My anxiety keeps telling me I’m dying

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I can’t calm it down . I’m seven weeks now of near constant panic attacks and tears and terror . I can’t settle . Can’t stop shaking . Heart keeps fluttering and I’m absolutely terrified . NHS 24, 999, GP say it’s panic attacks and all normal and OK . How can I believe them .

Every time someone says, you’re fine, my mind retires with ‘nope, they’re wrong’ . It’s absolutely awful .

It sounds stupid, but seven weeks later, you are still alive. You’ve survived a seven week panic attack, so must be pretty strong.

But how can I get rid of it? The only time I feel OK if when I first wake up, and sometimes when I wake up in the night . I spend the days waiting until bed . IM so desperate for this to go .

It's a mental illness. It tells you crazy stuff.
Have you been referred for therapy or offered drugs? You need treatment.

Maybe get yourself 'Self help for your nerves', a very well regarded CBT book: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06Y5V8LNB/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

My mum had terrible panic attacks and she credits this book with getting her over them.

I expect there is help online if you look for 'CBT for panic attacks' as well

Good luck, it's a horrible thing to go through but it's totally possible to break the cycle.

@JoeBidenIsGreat

It's a mental illness. It tells you crazy stuff. Have you been referred for therapy or offered drugs? You need treatment.

It certainly does, I keep imagining I’m going to wake up in an ITU . I spend half the day panicking something terrible is going to happen and then the other time worried it already has . Sometimes think I’m just going mad - and other times I think I’m just really bored and lonely and isolated .

It's health anxiety. The more anxious you are, the more physical symptoms you have, which drive the anxiety. Constant cycle. Get yourself a gp appt, tell them your health anxiety is out of control. There are numerous options to try, but I personally found meds necessary when mine developed into panic attacks.

@ChocoholicMama

It's health anxiety. The more anxious you are, the more physical symptoms you have, which drive the anxiety. Constant cycle. Get yourself a gp appt, tell them your health anxiety is out of control. There are numerous options to try, but I personally found meds necessary when mine developed into panic attacks.

I’ve got propranolol, started XR80mg this morning . GP keeps saying it will ease up eventually, just keep going, ride it through but it’s feeling almost never ending .

I just want to do simple things like cook dinner, eat breakfast, have a shower, fold washing, post a letter, laugh, without feeling like I’m going to die the entire time .

I’m on a very, very long waiting list for therapy . Have had therapy almost every year since age 16, am gutted to still be in this position ten/fifteen years on .

Does your area have an IAPT service? You can sometimes self refer to them. I suffer from panic attacks (diagnosed with clinical depression & anxiety in my early teens). It must awful dealing with is so constantly for so long, your body & mind must be knackered. It is an illness (the anxiety) that's making you feel like this. Have you asked the gp about medication? It really might help, although not immediately.

It please seek help, you won't feel like this forever

Have you tried cognitive behavioural approaches at all? This is the sort of thing it can be very good for

I have, yes , it helped hugely last time it was bad, that was a few years ago but I rememebr it helped a lot . No IAPT sadly, we are in Scotland, just GP referral or private .

I've had this Op, it's awful. Something that helped me, a panic attack WILL NOT kill you. It just won't. I highly recommend the book 'Dare ' it's the only book that really helped!

Panic attacks are vile. Two things which helped me - try learning to juggle- because it uses left and right halves of your brain it’s really difficult to have a panic attack at the same time. The other way is to get angry with your panic - instead of fighting it, ask your body for more- to make you feel even worse - it’s counter intuitive but it worked for me. I would stamp about and get angry. Physical activity helps too. I hope it eases for you soon.

Have been through this its terrifying and I sympathise op, it's like a constant cycle and the more you think and try to control it the worse it gets. You know you're not going to die but your body has gone into fight or flight mode and I had loads of physical symptoms like being sick, losing weight. I felt guilty and embarrassed because people dont like to talk about mental health, dont understand itand it's still got a stigma attached imho.

All the adrenaline in your body, try to put it to good use, look up support groups, be kind to yourself and dont blame yourself , can you go back to gp and ask to go on waiting list for counselling ?

Its horrible to feel like that all the time and exhausting, have you got family who are supportive?

I've been there and it's awful. My tips are: prioritise sleep. Exercise each day, even a walk. Morning ideally. Eat sensibly, look to keep your blood sugars level. Drink loads of water and minimal caffeine. Don't eat sugary/white carb things too much. Take a good B vitamin complex and magnesium.

None of the above are magic wands, but when I prioritise these things, my anxiety 'baseline' is much lower.

Then the bigger stuff: see your GP, or another GP. explain it is debilitating. Take the drugs. Try different ones if you don't see any improvement in 6 weeks. Push for therapy and go private if you're able.

Try not to have too much 'empty time' to let your mind wander. Eg when cleaning, listen to a really gripping podcast.

Try to force rational thought. Eg when you think 'Im dying' speak to yourself sternly, eg 'well there is a chance any of us could be dying right this moment, but realistically, what are the chances? I didn't die yesterday, or the day before that, or the day before that. Statistically, I'm likely to live well into my 80s. Statistically, young women don't often just drop dead.' It sounds silly but the more you practise this - out loud ideally - the stronger you feel challenging these irrational thoughts.

Good luck to you OP. I promise it can and will get better x