Posted by dana on June 25, 2001, at 3:36:18
In reply to Fellow panic disorder sufferers...., posted by Thrud on June 25, 2001, at 1:57:14
Hi THRUD !
I have cut/pasted my posting below that I did in response to KRISTINA .....you can check other responses to her question that were posted on 20th June SYMPTOMS OF ANXIETY...... in addition to my posting below, can I add that my first 'REAL' and noticeable Panic attack occured about three years ago and it had me BED-RIDDEN for three weeks ......really believing that I must be dying........ then it took nearly two years of therapy.....and medication...... before I could really deal with them..... they are still occurring but I have such an understanding of what is going on, that they can last two seconds, or two hours !! depending on how strong my mental will is on that day ....... I don't have a specific time of day.......I used to wake up in the middle of a panic attack....these ones were the scariest !.....I have been off 25mgs of ZOLOFT for eight weeks now, and after seeing my doctor, will decide if I will go back on to them if the attacks become too exhausting....I can have up 20 attacks a day...... brief but exhausting.......fatigue so great that all I could do was sleep........ the shaking was so violent that my muscles would feel like I had just run a marathon..........my appetite plummeted and after the first attack I very rapidly lost 20 kgs in weight (that's about 45lbs)...
Re: Symptoms of anxiety?
Posted by dana on June 20, 2001, at 8:25:41
In reply to Symptoms of anxiety?, posted by KristinaN on June 20, 2001, at 3:38:10
Hello Kristina, welcome to Panic and Anxiety!...you described your symptoms perfectly.
Please know that not everyone's symptoms are the same............ there are just so many.....Once you experience the symptoms, you become constantly aware of ANY sign of them recurring... and become hyper-vigilant with regard to your body. While running upstairs may have seemed a normal thing to do before in your life, now you notice that your heart beats faster, and then you think ...oh god, I am dying !! and so may only walk up slowly to AVOID allowing your heart to pound...... you may feel dizzy or lightheaded and think ....it's got to be a brain tumour......!! but's it's because you are over-breathing and it makes your Oxygen levels out of balance....... it just can go on and on............normal everyday things become a nightmare......and so you try to juggle your life and behaviour desperately trying to not let anything create the sypmptoms.......
What happens Kristina is that you associate normal body functions......e.g. heart racing, exhaustion.... pains and aches.... with something being seriously wrong. It is sort of hypochondria.....but it's only because you have become OVER-sensitive to NORMAL occurrances and you start OBSESSING over them.
Can I promise you something........THIS WILL PASS..........IT DOES PASS if you get COUNSELLING.......here in Australia, we have CLINICAL PYSCHOLOGISTS who specialise in COGNITIVE THERAPY which trains you to THINK and behave differently........ they teach the MOST IMPORTANT thing......and that is HOW TO BREATHE PROPERLY.
I have been a sufferer for a few years now and have just come of medication which was difficult, and I have been having some PANIC episodes, but I can promise you this, that I AM COPING without drugs, only because of the year of therapy I have had.
They teach you how to RETRAIN your brain, with SELF-TALK.........THIS WILL PASS I am not having a heart attack I haven't had one yet !! NOTHING DANGEROUS IS GOING ON HERE......even though it FEELS LIKE ABSOLUTE HELL !!...and unless someone else has experienced it..... it is impossible to explain just how awful it feels....
Please take comfort in knowing that there is help. Medication is wonderful when prescribed sensibly and sensitively.....but most important is COUNSELLING. I was taking ZOLOFT which was wonderful. But I decided I had enough of medication and wanted to try it on my own with my retraining of my way of thinking.......and I believe I have done it ......
poster:dana
thread:67765
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010618/msgs/67778.html