Thank goodness for this site

Hello Lorlee! What a beautiful post. I love the way you expressed how it feel to find this site! It sounded so true and very poetic. Anyway, i am Diva, you will find me often on this forum. Feel free to add me to your CBT buddy chat list by clicking the button add buddy lolI just wanted to say hello and to say welcome to this site. On this site i have found help, a place to ask questions, answers, cherring, ecouragement, understanding and comfort. I hope you get as much out of it as i have. I have been working the program for two weeks now and i find it really good (from what i have seen lol) The information they give you is great! I also wanted to tell you i know how you feel to a certain extent. I also found this site because of a relapse. I was diagnosed over 15 years ago when i was well in my teens. I was diagnosed with GAD and Panic disorder with agoraphobia among other things. And i got therapy and eventualy got better. In the last i would say oh four years i was doing so great. Working, going to school, having fun being happy, no medication and then BAM! all theese different stressors started pilling up and i cracked and ended up relapsing. And i figure it is ok, so i relapsed. At first i was angry at myself, then i was sad, then i was sad and mad at the world. then i developped my new philosophy which is this: A relapse is just another challenge. Another bump in the road. And if i dont give it power it wont have any and i will take its power for myself. Sorry i am rambling, i do that a lot. anyway, all this to say you are not alone and that i understand how bad it is to relapse. And that here on this site you will find tons of people going through what you are going through who will understand you and care. Welcome to the forums and i hope to hear more from you!!! -Diva

drinking

Shannon, i can relate, I have personnally been there with the drinking my anxiety away. But Maggie is right, In the long run the drinking will make things much worse! Working the program here really does help with the anxiety and the panic and it would be a wonderful alternative to the cocktails! Plus, if you need help with kicking the coktails there is a link on the left of your screen to Alcoholhelpcenter.net. Not that i am implying you need it lol I am just saying IF you think you need it lol. Anyway, as Maggie said you are not alone, we from this website know how it is dealing with anxiety and panic. I hope we hear more from you soon :) Take good care of yourself and i hope you consider working the program here :) Take care :) -Diva

Please Respond

Hi Isabella! Hmm i am not sure how much help i can be in this but here goes. 1- and this is just a suggestion here. Do not google anymore on this lol. when looking at lists of symptoms and such it is ALWAYS possible to find symptoms that seems like you have them. Even if the illness has NOTHING to do with you! And then when you have a illness that is in the same region (i.e. lungs and such) then finding those similarities are even easier! But it is still not the same illnees or the same thing at all!!! 2- I highly doubt that with rest, the care of your doctor the help of the medecine and everything else that is playing in your favor atm that you would develop a pnemonia from bronchitis! Listen my husband used to have at least 3 bronchitis a year as a teenager/young adult. He usually didnt go to the doctor and kept working and going to school while he was sick. He just slept more and rank a lot of water the rest of the time. and guess what. Not once did he get a pneumonia out of it and he didn't even really care for himself (What can i say he is a guy lol)! So you will be fine! you will not get pneumonia. Getting pneumonia is not like catching the common flu or a common cold, it doesn't just happen as easily lol 3- You can survive pneumonia! Pneumonia is not the be all and end all of diseases! And if your googling tells you otherwise dont beleive it. I am personnal proof you survive pneumonia! I had pneumonia and i am perfectly fine. I had it for days too before i was smart enough to go get help at the hospital lol and i still got better. And it is not like i am the most uberhealthy person ever with an immune system akin to the man of steal himself! I am just your average woman with an average immune system and i still got better from full blown penumonia. So here is what i can tell you. You will not develop penumonia. And yes bronchitis is bad and hurts and makes you feel real bad. And the trouble breathing makes the anxiety worse. And the fear of medication makes it hard too. But you will get better and you will start breathing better and the anxiety will lessen and all will be better. So even tho i know you will heal one way or another i will still pray for it to pass quickly so you can be better faster and i assure you you will be just fin

Advice for Staying Home Alone

Ok, i went through the same thing when i relapsed. I coulndt be a thome a lone or anything. There are only 7 things i can think of to say. 1- I always beleive that the help of a trained therapist is a good idea in times of crisis like this. 2- Work the program here. The info they give you is great. And the support of the support group is fantastic! 3- Face your fear little by little and always congratulate yourself for a job well done!. It does not need to be big! What i did is i stayed alone at first for a half hour. And wether or not i panicked i congratulated myself on a job well done. Then when half an hour was ok, i stayed alone 1 hour and wether i panicked or not i congratulated myself on a job well done! and so n and son on. and now i spend a lot of time alone at home because i know that i am ok and i can take care of myself whatever happens. 4- I am learning or more like relearning that the best number one person to take care of me in the situation of anxiety or panic is me. I am my number one safe person in case of panic or anxiety. I am the one with the tools to stop it. I am slowly learning to be more aware of this and feeling safer and safer and trusting in myself. 5- Don't be so hard on yourself. Relapses happen! A relapse is why i found this site lol! Be good to yourself and tell yourself nice things instead of bad ones :) 6- distraction, distraction, distraction! If you are distracted you have less time for negative self-talk and for anxious thinking and rumination. that is how i got through the first few hours, then days of being alone. I distracted myself non-stop! It really did help. At first i was skeptical but lol and behold it really did help me out a lot lol 7- Just remember: This too shall pass! Take care :) -Diva

Advice for Staying Home Alone

Np i am glad if it helped :) -Diva

oh man oh man!

I realize i have been anxious all day. And i hadn't noticed. That made me act out really bad. I did all sorts of things i would not normally do just because they made my anxiety go down. Now i feel stupid and foolish. I am afraid i might have lost a friend over this and i feel so stupid. When i am not aware i am anxious i often act out this way cause it seems to manage my anxiety. I hate this. I feel so stupid and now i can't stop crying. I wish i could undo what i did but i can't. Not one single thing of it i can undo. I just needed to tell somebody about how stupid i felt and how ashamed. I think this came about because i was anxious about my exam on friday. So i guess i will go study. I figure if i go study it will help me feel more ready and less nervous and keep me busy. Thanks! I guess i am just having a rough day......

oh man oh man!

I wish i could stop crying and just get to my studying i feel so foolish and i fear i might have lost a friend from being such a spazz today. You see he is one of the rare friends who doesn't know abuot my anxiety problems.... Anyway, i hate this. I just do and i feel alone... Anyway, just a bad day and it will pass.... -Diva

Please Respond

Hi Isabella, It is normal for you to feel "Off" today. It is normal that you are more dizzy and all that stuff after all you are in the process of recuperating from illnees. As for palpitations. They are o.k. I get them all the time! Sometimes they are small and sometimes they are big whoppers that feel really scary and i mean big. and it is always ok afterwards. You will be fine! And if you feel that scared and that awful and you get too many bad heart palpitations, nothing is stopping you from going back to see your doctor or even going to the hospital for a quick check-up. I mean worse case they tell you your fine and go home and you go home and rest. But i am telling you heart palpitations happen and sometimes they are just bigger then other times.

oh man oh man!

I am still feeling very anxious. But i have been distracting myself studying and it has kept me in check. So since last post i havent acted out to reduce anxiety. I still feel really alone and anxious tho. Anyway, see yall later! -Diva

Please Respond

Np i am glad if it helped :)