new

[inberlin]

hello,

i am 30 years old and have PTSD and also panic and anxiety attacks. this is the first time i have tried getting help online but i am alone in a foreign city and haven't been doing too well lately. i go to body therapy which has helped a lot but sometimes i wonder if i will ever get out of these cycles i seem to go through of depression and anxiety. i just broke up with my boyfriend, he is suicidal and going into a clinic, and am really alone in a foreign country. just thought it might help if i found some people who were dealing with similar issues online....

that's about it...glad i stumbled onto this website though..

k.

[Alexandra]

Hi Inberlin

Welcome to the forum

You will find lots of help & support on here.

Take Care

Alex

Many People Will Walk
In & Out Of Your Life
But Only True Friends
Will Leave Footprints
In Your Heart

[jackie]

glad you have found this site hope you feel better soon. you are not alone that is for sure

jackie

[giddy]

Hi
Welcome to the site - you'll get lots of help and support on here.
I'm probably going to sound really daft now, but what is body therapy?
Love Helen

[inberlin]

hi helen,

body therapy is a form of psychotherapy that is body-centred, and it focuses not only on dealing with what has happened in the past but also how your body is responding with symptoms in the present. i have learned relaxation exercises that help calm me down...for example, when you start to panic, the part of your brain that responds with the fight, flight, or immobility response kicks in and takes over...this makes you unable to rationalize what is happening and thus calm yourself down. this therapy says that if you actually focus on what your body is doing, you engage the rational part of your brain, and this naturally regulates your body chemistry.

it goes like this: if i start to panic, i immediately focus on what is happening in my body. i say to myself: okay, my heart is beating fast, i have a sharp pain in my left calf, okay that is gone now, my breathing is fast, i feel tingling in my arm, etc, and then i just simply notice without judgement what is happening in my body. when i am present enough to be able to do this, it works every time for me. it sounds so simple, just being attuned to your body, but it is something that i am learning is a key to dealing with the harmful ways my body has responded to trauma in the past.

wow, that was a long answer...hope it was understandable....

and thanks for all your responses! it is encouraging...

kelly

[giddy]

Hi Kelly - I know what you mean now, my CBT therapist told me to do the same :)
Love Helen

[Karen]

Hi Kelly

Welcome to the forum.

Karen



Happiness is not a state to arrive at but a manner of travelling.

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough ~ Christine Cagney, Cagney & Lacey

[trac67]

Hi Kelly,

Welcome to the forum, you will get a lot of good advice here and make some new friends.

Take care

Trac xx

'Live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten'

[lisarose]

Hi Kelly, Welcome to the site, you will get lots of help and support here and you don't have to feel so alone. Sorry to hear about the break up with your boyfriend it must be even harder when you feel alone in a foreign country. You sound like you are doing the right thing with the body therapy, I have never had therapy as I have always relied on medication and in this country there seems to be such a wait to get to see a therapist/counsellor unless you pay private. Are you on any medication at all?
Hope you find this site as helpful as I do
Take care
Love Lisax

[chucklehound]

Hi Kelly and welcome to the forum

Take Care

Chucklehound

xxxx

[inberlin]

hi,

i was given medication by a neurologist i went to see for the migraines i was having, plus some sedatives for when i have panic attacks..my therapist recommended that i shouldn't take the anti-depressant meds because with body therapy you have to sort of be really in tune with your body in order to release the pent-up tension and fear...but she told me that in lots of cases people should take medicine, it's just that she thought if i could hold out and try this therapy it might do me better in the long run. but i still have the meds and just having them takes some pressure off, makes me feel like i can always take them if things get intolerable...

she recommended a book for me which i read already, it is called Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, by Peter Levine. it is really interesting and talks about our instincts and their role in healing when they have somehow been misguided or stuck in cycles, such as fear and panic...good stuff if anybody wants to read it!! no cure of course but it helps me on the path...

thanks again for the hellos...

kelly

[May Day]

Hi Kelly

You're not alone now you've found this site ... it must be so hard to be in a foreign country and have parted with your boyfriend too ... you'll find lots of support here though

Take care

May

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

[muscari]

Hi,

It is a hard being in another country and it sounds like you have been through a lot, so well done for keeping your head up and coming to this site. I think things may be a bit clearer now you are here on the site.

I find this site refreshing and to hear from everyone gives me the confidence. Its great to have this support network around you.

Best Wishes

Muscari

[inberlin]

thanks,

yeah i am feeling really overwhelmed at the moment because i am here in a foreign country and i have literally no money because i am having to put all the money i make into paying off my medical bills that i got from getting migraines here and having no good health insurance...

it is hard enough when i am just trying to live day to day, let alone deal with living hand to mouth...i find that i just tend to alienate myself further because i feel so alienated already...plus i don't know many people here (almost none) due to my anxiety, panic, and illness over the last several months....

kelly

[muscari]

Each day is a new day. I don't think any of us after suffering months/years of this will wake up in the morning with it all gone, but each day can get better and better. This morning I woke up more confident knowing that if things get difficult I have this place to come to.

Anxiety, depression, all of that really does take over, but when you'll see your way out and you will make friends. It does happen.

As I have managed it so well for several months now, I believe that eventually I will come out of it. And if I can, and if you only knew how bad things have been for me, you would really believe that you can overcome, reclaim your life and be happy too.

Muscari




<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">thanks,

yeah i am feeling really overwhelmed at the moment because i am here in a foreign country and i have literally no money because i am having to put all the money i make into paying off my medical bills that i got from getting migraines here and having no good health insurance...

it is hard enough when i am just trying to live day to day, let alone deal with living hand to mouth...i find that i just tend to alienate myself further because i feel so alienated already...plus i don't know many people here (almost none) due to my anxiety, panic, and illness over the last several months....

kelly



<div align="right">Originally posted by inberlin - 04 April 2006 : 21:00:34</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">

[inberlin]

muscari,

thanks for the words, they really helped...i do have to just be patient and take it a day at a time and know that change comes slowly but it does come...

it helps knowing too that you and others have been through a lot and are coming through...it is amazing how much it means to feel like i am not alone.

sometimes i think that if we could all go to a mountaintop or deserted beach and have a good yell at the top of our lungs that would let something out and make us feel better!

kelly

[muscari]

Hi Kelly,

That would be cool. I would probably lose my voice from screaming so much!!! Life has its ups and downs. I have had really bad moments but I just get through them. I feel really good at the moment but next week or next month or maybe next year I'll have a bad time, but I will get through it. The important thing is to realise that life is hard and complex and because of that our body gives us sensations that freak us out like headaches, and pains etc, but you still wake up in the morning. And its out body saying, hey you, you are going through a tough time, I can tell. Take it easy if you can. Stress makes us weird. It is something generally that you get when you are older because life may be easier as a kid or maybe you are naturally stronger...

The chat room is good too, I have been on it.

Best Wishes

Muscari



<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">muscari,

thanks for the words, they really helped...i do have to just be patient and take it a day at a time and know that change comes slowly but it does come...

it helps knowing too that you and others have been through a lot and are coming through...it is amazing how much it means to feel like i am not alone.

sometimes i think that if we could all go to a mountaintop or deserted beach and have a good yell at the top of our lungs that would let something out and make us feel better!

kelly

<div align="right">Originally posted by inberlin - 04 April 2006 : 21:30:04</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">

[nomorepanic]

Hi Kelly

Just wanted to welcome you aboard and lovely to see you here.

Nicola

[inberlin]

hello...

yeah, i have been thinking a lot lately about these panic-type symptoms and how they relate, or point, to what is happening inside of us. i think that it is important that we see that the symptoms are important in and of themselves rather than trying so hard to figure out where they come from (that reveals itself quite clearly i think with time)..

i am trying now to try to learn how to listen to my body and the various signs and symptoms it presents itself with...that is a HARD task because especially when i feel overwhelmed i want to ignore my body's various sensations. such as tension or rapid heartbeat, etc.

do you think this is a viable way to deal with panic and anxiety?

i don't want to dichotomize my body and mind, etc, but i am wondering if a little less introspection and a little more awareness with my body wouldn't do me some good.

thanks!

kelly