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9 years ago 0 +0 / -0 7

Davit,

Thanks for the advice.

I drink chamomile tea from time to time. It really calms me down. I love it.

9 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

louis

You could try this, It was recommended by my Doctor and works so good I grow it. I used to be so agitated I could not get food past my mouth. Not good. Just the thought of eating made me gag. It is just a herb in the mint family with mild calming effect. Lemon Balm tea. It doesn't work like the benzos and isn't as strong but it is only meant to take the edge off so you can cope better. For me it works. And I am glad because I enjoy cooking and eating. It also helps me sleep.

Davit

I grow it and dry it in my flower bed because it is a perennial and easy to grow.

9 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1853

Hi Louis1728, You've taken some major steps towards addressing your triggers! Flying 4 times despite being afraid of mechanical issues is a BIG deal! I hope your achievements have given you additional courage to continue working through the challenges in your life. A very important one you mentioned which is often overlooked is eating! Making sure you are fueling your body & mind with nutritious foods to give you the strength and focus you need each day. Keep up the great work! Vincenza, Health Educator

9 years ago 0 +0 / -0 7

Hey thanks for welcoming me.

I must admit I have a hard time realizing if since November I have made some progress. Other people say that I did so I hope they're right & keep my head up.

CBT has been a great learning experience about ourselves & made me think less dramatically about some symptoms. However when I'm in the middle of a panic symptom, it is quite difficult to rationalize. For me this is the biggest challenge.

These are the situations in which I was really panicky but where I'm not anymore:

- Subways: It's underground so I was not really sure if I would be able to breathe & escape,

- Cars: I don't really know why but somehow it triggered a panic,

- Shopping centers, supermarket: Felt really oppressed by the environment (noise, crowd..),

- Clubs, bars & concert halls: Crowd problem..

Today my challenges are these:

- Taking the plane: I freak out about mechanical problems at 35,000ft. I'm doing max exposure work (flew 4 times this month),

- Being alone: Scared that I could have a heart attack & not being able to reach out for help (still don't know how to not panic about this anymore)..

- Being tired: Tiredness is a trigger,

- Skipping breakfast, lunch or diner: I think that my lack of energy provided by food could be fatal to me, even if it's just once,

- Working for more than 2 hours straight: I feel lightheaded & fainty. Ths one is my biggest challenge.

9 years ago 0 +0 / -0 2508

Welcome louis,

Great to see you posting..You have the first big step..

Red..

9 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1853

Hi louis1728,

Welcome to the PC community. Glad you took the time to introduce yourself and reach out for help. CBT is an excellent tool to help provide clarity to your thoughts and understand how you react to thought processes and situations. It is a treatment that requires time and commitment. I'm glad to hear you are working on this with your psychiatrist. If you think back to your first experiences of panic last November to where you are today, what have you learned about yourself? What have you learned about your physical reactions? What triggers (if any) have you been able to identify?

Here for you,

Vincenza, Health Educator

9 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

louis

Welcome.

If you have ever broke a bone you know you can heal it and it will be just like new but it isn't the same. You will always know you broke it. Anxiety is like that. You can cure it but you will always know you had it. And it is very easy to return to that thought. In fact that is what you are doing. EG, no anxiety with distractions.

Distractions are not CBT, they are coping skills. Distractions can override triggers but they don't get rid of them. Neither does CBT. But unlike distractions CBT changes how you look at triggers so they don't have the same effect. Distractions and any other coping skills are necessary to give you the focus you need to do CBT. How well CBT works depends on you. It depends on attitude, perception and belief. No one can do it for you. All they can do is tell you how and keep you on the right track if you wander. CBT does work, but only as good as you make it. It is as it's name says, therapy. The end product is something else. The end product is the cure.

But and here is the but, you can bring anxiety back and probably will during periods of high stress but it doesn't have to stay. How well you can change your thought patterns dictates how much freedom you get. And that depends on you. It depends on how bad you want to change and this is where people go wrong. It is not triggers you change but how you perceive them. It is your thoughts you change. This makes them harmless.

CBT is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. A combination of two therapies. How you think and how you react to that thought. Part of the behavioural therapy is coping skills. and they will get you relief fairly fast. But for lasting relief you need the cognitive part.

How well you do depends on a lot of factors. And they are all yours and yours alone.

Davit.

9 years ago 0 +0 / -0 7

Hello everyone!

It's been a while since i'm using this program but I never posted anything in the forum yet.

I have severe anxiety since last November (8 months). The first time I had a panic attack I was studying at university & had a wierd sensation of not being able to breath correctly. My heart started pounding & racing. I was so freaked out that I went to the ER, thinking I might be having a heart attack. At that time I was convinced that I was on the edge of dying. I don't know what triggered it. Someone told me that it is usually because of major changes in life (the panic coincided with a period which I went to study for the first time overseas with parents at 12 000 km from me & living alone in a new environment at only 17 years old).

Since then I'm having constant worries about myself. I've had EKG & blood tests three times & they never found anything. However it's really hard to convince myself that there is absolutely nothing wrong physically & that this is a harmless anxiety disorder. How did you convince yourself that you just have anxiety?

As of now, when I wake up in the morning I feel terrible, feeling that my chest is tight, then I have constant worries during the day until I go to sleep. However, when I'm distracted at a party or something I usually forget all my problems & the symptoms disappear.

Sometimes I just feel hopeless about myself, thinking that my "happy life" ended last November. I've done 5 CBT sessions with a Psychiatrist, but I'm not sure if it works as I hardly know if I got better since November.

Hope this forum will help us get over this annoying anciety for good..

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