Situational Panic attacks

[skyhigh]

Hello all. I posted about how NMP cured my Health anxiety.. it only took a few weeks to feel relief from it. Im now hoping I can be given some direction as to how gain relief from specific phobias/panic attacks

At the moment I find crossing bridges comfortably to be quite impossible.
If i am driving a car it is not such a problem but if i attempt to walk over a bridge(esp. a high bridge) I begin to feel
1. bodily weakness/vision changes
2. confusion
3. fear of passing out/ fear of being pulled from the ground (weird i know lol)
4. general awful bodily sensation (adrenaline)

I also experience this if i am in an open field or the beach or if i am in a very tall building. Also I feel the sensations much more on a clear blue day.

I know that exposure therapy is key for recovery but I find I am relapsing often. I will make great progress...skip 1 day and find i am nearly at square one the day after.

This situation is putting my life on hold and it is testing the patience of my amazingly patient wife.

I beg of anyone to give me a silver bullet(i know i know) or maybe a success story of their own??

thank you so much.. I am so grateful

Skyhigh

[bottleblond]

Hey Sky

Bless you huni!! There is no miracle cure for phobias. I really wish there was but by the sounds of things, you are doing a fantastic job of facing your fears and trying to overcome them. (very well done).

Just continue to be persistant and i am sure as time goes on, things will become easier. You sound like a very brave man and i take my hat off to you.

Lisa
x

[ladybird64]

Welcome to my world :)

I haven't got any silver bullets for you (sorry!) but I am in the process of feeling better when Im out and about, more so than in the previous 25 years.

I also do the bridge thing (like a force of nature is going to lift me up and chuck me over), the tall buildings, the large roads..

Or rather did. Over the past few months I have been focusing on not letting any anxiety I might have bother me. Seems stupidly simple but it is working.
I have done a bridge and felt rough but I will do it again when I feel ready to..I decided not to put myself through a punishing schedule of "places" I must conquer.

I decided if I felt panicky I would stay still, not run. Not fight. I would acknowledge that I felt like I was going to drop down dead but I would be damned if it would stop me going where wanted.

Someone whose posts helped me a lot referred to Panic Attacks as energy surges and he is totally right.
Adrenaline=energy excess energy=adrenaline surges.

Kind of takes the fear out of it for me cos I know that it is harmelss and I may feel like crap but that's ok.

Tomorrow I am going to the Science Museum in London. Massive building (with loads of glass! :scared15:) that freaked me out totally last time I was there.
I was helping a class of schoolkids and I froze..totally. I had to explain to the teacher what was wrong and even though he was great, I felt a total freak and useless failure.

I am nervous but it's the kind of nervous you get when you are going on a fairground ride..scary but good!

Don't give up and tell your missus that success is possible :)