feeling panicky today. need some strategies or to talk to others who are prone to it

[lifetooshorttospendpanicky]

I would appreciate some advice?

I have anxiety/panic attacks. I think they stem from being "rewired" to high stress after spending my early years in a stressful environment (as a child I used to have to break up fights) but maybe it's just genetic.

the panic attacks started when I was 29 and affected things like going on public transport, confined spaces, etc. I tend to be anxious and panicky when I have a blocked nose (which is quite often, due to allergic rhinitus causing swelling).

The worst times were when pregnant - I would spend a lot of time in that awful dazed panic state where you don't know if you're panicking or fainting. And post-natally with DS2 who is now 7.

I was sent to a psychologist when I worked full time. He got me doing breathing exercises but this was actually counterproductive and hopeless because it made me fixate on the breathing - I've learnt since that people whose anxieties fixate on breathing problems tend to respond badly to breathing exercises. Other help come from ice-cubes on my skin and pinging elastic bands. I've got a lot better about being on planes and coaches partly thanks to using ice and Bach Herbal Remedies and partly by just telling myself to get bored of the panic and to tell myself that the flight is not my problem. Having a lovely warm baby with me on planes helped a lot to refocus me away from myself (which seems to be the key to a lot in life).

I'm concerned that I seem "wired" to have a certain amount of anxiety and my brain is almost "~looking for" new triggers - so I'm feeling panicky today, for instance, because one of my ears feels a bit swollen and blocked and of course I can't see inside it (loss of control alert). The last 16 hours or so are the worst I've had for a very long time.

Perhaps today is a bad day and there's PMT involved but a doctor mate has warned me that people who struggle as I did in pregnancy tend to struggle also in the menopause. DH is very patient with me but I could imagine him having his limits when we're in our fifties.

I've never taken medication. I wonder about yoga or hypnotherapy. I would struggle with the loss of control I associate with hypnotherapy but perhaps that's all the more reason to do it.

When I have a big problem, a genuine problem (developmental problems in one of my children) it's completely different - I become calm and focussed and rise to the occasion over a sustained period (years in that case). When I do challenging work, I feel good.

I would love to talk to anyone who is similar. I'm not enjoying today; I hope it's just a combination of PMT, my tendency to panic over loss of control and a lack of "outward facing" problems today....

Thank you for reading.

Hi, thought I'd comment as you did on mine and as you will have read I'm also really panicky atm! I am also really bad today and don't even know why today, totally random. I'm trying to avoid taking even more meds today, will try the ice cube thing actually, have heard of this before but never used it.
Also interesting you mention it getting worse in pregnancy, for me, pregnancy was some time ago but I can now see that some if the light headedness and palpitations were panic not normal pregnancy!
Have you got anything you can do today (now) to help you? I am better if I go and dig like a loon at my allotment but got a poorly dd home from school today so can't!

hiya ThisKnife, thanks for replying.

Isn't it weird how randomly the panic comes on?

the ice-cube thing is great. I heard of it used for teenage girls who self-harm by cutting. The physical sensation of the ice on your skin is a "shock" - a bit like cutting. So it reboots your system a bit. What's good for me is that it doesn't depend on any particular state of mind (if I try to "relax" I always end up in a psychological cat and mouse game with myself). And of course you can do it as much as you want with as much ice as you need and if you do get addicted the worse that'll happen is a common cold :)

I stick cubes down the back of my neck if stuck on the tarmac in a plane - the shock factor works a treat!

I'm fixating today on a pressure sensation in my ear (pathetic! couldn't write that without name-changing!) but am still trying to work.

It's my biggest problem in life, a life that most people would envy. I'm finding it helpful to write to you - it's almost making me see the funny side and letting the tears come out a bit (a good sign I think).

Like you, I know exercise would help. I've got no child at home today but I have got a temporary bad back (it's possible that that is contributing in a subtle way).

Isn't it just the strangest thing?

I am signed off work atm, wonder if my 'may be fit to return' could say 'needs access to ice' :)

After my really bad panic attack at work I was crippled from my bad back for a week - I think they are definitely connected.

that's interesting about the back thing.........

systems failing/struggling and producing very different results in the brain and the back?

Have you tried the Bach remedies and do you have any other non-drug strategies that work at all?

I haven't been like this for ages and it's dull! I want to be out there being my usual self (even though my usual self freaks out at small lifts, pressure within the face area and sitting in the back of crowded cars, she still gets out and has fun and achieves stuff!)

I had such a lovely weekend with the DSs too. DS2, who was the one with developmental struggles, learnt to jump in the deep end of the swimming pool!

really need a good cry but it just won't come .

Yeah I was taking rescue remedy but the last time I took it it made my tongue numb (or I thought/felt like it did) and made me panic more! How do you get on with that? I usually do use it and it is fine and has some effect I think.

It is dull being like this! I am worried work think I am having a great time but actually I am feeling vile and unable to do anything!

I hope (because you feel you need to) you manage to have a good cry. I burst into tears at Tracy Beaker today (tbh it was addressing some issues I have had to deal with) not saying that Tracy Beaker is a guaranteed method for emotional release or anything though :)

Hi I just wanted to share with you my story and see if it helps you.

I am 46 years old. Mum of two sons now 23 and 18. I am generally happy, don't get stressed, easy going etc. 3 years ago out of the blue I had first panic attack( didn't know what it was at the time). We were at a social function in London. I thought that I had my drink spiked because it was so sudden. Sweats, heart racing, feeling faint, urgent need of the loo.
2 weeks later another one.
The 3rd one was in the doctors surgery. I thought I was having a heart attack.
I have private health care so I have had MRI scans, heart monitors, ultrasound, hearing tests, brain scans, blood tests, - diagnosis anxiety and panic attacks.

Things I have tried hoping for miracle cure

Ones that didn't work for me
Hypnosis - 3 different practitioners including the best in Harley Street
Linden method -cd book and programme
Acupuncture

Things that did work
One to one counselling - excellent
Nhs fearfighter programme - cbt fairly good
Panic away programme - I still read this book
Mindfulness - relaxation cd
Breathing exercises.
Claire weeks books

I have researched this condition and feel better equipped with the knowledge I have gained to help me. I am not cured. But I have a better control over it.

My rock bottom was October 2012 when I couldn't leave the house for 2 weeks. I just thought to myself I cannot live like this. And I won't.
Like you I didn't want to go on medication, but I agreed to start at 10 mg citalopram. This is the lowest dose. I am still on that and won't take any more.

I also struggle with public transport, motorways, stuck in traffic, multi storey car parks,
At my worst I couldn't go into a restaurant I hadn't been to before in case I couldn't find an exit.
So from travelling all around the world I was struggling to leave the house.

I am improving all the time. If I get stressed the anxiety is worse. So I stay determined not to get stressed!

I wish you lots of luck and you can pm message me anytime

LOL re rescue remedy and snap - I don't put the rescue remedy under my tongue - I'm such a wimp! I put it on my wrists and sniff it or sometimes dab it under my nose.

I do think it has some effect - it reduces the severity from 6-out-of-10 to 5-out-of-10, I'd say, and I'm not knocking that, particularly because it's obviously working at a deeper-than-rational-thinking level.

LOL about Tracey Beaker - hey, don't knock it, perhaps more Tracy Beaker is the miracle medicine the NHS has been looking for?

Had to go in to have a failed root-canal dealt with at the dentists' today. felt pretty shaky going in, though oddly enough I'm not too bad at dentists' chair stuff because you're not supposed to be in control/calm. As he got near the end and I knew it was nearly over, I started yawning uncontrollably and tears flowed! he didn't even comment - apparently some of his patients do far stranger things! I'm not sure if that counts as a good cry or not.......

Two things I know - first that anxiety is a funny old thing and you can't always find the cause/effect or know what will work for you on a particular day/at a particular place. I still stride happily through things that other people find stressful, and I like to remind myself of that to keep self-esteem up.

Second thing I know is that we should laugh about this as much as possible, even if crying at the same time!

thank you for that lovely post Funnyfishface, I can identify with it really strongly.

Like you, I have an identity as a very adventurous person (back-packing across Russia, that kind of thing) and at my lowest (7 years ago now) I was mourning for the loss of that identity.

Like you, I've tried to keep a balance between recognising this as a "condition" but also still keeping a sense that it can get better, sometimes through sheer will but more often by doing something that shifts my focus or by tricking myself into doing something before I have a chance to be scared.....

I love the times when I just manage to ignore it. Like learning to scuba dive - I was freaked out by the constraints of the equipment/masks, etc, and the teacher just said to me in very simple terms - "when you get under water and see the fish you will forget about yourself" - and I did!

The other week I took the tube after a business meeting (wouldn't have tried that till recently). I couldn't help but focus on how crowded the train was, and when the train stopped briefly in the tunnel before the station, I did predictably have a panic attack ..... but I just allowed myself to swing my leg around to give the illusion of space/movement and when it got into the station I felt really pleased with myself for having "done it anyway". So when the attack itself and its course becomes predictable, the level of dread reduces a bit and it starts to weaken.....

I made most progress when the children were babies and toddlers - there is a dramatic element to a panic attack for me - I "see" myself having the attack - and nothing shifts your focus away from yourself so much as a baby. It makes me wonder whether this is an element in the way that lots of mothers struggle with anxiety as their children get bigger - it's no longer appropriate to focus on the child all the time so your attention shifts unhealthily to yourself....

enjoy the good bits of your day everyone x