Panic/Anxiety Attacks: Support, Advice, Help, Treatment Options (Zoloft, Xanax, pill)

[Shaken&Disturbed]

Hey everyone,

Feeling a little better this week. Practicing a new technique which allows me to somewhat control my anxiety. I am trying the, I will not have another panic attack technique and it has been working on occasions. After reading an article on this site I started the technique. Since I know now that my attacks will not kill me helps alot to. I will keep trying until I get a hold of myself and regain my life back.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words!

[Suzet2262]

Originally Posted by Shaken&Disturbed

Hey everyone,

Feeling a little better this week. Practicing a new technique which allows me to somewhat control my anxiety. I am trying the, I will not have another panic attack technique and it has been working on occasions. After reading an article on this site I started the technique. Since I know now that my attacks will not kill me helps alot to. I will keep trying until I get a hold of myself and regain my life back.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words!

You go Shaken&Disturbed. Positive attitude is everything!! I wish you luck in your new technique. If it works then by all means go for it. I am for almost anything that makes you get some sort of relief from anxiety/panic. Let us know how you are doing.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

Originally Posted by Suzet2262

You go Shaken&Disturbed. Positive attitude is everything!! I wish you luck in your new technique. If it works then by all means go for it. I am for almost anything that makes you get some sort of relief from anxiety/panic. Let us know how you are doing.

Suzet, I am so glad to you are feeling better.

I am the same exact way when I am feeling really stressed. I snap at people and get rude to them. Little things make me anxious and I deal with it by yelling at people. Its not fair to them at all.

[clb76]

My anxiety also gets worse when things get stressful or if there are too many changes happening in my life. The past week I've been more anxious than usual and at times it's hard to get up and go to work but once I make myself and take my meds I feel better. If you can work through it that's the best thing. I've read so many posts on here and it's amazing how many of us live with this. It is genetic, my mom, aunt, grandmother and grandfather (on both sides) all had one form of it or another. It's nice to have a place here where we can share our stories.

[RH1]

Originally Posted by Lindsey_Mcfarren

Suzet, I am so glad to you are feeling better.

I am the same exact way when I am feeling really stressed. I snap at people and get rude to them. Little things make me anxious and I deal with it by yelling at people. Its not fair to them at all.

Me too, and I feel awful for it but it's a mind set that's difficult to get out of isn't it?

Suzette - thanks for describing that technique, I'll have to try it one evening and add it to my collection!

Does anyone else get anxious in dramatic scenery? I had thought I was getting a handle on this, then at the weekend I was walking with some friends and we went along a path that was going into a cove with really steep sides towards a waterfall and I was getting really edgy. I managed to deal with it by grasping at every technique I could think of and not tell anyone at the time, but it should have been a lovely walk and I feel like it was spoilt. I know set-backs are all part of the recovery process but it's disappointing.

I'm really glad this forum is here, and also pleased for everyone who's getting better steadily, or even just feels better for having a vent. Thanks everyone for making me feel welcome as well.

[Suzet2262]

Originally Posted by RH1

Me too, and I feel awful for it but it's a mind set that's difficult to get out of isn't it?

Suzette - thanks for describing that technique, I'll have to try it one evening and add it to my collection!

Does anyone else get anxious in dramatic scenery? I had thought I was getting a handle on this, then at the weekend I was walking with some friends and we went along a path that was going into a cove with really steep sides towards a waterfall and I was getting really edgy. I managed to deal with it by grasping at every technique I could think of and not tell anyone at the time, but it should have been a lovely walk and I feel like it was spoilt. I know set-backs are all part of the recovery process but it's disappointing.

I'm really glad this forum is here, and also pleased for everyone who's getting better steadily, or even just feels better for having a vent. Thanks everyone for making me feel welcome as well.

Your welcome RH1, if you can do it, it really helps. I understand what you mean about dramatic scenery. I can get really freaked out by my surroundings too. Forget trying to get me to look over a cliff or something like that. Back when we were having all our fires out here (So Cali) my family and I came out of Borders Book Store, and the sky was all crazy, it looked like how they show what the sky would look like if an asteriod hit us...all firey and orange and then the winds were like nothing I have ever experienced, and I have lived in the same town for over 40 years...anyway, I got really freaked out and started having a huge panic attack, why I dont know, but I tried to not look at the sky, as it really made me feel scared. It sounds so stupid when I say it outloud. I mean who in the hell is afraid of something like that? But I was. It is hard to hide your panic when it is happening, you dont want anyone to see you freak out. Sigh.....

Today I am having a really off day. I have that out of body feeling and just plain anxiety all day long. Now I have this raging headache and feel like total crap. The one thing that sucks about this disorder, is that, when you have a string of great days, you seem to forget about how the panic actually feels, and then when it comes back, it is still scarey and hard to take.

Your mindset is very hard to change. It seems this disorder gets into your brain and never wants to leave. Sometimes it feels like it is an evil person living in your head, that only wants you to feel bad.

clb76, yes it is amazing how many there are of us who live with this disorder. It is sad really. My heart breaks when I hear of someone else who has panic/anxiety. Cuz I know what you all are feeling, and it isnt good. I have read a lot of article where they have discovered it is genetic. Both of my daughters have had bouts with panic, thank god never to the extreme I have it. I felt sooo guilty about that for a long time. I cried at the fact that I gave them this awful thing. I know I didnt really give it to them, but I tell myself, that if I didnt have panic, they wouldnt. The guilt is awful. I am sorry you have been feeling more anxious this past week. I know it gets hard sometimes, but you have the people on this thread to talk to at anytime. We are all here for each other, and as stated before, this place is really great to come and vent or get advice, or just to be around others that have the same thing.

[RH1]

Originally Posted by Suzet2262

...and the sky was all crazy, it looked like how they show what the sky would look like if an asteriod hit us...all firey and orange and then the winds were like nothing I have ever experienced, and I have lived in the same town for over 40 years...anyway, I got really freaked out and started having a huge panic attack, why I dont know, but I tried to not look at the sky, as it really made me feel scared. It sounds so stupid when I say it outloud. I mean who in the hell is afraid of something like that? But I was. It is hard to hide your panic when it is happening, you dont want anyone to see you freak out. Sigh.....

That sounds scary, I completely understand that. I think with me, anything that mirrors that internal feeling you get of something horrid being about to happen will set it off. So if the sky looked weird like something was about to happen it would totally infect me with the panic. I've always found that I get irrationally scared about things happening far too far away from my house to affect me, and I wonder whether that's either a trait that predisposes us to anxiety or whether it's caused by it. Like a year ago someone set fire to a shed in the car park next to my house and the crackling woke me up. There's no way my house was in danger but I didn't calm down for hours.

Originally Posted by Suzet2262

Today I am having a really off day. I have that out of body feeling and just plain anxiety all day long. Now I have this raging headache and feel like total crap. The one thing that sucks about this disorder, is that, when you have a string of great days, you seem to forget about how the panic actually feels, and then when it comes back, it is still scarey and hard to take.

Sorry to hear about that - it's sneaky the way it reinvents itself as convincing on bad days, even when you've been quite content that it's irrational the day before. Like I said before though, we have to expect set-backs as part of the recovery process. Headaches set me off too - I get too focussed on internal pain and feel like I can't escape from it. Distraction is the key for me on days like that. I hope you feel better tomorrow (or today - not sure what time it was there when you posted that! It says 5am on mine). Hang in there.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

Suzet, don't be so hard on yourself, I would be in a state of panic if I were stuck in the middle of an area that was on fire, thats totally natural. Even if the fire doesn't get you the smoke might.

We had fires here in Florida at the end of my daughter school year last year and I was having a real hard time breathing, it kept me in the house even when I wanted to be outside. I felt very panicy that I would not be able to breath due to the smoke and my having asthma. I was affraid we would have to evacuate because there were fires on two sides of us and we were even finding ashes on our cars in the morning.

Sometimes my mind goes in strange places, like I saw the dogs leash on the ground out of the corner of my eye and because I am so affraid of snakes, my mind read snake rather then dog leash. My mind does that too me alot. When I don't get enough sleep, I see black spots in my periphral vision and my mind reads spider which I am also very affraid of. Of course all I have to do is look straight on and then I realize what it is.

[clb76]

Does anyone have anxiety/panic that is worse in the morning when they wake up? Mine seems to be bad in the morning like right now. I take my Xanax after I start getting ready for work but when I first wake up it's much worse than at night or mid-day. A lot of people feel worse at night I think but for me it's the morning yet once I get moving and go to work it usually gets better. My Mom is having routine surgery today but part of today's anxiety could be because of that. It's hard to tell....

[RH1]

Originally Posted by clb76

My Mom is having routine surgery today but part of today's anxiety could be because of that. It's hard to tell....

I would imagine that situation is bound to make any usual symptoms worse. Hope it all goes fine and you feel a bit better tomorrow. I'm only occasionally worse first thing in the morning. Sometimes it peaks after I've eaten but this might be because my heart rate is up a bit then.

Actually I wonder if that's got anything to do with your peak in the morning, since you've just got up and started moving around - your metabolism will be cranking up... just a thought. Something I read a while ago about how strong heart muscles are helps me in those scenarios - I have to think to myself "stop being an idiot, your heart's just doing its job - it can do a lot more work than this."

Lindsey - I know a bit how you feel about misinterpreting things out of the corner of your eye. I'm perpetually thinking I'm about to stand on my cat, which granted isn't scary, but it's definitely worse when my general anxiety is. Is it worse when you're tired? I get very jumpy at any noises when I'm like that too - that scares me. At night I'm always thinking someone's in the garden or trying to break in.