Another Newby

[angieb]

Hi everyone

My name is Angie and I am very happy to have found this site which has already today bought me some comfort.

Up until 10 days ago I was leading a normal, happy life then bam just like that I suffered a panic attack whislt exercising. Ten days on and as many again attacks I feel I have hit rock bottom. Ended up in casualty on Saturday after having an attack infront of my daughters and am so cross with myself for letting this happen to me.

Can't understand why, everything in my life for the first time ever is great, I have a good job, flexi hours, no money worries, loving family and two happy kids! It does not make sense to feel so out of control now. The docs gave me mild beta blockers but I have stopped taking them (made me feel to woozy and out of it).

Any advice on getting back to normal would be greatly appreciated. Funny thing is I had panic attacks when I was 15 for about six months (36 now) and they just disappeared overnight one day - I am just holding on the hope that this will happen again.

Feeling desperate:(

[Tracy68]

Hi Angie
Welcome to the site. I'm sure you'll find that everyone on here knows exactly how you are feeling right now. Unfortunately i don't think there is any quick fix for how we feel. But you'll find loads of help and great support from everybody on here.
Take care
Tracy
xx

[nomorepanic]

Hi Angie

Welcome aboard - hope to hear some more from you.

A good starting place is Meg's First Steps post - www.nomorepanic.co.uk/firststeps.htm

Hopefully you will get over this very soon and back to a normal life again.

Nicola

[FAN]

hi welcome to the forum as tracy says there are no quick fixes but loads of helpful stuff on here to soon have you feeling better

fan x

[henri]

hi angie,
i'm sure lots of people on the site can relate to how you're feeling - my panic attacks started happening totally out of the blue and for no apparent reason.
i found meg's first steps really useful - i hope they are of some use to you too.
take care
henri

[angieb]

Thanks guys for making me so welcome, feel really teary tonight. Tried rescue remedy a short while ago and all it has done is made me feel like my throat is closing - so not done much by way of bringing on calm...doh!!!!

One day at a time I guess, strangly enough my breathing feels fine tonight just feel really tense, teary, uptight in my tummy, stiff accross the back and shoulders and like I am just waiting for it to arrive.

I am never ill, only ever been to the quacks when pregnant and now have been to the doctors and hospital within days and all self inflicted...marvelous Angie [:o)]

[Karen]

Hi Angie

Welcome to the site.

You'll get some good help and support here.



Karen



It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.

[seh1980]

Welcome to the site Angie!! :D

[maxine]

Hello Angie,
Welcome to the forum.:D


Take care

Maxine

[maxine]

Hello Angie,
Welcome to the forum.:D


Take care

Maxine

[Meg]

Angie ,

Sometimes if you've been having a difficult time and then it sorts itself out you can get Panic attacks as sort of a ' whew' coming down from being totally stressed out .

We manage to hold it together for as long as we need to and then fall apart with either panic or another emotional stress disorder .

When you were exercising what were you thinking of .... we don't often concentrate on the actual exercise itslef and is a good space to dwell on things and go off into our own world.


Meg
www.overcominganxiety.co.uk
You cannot conquer fear until you have learned what it is you're afraid of. The enemy is ignorance. Vivian Vance

[angieb]

Hi Meg (and all)

It was only my second ever time at circuit training. I had survived the first week (probably because I did not know what I was in for[:O]) and was probably already tense when I started the second class.

I am reading, talking and learning lots tonight and feeling happier by the minute - go as far as to say the calmest I have felt in a week.

The next hurdle for me is to disassociate general exercise away from the circuits. I am dreading dropping my baby off to school tomorrow as I have to walk quite a way from the car park to the gates - already thinking about the 'what ifs'...I will not let this take over my life - gloves off i'm not going down without a fight and with the support I am already feeling here...BRING IT ON!!!!!!!

[tessa]

Hi Angie and welcome to the site. I have found that saying the same thing you say "BRING IT ON" really helps me. I have been on the verge of one all day, but have been able to keep it at bay by talking my self down and loging on and off to this site. It is comforting during an attack to know you are not alone. Same as you I had these things happen to me when I was in the second grade. Then when I was 27 and now that I am 34. I absolutelly HATE them.:(I also am hoping they will go away like they did in the past. I had a real bad one in church and an ultra bad one in my boyfriends truck. It was our first date. I was embarressed and humiliated. I told him that I had food poinsoning!LOL So anyway I now avoid both place, church and his truck.My boyfriend recently asked me if I am avoiding going places with him. He now knows that I have these attacks and has been really cool and understanding about it, but until you experience one for yourself then it is just hard to fully grasp the concept. He wants to go on vacation together and I am scared to death to go. I am hoping to be better by the summer.
Take care and just please know you are NOT ALONE!!!!!!!;)



tessa

[angieb]

Thanks Tessa - sorry to hear that you are suffering too :( glad to hear that you have a nice boyfriend though, my hubby has been great. I have had both highs and lows today - the highs, picking Millie up from school, being on my own and not having an attack. The lows still getting (or making?) myself breathless everytime I do the slightest bit of exercise. Even going down the garden to put something in the dryer has got me tight accross the chest and back. I know there is nothing wrong as had an ECG etc on Saturday so am just plodding on.

If yesterday was a 2 day then today is a 6, feeling two times better than yesterday can only be a mve in the right direction.

Take care of you all...Angie

[Meg]

Good for you both ...

Angie - well done for picking up Millie alone and being fine !! Don't dread the chest tightening- stretch it out. Front , side and backwards

Tessa- for keeping it together and you know the sooner you go back to church ( sit at the back and on the end to start with ) and into the truck the better. The places have nothing to do with what you thought in them.....



Meg
www.overcominganxiety.co.uk
You cannot conquer fear until you have learned what it is you're afraid of. The enemy is ignorance. Vivian Vance

[jo-jo]

Hi Angie and welcome :D

Like you, my panic attacks started when life was good, I was about to get married to my wonderful husband and finish uni after 3 years of hard slog, academically and financially. I was also 36 at the time (37 now - getting REALLY old).

I remember having a couple of counselling sessions and during one of these it was suggested to me that my panic was emerging because I was in a 'safe place' for perhaps the first time in my life and so many years of trauma, difficulties, upsets etc were all bubbling to the surface in order to be released. Could this be happening to you? Maybe its not your current circumstances causing you to panic but things that have gone before?

Really pleased that you're starting to feel better, it takes time but be patient, you'll get there and you'll soon be fine again.

Best wishes
Jo xx

"courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear"

[lainey]

Hi Angie.

Welcome to the site,you will find lots of help and support here.
Have you tried any relaxation tapes, vitamin supplements-vit B complex, omega 3 etc.
You are on the right track as you picked your daughter up from school and faced your fears, avoiding them makes it worse and then you wouldn't want to do it at all.
Glad that you are feeling better.
Why don't you try a back massage for the tense muscles in your back and chest.

Take care

Elaine x

[tessa]

thanks meg,
and you are right i need to start confronting my fears instead of avoiding
them.[:I]

tessa