How wonderful to live with no more panic

[Mr Alexander]

Hi everyone. I'm a 72 year old guy living with daily panic so to find a forum about it is great news. I'd love to hear of how others have learned to keep this cousin of the black dog at bay. It's been a daily part of my life for some while and I have tried different therapies and read around it a lot without any viable long term success. I manage to keep to front of daily life up (I'm a stiff upper lip kind of person) but I am worried that lately it has begun to show and certainly from the inside it feels as though it's getting worse. I don't like taking any kind of drugs, I only occasionally drink alcohol (I do enjoy it probably too much). I do daily yoga and breathing exercises and meditation. I'm vegetarian. But I wake in panic most mornings about 3.00 am and it then stays with me most of the day. I am worried about the effects on my physical health which has always been and still is good.

Any pointers anyone can offer would be really helpful

David

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya Mr Alexander and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and
are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and
support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way :yesyes:

[Darksky]

Hi David,

I’ve had the company of this thing for over 40 years and by no means am I unusual. I think the only thing is learning to live with it. Which after 40 years you do. You get to know stuff, you know for instance that if you’re going through a bad patch, it will end…they always do. You know to carry on living with it.
You are doing all the right stuff with the mediation and yoga. Cold showers are said to stop panic in its tracks although I’ve not had the nerve to try it. Listen to soothing noise when you wake in a panic. You know the sort of stuff, waves, wind etc and do you breathing exercises. How you react to panic when you first feel that sudden flood of adrenaline is crucial. Those few seconds can dictate how you feel for hours.
If you feel twitchy and can’t relax, get up…try that cold shower.. Go outside sit in the night and breathe. Just don’t lay there churning up. Come on here, someone will be up, same as you.
Theres always a listening ear on this forum. Take advice and give advice….helping others through stuff is very healing for yourself.

[Mr Alexander]

Thanks again Darksy,

I really found this useful. Helping others is helpful for yourself. I came across the idea of public living rooms, run by an organisation called Camarados and their philosophy is similar to that idea. https://www.camerados.org/

Great name by the way.

[Mr Alexander]

Hi again to anyone out there!

Following on from Darksy's comments to my intro I have been thinking lately about addressing the reasons why this general panic takes over my being. I have been trying to take responsibility for it, by which I mean standing back from myself as much as possible and viewing it as if it was happening to someone else. Looking at what my mind seems to have settled on as the cause and somehow owning it. I know these ideas seem vague and only half thought through and I apologise for that. I'm not so used to expressing these things publicly and writing this helps to clarify what is happening.

My panic always seems to centre on what I think have been mistakes and wrong paths I have taken in the past. Of course it's a futile occupation and even in knowing that absolute truth there's a sense of dread and desperation that nothing can be done to put it right. 'What might have been and what has been point to one end which is always present'

I'd love to hear what others think of the notion.

Oh and is there a way of a live chat process on this site? Have I seen it somewhere?

David

[Darksky]

I think that’s great, what a brilliant idea. We need more of them:yesyes:

I hate light pollution and I love darksky designated areas where you can actually see the universe around you at night. Hence Darksky.

[Mr Alexander]

That's great Darksky. You may have noticed I misread your name and didn't see the second k! Without it it sounded a bit like Banksy which was why I immediately liked it! But it's still good with or without the extra k!

I've just read the article on anxiety by John Crawford and downloaded his book on Audible. The article is very good and makes a huge amount of sense so I am hoping the book will help too.

But at the end of the day I know this is down to me and the healing starts here and now.

You are my first witness, so I'll keep you informed of progress. Thanks.

David

[Mr Alexander]

I just edited the last post so I did realise after thinking about it further that it was the k not the s I misread. If you see what I mean!

Just a symptom of this strange freaky mind of mine - the replaying ad infinitum of moments of the past, trying to reset them. It becomes obsessional. Do you have that symptom too?

D

[Darksky]

Are you maladaptive daydreaming?

[Mr Alexander]

I'll have to Google that and come back to you but from the sound of it I may be.

[Mr Alexander]

Hmm. Just looked at the definition of that and no, it's not really me. I don't daydream at all really but moments in my past and sometimes places just randomly arrive at the front of my brain and I relive them, sometimes just going through what happened and sometimes reworking them in a more positive way, ie what I ought to or might have done at the time. I then am propelled back into the realism of the present and the panic response.

I've started listening to John Crawford's book and I think it's going to be helpful. As is this forum. Maybe we should start a separate thread as this one seems to have gone beyond introductions already...

D

[Darksky]

You can start a thread easily enough.

The section General Anxiety Disorder gets the most traffic.:yesyes: