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Posts created by kaitie995

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 177

Myth or Fact: Certain situations cause anxiety attacks.

Shari,

I was always the same with our full school assembly, I dreaded every Wednesday when all our 1500 students would sit in the auditorium and lecture theatre for the assembly. It would always make me claustrophobic and we couldn't choose our seats so most of the time I was somewhere in the middle. It was awful, I'm so glad school is over! Haha

At the moment my anxiety has been winning the majority of the time, but I can still remember how happy I was when I could push it aside. I call it my little green monster who always lurks in the shadows, and definitely the more we distance ourselves from the anxiety, the more control our 'true self' has :) it took me years to understand that concept.

Thank you Shari, I think this is my third relapse, I guess you could call it that. Aww, you're one of my favorites too! At one stage you hadn't posted for a while and I was like where's Shari? Haha. I've learned heaps from you too, as much as people try to understand panic disorder, unless you have actually gone through it, it's extremely difficult. It's nice to just talk about it on here without having to necessarily explain it.

Kaitie.

And guess what! I'm 18 now, my birthday was on the 7th of January :D

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 177

Paying attention to the Positives

Hi Shari and Matt,

This is definitely something we forget to do too often. My biggest downfall was not focusing on the positives. My senior years of high school were the most stressful ever. I found myself finishing an assignment, but rather than rewarding myself for actually finishing the assignment on time, I would start to focus on all those other assignments I had left to do. I should have given myself a reward, like the rest of the night off or a long bath, and then the next day start focusing on those other assignments.

Lately my insomnia has been pretty bad. I sleep solidly, and almost exactly, for 4 hours and then am awake for about 2-4 hours before going back to sleep for another 4 hours. Intitially when I wake up, I'm afraid. But I always keep my iPod beside my bed so I can play a game, listen to music or a relaxation, or type in whatever is worrying me so I'm the only one who can find it. I also open my window so I can feel the fresh air. It's summer here so the sun starts to rise before 5am. This morning I was watching the sunrise, when the kookaburras in the trees across the road started laughing. Australia has the weirdest animals, I swear. Their laughing never fails to make me laugh, and one even flew over and sat under my window eating a worm. It was one of those random events that you can't help but smile at. If I wasn't awake, I would've missed out on it.

Shari, a good idea is instead of saying you had a bad day, you can say it was a long day, or exhausting, and you're glad to be home. Although 'exhausting' isn't necessarily good, it's not too 'bad' either.

The thing I loved most about school was that there was always a funny moment. Some days I never stopped laughing at the silly things my friends and I would do. One time in science, when we were doing a worksheet, my friend turned to another friend of ours and said, "You know those toe socks you can get with the individual sections for your toes? Can you get them for your hands?" to which the other girl replied, "Yes, they're called gloves." Hahaha

Kaitie.

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 177

Paying attention to the Positives

Hi Shari,

Thank you, I couldn't not smile at the kookaburra. Their laugh is so funny :) Your Dad's right, the worst that will happen is you'll be super tired the next day and as uncomfortable as that is, it won't hurt in the long run. I read that somewhere haha.

The friend who asked that always comes up with the funniest of things. I've known her since we were both 7 :)

Kaitie.

P.S. I love your little sausage dog photo!

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 177

Myth or Fact: Certain situations cause anxiety attacks.

Thank you both!

I'll reply to you both separately so I don't get confused ;)

Shari, it's okay I keep forgetting which threads I've posted in and I come back later and so many people have replied I lose track! A dragon sounds much more scary than a green monster haha :) Yeah my psychologist taught me that, she noticed that when my anxiety was extremely bad, my eyes would glaze over and I'd go 'into my head' and then as I started to get better this would happen less often and my eyes were bright again so she knew it was me talking and not my monster. That's okay, I'm glad you figured out what you needed to :) Haha I'm sure people think that about me!
I get that a lot too, I really don't like explaining agoraphobia. People can sort of understand the panic, but most don't get the agoraphobia.

Sunny that sounds terrible, to lose two brothers at once. I know how you feel though, with the moving. At one stage we had 4 different houses in three years. They were all in Toowoomba and I didn't have to change schools or anything. But I was always afraid to get settled. Home is meant to be solid ground, but moving so often makes you realise that nothing is permanent, and that's hard to accept.

Wow, after that sad moment, I'm going to have to do something fun too!

Kaitie.

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 177

Surgery done..went well!

How exciting Bren!
Where would you like to travel to?
I'm glad you've got your energy back, that's always a good sign :)

Kaitie.

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 177

Sick of being sick

Aww Red!

Being sick is never fun, and it makes my panic worse too :( Hopefully the doctors will find something soon. But for now I guess all you can do is take the time to relax.

It's hard with doctors, in their training there's so much they have to cover so I feel at times patient care is forgotten.

Get well soon <3

Kaitie.

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 177

I´M DONE!!!

Shari,

This sounds like such a difficult experience. The relationship between parent and child is possibly the most complex of all. Although what your daughter said was hurtful for you, I'm sure it was hard for her to say it. This situation must be exhausting for all involved.

Right now, I think it might help to take everyone else out of the equation. I'm sure whatever you decide, they will support you. But what exactly is it that you want? What would you do differently, if it weren't for whatever is holding you back?

If your goal is to be more independent, financially or otherwise, how do you achieve this? Maybe you could do some exposure work for this. You could move away all by yourself and cut everyone else off, but this is probably not the best idea. Maybe it's time to revisit session 4 ;) Gradual steps!

I hope what I've said doesn't seem too harsh, that's certainly not my intention. Eventually, I will have to do this myself. I'm 18 now. As hard as it will be, and as it is for you now, sometimes you do have to make those hard decisions to follow your dreams. I'm sure everyone will respect you for this.

All the best,

Kaitie.

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 177

Exposure work

Hi Adam,

What Shari said about White Coat Syndrome is true :) One of my cousins needed a monitor on for 24 hours because she had it, and her results came back clear.

As for what is considered normal, when I was in hospital a few months ago for my panic disorder, my blood pressure was spot on 120/80 but my pulse was 140 beats per minute for the first few days I was in there. With blood pressure, what is considered 'normal' varies. If it mostly the 120/80 then there's not much to worry about, and for some people 130/90 can still be considered normal.

With my anorexia, knowing my weight affected my anxiety. I would always try to stay 5kgs under my goal weight. It was only once I started seeing my dietician a few years ago and she made me turn my back on the numbers, did I start to see results. Even now I refuse to have a set of scales in the house, the temptation is too much! Maybe that could help for you too. My dietician used to weigh me and then say whether or not my weight was going in the right direction. You could close your eyes when the doctor takes your blood pressure and then have them say whether or not there is cause for concern. It's hard at first, but eventually you will realise that it is okay not to know your blood pressure and for everything to still be fine :)

Dealing with the panic associated with this.. What exactly is it that worries you with you blood pressure? Why are you anxious about it being high? You can do the anxious thoughts sheets associated with your worries and whenever you feel anxious you can remind yourself of your challenging statement :)

Hope this helps,

Kaitie.

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 177

I´M DONE!!!

Hi Shari,

You're welcome, I'm glad I could help in some way :)
And it's good I didn't sound harsh.

Good luck with it all,
Kaitie.

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 177

I´m Working on it

Hi Shari,

That's a good idea, there's always hope :) I totally understand what that book is saying! Now that I've finished school, I'm trying to work out what's next and I certainly feel confused. The problem is it's too open. I'm so used to having people say this is what you have to do and now it feels like I've been thrown in the deep end with decision making. It's so strange isn't it? How you and I can be on opposite sides of the planet and have entirely different situations, but they're both based on the same concept.

I've heard of stories like that, truly inspirational. Anyone can do it :) The volunteer work sounds great! In the post 'One Thing' which I think Ashley started, I'm sure it was you who said if you could change one thing, it would be to improve your confidence. So do whatever you can to achieve that :)

Kaitie.

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