Attacking Panic Attacks - Helping Yourself Get Better - Poetry - http://maxpages.com/donnamarie/Suffering_from_Panic

Hello to all my visitors and friends.
I would like to start by telling you alittle
about myself in order for you to
understand how panic disorder and anxiety
disorder work. I am by no means
an expert in this field,but i have suffered from
this disorder for nearly 6 years
and would like to share my experiences with
those who are troubled by the
same problems that I suffer from.

My first panic attack happened in May of 1995.
My husband and I and our 7 month
old son were on our first out of state trip with
our new son,to visit my father in New Jersey.
The trip started out great.We visited the first day
and went to bed that evening.The
next morning when we woke up,I was standing in
the livingroom talking and catching
glimpses of the news on the TV. All of the sudden
everything went white and my ears
clogged up and I could hardly hear,this lasted
about 5 minutes.I went to the back room
to lay down and couldnt seem to keep still.I felt
cold and clamy,with chills and then very
warm,I started to feel like someone was sitting
on my chest and had a rapid heartbeat.

I told my husband of the symptoms I was suffering
from and that they really scared me,
having never had anything wrong with me before
we decided to go to the doctors.Mind you
we are still out of state while all of this is happening.
We went to the doctor and he diagnosed it as anxiety,
and gave me some medication for
motion sickness to stop the dizziness. I couldnt
believe that all those symptoms were the cause of
anxiety. We decided to cut out visit short and come
home that evening.I felt more secure
in my oun home and surroundings.

May 21,1995 my husband and my first anniversary.
I was really feeling bad,almost like
I was going to pass out. We ended up spending
our anniversay in the emergency room
of the Penn State Hershey Medical Center for 6 long
and gruling hours. Lab work was done
fluids given.Tests were run and nothing was found
The doctors told us that it was PROBABLE
Labrinthitus,which is an inner ear inbalance. We were
sent home with no further instruction.

After another year of doctors,CT Scans, MRI's,
and ear throat and nose specialists , nothing
was found to be causing these awful symptoms.
I had just left my job to start a new job in November
of 1995 and I took a week of time off to relax and
prepare myself for my new job.I woke up
one morning and fed my son and got my husband
off to work and I was sitting in a rocking
chair watching television and I started to cry.
I COULDNT STOP CRYING.I had no idea why
I started to cry,all I knew is that I couldnt stop.
Within Two hours I was a total wreck. I realized that
I needed to talk to someone that could explaine
why these horrible things were happening to me.
I looked in the yellow pages under councelors.
I found one that would take me in right away,
before I went totaly crazy,or what I thought was
going totaly crazy.After giving her a brief
description of my symptoms and a list of all the
tests that were done and the results of them,
She looked at me and said...God Love You...
You are suffering from severe anxiety and panic
attacks.I looked at her like She was the crazy one.
I couldnt understand how anxiety and panic
attacks could cause such a wide variety of symptoms.

Well my friends let me tell you ,IT DOES !!!! I was put
on a seratonin reuptake inhibator. This is
a medication that helps to stabalize the chemical
inbalance that was going on in my brain. Finally
someone was there to help me. I knew what the
problem was, I was given medication to help the
problem,the next step was to learn how to controll
and to deal with the problem.

After almost 6 months of counceling and learning
several ways to controll and deal with the
problem,I am able to live an almost normal life.
One of the first things Ive learned is to use
relaxation and visualization to help calm all of
the sences....I guess to escape from the
problem for a bit and get myself back together.
This has worked miracles for me. Ive also
learned to controll my muscles with biofeedback
like relaxation. This takes awhile to learn how
to do, but it can be done.

There are no guarentees with anything..all I
know is from my experiences with this disorder is
that its very scary and you feel like you have
no controll,But in the end you really do have
all the controll you just cant let the condition
controll you. I to this very day still have attacks
heart palpatations and sweats and all the
horrible symptoms that go along with this disorder...
However.....I know what the problem is now
and I also know that Im not going crazy...And i also
know that Its not going to kill me.

I have several people I want to thank for
helping me through a very dark part of my life.

To my wonderful Husband. For being there
and for understanding and loving me no matter
what was wrong.
To my son...the joy and light of my life.
To my parents for showing me strength and courage.
To God...for guiding me through this trying period.
To all the wonderful doctors and friends that have helped me.
To Allan Paladin for listening and being a wondrful friend.

If you feel you have any of the symptoms Ive
described to you and feel that you need help,Take a
look at the following links Ive added to help you
learn more and understand more about
panic disorder /anxiety disorder.

www.about.com search under panic/anxiety disorders
www.healthfinder.gov
www.algy.com/anxiety

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Donna

dmlouer@verizon.net

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Page Updated Mon May 19, 2008 7:34pm EDT