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Posts created by carmie

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 373

Accomplished one of my goals today!

I wanted to share that I accomplished one of my three goals. It was something that I have not been able to do since I began having panic attacks at the end of June. I ran completely around my favorite running path. It's about 4 miles around a small cove. This was a real milestone for me. I practiced by going from the beginning to the .25 mile marker and back to the car and increased the distance I would travel from the car until I reached 1.5 miles last weekend. Then today, after I passed 1.5 miles, I decided to keep going all the way around. I took all of you and your stories of inspiration and all of the CBT with me! Also, this is something I've been able to do with friends or during a race - just haven't been able to do it alone without panic setting in. After I made it around, I saw a friend and his dog and we walked around the loop together and I shared my success story with him. It was a wonderful afternoon! I hope that everyone else is well. I don't often have time to post but I do read your stories and wish you well.

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 373

bad night

Hi Alex - I'm sorry that you had such a bad night. It can be so frustrating to have a setback after so many good days. You sound like you have a very positive attitude. I am hopeful that you will enjoy a nice good stretch of time without so much anxiety. I remember having a setback about a month ago, when I had to use the Ativan instead of CBT. I felt a little defeated but I remember the good folks in this community helped me to continue on with my homework and practice. It feels really wonderful to be making progress on my goals and I wish you a similar feeling soon!

Carmie

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 373

Body Symptoms Bad Today

Hi Deborah - I'm sorry to read the news of your week. I wonder if your muscles are aching from all of the stress and tension that these kinds of events can cause. When I worry about muscle aches (I've had panic attacks that started from worrying about such things), I sometimes find that the Progressive Muscle Relaxation can help me. Do you remember that technique? It gets posted in this forum from time to time. I have a recording that I listen to where a nice soothing voice tells me which muscle groups to tense and relax. By the end, I am usually feeling much better.

I also find comfort in doing some of the breathing exercises. Sometimes it's important for me to focus on the present and the very breaths that I am taking. When I focus on that, there's no opportunity to worry about things that could possibly happen in the next hour, day, week, ect - I just focus on taking breaths and relaxing. One method that I really like is called Box Breathing - you can find that hear, too. I will be thinking of you this weekend and hoping that things will get better soon. - Carmie

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 373

Accomplished one of my goals today!

Thank you, Josie and Bren. It did feel great and I have been feeling so much better than when I began the program. I did have some anxiety over the weekend but nothing like I used to have and now I am armed with such great CBT to help me.

I should confess that I did bring my cell phone and water bottle with me. I know that these can be seen as crutches (Is that the term that the program uses). I can justify the water bottle because I really should drink water while I exercise and the cellphone...well, I suppose I can try again another time without it. Today I ran a 3-mile loop around work sans cell phone and water bottle. So, next time, I should be able to leave the cell phone in the car. The only trouble is that someday soon, the weather is going to get back to normal. Where we live, I am enjoying a wonderful extended running season thanks to higher than normal temps!

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 373

Accomplished one of my goals today!

Thank you sincerely, everyone. I can honestly say that my excitement to share this achievement with you was a great help whenever I began to feel afraid and had thoughts of turning around to be nearer to the car.

Regarding the cell phone and water bottle, I did have the idea that I would have to leave them behind for my exposure homework. In the module on avoidance, water bottles and cell phones are referred to as "safe objects" I always have a cell phone and water bottle with me and I almost always have the bottle of Ativan with me, too.

I think that the other runners and walkers around the cove must know me by sound. I think that one can always hear the slosh, slosh, slosh of my water bottle as I approach. In the summer months, there are water fountains all along the path. In fact, I used to run back and forth between water fountains, back in my more anxious times. Anyway, this is why I felt it was important to give running without the water bottle and cell phone a try.

My next goal is to attend our company's town hall meeting tomorrow. I really want to avoid it because there can be 3000 people in attendance and during the last one, I began to panic. Fortunately I was able to use CBT to make it through because I really did want to make my way through the crowds to get out of there.

Thank you again to those of you who read this and/or responded. I really owe my success to your support and community!

Carmie

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 373

Close to an Attack

Good morning, Debora! I wish you lots of peaceful moments today.

I can share that I was feelinge anxious last night. My husband was asleep and my daughter was such a wonderful resource for me. Just by talking to her about my feelings, I quickly began to feel better.

When I felt calmer, I shared that with her and thanked her. She said (and she hasn't read the chapters on CBT as far as I know...) "remember how this feels and when you need to find peace again, think of this time". She is eleven. I tell her that she would make a wonderful therapist. I might have to start paying for her services!

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 373

School

Hi Nicole -

I'm also really sorry to know that you had that experience. I think that the tools available to you here will really help. After my first panic attack, my greatest fear was having another, too. The site and this community will help you to unlearn this fear. Keep in touch - we are here to support you and to congratulate you on your progress, which will happen!

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 373

Hey everyone

Welcome, Els -

I wanted to share that I have had anxiety while driving for some time. Good for you for finding this program and taking action to help yourself. I look forward to hearing about your successes - I know that you can do well here!

Carmie

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 373

How has your Symptom Tracker helped you?

Hi -

First of all thanks for the reminder - since I've been feeling well for most of the time in the last week - save for some times at night when I don't have easy access to my computer - I haven't done a good job of updating my symptom tracker.

The tracker helped me during times of anxiety by helping me to better access what was really going on during times of panic. One of the first things I learned in therapy was that my attacks were not going to kill or even harm me. For me, there is nothing quite as effective as calling my panic attacks for what they are - annoying and harmless. My therapist compared them to the hiccups. When I accept that I am having an attack and recognize that it, I believe it gives less power to the attack symptoms and they begin to lessen. The symptom tracker is a great tool and reminder of that. It also helped me with the homework and with being self-aware.

I would like to add that you raise a good point by making sure to describe what I am doing when I am not feeling anxious and how that feels - this is such a great feeling and something that I should be mindful of during anxious times. Feeling this way is the goal!

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 373

What we don´t measure goes out of control?

Hugs, I like this topic. I follow a certain weight loss program that requires we track what we eat and drink and the amount of daily exercise. I took "a break" from tracking and yes, there was a time when I am sure my eating went out of control. I had a wake up call in wondering if certain pants had "shrunk" in the laundry.

So, this is very true for me. I need to measure certain things in order to stay within reasonable levels. For example, I need to portion out a healthy serving of certain foods - like potato chips - or else I will find myself with an empty bag!

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