Panic/Anxiety Attacks: Support, Advice, Help, Treatment Options (depressed, diet, Prozac)

[Ellenwood147]

In my case I kept getting a racing heart. I went to a Dr., he couldn't find anything wrong. One night it was so bad I had my husband take me to the ER. After checking me out I was told my heart was fine, basically I was making my heart race. After that anytime my heart starts racing I say to myself "Fine, race if you want, there's nothing wrong with you", and it subsides. So far it works, this happened several years ago. Not saying this would work with some of the cases here where there is extreme anxiety though.

[Dbledeez]

Originally Posted by Lindsey_Mcfarren

OH, make no mistake he treats everyone that way, not just me. He just thinks he is better then everyone else.

The beast at the door is such a good way of describing it. I have real problems when someone comes to my door. In Texas he so often would come over and start screaming, its like when I am anxious I am programmed to think its him again. Even though he is in another state.

I used to have this caller ID thing that you could program in a number you didn't want to get calls from, once the caller ID read the number it would disconnect the call. If I can just unearth it, I will plug it in. The cool thing is it works with any phone number. The call block service the phone company offers will not block out of state numbers, only local ones from what I have seen.

I looked online last night and wasn't able to find anything close to it available today. I used to have two of them because back then not all phones had caller ID on them. It also served as a phone directory, you programmed in peoples phone numbers and you would choose who you wanted to call and it would automatically dial the number for you.

I am so sensetive to him that even seeing his phone number on my caller ID makes my heart beat faster, makes me very upset.

The key sentence here is "I am so sensitive". Well if people coming to your door bothers you, don't answer. If your brother calling bothers you, hang up. Take control of the situation and you will take control of the associated anxiety.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

Originally Posted by Dbledeez

The key sentence here is "I am so sensitive". Well if people coming to your door bothers you, don't answer. If your brother calling bothers you, hang up. Take control of the situation and you will take control of the associated anxiety.

Your advice is off the cuff and over simplified. Clearly until you have walked in my shoes, you really don't have any advice to give me.

[RH1]

Originally Posted by Dbledeez

The key sentence here is "I am so sensitive". Well if people coming to your door bothers you, don't answer. If your brother calling bothers you, hang up. Take control of the situation and you will take control of the associated anxiety.

You either have a different way of reacting to situations or I suspect you might not have experienced panic disorder fully?

This isn't a rational condition, and you can never expect someone to just stop reacting to a particular situation in order to be rid of anxiety, it just doesn't work like that. We're all different and we all react differently to things. If I was to put you in a cage with a hungry lion and tell you not to be scared you wouldn't be able to turn your fear off on command. It doesn't sound like an equivalent example but it is. The fear response is very difficult to control - if it was easy to turn off and on we wouldn't have survived and evolved as a species.

I can't imagine for a second that Lindsey wold be able to hang up on her irate brother or ignore a persistent doorbell without experiencing any concern or emotion unless she was either emotionless, drunk or on drugs. For example my heart is racing now because I'm struggling to express myself fully. I could have chosen not to reply but then I'd be more anxious because I hadn't got my opinion across at all. It's a no-win situation - anxiety if you react, anxiety if you don't.

One last thing: sensitivity is a useful emotion - it means we're intune with other people's needs and feelings. All we have to do is to try to deal with it without getting too anxious. That's what we're all striving for here.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

Originally Posted by RH1

You either have a different way of reacting to situations or I suspect you might not have experienced panic disorder fully?

This isn't a rational condition, and you can never expect someone to just stop reacting to a particular situation in order to be rid of anxiety, it just doesn't work like that. We're all different and we all react differently to things. If I was to put you in a cage with a hungry lion and tell you not to be scared you wouldn't be able to turn your fear off on command. It doesn't sound like an equivalent example but it is. The fear response is very difficult to control - if it was easy to turn off and on we wouldn't have survived and evolved as a species.

I can't imagine for a second that Lindsey wold be able to hang up on her irate brother or ignore a persistent doorbell without experiencing any concern or emotion unless she was either emotionless, drunk or on drugs. For example my heart is racing now because I'm struggling to express myself fully. I could have chosen not to reply but then I'd be more anxious because I hadn't got my opinion across at all. It's a no-win situation - anxiety if you react, anxiety if you don't.

One last thing: sensitivity is a useful emotion - it means we're intune with other people's needs and feelings. All we have to do is to try to deal with it without getting too anxious. That's what we're all striving for here.

I have spent many years shoving these emotions down, not taking the time to understand them, this is why I am the age I am and still struggling. I'm not about to start that up again.

I would be able to hang up or not answer the door but I would be so emotionally raw with just seeing his phone number on the caller ID, fearing why he had called, waiting for the other shoe to drop, wondering if my Mother was OK, wondering if he is going to show up at my door because I hadn't answered the phone. Waiting for the even more angry email he is going to send because I had made him madder that I didn't answer the phone. I have suffered years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of this person.

I have had the strength to NOT read his emails, I have one now that he sent me. I saved it but I have no desire to read it. I understand that he spews emotional garbage at people and I don't need anymore of it. I can't recall the last time I got an important email that was honest communication. His back is against the wall for what he has done wrong, rather then take responsibility for it, he wants to put it off on anyone else he can, its usually ME.

I told him in my last email to him that he would NOT be calling me anymore, that he was not welcome on my property. Both actions would be seen as harassment and I would report him to the police and the phone company. He was more then a little shocked at this, I base this on what he said to my sister with reference to my statements. He isn't used to people standing up to him at all. He can't believe anyone can, when they do he doesn't know how to react. Its a small victory but a victory none the less.

[Suzet2262]

Originally Posted by Ellenwood147

In my case I kept getting a racing heart. I went to a Dr., he couldn't find anything wrong. One night it was so bad I had my husband take me to the ER. After checking me out I was told my heart was fine, basically I was making my heart race. After that anytime my heart starts racing I say to myself "Fine, race if you want, there's nothing wrong with you", and it subsides. So far it works, this happened several years ago. Not saying this would work with some of the cases here where there is extreme anxiety though.

Ellen that is great!! Mind over matter is a huge part of getting better with this disorder. I have been fighting this thing for so long, it is like it is a part of me now, and it wont leave. Its been over 20 years. When I first got panic/anxiety, no one knew what it was, so I didnt get help for it for years. I suffered so much and lost so much of my life dealing with this. The only thing I can say to anyone who is just now suffering with panic/anxiety is that they are getting it at a good time (not like there is a good time) because there is so much known about it now, well way more than when I first got it. It didnt even have a name back then.

I can for the most part talk myself out of a panic attack. Then there is the panic that comes on really fast. You dont have time to talk yourself out of it. Those are the ones that freak me out, and they get the best of me everytime.

[Suzet2262]

Originally Posted by handitak

Yeah, I feel like I am over breathing, and that although breathing is an involuntary action, I am over riding it with my constant anxiety about it.
The more anxious I get about it, the more I feel the need to fill my lungs. Then once or twice a day I go in to sheer panic mode over it, and start really flipping out!

I KNOW its my anxiety, but of corse, then I start to quiestion, "what if it isn't; what if its REALLY something wrong with me" which makes it worse!!

When my mind is busy and I am not thinking about it, I am fine, trouble is, I cant seem to switch the thought off, which sucks!

I am so sick of feeling like this

handitak, I know just how you feel. Breathing is a huge issue for me. I have a tick I developed over the years, I clear my throat a lot. I do it to make sure my throat isnt closing (stupid I know) and am getting air in my lungs. I over breathe a lot. My breathing is what gets me to feeling anxious most of the time. Once the hypervenilation sets in, I could very easily go into full blown panic. For the most part, I have been able to calm myself down by breathing in a paper bag, or just really working on stopping clearing my throat and take slow breaths. It is hard once you get into panic mode, but it can be done.

I will do that too. I will be having a great day, then all of a sudden I will say, hey I havent had a panic attack in awhile, a sure enough, I can feel my whole body start to change...it sucks!!

[Dbledeez]

Originally Posted by RH1

You either have a different way of reacting to situations Yes, typically....or I suspect you might not have experienced panic disorder fully?No, I have.

This isn't a rational condition, and you can never expect someone to just stop reacting to a particular situation in order to be rid of anxiety, it just doesn't work like that. Yes, it sometimes does. We're all different and we all react differently to things. If I was to put you in a cage with a hungry lion and tell you not to be scared you wouldn't be able to turn your fear off on command. It doesn't sound like an equivalent example but it is. No, it's not equivalent. Anybody would be scared if put in a cage with a hungry lion. Not everyone would have a panic attack because of a phone call. Not analagous at all. The fear response is very difficult to control - if it was easy to turn off and on we wouldn't have survived and evolved as a species. Hmmm. I didn't know that the ability to control behavior could have prevented the development of mankind.

I can't imagine for a second that Lindsey wold be able to hang up on her irate brother or ignore a persistent doorbell without experiencing any concern or emotion unless she was either emotionless, drunk or on drugs. For example my heart is racing now because I'm struggling to express myself fully. I could have chosen not to reply but then I'd be more anxious because I hadn't got my opinion across at all. It's a no-win situation - anxiety if you react, anxiety if you don't.

Lindsey actually referred to her ability to ignore his emails as a victory.

One last thing: sensitivity is a useful emotion - it means we're intune with other people's needs and feelings. All we have to do is to try to deal with it without getting too anxious. That's what we're all striving for here.

The awareness of sensitivity is more useful.

[RH1]

Originally Posted by Dbledeez

The awareness of sensitivity is more useful.

It's great that you've been able to deal with this stuff, it really is, but I'm just saying that we shouldn't try to simplify people's situations, because we don't know everything they've been through in their life.

I've been able to, for the most part, control mine now (for example I'm fine today) but it wasn't really triggered by anything too dramatic or long-lasting. But I can relate completely to what Lindsey is saying here:

I would be able to hang up or not answer the door but I would be so emotionally raw with just seeing his phone number on the caller ID, fearing why he had called, waiting for the other shoe to drop... wondering if he is going to show up at my door because I hadn't answered the phone. Waiting for the even more angry email he is going to send because I had made him madder that I didn't answer the phone.

...from a different situation entirely that I'm not going to go into on the internet. Personally I don't find it helps my general stress levels to ignore this particular person, it almost makes it worse.

My point about the fear reaction was that it has to be a subconscious response to work. For example, in our recent (albeit minor) earthquake, I was down the stairs and by the door before I really knew what I was doing.

That of course is the fear response, which causes us to be able to get away from genuinely dangerous situations (re evolution point) and sadly is also what causes panic attacks, so by its very nature is a difficult thing to get control over, even when it leaks into an inappropriate situation where there isn't any real danger. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything new here, but my point was just that that adrenaline rush is hard to not react to. Not impossible, I agree, but hard for all of us and harder for some.

I'm genuinely sorry if I sounded like I overreacted (I was in a rush so I was typing quite fast) but I just think this thread is more helpful if we can try to understand that it's really hard for a lot of us to control this. We can come up with suggestions for each other but let's not try to sound like there is always a quick fix for everyone, because we're all different.

Thanks.

[RH1]

Originally Posted by Suzet2262

handitak, I know just how you feel. Breathing is a huge issue for me. I have a tick I developed over the years, I clear my throat a lot. I do it to make sure my throat isnt closing (stupid I know) and am getting air in my lungs. I over breathe a lot. My breathing is what gets me to feeling anxious most of the time. Once the hypervenilation sets in, I could very easily go into full blown panic. For the most part, I have been able to calm myself down by breathing in a paper bag, or just really working on stopping clearing my throat and take slow breaths. It is hard once you get into panic mode, but it can be done.

I will do that too. I will be having a great day, then all of a sudden I will say, hey I havent had a panic attack in awhile, a sure enough, I can feel my whole body start to change...it sucks!!

Interesting that the paper bag thing works for you too! I'ts funny, it's such a cliche thing that I thought it was ridiculous but it's one of those semi-myths that actually works!

I know what you mean about ticks, it's weird isn't it? I had a bizarre one when I was younger that involved just like opening my mouth quickly because I was paranoid about having saliva in the corners of my mouth (it still makes me gag when people have,) Thankfully I snapped out of that after a few months, but now I sort of grind my teeth during the day - or at least press them together. It gives me awful headaches but I can't seem to control it. It started years ago when I split up with my ex and I was hoping it'd go away when things settled down but it hasn't.

I know a few people have mentioned mouth guards for teeth grinding at night, but any tips about during the day? Other than chewing gum and making a pastime of it??