grrrrr help

[vickykelly]

hi all, had an awful day yesterday felt like someone had a rubber band around my waist, went to doctors, and my heart rate was really high, shhe had to lie me down and give me valium it was awful, hubby had to pick me up... am now having a couple of days off work,, but i will now associate those feelings with work so god knows what Im going to do... feel ropey this morning becuase of the valium and my heart rate is pounding again.... have not been like this for years, will it stop?

[bel25]

It will stop, you just have to really believe that there is nothing wrong with you for it to go away. You should learn some things to try and calm the symptoms down so that when it comes on you can use these to make it go away- breathing techniques (especially for fast heart rate) might be a short-term solution, as might distraction (focus, watch or read something happy). Long-term you might want to try therapy or exercise, although would obviously increase your heart rate while doing it is extremely beneficial. Try whatever exercise works best for you- they all have long term benefits as they release happy hormones :-)
Hope you're feeling better!
xxx

[vickykelly]

hey thats great advice, cant keep taking the valium as it makes me feel ill.... she made me take two bless her felt like a right lemon.. i dont really excersise and i smoke, maybe i should walk the dog a bit that may help.. I dont sleep at night so take zopiclone, im not sure if thats something to do with it, i should try coming off it.. doctor said because my heart was so fast and I was shaky and sweating that it was causing pains in my chest!

[bel25]

Yeah, walking your dog sounds like a great idea and maybe when you feel a bit better you could try going for a jog or something as well? I recommend swimming, it's great exercise but it doesn't seem as strenuous as say jogging and i find it much more enjoyable but try whatever works best for you- everyone enjoys different forms of exercise. If you want to come off zopiclone you want to ask your doctor about weening you off it if you think that might help. Chest pains is another symptom of PA so it could all be inter-linked, ie your palpatations being so bad that it leads to chest pain- i've had all this before as well. You will be fine :-) The more you experience these symptoms, the easier you will be able to deal with them in the future as you will recognise it for what it is- panic.
Take care!
xxx

[nanny]

Hi

Like Bel25 says it WILL stop but you have to believe that.
I know it's hard but the more you think about it the worse you become and so on until it becomes a vicious circle.

Deep breathing does help, it takes a while to learn how to do this properly but once you have mastered that you can sit down breath, become calm and you will son feel in control again.

Hope you feel better soon.

[bel25]

The problem with breathing while panicking is that we breathe from the wrong part of the body. When you have palpatations your heart is beating fast and you're gasping for breathe (from top half of the lungs). When your stomach moves up and down we are breathing from the bottom half, which is what we should be doing. Maybe try this (it worked for me): lie down or sit up and put both hands on your stomach and feel it rise up and down and if it doesn't then force it, think of happy thoughts and eventually your breathing will be transfered from the top half of the lungs to the bottom, ie breathing correctly and with no panic :-)
xxx