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A possible misinterpretation of panic attacks

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A possible misinterpretation of panic attacks

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1665

Hi Dizzy:

Proven all your life? Let's change that to a positive, such as, this time it will be different because I am learning new things to help me along the way. The old way didn't work, let's try the new way and believe and keep the faith. It may take awhile but with the practice of coping techniques and letting go of control, it will come, step by step. Hang in there.

Your friend Sunny

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

Dizzy.

Freedom from panic attacks will not be like never having had one. They just won't happen. You will never forget that you did, but the memory will become very dim. They also will not rule your life anymore. Shari's likening them to dragons is very true. They will always be there, just harmless. Most days you will not even notice them and on the days they rear they're ugly heads you will have the tools to put them back to sleep. Some will never awaken ever again and some, well if you look for dragons hard enough you will find them.

Freedom from panic can not be the same as never having had panic, but it can be very close. Like I said you can not replay panic attacks you can only imagine them and over time you will not even be able to imagine them unless you look hard enough to have another one. This is a case of let sleeping dragons sleep.

Some trauma in the future may set one off, but it will most likely be pretty mild.

It is like having a broken leg. You can not undo it but you can make it as good or better than it was. And if you don't think about it there is no reason for it to ever give you trouble.

I for one want to share your successes no matter how small.

Here for you,

Davit.

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 118

Davit

The acceptance comes from the fact that I had in my mind what it would be like to have no panic attacks. I read on this site or somewhere else that all I am doing is setting my self esteem up for a blow if it does not turn out that way. Quite honestly this has been proven all my life. When I realized that and that my view of the future with out panic attacks is also equally wrong, as imagination is, I started to think that solving this one problem was just a step in the long range goal of mental health.

Dizzy

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

Dizzy

Do I hear acceptance from my friend Dizzy? If that is not a step forward then what is? It seems to be coming together for you, now all you need is time. Yes 25 years is a long time, thankfully it won't take that long to cure the misconceptions, but it will take time. Let it flow, let it happen, it will. The point is that you sound comfortable with your condition. You sound as if you have found a way to survive it, now all you have to do is work at making it better. This is what I mean when I say you have to have coping skills in place before doing exposure. If acceptance is a coping skill then use it. Use anything you have to to get the most out of every day. It will soon get easier.

I think your doctor is wrong, it does matter. If you are conditioned to panic with some thing physical then when you panic you will make it worse or bring it on because your mind says it should be there so you will put it there. Physical sensation ↔ panic. Panic ↔ physical sensation. The thing is to break one of these reactions and the other will be broken also.

This might help: A person can remember having pain or pleasure but can not replay the actual sensation. This is why we can tolerate a great amount of pain and why we seek the same forms of pleasure. So when you try to replay the panic you had in the building you can't do it exactly you can only imagine it. So you keep playing it over and over trying to get it right. And you never will. So you are most likely making it worse than it was because all you can remember is that it was bad. Try to remember what was good and exaggerate it instead, It won't cause you as much stress.

If you don't believe me pinch yourself, wait a minute and try to recreate the pain exactly. You can imagine it but can you feel it. If you can feel it, it is because it is still there. Wait longer.

See how powerful your imagination is! And how hazardous it can be.

Here for you

Davit.

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 118

Thank you for your thoughtful replies. I do have other physical things wrong with me and I asked the doctor about labyrinthitis in the ear. I asked my doctor can panic attacks affect my labyrinthitis, and he replied does it matter. I guess what he was telling me is that since this diagnoses is one of exclusion (by determining what you do not have) then he probably cannot answer and I have to figure out what is what for myself, either way none of it is dangerous. I also went to him because I got pressure in my head when working out, and he did blood test and blood pressure test and determined that there was nothing physically wrong. I guess the point for me is where the site says you get the symptoms from other experiences and I think this is definitely me. If I sneeze out of my left nostril the wrong way I will get head pressure (just kidding). I cannot find a lot of objectivity in things I do because having this for 25 years I have managed to ruin just about anything I do by attributing incorrectly my anxiety towards it, that came from not knowing what was going on.

On a lighter note I had success again in the building today I think last time I was unrealistic in thinking that I was going to get rid of all symptoms from it when I have an attack going in. I got rid of 90 % of the attack but I have been out of the building for 2 hours and have not got rid of its affect on me. Just proves that it is unrealistic to think I am going to get rid of all symptoms in one hour in the building when I cannot get rid of them in 2 hours of being out of the building. I still see it as a step forward.

Dizzy

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 72

If it's early AM upon or close to rising - it could be blood pressure issues.Have you had your heart checked. There are certain conditions that mimick anxiety, atrial valve prolapse, etc. Not to scare you, but it is so important ! For years and years everyone got tired of my mother's anxiety attacks - only to find out she had a heart conditon. (I can't tell you of the sadness in my heart for my being part of that) So important to get a thorough check up, and thorough, meaning not the "say ah' and cough type but the more intrusive tests so if anything is noticed, you can be effered to a specialist.

Might want to buy an inexpensive blood pressure monitor - very easy to use. And has memory.

Hypoglycemis is another. Many people don't recognize hypoglycemia - Check the foods you are eating before bed.

Are you awakening to an alarm clock - what type of sound? Are you sensitive to the sound - does it startle you? could be

interfering with REM cycle. Just some more to think about (coming from a former nurse).

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 653

Hi Dizzy,

Davit might be on to something. Don't forget that the symptom tracker is also to heighten awareness of improvement in a objective manner. Are you noticing improvement?

Tiana, Health Educator

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

Dizzy

Is there any physical reason for the symptoms you get upon getting up. Arthritis, Scoliosis or deteriorating joints? Not to say that they don't contribute just that I wonder which comes first. The symptoms or the panic?

Here for you,

Davit.

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 118

I discovered something that I was doing when answering the daily results from the symptom tracker. I believe that I have been answering the symptom tracker with symptoms that I have after getting out of bed that are caused by a panic attack. Here is my example usually when I have an attack in bed I notice heart pounding and pressure in my head and occasionally a burning in my back. However, when I get up from bed I notice that my muscles have tension in my back legs and maybe head, I notice that I am in some sort of dizziness, light-headedness, hot flashes from relaxing, a feeling of unreality, an inability to concentrate. I do not know what to make of this finding except that I have the above symptoms through most of the day. Another thing that I know is that when working out, or getting excited I experience the same symptoms again (yes I have read session seven). Am I misinterpreting the symptom during the attack from the symptoms I get from after the attack. I know that confusion can be from anxiety or lack of sleep but could it also be the from having attack, so am I attributing symptoms that I have after I get out of bed that could have another explanation or are they cause by the attack. I guess what I am asking is that I do not have an occasion to realize what happening in bed because I am lying down so I do not feel the muscles tension until I get out of bed. Does anyone else notice this experience. The reason I ask is in my support group about anxiety the author says the patient ignores the initial improvement by saying yes I do not experience this symptom anymore but it is the light-headedness that drives me nuts. I have I similar compliant that I am always fighting confusion and or light-headedness all day, but my heart is not pounding all day like during the attack (nor would I expect it to).

Dizzy

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A possible misinterpretation of panic attacks