DaveThe Snapper
19-11-08, 12:43
Hello everyone! I am hoping that sharing my experiences will be beneficial to everyone (including me). I'm 48 and have had severe anxiety/panic episodes throughout my life. Sadly it is only in recent years that someone has said to me 'This is a classic anxiety symptom'. That was worth so much to me - up until then it was something unexplained - something to fear and not understand. It's a cliché, but I thought I was going mad! Looking back the attacks happened at key times in my life: leaving school, changing jobs, marriage, loss of parents. At the time I had no real feeling of being stressed or worried but obviously the door to my subconcious was well secured! As I write this I'm going through another episode. I have been prescribed beta blockers and antidepressants in the past and wanted to avoid the whole medication thing but I can't take time off work so I'm using beta blockers and they are sort of helping with the anxiety to an extent. The most disturbing thing is the way that anxiety crosswires the brain functions and you get this 'hard to describe' unworldy feeling. It's like a mild detachment from reality and is very unpleasant. I have had two panic attacks whilst driving and they scared the living daylights out of me. One was on the M5 - I had to stop on the hard shoulder, the other, two weeks ago, on a busy A road. My wife, bless her, is VERY understanding and is 100% sure it's linked to me not coping with loss of parents well. Lost my dad in 1998 and mum in 2006 and feel I haven't really sat down and thought about it. Having a good old cry certainly relieves the anxiety. Now there's a sign if ever there was! Talking to others be it face to face or online is of immense help - I hope we can all help each other with this horrible affliction.