it ....but I find it hard 2 accept when im nearly fainting and have jelly legs ..Imust say I have had advice on here 2 day that I am going 2 give a go and try and get fit as ive becum sooo unfit with agro.

I dont know what the answer is but i will try anything and wen I find the answer hun I will let u know xxx I 2 have read claire weekes and totally understand that if u accept the fear u cant be scared and therefore it wont escalate but i just havent been able 2 get there yet xxxx

gud luk and I will post u anything I find that myt help u x
itch xxxx

[titchjd]

oops Titch ...not itch ...lol

[never2late]

I'm a fan of Claire Weeke's methods, I read and listen to her regularly, and I get confused as well distinguishing between the fight it/accept it camps.

I do understand that anxiety and panic actual feeds off of fighting it. But its also possible to fight it -- in an accepting way.

Anytime we prepare ourselves to fight -- whether physically OR mentally (or both), our bodies go through changes within. I think we're all familiar with those changes, because they are the exact physical symptoms of anxiety and panic in the first place.

But is it possible to fight the "gentle" fight?

I think it is, and I also think its done through attitude: we're not going to let our anxiety and panic get the best of us, but at the same time, we're not going to get all worked up to feed it more fire to burn.

We have witnessed here at the forum, time and time again, posts indicating someone who has gone into that zone that we all try to say away from. The immediacy of the despiration; the anxst; being caught up in the fear, panic, fear loop that is so hard to get out of.

THAT is the realm that we all wish to avoid.

So I say, yes, fight the fight -- but make it a gentle (but determined) fight. Even by accepting one is fighting, when you come to really think about it. It's just a different type of fight.

Just stay away from the type of fight that will feed the fire.

[Cathy V]

I also had trouble knowing the difference between fighting and 'floating' but i remember one day when i had to fly back to uk, and i was sitting on the plane, theyd just closed the door and we were getting ready to taxi to the runway, and i could feel the familiar panic building, and i thought "you know what..im so tired of this fight, so just do what you want with me, you dont seem to bother any of the other passengers..why me? but you know what, just do it, because ive had enough and cant be bothered with you anymore" and from that day to this ive never had another panic on a plane. So was this me accepting, or fighting?

Now if you were to put me on a train......:D

[dianes]

Hi everyone:) By you taking the approach of not being bothered Cathy you were accepting the symptoms of panic and not trying to fight them. Like you I have been trying to accept them, I think C.W. means to just let the symptoms wash over you. I feel each one without trying to stop them happening or running away from them. Instead of leaving a shop or returning home (like I used to) I am working on feeling the fear and staying with it and only returning home when I am perfectly calm. I was told that by doing this I am re-enforcing to myself that there is nothing to be afraid of, whereas returning home or leaving a situation when you feel the symptoms of panic you re-enforce the belief that there is something to be afraid of (if that makes sense). It does seem to be working when I can do it.:yesyes:

:hugs: :hugs: to everyone

Diane
'Remember, your imagination is always much worse than the reality'

[Bill]

Why do panic attacks occur?

I feel there are probably 3 reasons.....

1) A gradual build of pressures such as at work or in the home
2) A sudden traumatic event
3) Bad experiences in our past which have created "emotional stress"

After we experience our very first panic attack, why do they keep happening?

1) The pressures that created our overload are still present in our daily lives
2) We haven't come to terms with the traumatic event
3) The bad experiences are still bottled up undealt with

However, what is the "most common" reason why they keep happening?

Fear! - fear of them keep happening.

What is the difference between the years before they happened and the years living with them after they first happened?

Fear!

How do we confront "fear" in the "right" way?

Ok, so you're sitting at home and you're feeling absolutely determined to go out and confront your fear of an attack. You're sitting there building yourself up saying to yourself "I'm determined to go out and confront this demon". In your mind you're thinking about a panic attack and thinking to yourself how you're going to deal with it if as you expect, it happens. You step out the door and half way down the road the unthinkable happens. You have a full blown attack and dash back indoors.

So what went wrong when you were so determined to confront it?

Fear!

Before you stepped out the door, you were "thinking" to yourself "what if" it happens and how will I deal with it. You were "thinking" about it happening and working out how to deal with it. While you were "thinking" about it, your mind was preparing yourself for it to happen. You body was tensing up "expecting" it to happen because you were "afraid" of it happening.

So what's the difference between someone who goes out who doesn't experience a panic and someone who does?

The former doesn't "think" about having a panic before they go because they've never experienced one so they've never learnt to be "afraid" of one happening...........just as those who now live in fear of them happening never used to before their first panic.

When we confront a panic, it has to be confronted in the "right" way. If we go out "worrying what if" one will happen then it WILL happen and we only worry about them happening because they "frighten" us.

If you can learn to go out without being afraid of them happening then they Don't happen because you're not thinking about them because you've learnt to "accept" them as a "normal" reaction to stress.

When we accept them as being a normal reaction, we're not frightened when they do occur. When we're frightened of them, we try to "fight" them and in doing so we tense our body up which makes the symptoms worse creating a full blown panic attack.

If we treat them like a sneeze, we don't think about them before we go out and we don't tense ourselves up if they do happen so they pass as quickly as they arrived because we're no longer afraid of them as we've accepted them as being normal. If we focus on our anxious feelings because they frighten us then the symptoms will develop into full panic. If we find something to occupy our mind away from the symptoms, the symptoms will go on their own. For instance, an athlete will feel nervous before a race but as soon as he starts running the symptoms go because he's focussing on winning.

However, you also need to confront the "actual causes" such as the amount of stress in your life or traumas in your past by working out ways to reduce the amount of stress you're under or by coming to terms with the bad events in the past.

I used to suffer panic attacks because I was overloaded with too much pressure. I didn't know what was happening to me. Once I reduced the stresses in my life and learnt not to be afraid of them, they stopped happening.

I no longer think about them before I go out and if I have a bad day and I start feeling panicky, I don't focus on the "anxious feelings" but instead look for something to take my attention away from them so that the panicky feelings subside quicker.

Yes, the best way is to confront fear but it has to be done with the right mental approach by learning to accept the symptoms as "normal".:hugs:

[purplehaze]

Hey Bill

I just read that from a book but good advice

[ladybird64]

Ok, long rambling post coming up. Feel free to yawn/ignore it.

First, thanks to all that replied, I guess hearing from people here somehow makes it more real (if you know what I mean).
I have to make a journey to the other side of London by bus on Sunday, an area that I don't know at all, the purpose of the journey is stressful but I won't go into that here.
I have checked the route and I have to change buses at Trafalgar Square, a busy, busy place. Now..a couple of weeks ago I had to do my journey to West London that I had done successfully a few weeks previously. So..not anticipating a problem this time. Until the bus decided to terminate early at Trafalgar Square, which totally threw me. I got off with my daughters, mind racing at a zillion miles per hour and then..whoosh! (You know the whoosh I mean :winks: ), people all around me, tourists at the bus stop with all their bags, buses, cars and people everywhere, no escape. I automatically went into my "you have got to test yourself at every opportunity mode", eyeing the skyline, looking at the top of Nelson's Column, Tate Gallery etc..aaagh!:scared15:
Yup, didn't work at all. So, you can guess why I'm not exactly looking forward to Sunday's journey.
But I shall take all your advice with me (mentally) and try and do nothing.
I won't make frenzied attempts to look around and when I feel the "whoosh" (if I do) I just stand still instead of trying to push through it.
Have I got it right? Sorry to be thick but I'm still not sure how I can "float" and walk at the same time...I guess it will be a work in progress. :)

[Ozzy]

My advice about Panic Attacks is to confornt them head on and NEVER give in. Do not let them rule your life - you must take control. I am still a sufferer but I am getting there slowly :-)

Congrat's :)

As this might work for some ppl i dont see how this could work for me everytime i have tryed to confront them head on it makes me fill about 10000000000times worse and i end up at where i started again, just from my own personal preference that's all

[Bill]

Hello Purplehaze,

You've got me curious now! What book was it in?

In all honesty I have never read any self-help books to help myself. I've just learnt what works as I've gone along and was just sharing what I "thought" might help others from my own experiences. Like I say, you've got me curious now because it feels uncanny that this book should say the same thing!:shrug:

[Chant]

Hi there,
I'm reading sevral books and they are telling me to accept it too. I think what they mean is to accept we have panic attacks and not feel guilty. When we accept things we can go on.
Belive me I was pretty shocked too when I read that. But I had to accept 15 years ago that I was an alcholic. And when I did, I stopped drinking. Yes fifteen years and not a drop.
We are not guilty for having panic attacks. Once we accept we can work on getting better. IMHO!