MY STORY
Hi all, just thought i'd share with everyone my success. Maybe people will take something from it and do the same for you as it did for me.
History
Im 24, been suffering with Overbreathing/hyperventilation syndrome for around 3 years and had very bad anxiety problems where it got to the point of seriously affecting my love life, destroying my social life and making me feel like absolute and utter crap. Thought I was seriously ill and had very horrible panic attacks almost everyday. I tried anxiety books, TFT therapy, i went to see some other general therapists too, but nothing worked and I could see no way out of this horrible chain of events.
I've had and worried about every single symptom that comes from anxiety, you all probably know what they are, but just incase your new to this whole anxiety thing then heres what i suffered with:
Heart palpitations, pins and needles in face, tight neck, vomiting, fear of heart attack, skipped heart beats, frequent bowel movements, frequent urination, dizziness/vertigo, hot flushes, sweating a lot, clammy hands, feeling spaced out an withdrawn, dry mouth, feels like someone is crushing your chest, weird pain sensations in ribs (stabbing pains) and probably more, feeling of not being able to catch your breath.
What I did
A few people recommended a therapy called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It only took one appointment for me to start feeling good. Anxiety was described to me for what it was.
The therapist told me that when you feel anxious the first thing people do is try to listen to what the anxiety is telling them....
e.g.
If your out and you start feeling bad you start to look for an escape route to go home so you can feel comfortable...
or
Avoiding certain situations that you know will provoke you symptoms
or
Drinking alcohol to feel better and forget your symptoms (i did this a lot)
or
Once the panic symptoms begin and you begin to notice them you will feel bad for the rest of the day, and you find it hard to listen to anyone or pay attention to anything except for what's going on in your head.
What he told me, which has changed my life considerably already, was to do the opposite of what your anxiety is telling you to do..
For example
I drive around London in a van.. Im from the Welsh countryside so city driving was very scary for me, plus the whole panic disorder made things 20 times worse. I used to panic and start feeling all the symptoms coming on, then id worry about passing out or crashing the car, it would usually start when i'm in a very busy place knowing i had no where to stop and no escape. Used to scare the s**t out of me.
To tackle this he told me to try to panic more.. This may sounds very strange to anyone reading it but it works every time for me. If you don't believe me then take a leap of faith and try in next time you feel panic coming on, just try your hardest to panic, as hard as you can. TRY IT RIGHT NOW Try and panic as much as you can. I BET YOU THAT YOU WILL END UP LAUGHING AT HOW HARD IT IS.
Anxiety/Panic comes from trying to avoid panic attacks, the more you avoid them then the more likely they are to affect you. Avoidance techniques like controlling your breathing or playing games on your phone or anything that you do when the symptoms start to come on to try and ignore the anxiety.
He told me to imagine the anxiety as a bully.. If you give in to what the anxiety is telling you then it wins, but if you turn around to it and say COME ON THEN YOU *******, DO YOUR WORST!! Then it takes all the power out of the anxiety causing situations.
I've gotten to a point where Im trying to panic all the time and i feel fantastic.
If your reading this and have decided to try it then the next step is after you have started to feel better and the panic is finally dissipating, you should tune into what your anxiety is telling you and challenge it.
For example my anxiety was telling me to control my breathing constantly which i still do a little bit, and i noticed that i swallowed a lot and constantly clearing my throat, i basically did the opposite to that... So
Anxiety Reactions
Constant Swallowing
Breathing Deep all the time
Clearing my throat
Stretching my neck
Opposite
Stop swallowing
Take short breaths and ignore the need to breathe deep (just keep trying to panic in your head)
Stop clearing my throat
Stop stretching your neck.
This also works with other things like avoidance techniques. My major problem was avoidance techniques. I used to end up going home early because i was feeling bad and ended my night early and wish that i had stayed instead of feeling so weak.
[COLOR="rgb(0, 100, 0)"]THE NEXT TIME YOU FEEL ANXIETY ABOUT ANYTHING, AND I MEAN ANYTHING... DO THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOUR ANXIETY IS TELLING YOU, IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO GO HOME THEN STAY OUT LATER, YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO BE ALONE THEN GET AMONGST LOADS OF PEOPLE.
THE AIM IS TO ALMOST MAKE YOURSELF MORE UNCOMFORTABLE AND TRY AND BRING ON ANXIETY
IT WILL FEEL WRONG TO DO THIS TO BEGIN WITH BUT STICK WITH IT AND I PROMISE YOU WILL START TO NOTCIE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN YOURSELF.[/COLOR]
I would seriously suggest you go and see a CBT Therapist though because Im just repeating what i've been taught. I had 6 sessions and i feel healed... i don't care what anyone says that is a great result!!!
I hope this has helped people. Ask me any questions you want to because ill be happy to answer them. And if you want any contacts to the CBT therapist i used in London then id be happy to give them.
Also i purchased CBT workbook for dummies which seems really worth getting too... Cant believe how much ive written
This post has been automatically edited by the NMP post filter
Reply With Quote
I'm so pleased for you! Could you post this in the top tips section too?
)
