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Is it possible to fully recover from Panic Disorder?

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Is it possible to fully recover from Panic Disorder?

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 11214

Thank you for you thoughts and suggestions Trixie I am sure many members will be benefit from this post.

Ashley, Health Educator

Here to help :)

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 28

I wanted to add a few more thoughts here, if that's okay. :)

One of the things that I'm coming to understand, as I work through the program online here (which I thoroughly recommend), is that I can't just focus on eliminating the panic attacks and avoidance but have to deal with the stressors in my life, too. I wrote before that I've come to understand that there are life situations I get myself in that seem to put me in an anxious place, where it all comes back to me. Some of us are genetically predisposed to experience anxiety and panic when we get stressed, or overtired, or over-caffeinated, or even hormonal. Because of that, I know that I have to look at my life and make sure I'm sleeping enough, exercising, and managing personal relationships so that I don't feel overpowered or swallowing my anger. When all is right in my world, I have done everything from take plane trips, long road trips, attend move premieres, Laker's games, take train trips for 2 days each way. Going through CBT will absolutely make a huge difference for me, but I also have to look at my overall stressors. For me, doing CBT while not addressing what's causing stress in my life and the tendency to react with anxiety, is like keeping your foot on the gas pedal full throttle when you drive, and only using your brake to slow down -- never lifting your foot off the gas. Easing your general stressors is like adjusting the gas, and using the CBT program is like using the brake.

One of my hardest times was the year after 9/11, when I became so stressed out with the fear of an anniversary attack, because the media had just pushed and pushed that idea. I was so completely stressed out, than situations that would have not produced a panic attack, where almost totally immobilizing me. I worked through that on my own, doing my own version of CBT once again, but still have remnants of the avoidance that I'm here to work through once and for all. The point is... look at your life outside of the panic attacks, and assess the stress you're feeling. Make sure that you're heard in your relationships and are not allowing your world to shrink. If you're experiencing agoraphobia (which is what I developed out of fear of another panic attack), even if it's severe, walk out to check your mail a few times a day, or just go and sit in your car and listen to the radio. If you're more mobile than that.. then drive take a few extra minutes driving a different way home. Don't let your world shrink while you're getting ready to try the CBT program. The CBT program looks to have a perfect balance of exposure at measured intervals, and that's wonderful. In the meantime, take care of yourself, pamper yourself, speak up, and do things that make you happy... like planting a garden or baking cookies, or a trip to the library.

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 406

Kitten,

Welcome to our wonderful online support community and thanks for sharing your story with us.  There are many people within this support group that share the same questions and concerns as you.  We are all a group of individuals who support each other.

If you look to the left of the screen under "TOOLS" you will find many supportive tests.  These tests are not diagnostic tools and are not a replacement or substitute for a physician's advice. The purpose of these tests is to prepare you with information that you can present to your physician. When you're finished the test, you can either print your Final Report or email it directly to your doctor.

We also have developed a Panic Program.  This program is 12-weeks and involves the tools mentioned above.  Each session is based on the previous session, so we strongly advise that you work slowly through the program and not jump ahead.

These tests may or may not be for you but they are "free".  If you have any question or concerns with our “TOOLS”, you can contact us at support@paniccenter.net.

Please continue to strive forward and lean on us for support.

Karen, Health Educator

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1

I just joined today and this topic caught my attention right away, so I read through some of the posts and felt so uplifted from so many of your positive and inspirational words.

I have been suffering with panic attacks basically since 2001, but felt I was coping rather well until 2005. Near the end of this year I experienced some awful attacks which have since left me unable to drive any long distances from home. I am having trouble accepting this, nor do I feel I should have to because I was a traveller who loved to drive all over the place and take the back roads just to see new things. I miss that freedom and so desperately want it back. Anytime I think of attempting to go somewhere I freeze up and think of the amount of hours during the trip that I can potentially spend panicking.

I realize it will take some time and I am looking forward to working through this course and to reading future posts. I truly believe that even if we don't fully recover from panic, there is the possibility to live a great and panic-free (mostly) life.

Thanks to all of you have posted such wonderful things here...I look forward to more. Take Care

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 12049

trixie,

Thank you so much for sharing this positive outlook. We are glad that you are doing well and progressing. Continue to post and share with us. Sharing your experiences can help others as well.

Josie, Health Educator

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 28

Forgive me for jumping into this wonderful thread so late.. I see that it's been quiet since Dec. 31st. It was such a great thread, that I wanted to contribute something. I'm quite new here, but wanted to respond to the question about fully recovering from PD.

Here is my story (the short version.) Had a panic attack out of the blue when I was 16, in a mall. It was one of the first indoor malls ever built in America. I found myself avoiding everything because it so freaked me out! I had no idea what was going on. I was in a serious relationship at that time, and knew that I had to get out of it, or live like this forever. We broke up, and I did my own version of exposure therapy, without knowing what it was. I walked a bit more every day from the house, and within a month or two, without the boyfriend, I was whole again. Had a ton of wonderful adventures for years... But, once I found myself in serious relationship, this time a marriage, the symptoms came back. Then, when I'm on my own in the world, I'm without symptoms and the PD is gone.

So, I have to tell you, that YES it can go away. Absolutely, but for me, and maybe others, you have to know what the life triggers are, and deal with them separately. My life trigger is when I'm in a relationship and it changes to where the balance of power shifts, and I am feeling controlled. In my marriage that I'm in now, when my husband had to work out of State for a year, my symptoms all but disappeared. He's back, and I'm starting to struggle again.

I am working on this program because I believe that I'm so very close to cracking this wide open. I've figured out what triggers this anxious/agoraphobic mindset now, and truly believe that I will be panic-free very soon. I do believe that my trigger for this way of life comes from living with my father, who was an angry, abusive, control freak, who used anger to get what he wanted, but conversely could be the nicest guy in the world. That lack of control there with him, being forced to stand there and be hit and screamed at, and the times I ran from him, tell me that this is my trigger.

Understanding the trigger is just what I need to work on the CBT and overcome this once and for all. I love the CBT because it does not require talking about the past, but for me when the PD comes goes in my life in a predictable fashion, it helps me to know how I got here.

So.. yes.. you can totally overcome this. When I was a teenager I never believed I could have done all that I have done. There's a tendency to think that this will be your life forever. It's all about empowerment, and Darkblue, I hope you find some things that completely consume and empower you so that you will reach your goal. You're too young to give up on that dream!!

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1693

DB,

Thank you so much for your post

You are honestly someone to look up to, a true inspiration.

So great to hear that you are doing well, and that you are with family and enjoying yourself over the holidays.

Stay in touch, and keep us posted on how you're doing.

Happy New Year!

Breanne, Bilingual Health Educator

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 150

Hello from a rather overcast Spain.

I flew out to be with my family over the festive period. I haven't been on the forum much because of so much going on, but it's all very positive.

I think the reason I felt compelled to write here is that it's almost 1 year ago now that I started suffering from panic disorder. At that time, I was so full of dismay that I never thought I would recover. The fact that I am currently typing this from a foreign country is proof enough. You don't need hope, you just need dogged determination.

I hit rock bottom about April of this year, when I was already out of work through illness and barely surviving financially; not to mention emotionally. But I pushed on. How - I don't know. There was just a complete burning need to return to functioning. I didn't care about being perfectly normal at the time - I just wanted to function. To operate like a normal human being.

It took me months of very hard work. Exposure is hard work. It is taxing; emotionally and physically. But it works.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas and hope you all go into the new year refreshed, re-energised and resolved to get better and better and better.

I wish you all the very very best.

Take care,

DB

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 955

sue, Thank you for such encouraging words! Members, what are your reactions to sue's post? Sarah, Health Educator

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 77

Just wanted to add to my previous post really, some food for thought I guess

I can only relate to my experiences, and what I learned from it, but one thing really came home to me after reading the previous post was how strong we are !! Now don't laugh, we may not feel like we are, especially when there are tough times, but think about it, we have this disorder ( or have had ) but we're not lying down and giving up, there's proof of that in every one of the posts on this site. We try to find a way through it, and its not easy, for me personally it was the toughest thing I've ever had to go through, and whilst I'm glad I went through it ( crazy but true !! ) I wouldn't wish this ' thing ' on anyone. I think its very brave to seek help, to admit there is a problem, and write about it here ! Yes I know this is a safe environment, but its still a big step to make, and hopefully a step on the way to understanding, and recovery, it certainly was for me.

So we're not week or feeble, or mad or unstable, we're fighters !!! And the right side ALWAYS wins !!!

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Is it possible to fully recover from Panic Disorder?