Hi, I'm a new member and very nervous!!!!

[marie ross]

Hello my names marie and after suffering with panic disorder, which was eventually diagnosed last summer, my first doctor who i visited (twice) simply brushed me off with her words "whats a young girl like you doing with anxiety!! After plodding on for several more months i plucked up the courage to see a different doctor, who after i had finished bawling my eyes out said i had a panic disorder and put me on beta blockers which did work ....... for a while. Now after nearly a year on things are getting worse, i can't go in shops and walking past groups of people turns me legs to jelly, and if i thought i could run away i would. Things are now that bad, my kids end up going to the shops for me and a trip to the supermarket is only bearable if my partners with me. I want to go back to the doctor but am scared of any medication he might want to put me on, i've heard to many horror stories about them being addictive and hard to come off. I came across this web site last year and the stories of other peoples dealings with this nasty, horrible panic disorder are really uplifting and hopefully one day i will leave my house without feeling anxious and afraid.

[existential crisis]

Marie, Sorry to hear you are having a rubbish time of it at the moment. Just wanted to say that you will DEFINATELY be able to leave the house without feeling anxious and afraid one day. I'd definately go back to the doctor though - he might be able to refer you to a mental health nurse who can refer you to therapy groups etc (like mine did). It might be usefel to do that if you don't want to be just fobbed off with a prescription! Mind you, saying that, medication can work wonders for people. Anti-depressants (used to treat anxiety/panic) aren't addictive - it's tranquillisers which you can be dependant on. Hope you feel better soon. Clare. xxx


*I think, therefore I am.*

[marie ross]

Clare, thank you very much for your reply. It really helps that there are people who understand how you are feeling, i've told people close to me how mad i think i'm going, they are sympathetic but unless you've had panic attacks you can NEVER understand how brutal they are.
I will try the doctors again, eventually, if i can get there that is!!!!!!

Thanks again

Marie X

[Piglet]

A big welcome to the site :D

Piglet

"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?" said Piglet.
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.

[Karen]

Hi Marie

Welcome to the forum.

You might find the following information helpful:

First Steps (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/default.asp?t=cms&c=firststeps)

Symptoms (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/default.asp?t=cms&c=symptoms)

Health Anxiety (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/default.asp?t=cms&c=healthanxiety)

Links post: Links to posts about Common Problems (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7784)

You will find a lot of help and support here.


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

[marie ross]

Thank you

Marie:)

[Alexandra]

Hi Marie

Welcome to the forum.

Please do'nt be nervous we are all here for help, support & any advice we can offer.

Take Care

Alex

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

[marie ross]

Thank you Alex. I wish i joined NMP a year ago, i really did think i was losing my mind, but reading everyone elses problems and realising i'm not on my own i think i can do this!!!!!! When i wake up tomorrow with the kids and my heart starts racing and i feel sick, and i know i have to walk to work (would'nt dare get behind the wheel of a car!!!) I know there are other people out there with the same problems as me, if not a lot worse.

Thank you, Marie:)

[kairen]

Hi Marie,

I'd just like to say that i remember going to the doctors at about 17 after a good few years of struggling and basically thinking i was going mad or had split personality, and my doctor told me to pull myself together a young girl like me shouldnt be feeling like that....

needless to say that didnt do me much good, i did go back a few years later and had a really good and very understanding doctor who gave me citrolapram which for me was a god send and i never got addicted it just took the edge of things for me so i could think things through,

this was many years ago,

since finding this site, i read all the information and advice given to me by meg, i have been off meds for over a year, and can honestly say its the best i have ever felt,

you can get through this its all about positive thinking,

i never thought i could get over it but i have (fingers crossed)

kairen x

[marie ross]

Hi Kairen

Thank you for your reply, hopefully i WILL go back to the doctors for more help (i hate having to ask for it!!!!) But the way i am at the moment, having to walk to work makes me so anxious and if i hav'nt got my phone clenched in my hand i feel like i'm going to faint, i have to have someone there at all times so i can talk to them as a distraction!!!! As for shopping if i can't walk straight in and get what i want (more than 1 person in front of me and i walk back out again!!) i won't even consider going in, in fact looking at the queue makes me feel sick (weird). Many times i've just left things on the conveyor belt and ran out never to return, thankfully the kids now know to just follow me, bless them!!!!!

Thanks for all your kind replies its really appreciated.

[jackie]

one day marie

until then we will all be here for yuo through the good and the bad

jackie

[Two heads]

Sorry to hear your having a bad time hun!Panic is the worsed thing ever and only we who suffer it will really understand it.well thats what i have found anyway!we are hear if you ever need to talkxxx

[chucklehound]

Hi Marie and welcome to the forum!:D

[Blue Child]

Hi Marie,
Welcome to this site....sounds like things haven't been too easy for you. You are amongst friends here and we are all here for you. I know what doctors can be like, as I have given in with mine. I found her to be of very little help and she didn't tell me anything I didn't know already. I feel for you....I was always brought up to believe that a doctor had an answer for everything and that they were kind and helpful. Well....some have and some haven't,but I haven't found one yet. This site has been a great help to me and I visit every day...it has been a fantastic emotional crutch with lots of good sensible advice. I hope it is as good for you and that you can find some answers here. We will help as much as we can.
Best wishes,
Blue

[trac67]

Hi Marie,

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'

[shiv]

Hello and a big warm welcome to you

Shiv x

[MrsCluggy]

Hi Marie,

Welcome, welcome, welcome. You will find that this website is such a comfort and gives you so much strength and courage to really face your fears and anxieties head on.

I found that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy was a real help for me because it retrained my thought patterns and actually delved into why I was thinking on the negative side all of the time and gave me the reassurance that panic attacks/anxiety would not do me any harm whatsoever (physically) and that just by thinking differently, I could calm myself down, relax a bit more and start to take small but effective challenges every day to help me with my anxiety.

It takes time and perseverance but is well worth it.

Believe me, this is from a woman who couldn't even go out of her house to go to the local shops for the bare essentials to someone who, last year, endured two 7 hour flights to get to Las Vegas and New York !!

I have to admit, there were a few moments whilst at the airport where my mind what a complete whirl and I felt like the ground was swallowing me whole. BUT, I stopped these thoughts dead in their tracks, ate two packets of Polo Mints and bought every magazine on the newspaper rack, just so that I had enough material to distract me from my negative thinking. AND IT WORKED.

I now no longer have any angst about travelling because I know that nothing can harm me, I'm completely safe and that if something ever did happen to me, someone would be there to take care of me, because that is what people do for each other. You have to put yourself in the shoes of a stranger. If you saw someone who was distressed through anxiety and stress and they felt completely overwhelmed and light headed, what would you do? You would go over to them and comfort them, hopefully.

So, definitely give CBT a try. They also teach you how to breath properly. It's amazing how many of us don't breath correctly and force our bodies into hyperventilation mode without even realising it.

These are just thoughts in our head, at the end of the day. No one can be harmed by a thought, negative or positive. It's the way that you react to that thought that causes all of the problems.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Keep smiling and remember to breathe !!!!

Jackie xx

If the opportunity doesn't knock .... build a door.

[nomorepanic]

Hi Marie and welcome aboard.

Have you considered CBT? You can also do this on the telephone with the charity No Panic so that may be something worth trying.

Nicola

[molly15]

hi marie welcome to nmp.u are not alone now u will make friends and receive lots of support here marciaxx

i have to do it for my kids if not for myself marciaxx