Overcoming Panic Attacks.

[RobertFlyde]

Hi everyone.......

Forgive me for not being on the site for a few months as i have not had access to the internet!!!

Im 25 and had my first panic attack over a year ago. I became agoraphobic for months and would not go out at all. I lived in fear of having an attack whilst out and about and not being able to cope. I seeked medical help straight away. Initially the doctor thought i had a problem with my heart, so i had lots and lots of tests which proved that my heart was fine. The doctor then diagnosed me with suffering from panic attacks and anxiety. i was prescribed Beta Blockers which have helped me for the last 7 months. 40mg once a day. Also changing my lifestyle, stop smoking and drinking helped. Although i do allow myself to have a cigarette and a pint or two at weekends. I also moved to be nearer friends and family, which helped me overcome my panic attacks etc.....

I'm now virtually panic free. Although i do get symptoms of panic attacks. I have not had a full blown panic attack for months. Im driving again. something that i could not do for 7 months. Driven 2500 miles since April. Which is excellent and im proud of myself. I go out regularly to pubs and enjoy socialising again. I go and watch Football regularly(Bradford City). I found this very hard at first, but came through without having a major panic attack!!

I never really knew what panic attacks were until i researched everything for myself. Reading books and finding websites and reading about other peoples stories and how they cope and feel. Without these things i don’t think i would of got through my panic attacks and anxiety problems without doing this research. I also went to see a psychologist who helped me understand what i was going through and gave me techniques for coping.

Im hopefully going to come off the beta blockers slowly as i gain in confidence each week. Im now at the stage where im forgetting to take the tablets in the morning because my mind is not occupied with panic attacks and living in fear etc when i wake up...... Ive often been out driving or shopping and come home and felt fine and realised ive not taken my medication. This is another good thing. But i still take them as its dangerous to come off them without lowering your dosage and speaking to your doctor.


There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Id love to here from anyone who needs advice or just wants a chat.

Take care

Robert

[Steph]

Hi Robert
Well it's good to hear that you have overcome your fear of having a PA, I can't imagine what it is like to not want to go out of your house etc..... Hopefully that won't happen with me...
I have just had my 3rd panic attack (you may have read my topic so you will know my story already) so I am new to all this but I am determined that they will not stop me from doing normal stuff - But I don't know is it easy for me to say this at the moment coz I have only had 3 (within the last month) Anyway I made an appointment with my doctor after the second one and he is putting me forward for counselling... maybe you could tell me what to expect from that? He wanted to put me on some tablets for when I actually have the PA's but I refused them - thought I'd see how the counselling goes.
I really do feel though that I do not have any stress in my life and I don't feel that I am an anxious person, like I said in the other topic I am a very confident person, I am very interested in acting and drama I have been on a few courses for this and appeared on stage so the thing I can't come to terms with is WHY me???? Anyway I suppose I will find out more about myself when I go to the counselling session won't I? - Then probably eat my words hey!!
[V]

SD

[Jo]

Hi Robert/Steph.

Just a quick note to say congratulations to you Robert - you have obviously come along way.

I have attended an 'anxiety managment course' Steph, which I suppose is a type of counselling. I wrote a weekly account of my visits on this site - it might be worth you having a look at this.

Take care both

Jo x

[Shelley]

Steph

Do me favour..dont do the WHY me thing - I did it for ages, got upset when I'd had a few and was in with the girls (this was probably about 6/7 months after the first event) doesnt do you any good, what you need is a SO WHAT it's happended it might happen again but am not thinking about it..dont start to analyse everything - leave that to the experts!!! - hope that didnt sound to harsh. I'm still out going and poeple that dont know about the panic thang! think I'm super confident - panic can consume you're life if you go down the self pitty road, I personally think panic hits very strong people, that's why we find it so hard to come to terms with.

x

Shell

[nomorepanic]

Shell - I agree about it hitting strong people. All my mates say "how come you suffer you are such an outgoing, positive and independant person". Well who knows why but I know that I have had to put all my energy into 'surviving' this illness and if I wasn't so strong then I would have given in a long time ago.

Nicola

[Peter]

Hi all
First post, so bare with me. I’ve had PA for some time now and Acrophobia for the last 3 years, not a complete Agoraphobic but very restricted in my movements. I’ve read some articles about where this comes from and some of the thoughts are,

- As a child we may have suffered some dramatic experience that has the effect of lowering our threshold to stress. The actual experience does not have to be that dramatic but in the Childs mind it is, this makes trying to look back on these things as adults more difficult because they seem insignificant. The panic they say happens as a result of stepping over this lowered threshold. Its like a vicious circle because the longer we stay in this state of overwhelm the lower the threshold becomes, where eventually everything becomes too much and we retreat.

- Another theory I read was that again as children we learn to cope with anything stressful by way of tension. This way of coping with situations through tension becomes an automatic response, we don’t even relies we’re doing it, all perfectly normal to us, tense up hold in. As children we were probably more sensitive to our surroundings and what was going on but unable to relay our observations / fears to our peers for whatever reason. There is only so much a person can hold so later in life when things start to get more complicated and situations get a lot more stressful it all falls apart.

I guess there both saying roughly the same thing, in summary, the baggage does not have to be that severe, it’s the way we coped with it through tension.

I’m not sure what kind of person it affects, if you did a survey on the site I bet sensitive would be a recurring characteristic. I do believe that you have to be strong to endure because if you allow it to persist it follows you everywhere.
Hopes this helps and I apologies if this topic has already been covered, its just a few bits that made sense to me.
Regards
Peter

[Meg]

Hi Peter,

Really interesting points you raise. Thank you.

More and more mental health professionals are supportive of the school of thought that perfect mental health is the ability to cope admirably with whatever life throws at you at any given time and thus allowing everyone to be sub perfect at some point in their lives as we all have wobbles and dilemmas. Us anxious ones just allow those wobbles and dilemmas to gain more control of us and our thoughts at this time point

I'm not sure that it all has to come from childhood. I think that at any point in our lives if your whole set of circumstances change enormously and rapidly it makes us more vunerable,wheras if it is constant small changes then it's easier to adapt. Thus going to college, moving house,multiple bereavements, being made redundant etc are all huge changes that give vunerability a look in.

If as a child you have been exposed to constant change you learn to cope and thus for some people it makes them more able to cope later in life, for others as you so rightly say it may mean overload. I think there are fab examples of both.
A child caled IT and Colin Powell certainly learnt to cope with adversity but so many others did not.

[Steph]

Peter/Radar
Yeah I would say I am a sensitive person - and very emotional too.... But like I said earlier I am confident....
Your points on PA's are very interesting...both of you.


SD

[Kaz]

I can agree with almost everything that has been said here. I didn't have a brilliant childhood but it was a lot better than some. I've always been a bit sensitive and quite emotional at times and sometimes a drama queen also! I have had three periods of anxiety related attacks in my life, the first when I first started work and was bullied, the second when my marriage was going wrong, and now this third set which has been by far the worse stemming from constant court battles over my son. I've always considered myself to be a strong, optimistic person who dusts herself down and gets on with life so I've been so shocked to find how much I am now being affected. I find myself looking for excuses not to go out and get shopping - the fridge is almost bare so it is a good job that my older children can shop for me at times. I'm forcing myself to keep driving but I find it very difficult at times. I do know that I won't let it beat me. I tried beta-blockers but I have taken a reaction to them and don't want to start on the anti-depressants the doc gave me. I have chosen to look after my body, mind and spirit with good food, rest and relaxation and hopefully I'll come through the other end looking and feeling all the better for it. If this thing thinks it's gonna beat me, it's got another thing coming!!

love'n'stuff
Karen

[Peter]

Hi Radar
I know I was a bit heavy on the child theory.
You see for me I believe it was a build up over a lifetime of anxiety (nothing major, just small bits) but it was the way I handled or didn’t handle it. Then exams, house marriage kids all came within a couple of years which for the majority they take in there stride, a bit tired maybe for a while but they bounce back. I had been pushing myself up to this point and this was too big a step and I fell. There are four others in my family that are untouched, so maybe they read things differently when we were growing up or maybe their personalities allows them to sit back and let things happen, or maybe they haven’t pushed themselves hard enough, or a combination of all and others. I appreciate that for some / most? that life can be sweet and then wham out of the blue your hit with all kinds of situations. There is an infinite amount of reasons why we ended up here, and probably an infinite amount of solutions or combinations to get us out, we just have to find the one the best fits us individually. The end result is the same, you step over your line and your lost. The world doesn’t stop while your taking a breather, and all the time new stuff keeps coming at you while your still trying to make sense of the old stuff.

The question is how do you get back, do you spend your life avoiding situation that you know will bring anxiety or do you face your fears as the experts suggest. This is where it gets very confusing for the Agoraphobic person. What do we fear, we fear everything, leaving the house to go for a walk, a bus journey, a queue in the local supermarket, the pub. We look at these things and consciously we know its silly, it doesn’t make sense, you rationalise and rationalise and then try to do it and it falls apart. I can’t get my head around it, I don’t even know where its coming from and at this stage I don’t care, I just want to be rid of it, will try anything (I draw the line at bungee jumping).
Peter