My anxiety and panic attacks have made me so lonely

[missy86]

( just a heads up, i'm not great with grammer )

Hi beautiful people,

I am not sure if i am posting this in the correct section or not. 

I'm 27 and have two young children, around three years ago i started to have panic attacks and anxiety. 

I have pretty much no friends anymore. Being in a small town its kinda hard also. 

Because of my issues i had become distant to my partner, who is great on just about all levels , minus the affection.

I went for two months with no panic attacks and then they decided to come back, got pretty bad and as of three days ago i am taking meds for it, i wish that they would work NOW.

I had a bad attack today. I feel as tho i need to escape when i get them and that i can't breathe and like my body is going nuts.

I guess i come to this site to see if anyone can relate or make a friend even

XOX

[The_Real_David_Charles]

Dear missy,

You seem to have a good handle on things.   Don't worry about the right section.  It's better to keep telling your story - just add updates.

Beautiful People responding ?  Made me laugh.  At 50, greying in the hair and 120+kg's  I would be hard pressed to fit that category.  I guess the real wonder is inside all of us waiting to be unlocked from the anxiety, etc, that seems to keep our real characters at bay.  Slowly, slowly.

I might dye my hair blonde in the morning and go on a diet !

Adios, David.

[twistnchurn]

Find time for yourself, and if you do have plenty of time do something you thoroughly enjoy. Whatever it is, more social the better, even going to the park and sitting there will be beneficial.

Were you anticipating something to happen? Any events or situations that couldve triggered it?

When i used to get frequent attacks it would be situations or upcoming events and it was last for days.. after effect at least.

[missy86]

I can't really pin point anything, around that time my partner started having health problems  (pooing blood) and he wouldnt go to the doc about it for some time, i know i was worrying about that a lot. Also a friend of my'n died not long after the anxiety came back ( possibly added to it? )

[guest1]

Hi!

I used to have HORRIBLE panic attacks when I was in my 20's but I no longer get them now in my 30's!

Typically when you get anxious or starting "panicking that you may be about to panick", is you start to hyperfocus on your bodily sensations.

 Some people may focus on their pulse (OMG! Its getting faster!) or their breathing (OMG! I am breathing faster! I can't breath!), and also other sensations. Now that scares them, then what happens is the body produces more adrenalin, and this produces MORE of the symptoms they are scared of! The pulse gets even faster! They can't breath even more!

If the breathing thing gets bad its cause of hyperventilation. It due to the carbon dioxide level in your blood changing- its not dangerous, but you feel like you can't breath, which makes you panic more, which makes the symptoms worst.

Breathing slowly into a paper bag can help if you are fully hyperventilating and panicking. Do not breath into a plastic bag like this, as it is not safe.

Also fear of panic, can cause panic. You misinterpret common but unpleasant physical signs of anxiety, ie weird sensations in chest, dizzy feeling, feeling a bit "out of it", even feeling hot or cold- there are many symptoms. These symptoms convince you, that you are in trouble, and feed the panic!

Well that is the classical case.

Quieting cigarettes (try the gum or patches) can help a great deal, as can strongly improving your fitness like jogging for several months, gradually further and further. However for me there was a big delay from quieting smoking and jogging a lot, well it took about 6 months but then BHAM! The anxiety was gone and has never come back.

Cigarettes, caffeine and drugs (including *********) can all trigger or worsen anxiety and panic attacks.

 You need to confront any irrational fears you have (they probably seem very real to you), and learn not to fear them. You need to realize when you are panicking and go "Oh its not nice, but its just a panic attack. IT CANNOT KILL ME!"

Distracting yourself by counting backwards from 1000 in 7's or something like that may help.

Social situations can trigger the attacks in some people (because people focus more on themselves and their bodily sensations around others).

 For some people anti-depressant medications called the SSRI's help a lot, for others they are not very useful.

It may not happen over night, but you can learn to face the fear, identify the fear, dismiss the fear, and BEAT the fear.