It comes and goes in severity but 18 years on, no I fear it will never get better completely.
It comes and goes in severity but 18 years on, no I fear it will never get better completely.
Intermediate Member
Yes. Absolutely yes, you can get better. CBT will give you the skills to manage the anxiety and to change the negative thinking into more helpful positive thoughts. It may seem very confusing at times but please try to keep an open mind as you go along and stick with it.
Try to accept the panic and anxiety, don't fight it. Easy to say and difficult to do I know but, if you can start to accept that at the moment you are feeling anxious and scared but it will pass and practise your relaxation exercises, things will start to become a little easier for you. There is no magic cure, it all takes its own time but you can get through this.
Don't believe anyone who tells you that you won't get better. We all have different stories and experiences. There are many of us here who have been where you are now and have come through it to be stronger, better people because of it.
You will get through this.
New member
Thank you everyone. I still feel it is at its peak today. It doesn't help I don't feel particularly awake today and I feel dizzy. Still off my food. I do fear that I still stay like this. Being off my food and dizzy means I am exhausted and don't want to venture out like I was doing a few weeks ago (just local places to try and face the fear). I fear that I will become so paralysed by panic I will stay in bed and not get out and stop eating all together. My therapist told my mother to just leave me when I am like that. That makes me feel more panicky. What if I die eventually because I get left? I am often sick when I panic. I have a real phobia of being sick. Plus I am living with my ex currently and just don't feel comfortable in this house (I move back to my mum's at the end of the month). I just feel so terrified all the time. I don't want to die this way.
Hope you are feeling better. Your story makes me want to beat this thing!
---------- Post added at 12:57 ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 ----------
Just realised your post is today's . Have you anyone you can talk too
Val
It will get better
I am on the computer and i could not 6 months ago.
Wish i could have as i would have found this site earlier
Reading your post made me realize how far i have come. As i was there too,
Sitting with my handbag on the edge of my bed ready to go to the mental hospital.or taking a cold shower in the middle of the night to get my breathing going again. Looking back it seems funny all the things i tried but it was not funny at the time
Hang in there
Intermediate Member
Living in a state of high anxiety and fear is tiring. At this time it is natural for you to feel both mentally and physically drained and exhausted. Try to eat little and often. If you having trouble eating then don't worry about what you are taking in. Just getting something inside you is the important thing at the moment. Remember to drink lots too, preferably water and juice. Dehydration will add to your problems. If you feel sick try sucking a sugar lump or a teaspoon of sugar.Originally Posted by psychadelic-brie
Practise your relaxation and breathing techniques. It will be difficult as you are so tense but it will help in the long term. Practise and practise again each day. You can find some here http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-...tion/podcasts/
Have you read Dr Claire Weekes or listened to her CDs? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pass-Through...+claire+weekes. The audio was available on this site somewhere at one time but your local library may have a copy if someone would collect it for you. Also read the Articles on this site. There is some really helpful info to be found. Refer to it when things are bad to remind you that all will be OK.
Try to find ways to fill your day to break that cycle of continually waiting and checking yourself for the next wave of overwhelming anxiety. Puzzle books, sketching, jigsaws. Whatever works for you. Have several things on the go to turn to as distraction.
You will not die from anxiety or panic.
Recovery will come in little steps and you will get through it and out the other side.
New member
Thank you everyone for your replies. It's so kind of you all to take the time.
It's so strange. I *know* that I can't die from an attack etc. Yet part of me still wonders if it's possible! It's absolutely crazy at times. I have been trying to read reassuring things online. I haven't come across anything by Dr. Claire Weekes but I will try and check it out though.
Today I felt exhausted and dizzy, not to mention panicky. But I saw my mum and we did a bit of shopping. I didn't think I would be able to. Mad how it can be controlled. But it's so hard to control it constantly. I try not to feel suicidal but it's so hard to fight this. I need it to be better (maybe not 100%, but at least back to how I was a few weeks ago) so I can believe it is possible and I won't be like this forever!
Intermediate Member
I had what I think you'd describe as a nervous breakdown 5 years ago. Back then, I couldn't be on my own, couldn't look after my children, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, couldn't really function at all - I was terrified all the time and begging to be put into hospital and drugged up so that I wouldn't have to wake up feeling the same way every day.
I have had a lot of bad times in my life, but I can honestly say that was the worst.
What turned my life around was a book by Claire Weekes called, "Self help for your Nerves." From the very first chapter, I began to feel better. She is brilliant at explaining what panic and anxiety is, and how to cope with it. Once you understand that you are not dying or going mad, you will immediately feel calmer and more in control.
I can't recommend it highly enough - it literally saved my sanity.
Intermediate Member
Well done for going shopping. Remember, you don't need to do everything in one day. Pace yourself, don't be in a rush to feel better. Trying to push yourself will only serve to tire you out too much which will increase your anxiety levels, which as you already know makes you more tired, which makes you even more anxious....... it's a continual circle.
Try going for short walks without having to go anywhere in particular. You are in charge of where you go and you can turn round and go home when you want. If you can get out, even for a little while, each day that will help you feel more positive. If you don't go out though do not beat yourself up about it. Tomorrow is another day.
When you have done something like going shopping recognise that you may be a bit more tired or anxious afterwards. Don't fight it, accept that this is how it is for now and it is OK. Be really proud of yourself for doing it and smile because you are made of tougher stuff than you realised.
New member
In that case, I am going to go and look that book up online and buy it. I have had many books recommended to me over the years. Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway (which didn't really help me at all) and You Can Heal Your Life (I'm still yet to read). But another book won't hurt, especially if it could do the opposite.
Not feeling great today. I thought if you stayed in the same anxious situation, you anxiety generally decreased?
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