Hi Ashley

I cannot agree with you more Ashley about using the relax technique while have an attack is very dangerous. The CBT I went to told me to start practicing the breathing technique and to use it to stop any attack. My CBT said that I should become so proficient with it I should be able stop it in a couple of breaths. At the time, I had reservations about this technique because it would just give me a sense of failure if I could not do what he expected. I have to admit that when I first started to use it I was able to stop them in a short time. I used my heart pounding as an indication of success. Then this is where it started to go wrong for me. I started having attacks without my heart pounding so now how was I going to know if I achieved success. This is where I hit a downward spiral because according to CBT I should not be having them any more. Therefore, it set me up for failure in breathing and failure and stopping the attacks, and that when my session ended with the CBT. Even before your post, I realized that this technique was not going to work so I stopped trying to use it. I have had more success now then when I was using the breathing technique. Thank you for confirming my suspicions about the use of relaxation techniques for attacks. I want your opinion on two other things the CBT told me they are to have a relaxed body during an attack because we tend to tense up during one I see this as a positive it that I am not trying to stop it but I am rewiring my brain through behaviour of not becoming tense. Put another way at the very least I am not adding to the attack by tensing up. The other question which drives me nuts all day is he said again a relaxed body is not anxious and to use this when working. The problem I am having with this is that I am constantly assessing any sensation while working, and checking if I have a relaxed body. Is this a good goal to have relaxed body because I think the sensations could be unrelated to a relaxed body, just a normal part of life, the stress of the job? Could constantly assessing if I have a relaxed body and finding that my body is not relaxed and then trying to achieve relaxation be causing anxiety because I am connecting that not having a relaxed body produces sensations. I think that I am going to get sensations, which are a normal part of life I.E. stress, and when I work it just happens that my worst anxiety symptom occurs, which for me is dizziness or pressure in my head. I think that we as a group are likely to get more sensation from stress then the normal public because our bodies have become hyperactive or do or mind and body heal itself when we take out the panic attacks and anxiety.  Even a so-called normal person who has a little stressed gets tight shoulder or an ache in the back only they are less reactive then we are, or the panic center people are set to react differently to normal amount of stress because we see it as a bad thing rather than a neutral thing. I know a lot of questions and so little answers.

Dizzy