Anxiety taking over

[Andy999]

Heey so I’m wondering if anyone has felt similar and possibly has any advice for me on how to deal with anxiety attacks.

ive just started seeing a psychologist for my anxiety, I had a massive panic attack last Monday night (the night before my first session) I could feel it building up for hours, talking to people wasn’t helping I didnt know how to calm it down, I even had a football game to play and I pushed myself to go but couldn’t say a word to anyone and felt like just running of the pitch but I didn’t even know where I wanted to go, on the way home it climaxed, I started getting tingles through my body I was convinced “this is it, I’ve hit the point of no return I’m never gonna get better” it was so scary I came home and completely broke down in front of my family.

just yesterday so a week later something kind of similar happened, I’ve actually been improving a bit since last week, learning to accept these fears and worries and challenging them and all that and find it can really work but it’s very hard, yesterday I was feeling the best I had in ages, but then suddenly that arvo it all came crashing down, I started feeling abit off, just abit restless and I noticed it, I didn’t really know how to respond to this, I couldn’t immerse myself into tv or even talking about it with someone didn’t help, I started thinking “oh shit am I gong back to square 1 here” I kept telling myself I wasn’t but the feeling grew more and more intense, everything around was just to much it felt like I was just about to Freak out again, after hours it started to subside a little, I did some meditation when I got home which helped abit to.

i was pretty shaken up to experience those feelings again, they continued with me quite abit today also, it’s really terrible it stops you from doing anything really, you kind of just sit there in this paralysed state of fear and makes it almost impossible to socialise, work, and live a normal life.

but yeh any advice would be awesome, thanks

[Ggrand]

Hello Andy999.

Welcome to the forums..I’m sorry it’s taken a while for a reply..It’s no reflection on you, unfortunately sometimes post can be pushed back..Not sure why..maybe it’s through busy periods here..

Im sorry your struggling so hard with your anxiety...I have high anxiety myself and it’s so darn annoying..

Once I feel my anxiety is rising towards an anxiety attack, I do everything possible to get my mind to think of something else....I have a grounding box I usually get out and start using that...(you can find out what they are on the thread “ Grounding yourself what is and how do we do it”...sometimes I’ll sit outside and focus on the birds, just watching and listening to them intently helps, music is good as well especially when you can sing along with it...

My psych.has told me that we have to try to get our thoughts of what’s going on in our brain when we’re having an anxiety attack and redirect our thoughts away from it..It helps most times...its finding some type of brain distraction that will work for you....The more we think about what’s happening to us..the more intense the panic attack seems...we need to distract ourselves from what’s happening to us...

A great start is speaking to your doctor about how you feel, the panic attacks and what you go through when a panic attack is building up inside you...You’re Dr..will be able to you...

I hope I’ve helped you a little..

Please keep talking here if you need to..

Kind thoughts...

Grandy...

[Step_Twelve]

Hi Andy999,

Your post really caught my attention. When you say it "all came crashing down", and "going back to square 1" - these are the kind of thoughts that get to me as well. Sometimes I feel like I've made good progress towards "beating" my anxiety by diligently ticking all the boxes: eating healthy, getting exercise, avoiding overthinking, doing cognitive behavioural therapy, etc. Then, after a long period of feeling good, I'll have a massive panic attack just like the one you described (I have a Panic Disorder so they can happen anywhere, any time). I'm immediately disappointed. I either feel like it's really unfair that it happens even when I'm doing everything right, or I find something I did wrong (e.g. eating junk food) and beat myself up about it. I'm afraid to tell my GP or psychologist about what's happened because I feel like it'll be a huge letdown (they were both so happy that I responded well to treatment over the past couple of years).

Andy, I think maybe we're framing our condition in the wrong way. It's probably not something we should be trying to "beat" or "cure" or "get rid of". It's simply condition that will sometimes escalate. This might be for an obvious reason, like stress or illness, but it might be completely random too. And that's okay. What is important is that we have the tools, support, and knowledge to manage it when it presents.

My psychologist has told me a number of times that I need to be more accepting of the condition and focus on managment rather than "curing" it.

Is your psychologist helping with strategies to reduce the panic attacks, and also to work through them when they happen? For me, reducing the background anxiety and thought patterns that were causing the random panic attacks took a long time, and it's still a work in progress. But I feel much better equipped after getting therapy, medication, and doing lots of research.

Hoping it improves for you. Let us know how you're getting on.