Suicide help

[BobbyOz]

I’ve got so many problems in my life caused by anxiety. I’m underweight and can’t eat much without nausea. I get panic attacks every day. I can’t get my driving license because I get panic attacks while driving which means I also can’t get a job. I failed University and am in huge debt. I always get rejected by women. I have no friends. What should I do? I’m on medication and I’ve seen tons of psychologists but nothing seems to work. I feel like ending my life. 

[Sophie_M]

Dear BobbyOz

We appreciate you trusting us by posting about your struggles with your confusions over life and living life. Our supportive community is here to help and support you.

Regular and constant panic attacks sound to us like a difficult and frustrating situation. Have your Psychologists worked with you on ways of using your breath to help lessen the intensity of the panic attacks? Other members on the forum have discussed this in the past.

We understand that the concept is that your breath helps to increase or decrease your emotional excitationn. Put another way, when you breathe rapidly, you become hightened in your emotions; whether it is excitement, anger, fear, nervousness, sorrow, etc. You can test this by getting excited about something and then breathing really slowly. In our experience this very difficult to stay excited when breathing nice and slow and relaxed without forcing the breath.

So, when you are getting scared, pay attention to your breath. Notice how fast it is. Then, concentrate on slowing your breath down, without forcing it. Breathe calmly. This will encourage your panic to slow down, just a little bit in the beginning. As you practice, after a few weeks of daily practice, other members have written about how the panic is often not as intense.

We would encourage you to try this first, and try to let the rest of the worries you mentioned to wait until the panic is a little less.

Please talk with your GP, Psychologist, or any other mental health specialist about this breathing. It is our understanding that many of them know how to guide you through the exercise.

Please post about if it is working, or not working, whenever you wish. We also encourage you to post about anything else you choose. We are always here for you.

Warm regards,

Sophie M.
 

[Petal22]

Hi BobbyOz,

Im so sorry your anxiety is causing you so much distress, I understand it’s hard.

Have you ever been diagnosed with anything in particular regarding your anxiety?

Im sorry you have panic attacks I understand these are really hard to deal with.

I have a lived experience of severe anxiety OCD I’ve recovered from this condition thanks to the professional help I received and the hard work I put in.

My condition consisted of intrusive thoughts that terrified me and in turn they would turn up my anxiety into severe levels.. I was also stuck in a vicious OCD cycle and experiencing daily pain attacks.

I understand our conditions may be different but please don’t loose hope.

You really can recover from what you are experiencing with the correct help.

[BobbyOz]

I try deep breathing everytime I get anxiety but it never works

[james1]

Hey BobbyOz,

I'm sorry to hear you are struggling so much at the moment with your anxiety. It sounds like these panic attacks are causing a lot of issues in your life and you haven't been able to get the support you need. I hope you can find a safe place here where you can start to find a little bit more comfort. Sometimes, it can be really hard to start the recovery process until we find a place where we feel accepted and safe. Hopefully this can be that place for you.

I understand you have really been struggling to manage your anxiety, and neither medication nor deep breathing have been helpful. May I ask if you have done anything that has helped in the past, or which still is helpful now?

In my own experience with panic attacks, I honestly must admit that I never found a technique that really 'worked'. Most of the time when I was in the middle of one, I just had to end up talking to one of the helplines or talk aloud or read something aloud, just to get through the worst of it. I needed to really stimulate my senses to get out of my head. It didn't fix anything, but my goal was really just to pass the time until I could go to bed at night. Still, this meant I could at least keep going and work on reducing my 'baseline' level of stress until I just stopped having full blown panic attacks.

Anyway, let us know if there's been anything you've tried which helped, or even anything you've thought about giving a go and hope could be helpful. Take care for now.

James