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If you need help with bad anxiety or panic attack immediately
CLICK HERE
and read slowly through the steps and practice the breathing skills !
click here for more help
This page is from my very own personal experience after suffering
from panic attacks on and off for 19 years and a bad depression
in summer 2001. I am not a professional , this is just my experience
and I have put together all my resources to try and help other
sufferers. If it wasn't for the internet I wouldn't have got as far as
I have today !
My story of panic attacks/anxiety
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I have been meaning to write this story for a long time for the group about my life of panic /anxiety. If it helps even a little bit it will have been worth doing.
I've always been a worrier and wanted to do well in whatever I set my mind to. I'm a caring understanding kind of person and I feel this is what sets me at the top of the list when it comes to suffering anxiety. I'm the sort to 'bottle things up' and hide how bad t hings are and 'just cope'.
My panic attacks started after a very stressful time when i was 21 yrs old. I would be ok all day and on the way home from work they would start. I used to think i was going mad but didnt know how to stop them. Then I fell pregnant with our daughter and they just seemed to suddenly stop overnight, which was very strange. I then went through quite a few years where i had slight anxiety but never enough to spark off an attack.
Then they suddenly began again when I was about 33 after a stressful time with a family feud and my husband and I were having marriage problems. I'd been losing alot of weight as i was obsessed with how I looked and one day when i was having coffee with an aquaintence I suddenly went into a panic..... the feelings were so awful . I was then scared it would happen again and the fear started to build up, I went through about 4 months when i couldn't face going outside the house. I also went through a bout of depression and i've never been so low in my life. I'd sleep on the sofa and just hope i wouldn't wake up in the morning and i felt my life wasn't worth living.
Then once again I bounced back and I started to socialize more and i gained some confidence and they vanished once again. I felt no way would I fall victim to panic and anxiety again , I felt so good !
four years after this we went on holiday and one night i had some strong wine, i got carried away and got quite drunk. In the morning I woke up and my arm felt numb and i had a hangover big time.
I worried and worried there was something wrong with my arm as it was still feeling pretty numb. This built up over a few hours and I got into quite a state, then I had a full blown panic attack , ending up on the floor in the bathroom feeling i was going to faint. I agreed to go and see the doctor and he diagnosed me with a chest infection. I calmed down a bit but the fear of having a panic attack was so scary. Luckily I didn't suffer too much all the way home from our holiday, but once home the fear grew and grew and going out was a struggle and I got to the point that i'd only go out if my husband was with me.
During this time I suffered from a strange virus which affected my sinus's and my head would feel pressured and this triggered constant panic attacks daily for a few weeks . I was exhausted from it all and didn't see me recovering from them at all.
Two years ago I had to remove my son from school and we had gone through so much stress , my anxiety was through the roof and i'd have good and bad days but rarely ventured out the house unless I really had to.
January 2006 I decided I had to do something , or I'd be like this forever , and I didn't want my life
slipping away with no enjoyment of being able to go out. I was on a mission to search high and low for an answer to why i was suffering and what I could do to stop them for good.
I spent alot of time researching, reading and I found this website >>http://www.members.aol.com/jambeau1/panic.html . Everything I read i could relate too and the website wasn't selling anything or gaining anything from me reading , It's someone just like me who's been in the same position. I thought if they can recover from this then damn it i could as well.
I didn't read it once and forget about it , i'd read it over and over again.
I read ,,,,,,,,"Without fear of them they cannot exist" , this was so true, i'd fear them to the point of not doing things to trigger them off.
.So I started to practice what I had read , asking a panic attack to just come and get me. When you try to have one you never get one ! Things clicked into place and each time i felt the anxiety get so bad and the fear build up , i'd face it head on . The more I did this the more they seemed to fade quickly. It wasn't easy at all, facing the fear is the hardest thing to do !
I'd also push myself to do things I wouldn't normally do and this built up my confidence . I'd say ' ok i'll do it and if i don't feel good 'thats ok' but 'i'll do it anyway and feel the fear and face it head on '
It seems so strange that you have to face it not fight it . as soon as you start to fight it , it controls you. Your 'fear' is actually YOUR friend, its there for you when you need to do something that needs all your energy(a surge of adrenaline) , like to run away from danger , do an emergency stop in the car in a split second without you even thinking about it ! The problem is in this day and age we don't need to run away from animals that will eat us for their dinner and adrenaline once triggered can cause a whole range of feelings on the body. I think the thought 'am i going to die' at certain times during panic , is this whole process of adrenaline surging and telling us to 'run for our lives, or we'll die' (which would have been true going back in history)
Once I learnt the affects on the body and what happens during these surges of adrenaline the more it helped me understand. Once you start to panic and overbreathe the body will be naturally want to be back to 'normal' and it 'WILL' win . So with overbreathing the throat will tighten to stop too much oxygen going in , the chest will tighten so the breathing is more laboured. The feelings of the oxygen and carbon dioxide imbalance can make you feel giggy, dizzy and feeling like you're going mad. All this happens so quickly and we are alerted by all the feelings that we don't actually need as theres no animal to run away from that will eat us !! But our body doesn't know that , all it knows is it must survive. Having the knowledge of all this really does help when it starts to happen and accepting that your body is doing what it is SUPPOSED to do makes it less scary. The more i read about it , the more sense it made and the more i applied it to my life . I've had a few times where they have triggered off but they soon vanish when i reassure myself ' this is my body doing its job' I'm not going to fight it, i'm going to face it , walk with it and no longer be afraid anymore.
I can't change the way I am , i will always be me and maybe worry more than some people and i don't think that anyone needs to find a cure , you can't cure something that is a natural body process, it will always be there , its how we react to it that needs to be changed .
To anyone who maybe reading this, never give up hope, please read as much as you can about how the body works under stress and anxiety and how it affects the body. Try and cut down stress that is affecting you , it's so easy to plateau and think you're not as stressed when you actually are. Practice facing the fear not fighting it , it might take months but it'll be worth all the effort believe me.!
Almost everyone at some point in their lives suffers from stress.....taking exams...driving lessons....failing relationships....having a baby...etc.
Prolonged stress has the greatest affects on our mind and body. During stress
our bodies produce the stress hormone cortisol... panic attacks might appear.
fatigue,,, sadness and loss of pleasure for life,depression
The biggest downfall is that our bodies are so clever we adapt over time to stress....you might say 'I don't feel as stressed when you actually are,
but your body got used to it'
Our bodies are complex machines striving to create harmony. continuous
worry ,panic stress, anxiety is going to have an affect, as much as
continuous lack of sleep is going to make you constantly tired.
Take a good look at your life see if you can cut down on day to day stresses
Is your diet harming your health , are u deficit in magnesium ?! read more on magnesium deficiency
Natural alternatives to prozac, valium and ritalin Read more here !!!
Get a book on Cognitive Therapy of Anxiety Disorders:...
COGNITIVE THERAPY
This is an inexpensive therapy which has a very good track record. Studies have demonstrated that it not only relieves depression, but it has a much lower relapse rate than any drug, or even herb, because it deals with some of the root causes of depression. Over two dozen controlled studies have demonstrated that by the end of 12 to 20 weeks there is a 70% reduction in depression. So this is a really great therapy. It is hard to find a cognitive practitioner, but you can do it yourself. Some of the books that instruct you how to do it yourself are, Feeling Good Again, The New Mood Therapy, and Feeling Good Again Handbook by David Burns, psychiatrist. It is based on the premise that all thoughts are created by beliefs, attitudes and interpretations. Since your thought interpretations cause your emotional reaction, you can change your original thoughts. Depressed thoughts are dominated by pervasive negativity, thoughts like, "nothing ever goes right in my life; bad things always happen to me; life isn't fair." Other thought patterns that can lead to depression are: "I should be perfect; other people should be perfect; life should always be smooth," things like that.
Self help programs (FREE) this is very good information for helping anyone with panic /anxiety attacks
Visit anxieties.com
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Hyperventilate-overbreathing |
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Feeling Stressed? we can and should develop an positive, workable
approach to stress management... The perfect no-stress
environment is the grave...When we change our perception we gain
control. The stress becomes a challenge, not a threat. When we commit
to action, to actually doing something rather than feeling trapped by
events, the stress in our life becomes manageable.
learn more-click here
Find a good support group (one im a member of is below)
Visit Seed-of-recovery support group
Find a psychologist to have hypnosis sessions? ! I would never have
thought of doing it before.....but since having them I truly have been
amazed how much they have helped me !
If you live in fear , the fear is controlling your life...I have learnt
that you have to face the fear head on to start recovery, please read
this website its very good> http://www.members.aol.com/jambeau1/panic.html
Dealing and confronting your emotions is very important to your well being.....
Read more here
From a medical point of view, negative thinking suppresses the immune
system, raises the blood pressure, and creates a general level of stress
and fatigue in the body.
Visit Bromleyhealth quotes here
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To undo what stress has been doing to you is how to systematically relax all the muscles in the body
Learn the art of Meditation with this meditainment, plan a journey and
sit and relax and meditate.
Visit Meditainment
Learn how to relax your body
Goto lessons4living
The wheel of life (THIS is good!)
Read about the Wheel of life |
Learn-apply-practice-repeat |
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What can we do to help with stressful times and situations ? The most
important is relaxation and breathing...learn how to do it, practice it
over and over again ..so simple and doesn't cost a penny !
Visit breathing help
Having support is important. someone to listen to your problems so you
can talk things through can help enormously ! They can also practice all
the things you learn to cope and gently apply these when they see you
getting panicky or anxious.
My son and I both suffer from panic attacks and I have been helping him with controlling them.
Our 7-11 rule, which I use alot, when I feel he's overbreathing or getting anxious
I tackled this by using chocolate fudge cake as an example..when you eat it, it feels 'breathes in,
for count of 7 like your smelling the cake.
breathe out....
yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,count out for 11.
(he calls this 7-11 feels like heaven! )
I find having a hot drink and keeping it close to my mouth and sipping then blowing to cool it down also works...the blowing breath being longer.
REMEMBER... LEARN...APPLY...PRACTICE....REPEAT !
Smile Therapy
Smiling and laughing are part of everyday life in the world of us human beings. The tiny 5 week old baby suddenly starts to smile at their mother and its the start of many many more to come and they happen so easily. I As we get older the stresses of life pile up and up , some people have more misfortunes than others. If only we had an inbuild video recorder that took us back to 5 weeks old and let us smile naturally like we did then !
I've been working on some smile therapy and let me tell you , it does work ! A smile relaxes your muscles and burns off adrenaline, relieves anxiety and tells the body that everything is ok. Yes I know its difficult when your worrying to start smiling, but just try it , I've found I can stop the anxiety in its tracks. For more information please have a read in the links below.
Taoist sages say that when you smile, your organs release a honey-like secretion which nourishes the whole body......
Read more here
Smiling and laughing is the best exercise for your brain. It is the most effective way to supply oxygen to the brain. Once you start to smile and laugh, there is joy coming from your heart. You don't need a specific reason to be joyful, for joy has been inside of us from the very beginning of our lives........
Read more here>>Healing Society |
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Study Finds Fish Oil Blunts Stress Hormones. Fish oil has been found to
blunt stress hormones, which increase heart rate and blood pressure, in
a study conducted in France. Researchers gave seven healthy men 7.2
grams a day of fish oil for three weeks to achieve the results.
Visit and read the Study here |
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"Sleep deprivation can increase production of cortisol, a stress hormone
that stimulates the appetite"
Read more-click here
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The stress hormone 'Cortisol' |
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several lines of evidence have converged to solidify the concept
that stress makes us fat (because of cortisol), thins our bones
(because of cortisol), shrinks our brains (because of cortisol),
suppresses our immune system (because of cortisol), saps our
energy levels (because of cortisol), and kills our sex drive
(because of cortisol) ... Take a daily multivitamin/multi-mineral
supplement - because calcium, magnesium, vitamin C and B-complex
vitamins are needed for a proper stress response ... Chief among
the supplements with documented cortisol-controlling effects are
Phosphatidylserine, Beta-sitosterol, Magnolia bark, Theanine,
Epimedium, Ashwagandha and Passionflower"
An interesting article on the effects of cortisol (read all of it !)
Visit energeticsolutions
Learn more and do more to relax your body ! we spend so much time
running around , STOP and think about you and your body ! A very
good natural relaxant is Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) added
to a bath, the benefits are amazing, and also if your depleted in
magnesium which most people are , it will absorb into your body
to nourish you. (always seek advice from a doctorif you have any
complicated illnesses)
Learn about the benefits of Epsom salts here
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It is far better to seek "joy." Joy is related to happiness,
but it is a deeper experience...
Visit Lessons4living
Click here to read more on Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy
Read more on Instant Self-hypnosis
A poem I created to reflect how I feel when under alot of anxiety
Panic
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A spark ignites I want to run,
Impending doom is soon to come.
I close my eyes, try calming thoughts,
My brain takes over and imagines ALLsorts !
A vicious circle is trapping me,
the more I fight it , the worse it will be !
Help me please , hug me tight,
Don't ever leave me alone in a fright.
Why is this all happening to me ? ,
all I want is peace and my sanity.
It's time to face this thing call panic,
which invades my life and makes me manic.
Lets make friends and walk side my side
Then never again will I need to run and hide.
© þãülå66 2005
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If you suffer from stress, depression , anxiety or panic attacks please seek help from a doctor or psychologist ! |
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