Waking Up in Panic

Shari, I love your little knitted dragons :) I might have to knit a little turquiose one myself ;)
I'm glad you're feeling better now, did you work everything out that you needed to?

Teebs, I definitely understand people taking their anger out on you. My dad has depression and anger management problems, and he tends to blame a lot of it on me. Sometimes I get angry back, I can't just let him say all those nasty things without letting him know I disagree. During our last fight, I told him to leave but he has no where to go. I would move out myself, but I'm stuck because of my agoraphobia and I can't force mum to choose between him and me. There are other times though when he gets angry and I'm able to stay calm because I realise that it's his choice. I can only control my actions and my reaction to his behaviour.

Have you tried talking to your co-worker? Let her know that you won't tolerate her hostility, and how it's undeserved. Another approach might be to ask her what the problem is, that way she might feel better talking to someone and it can help you understand why she's treating you the way she is.

Kaitie.

A Simple Way to Feel a Bit Better Now

I have trouble exercising because of my panic disorder and vomiting phobia :(

I used to be involved with Girl Guides (daggy, I know) but I loved hiking, canoeing and camping so I really enjoyed it. Being out in fresh air always makes me feel better, I find it always brings me a sense of calm and peace. Yoga is an interest of mine, and I've always thought it would be nice to get up early around sunrise and do my yoga outside. As of yet, I haven't found the motivation, and winter won't make it any easier! It's already getting colder here.

Kaitie.

Waking Up in Panic

Hi Shari,

I tried
to reply to this twice last night and both times the session timed out because I took too long. So i had to start again!

You're avatar is adorable, I'm sure your husband loves his new dachshund. A couple of nights ago I was watching "RSPCA Animal Rescue" and there was a little dachshund puppy who jumped 2ft off a lounge chair and hurt her hip. The owners couldn't afford the surgery she needed and since the poor puppy couldn't walk properly, someone dobbed them in to the RSPCA thinking the puppy had been abused. Since the owners provided as much care as they could, they got to keep her and the RSPCA funded a custom made wheelchair for her so she could run around again. It was the cutest thing, I couldn't stop laughing as she bounded down the street with her new set of wheels and the owners could barely keep up with her!

Aww that would be cute :) I do know how to knit, mum taught me when I was younger. Amazon doesn't have an Australian site but I did order a uni textbook through the American site last year so I have an account with them. I usually buy my books from Dymocks which has a store in my town so they might be able to order it in for me too :)

 

 

Waking Up in Panic

Hi Teebs,

I guess I misunderstood what you meant by 'issues'. I was thinking along the lines of maybe she was going through a divorce, or work was becoming too stressful for her. But if the issue is an anger management problem, as with my Dad, then I understand now how sitting down and talking to her probably won't help. It's so frustrating isn't it? How they fail to see the positives, and even if you do point it out, they tend to ignore it.

You are strong Teebs, stronger than you think you are! Believe it :)

Kaitie.

A Simple Way to Feel a Bit Better Now

Davit,

Gardening certainly is rewarding, the more you put in the more you get out. Yesterday I had to go buy some fungicide spray for my poor little Japanese Maple tree. It's been suffering from powdery mildew because of our summer heatstroke as well as rain depression from cyclones up in North Queensland. The tree itself is still alive and is growing new shoots all the time, but I cannot manage to keep the leaves alive as the mildew kills them. Hopefully this spray will help but my tree is a reminder for me that perseverence and resilience is what keeps you going. It's a little fighter, and so am I!

Hugs,

I have a 'popcorn' brain too, it always bounces from one topic to the next. Sometimes people have a hard time keeping up with where the conversation is at. With the uncomfortable woodshop chairs, you're lucky to have chairs. In my woodwork class, we had to stand for the full 70 minutes and if we leant or sat on the benches, we got into trouble! Haha. Those different courses you do sound really interesting, how did find out about them?

Kaitie.

A Simple Way to Feel a Bit Better Now

Hugs, I kind of have a bucket list too. I was watching a travel show about things in my local area, and heard about a portrait sculpture course in Brisbane which is about an hour or so drive from my town. I tried, unsuccessfully, to create a sculpture of a face from clay in my art class at school so this class would teach me how to do this successfully! I've also been trying to find art books that show you techniques for painting landscapes :)

Waking Up in Panic

Hey Shari,

50 shades of violence

Hi Hugs,

New to the Forum, Need support, Please

Hi Feliciaxann,

With panic disorder, I feel that different people tend to focus on different symptoms associated with the anxiety depending on what it is they are afraid of. Someone who's afraid of having a heart attack will focus on their racing heart convinced they are having a heart attack, a person afraid of losing control might focus on how their mind seems 'foggy' or their rapid thoughts. You've identified your main fear is of dying, so what symptoms do you focus on and why? You've mentioned the side pain, why does this worry you so much?

I've found that to be the most useful way of finding out more about your anxiety, ask yourself questions. For example, I know I wash my hands a lot, sometimes twice in a row, because I'm afraid of getting a virus which may cause vomiting. Even something as small as that is a way of challenging the anxiety, being able to identify when the anxiety controls your actions means you can gain that control yourself. :)

We all have our struggles on here, some we choose to share and others we don't. Like you, I have trouble leaving the house but small steps are big steps. Almost everyday, I make sure I go out for half an hour at least. It might only be to the chemist, or to buy a magazine from the newsagent but it doesn't matter. :)

Keep posting on here Feliciaxann, and never give up!

Kaitie.

Waking Up in Panic

Hello Teebs and Shari,

Teebs, it is frustrating waking up in the middle of the night. When you do wake up, what do you do? I had a few months, and every once in a while since then, where I sleep for 4 hours then wake up for a few hours before going to sleep for another 4 hours. I could almost put a timer on when I would wake up, it was pretty much the same time every night. While I was awake, I would get out of bed and sit on the lounge and read a magazine, do some crossword puzzles, listen to music on my iPod, pretty much anything that used enough concentration to tire my mind out without causing stress, like doing an assignment would. Eventually, I would be so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open so that was when I'd go back to bed.
Another thing that might help too is to make a nice cup of tea or a hot chocolate. Yum!

You could try thinking of your co-worker as you would with your anxiety/panic disorder? The anxiety is always there, feeding you the same old negative thoughts propaganda. It doesn't go away, but you can choose whether you listen and believe what it has to say, or allow it be just a noise in the background while you continue with what you're doing. With the colleague, it's up to you whether you tune in to her negative talk or focus on what you have to get done while you're at work.

Shari, that's such a strange concept for me! We don't have squirrels here, occassionally in some areas people will get a possum, so the idea of them running around your yard is so funny. Aw that poor little bald-tail squirrel, I'm surprised your dog didn't get a swipe on the nose! Living in the present is a hard thing to do, it takes so much more effort than it probably should. I guess at some stage though the ability to think ahead would have kept us alive, during a famine it would make sense to store all your food so you could survive until food became more readily available. It might be something we may need to 'unlearn' now because it's not as helpful in today's society.

Thank you, I'm glad it helped. My Mum does the same thing when grocery shopping, it's a bit embarrassing how much (and how loudly) she whinges about people stopping in the middle of the walkway, when it's something everyone, including her, does without even realising. With your emails, quality is more important over quantity. I was recently surprised when I received messages from some friends who I hadn't spoken to in a while, it was nice to know they were thinking of me. Since I enjoyed receiving their messages, I decided to surprise some of my other friends with messages to see how they were :)

Another thing my psychologist used to say which I'm sure you'll both enjoy, is that 'some people are like seagulls. They come in, poop everywhere, then fly away and leave everyone else to clean up their mess.'

Kaitie.