DIDN'T COPY VERY WELL......THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD LOOK
Bally2 - no problem. I have been on mums net as I have been facing difficulties with my relationship/lone parent things so i don't want to be a hypocrite in saying my life is rosy. I am experiencing problems in other areas and I have cherished the advice and kindness received.
However, in terms of anxiety/panic attacks I would say i am cured. This is more my area of specialism on advice and I am going to cut and paste something i wrote when I used to do work with anxiety sufferers. I do, as usual, go on! It may not be relevant for many of you it is for people who suffer with more extreme anxiety/ panic attacks........
I wish I could stop harping on about Dr Claire Weekes but I can't. Reading in her books about people who were completely cured (some had suffered for even 40 years! Couldn't leave their house for 40 years!) for me was music to my ears. As I think back to it, anxiety was a disability and to me it was controlling my life every second - and how heavy every second was. Exhausting. You see, I have to really think about it now as I am in such a different place. God, it made life difficult. I never thought I would get better. A very dark place. Since being cured, before I had baby and had free time, I used to do voluntary work with other sufferers. If you need any help/advice please feel free to ask. But, i know everyone is different and from now on I will just talk about what helped me as tis may help others. Some people on here may be talking about having one symptom and fortunately they were able to control it with calming techniques or medicine or rationalising etc. I think my anxiety was a more nervous breakdown thing and so may not be relevant to you but I will write about it in any case others come to the thread in this situation. You can break free from the prison of anxiety. You can do what the hell you want and do it in a way you may have used to - without thinking about anxiety - without your body reacting to whatever it is that triggers your anxiety - it is through a process of de-sensitising your body - making it know that the triggers and the symptoms it creates are not important. I know I sound like a preacher......When i mentioned I had travelled abroad I meant on my own. I'd have never thought that was possible. In fact to not even think about anxiety on a daily/weekly/monthly basis is how I am now. For most people I can imagine you might think the following is pretty crazy for a few you may be able to relate to it. I first had anxiety when I was 24. It was from a combination of physical exhaustion (busy/hectic lifestyle) and emotional stress.
Anyway the book is called Essential Help for your Nerves - I got the edition that has the interview with patients in the back called more help for your nerves. She was an Ozzy doc who devoted her career to anxiety sufferers. IN many countries it is handed out like we hand out pills here. I don't know why it is not more popular in this country. But, she did do some work for BBC radio and cured thousands through that.
I bought several self help books when I started getting panic attacks but I thought it was less for what i call medial anxiety it was just about fear in general.
A friend's mum handed me this book and I didn't bother read it - I was in a state that i couldn't calmly read anything. I didn't quite know what was happening to me at the time.
of course it helps to know that the tingling in your head is not a brain tumour or that the tingling in your arm isn't a stroke or the teeth marks in your tongue aren't the result of a severe reaction that might....... blah blah the thing is when you are emotionally drained and tired as much as I was, knowing this was not enough for me. When I had panic attacks i thought I was dying - thinking I was facing death many times a day - absolute bloody awful fear that to rationalise and think through my symptoms - I couldn?t - it wasn?t enough for me, I didn't have enough energy or even faith in it. Besides, with an overactive imagination, I would be able to convince myself that my arteries were different so i may be more susceptible to having a stroke or that I read there was a woman who had a brain tumour at the age 24 and....(Heat magazine has a lot to answer for)
Instead I applied the FAFL technique (Face-Apply-float-let go (the book the book o holy book explains it))which just helps a tired mind deal with the here and now - to get through the panic attack - or rather, to let it happen with a smile on your face, and it may return again, triggered by a thought, a memory, a smell, being in a claustrophobic place...(whatever triggers it, it doesn't matter) and it comes back with less severity, and you apply FAFL (the book, the book...) and it may come back again and so forth until you no longer react. And it works.
I never took any medication. In hindsight, I think I should have taken some beta blockers just to calm my body. Give it a break. I don't think, personally, medicine is a cure; it is just a crutch - that's my opinion on the type of anxiety I had.
I can imagine the flying and boat trip scenario. I had to cancel many things - or make such a fuss about things v- ask 1000 questions to make sure I could go - I lost friends. I know how it can chip chip away at your confidence. How crap it can make you feel when you can't do things. The hospital thing is typical, so is travelling. You think you are ill; you are going to die so you want to get medical help quick. On your way to being cured, you will realise that it just doesn?t matter - you will not get scared of your physical symptoms. You will be able to fly in the future I am sure. There is no reason for you not to be able to. If you know how to deal with anxiety you will be able to do anything.
I have many nuttier things to say about my condition! (I use the word nutty just to laugh at myself) - just to show you how bad i was (no previous history of mental illness) - when it all started mid-20s.....it spreads - phobias spread -one of the 1000s of weird things I did was I was convinced I would have an anaphylactic shock from reaction so I wouldn't eat anything out of the house - restricted diet. I used to take a tissue out with me in case I had food in my mouth or on my tongue so I had to remove it in case it would cause a reaction. Then, i would have to make sure that the tissue wasn't one that left fibres in case these were left on my tongue to cause a reaction....AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe how I was. I have to say, poor bloody me. I would like to laugh at what in out myself through but I know at the time it is a living hell.
2 years ago, i travelled across the outback (again, who would have thought?!). I felt the panic come on - in the middle of nowhere - what if what if...but applied the FAFL technique and smiled when I felt my heart racing, dizziness, sore scalp, I even said "ha ha here you are again you little b*&^%rd!" But, i didn't fight it; i let it take over (FAFL)
Some people think anxiety, especially if it is triggered by things of the past is a way of your subconscious telling you that you need to take stock of things. In a way it is a positive thing. Hard to believe and so getting things off your chest for some could also be a cure.
For now, i think onepieceoflollipop is right - you could look after your body help your body to relax. I think anyone who has anxiety will know that the body and mind are indeed linked. If you relax the body it and your mind will be able to cope better. You could exercise or even steps like having a nice shower- looking after your body. I mentioned body scan - you start at your toes working your way up body, clenching muscles and then relaxing them - smile when you do it or say 'relax'. It will only take a few mins, you could do it when you are in bed at night.
If you are v anxious now, you could do some breathing - hand on belly/below rib cage - breathe in and your belly should go out - make it go out, breath in for 4 counts and then exhale for 4. Do this few times a night as many anxious sufferers shallow breathe so that their bellies go in when they inhale.
I would be happy for even one person to be helped from the above.
SO, I think I've said more than enough!