Arghhhhh - please tell me there is hope

[angieb]

I had such a positive good day yesterday, dropped my baby to school and picked her up, popped into my local town, had a juice at a cafe and went to my sisters for a cup of tea...felt liked I had turned the corner at thing would be fine.

THEN - about 8pm my throat felt sticky, I had a bath then filt woozy and sicky then started to get spontaneous muscle spasms in my legs -as a result had a rough night (slept but jumpy). Felt OK but tired when I woke up then it realy went down hill.

I had to drop Millie to school (my eldest daughter is off today so she came with us). I have to park at the church gates and walk through the beautiful church yard to the school. Suddenly half way through the church yard I knew I was going to hae a panic attack, I coud see myself (in my mind running back to the car gasping for breath). I managed to grad a couple of mums at school who took one look at me and said I looked awful. One mum walked me back to the car and I regained my composure but since getting home I feel awful. So sad, teary, desperate, and with an mpending sense of doom and full blown attack.

I have phoned my husband and mum who both say the right things to calm me down but I feel so alone.

Please tell me there is hope and that people do get over this and lead as near normal life as possible. 10 days ago everything in my life was great - todayI don't feel I have a future - how'd that happen?

Sorry to burden you guys, I just don't know where else to turn.

Many thanks, I feel better just getting this out.

Take care...Angie

[jude]

Hiya Angie,

All that happened was that you allowed your fear of fear take over.

Next time you feel a panic attack coming on, try to say to yourself, 'This is just a panic attack. Iv had them before and survived. It cant hurt me. Come on then panic attack, do your worst'
This is how I managed to get over the full blown panics. I made myself go through it and realised that if you dont get scared, they stop.
The school run is always the worst for me. I still get anticipation anxiety before I go, but once I start off, Im ok. I just think to myself- ok come on then, lets have you(talking to the panic). Nothing happens. It takes a while to be brave enough, but it does work.

Hope this helps
Jude x

[FAN]

hi you will get through this as jude says when the panic comes tell yourself that you had this before and was ok the more you do this the easier it is to stop them each time you will be able to stop it sooner and you will be in control

fan x

[KW]

Hi Angie

I'm sorry you had a bad day. I think everyone goes through times when we're doing ok and then suddenly out of the blue the anxiety comes back. It knocks our confidence and can be soul destroying. But just try and look at it as a blip that will pass and you will feel better again.

I find relaxation helps me through a difficult phase. A nice relaxting bath and listening to soft classical music really helps me to feel calm.

Hope you feel better soon.

KW

'Everyone believes very easily whatever they fear or desire'
- JEAN DE LA FONTAINE

[lisarose]

Hi Angie

Sorry to hear you had such a bad time but believe me things will get better even though it might not seem that way at the moment. I suffered panic attacks and anxiety for nearly 5 years and never thought I would be normal again but it does get better. i still have the occasional attack but have learned to face the fear now and not be scared of them but it took me along time to recognise them for what they were. When you start to feel an attack coming on try to concentrate on something else to distract your mind from the symptoms, repeat a phrase in your head or sing a song to yourself anything that will distract your thoughts from panic . I used to run for home at the slightest anxious thought and started to avoid going anywhere in case I had an attack which led me to become housebound for 9 months and I was even scared of being left alone in the house in case I had one as I thought i might die and there would be no one there with me. I know it is very hard to deal with at first as they are so frightening but you have come to the right place and I am sure if I had had something like this website when I first started with mine I think I would have recovered alot quicker.

I hope this helps a bit and things WILL get better.

Take care
Love Lisaxx

[angieb]

Thank you everyone, I am just having such a bad day, I cannot stop crying (which I never ever do) and now feel so guilty as my thirteen year old daughter is upset because I am upset.

My sister is coming over to pick Millie up from school. I just feel like crawling under a stone:(

Lisa, your writing really touches me, I am so scared of becoming house bound, how can I feel this bad in just 11 days?

Has anyone tried hypnotheraphy - I just want it over as quickly as possible.

Thankyou again...Angie

[delta]

Hi angieb
I just wanted to tell you there is hope, I know exactly how you feel, you just want things to get back to normal, they will, you know it is panic that is causing it that's a start, when I had my first panic attack I went to my gp and she gave me very test imaginable, panic/anxiety was never mentioned I had to literally self-diagnose, luckily I found a letter someone had written in the newspaper (no internet in those days) and they recommended a book by Dr Claire Weekes, it explained all the symptoms and helped me so much through those dark days. I still get them now but I know a little bit better how to handle them now.
Take care
Donna
x

[lisarose]

Hi again Donna,

I thought about having hypnotherapy last year and contacted a very nice man in the local paper who had been treating people with anxiety disorders for 20 years with a good sucess rate but unfortunately I couldn't afford it at the time and decided to go to the GP for medication instead which has helped loads but I am considering the hypnotherapy route to help me give up smoking now. If you do choose hypnotherapy make sure you go to someone who is qualified as there are alot of cowboys out there who claim to be able to cure you but just want to take your money. I too would be interested to know if anyone else has had success with this before I make any decisions about seeing one about the smoking and would also be interested to know if anyone has had success with the treatment of anxiety/panic attacks through hypnotherapy.

I know how you feel Angie, I thought I had got the perfect life and was such a happy go lucky person and then out of the blue WHAM.. it hits you and you don't know what the hell is happening to you and how on earth this happened to you or why and how can this thing make you feel so ill? I questioned my sanity for so many years and thought I was either completely barking mad or that I had some terrible incurable disease that the doctors weren't picking up on, I thought that the symptoms I ws getting couldn't possibly due to anxiety and I spent so much time going backwards and forwards to hospital having different tests such as blood tests, brain scans, ECGs, cameras down throat and up the other end!!! and still they could find nothing. In the end I thought I must be completely mad and was admitted to a physciatric unit for assessment and this was the worst experience of my life as some of the people in there with me were seriously disturbed and it scared the S*** out of me. I only lasted 5 days in there as one of the other patients tried to strangle me and none of the staff batted an eyelid they just said "Oh he won't hurt you he just needs his medication" and then proceeded to wrestle the man to the ground and hold him down while another nurse injected him with god knows what. I later found out that the man was a paranoid schizophrenic and no way was I stopping in there with people like him. That probably makes me sound really uncaring and unsympathetic but believe me I couldn't get out there fast enough and my parents had to convince the doctors that I was sane enough to leave which took another 24 hours as they thought because I suffering from Post natal depression that if they let me out then I might end up harming my baby(by the way I had to take my baby in there with me which was alll the more terrifying as I thought that one of the other patients might end up harming him too).

You are probably wondering why I am telling you all this and I feel like I am rambling on now but I haven't really talked about this experience for a very long time as it was 4 and a half years ago and still feel as tough I was treated apallingly by the hospital and it did me no good whatsoever. I suffered nightmares for a long time after and was convinced I would be sent back there. But what I am trying to say is that I came through it O.k and am still here to tell the tale!!! Some parts of that time are still a bit hazy and looking back I don't recognise the person I was then and can't believe I was so bad but that gives me some comfort as I know I have come such a long way and things will never get that bad again but I still have set-backs which make me feel like crap for a few days but then I pick myself up again and get on with life. Maybe I will always suffer with a certain amount of anxiety but you can learn to overcome the worst just think positive!!

I really wish I had found this website when I was at my worst as I have learned that I am not alone and It is actually more common than you think it's just that alot of people are embarassed to admit it as it seems to be such a taboo subject. It is so great to hear people's stories and experiences and to have help and advice at the touch of a

[angieb]

Hi Guys

A new development for me today. I remembered that one of my old client's a married couple, specialise in hypnotheraphy, Reiki and Kinesiology. I called Jean today in desperation and she was so fantastic. She could hear my distress and immediately gave me a phone NTL session. It took abot fifteen mins and I was totally calm and really tired at the end of it. She emailed the exercise accross to me and I have done it once more today and again calmness has restored.

I am thrilled, I am going to see her on Monday for a head massage and kinesiology session then am going to see her husband John for a couple of in depth hypnotherapy sessions.

I feel so relieved to be finally doing something about this. As a control freak to just say to me breathe and accept it just fills me with fear. This way I at least feel in control. I will keep everyone posted as to the effectiveness of this treatment.

Already though I feel so more positive.

Lisa - you poor thing, if this works i'm going to be getting you over here for treatment as they do smooking as well.

Have a good evening.

Angie

[FAN]

great you had another good day keep it up

fan x

[lisarose]

Hi again Angie this is great news and I am glad it made you feel better would love to give this a try myself, where do you live?

Keep up the good work!

Take care and keep us up to date with your progress.

Love Lisaxxx

[razocaine_07]

good to hear that you had a good day, hope it keeps going, good luck

MIKE

[Meg]

Angie

Thats excellent news . A bad moring doesn't mean a bad day or week to come . Break the cycle and do something else.

NLP can be very powerful for some people so glad it helped and so pleased you're going for some care next week.

It will help if sometime you take yourself off to the school / church yard a few times outside of school time and just get used to being there and walking round without all the hustle and bustle. Do you know what it is about being there that scares you ?

I'm sure the NLP/hynotherapist will go through reframing that scene of you running to the car as that is where you need to start as the thoughts and images fuelled the anxiety and led you to panic.





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

[seh1980]

Glad to hear that you are feeling better!! :D

[nomorepanic]

Hi Angie

I tried Hypnotherapy a few years ago and although it didn't "cure" me of panic it really helped (got me back on a plane) and was very relaxing. Check out this on my website - www.nomorepanic.co.uk/hypnotherapy.htm

I am so pleased that you are feeling better today and let's hope you have a panic free weekend.

Nicola

[angieb]

Hello lovely people

Well what a 24hrs, after feeling so bad yesterday I cannot believe the change in me today.

After my phone session yesterday I was so relaxed that I went to bed at 9.45pm - straight to deep sleep and woke up at 8.45am this morning remembering nothing...bliss!

I practised my de-panic exercise and then went shopping, I managed shoe shopping with a 13 year old, Sainsbury's and then lunch at a local Harverster with hubby and the kids. Yesterday I could not even face the garden!

I won't say it was a totally painless day but whenever I felt tension on my pulse start to rise I just did the exercise of yesterday and it really helped. Early days yet but I cannot wait for my session on Monday, if I feel this much better today roll on next week.

(Lisa I am in Cambridgeshire, where are you?)

Take care and have a good rest of the weekend.

Angie:D

[Meg]

Angie - do email this exercise to Nic so she can add it to the coping pages .

Thanks

[lisarose]

Hi Angie:D

So pleased to hear you had a good day yesterday, shopping can be very stressful especially with kids in tow, but you did great!

I would be very interested to know how the relaxation exercise works and how to do it. I have never been very good a deep breathing techniques and find it hard to concentrate on them, my mind always seems to wander.

I live in Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire so am quite far away from you. I wish they did hypnotherapy on the NHS as money is quite tight at the moment.

Let me know how Monday's session goes and hopefully you will continue to go from strength to strength.

Take care
Love Lisa:)

[angieb]

Hi Lisa & Co

Still on form this morning, had a couple of glasses of vino last night and woke up once in the night but was able to go straight back off after my exercise.

I am sure that some people will have heard about it, basically you tap twelve dirrerent points on your body with your middle and index fingers whist saying four words to yourself, mine is 'feel stressed - can cope' I have been saying it about three times for each point. The first time I felt calmer after the whole routine (which only takes about 5-6 mins) but now can stop after about six points.

I am sure that this is not rocket science as it is so simple and I am sure there are variations of the same. For me it really works, and it works when out because I can just focus on tapping the points on my hand in private.

Lisa email me - angie@fishingit.com and I will be happy to send over to you what I have.

Really looking forward to my face to face session tomorrow and will keep informed anyone that is interested.

Take care...Angie

[Tracy68]

Hi Angie
Great news to hear that you have had a good day :D at least you have now answered your own question about whether there is hope...and yes there is. Obviously it won't happen overnight but it will get better.
Good for you
Take care
Tracy
x

ps i live in cambridgeshire as well

[Meg]

Oh yes . EFT based .

Send it to Nic anyway please, as we don't have an EFT exercise yet on site.



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

[sal]

Hi Angie

Hope all goes well tomorrow and pleased let us know how it goes.

Take care.



Lots of Love Sal xxxxx