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How to overcome this and get my life back
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Hi Bridgetjane
I'm sorry that you are feeling so unwell. I can relate to everything you are saying and I want to tell you that things will get better.
Six years ago my daughter was completely disabled by anxiety and OCD. She fell ill at the age of 13. Like you, she rarely left the house for months, so consumed was she with obsessions and rituals and anxious thoughts. She also thought she was letting people down. Specifically, she thought she was letting me down, her mum, and that she had "ruined" our family.
I worked really hard to help her correct this thinking. It took some time for her to accept that she was ill. We might know on an intellectual level that mental health conditions don't discriminate but I don't think anybody ever thinks it will affect them. It also took time for her to let go of the guilt and self-blame. Ask yourself, would you blame yourself for not getting better if you had heart disease, cancer or arthritis? I don't believe you would.
You are doing all the right things by seeking treatment. I think it would help for you to go back and see your doctor and ask when you should expect to feel better. It could be that you need more time with the medication or it could be that it's not the right medication for you. The first medication my daughter was prescribed did not work--it actually made her condition worse. The second did.
With medication and treatment my daughter reached recovery. She graduated high school in the top 25 per cent of the state, she is now studying to be an architect, very much love and very busy with the gym and her friends. People may fall ill, but they also get better. Hang in there.
I think you could benefit from some support, emotionally and on a practical level with your children and the house, etc. I want to encourage you to think about who you could reach out to, if you haven't already.
Of course, we are always here too. I look forward to talking with you some more on the forum
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Dear Bridgetjane1980~
I'd like to join Summer Rose in welcoming you here. I'd more than agree that panic attacks are terrifying, and like you have been in A&E, had batteries of tests - all coming back negative. To start with I thought those test were just plain wrong, though now I know they were quite right.
OK, now I don't know if you have been taught how to deal with the attacks as they happen, in case you don't I'll tell you what has helped me (methods do vary a bit). Sorry if I'm going over old ground.
Breath in though my mouth for around 5/7 seconds - Hold for 2/3 seconds - Breath out though mouth around 5 seconds.
This changes the oxygen/carbon dioxide level in the body (those tingling sensations are an indication it is out of whack). Slow breathing for me has a calming effect too.
I concentrate in part on knowing it is a panic attack (not something fatal like a heart attack) and that this is just a misplaced flight-or-fight reaction and I've always come though OK and will this time. Sometimes concentrating on a particular object can help, a leaf, a pen, does not matter what. Actually I find a pen pretty good as I can try to think of books and writing.
I try hard not to let it entirely stop me from what I was doing. This seems to me to be important, even if I"m not always that successful. If I'm sweeping I try to sweep, if I'm typing I try to keep on going (but do not rely upon what I've written:)
No doubt other people with have their own methods. The attacks do get less - and their severity gets less too. I've not had one in a long while.
If I think one may be likely I use the free smartphone app Smiling Mind. It takes practice but does change the way my mind is thinking and makes for much calmer thoughts.
I'm pleased to hear you are getting medical treatment. It was the only way I improved. Medications can be a bit hit and miss sometimes I'm afraid. I had to go though a fair number to find a type and dosage that worked properly for me. It does work out.
Reducing stress in your life, plus an enjoyable distraction to look forward to every day is for me essential, as is exercise.
Have a look at the following thread I've gained a lot from:
Forums / Anxiety / SELF HELP TIPS FOR MANAGING ANXIETY
I can say from personal experience it does most definitely get tons better. Please feel you can talk here anytime
Croix
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Hi Bridgetjane
I was diagnosed with anxiety and panic disorder in November last year after weeks of constant tenseness, ill health, brain fog and almost daily panic attacks. Once diagnosed I was placed on medication and immediately the panic attacks stopped. Maybe it was the relief of finding out what was wrong with me or maybe I got lucky and found the right medication on my first go but perhaps you need to see the doctor to look at changing your medication if it feels like there has been no change in 4 weeks.
I was told it would take up to 6 weeks for my medication to become truly effective and it was like everything cleared at exactly the 6 week mark. Before this, despite the panic attacks stopping, I had begun to question if the crippling anxiety itself would ever go away but it did and while I still have bad days I’m now at a point where I look back and it seems like what I suffered was just a bad dream, exactly as my doctor had promised.
I understand everyone’s anxiety is different but don’t lose hope. Things will get better with time.
