Don't suffer alone! (My Experience of Anxiety and Panic Attacks)

Member Name: charlie1979

Product:	My Experience of Anxiety and Panic Attacks
Date:	23/10/08 (178 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None!

Disadvantages: Can ruin your life

I thought I would be brave and share my experiences with you in the hope that it may be of use to some of you. When I first started experiencing symptoms it felt like I was the only one in the world going through it and it has helped me over the years to share my experiences with fellow sufferers. You are not alone!

Before I share my experiences with you first I will give you a bit of detail on what anxiety and panic attacks actually are:

Anxiety
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Most people suffer from anxiety in varying degrees throughout their lives. Anxiety can cause different symptoms which vary from person to person but mainly include one or more of the following mental symtoms:

- Lack of concentration
- Feeling irritable
- Difficulty getting to sleep and staying asleep
- A feeling that you are losing control
- Feeling worried and tense

The physical symptoms again very between people but the most common ones are:

- Palipitations (irregular heartbeat)
- Faster heartbeat
- Feeling sick
- Upset stomach
- Dry mouth
- Shaking
- Pins and needles
- Diziness
- Breathing rate increased

These physical symptoms are the result of your body releasing the 'fight or flight' hormone in response to a potentially harmful situation. In our cave man days all these physical symptoms would enable us to escape from a potentially life threatening situation such as being attacked by a wooly mammoth!

It all makes sense if yo think about it, emptying your bowels and stomach makes you lighter so you can run faster. Increasing your heart rate pumps blood around the body faster to get to your muscles to help you run (or fight!). Increasing your breathing rate gets more oxygen into the blood, again to help our muscles do their job!

We don't get many wooly mammoths or sabre tooth tigers chasing us these days and therefore the adrenaline hormone is really a relic from our past. It is essential for human preservation that we have it however we do not need it as often in modern society.

Whilst we all experience anxiety it really can be a life changing problem for many people such as myself. The main disorders include panic disorder (fear of fear!) and generalised anxiety disorder (feeling anxious all the time).

Panic Attacks
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Panic attacks are basically a feeling of intense fear and the symptoms include those as detailed above.

Sometimes the symptoms of a panic attack are so extreme that sufferers believe they are going to have a heart attack and die. They are very frightening for the sufferer and can appear out of the blue or with certain triggers.

Sufferers may only experience one attack in their lifetime but others can experience them on a daily basis and they take over their lives.

Treatments
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The following are the most common treatments available for anxiety and panic attacks:

- Medication (anti-depressants and tranquilizers)

- Counselling

- Cognitive behavioral therapy (gradual exposure to situations)

My experience
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Looking back on my life in general I have always been quite an anxious and nervous person but it never affected my every day life.

My first panic attack took about twenty minutes to fully develop but basically started whilst driving along a road I knew well and I started to feel a bit dizzy and sick. I had to pull over and get out of the car to get some fresh air. I continued my journey with my passenger into town and got stuck in traffic. All of a sudden I felt an overwhelming feeling that I was trapped and I had to get out of the car and get my passenger to drive to the nearest car park, without me in it! I ran to the nearest pub as I had terrible stomach cramps and had an upset stomach.

I arranged to meet my mum outside the nearby Matalan store but when I got there I couldn't find her. My heart started racing, my vision blurred and I started to panic. I felt my stomach churning again and made a bee line for the public toilet in store but to my horror it was closed! By this point I was getting in a right state and asked the nearest member of staff if I could use their toilet as I felt sick. The lady kindly took me to their staff quarters and showed me to the toilets. She put an announcement out in the store for my mum to contact a member of staff so they could tell her where I was.

My mum found me sat on the floor curled up in a ball shaking and sweating, she was so worried she was going to call an ambulance! All I needed was time to calm down and half an hour later I felt brave enough to leave. The problem was I couldn't have her in the car with me as I wanted to be alone and she had to phone my brother to come and pick her up!

For two years I could not have anyone in the car with me and even to this day I cannot be a passenger in a car. I have only just started to have one passenger in the car with me but only on very short journeys.

From this day my panic attacks seemed to come regularly and my anxiety got worse. It was a viscious circle, the more I thought about it the worse it got. The more anxious I got the worse my IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) got and I started to panic if there was not toilet nearby. I will cover IBS under a separate review another day, I bet you can't wait to read that one ;-) !!!

My panic disorder revolves now about me fearing I am going to have a panic attack. I avoid certain situations in the fear that I will have another attack. I have been getting braver though and give myself a pat on the back if I get through an anxious situation without having a full blown attack! I just take things one day at a time now.

My main fear is confined spaces and car's are very confined! I tend to be ok on open roads but once I get stuck in traffic I feel trapped and start to panic because there is no way of me escaping from the situation. I know this will sound strange to most of you reading this but trust me, the fear is very real and terrifying as I cannot control it, no matter how hard I try to tell myself I am being silly! I am also scared of crowds and tend to avoid busy places.

I was on anti-depressants for years but they didn't really help so I came off them. I now take a mild tranquilizer when I know I am going to be in a situation where I will feel anxious and they help a bit.

I was given a few weeks of conselling but this didn't help me at all. All they wanted to talk about was my childhood etc. I had a happy childhood and just wanted some guidance on how to get better, they were useless!

Compared to where I was three years ago I have come a long way. At it's peak my panic disorder almost made me housebound. Just the thought of leaving the safety of my own home filled me with fear!

On a normal day I feel fairly calm now but do get very anxious when I have to travel. I am very lucky as I have a very supportive employer who has been a great support for me and very understanding.

I do not talk about my disorder very much as talking about it keeps it at the forefront of your mind, fuelling it in a way. My friends and family are very understanding and a great help. They don't talk to me about it but just the fact that they understand is enough for me and I don't feel like a freak anymore!

My problem to start with and the reason it got so bad was that I didn't ask for help! I knew it was getting worse but the day I asked for help was the day I broke down infront of my boss and he sent me home for the rest of the week to give me a chance to get some help. It took a breakdown for me to speak to someone about my anxiety!!

The advice I will give to anyone who thinks they may be suffering from an anxiety or panic disorder to get help before it takes over your life! Don't be proud about it, if you broke your arm wouldn't ignore it! Mental illness is the same, it's need treatment to get better!

I felt such a relief when I started talking to people about my feelings. I eventually found a great doctor who was very supportive but it took half a dozen before her who just wanted to pump me full of pills! Unfortunately I have moved now and I am back to square one with the doctors but I feel I am getting better by talking to people and understanding my condition more.

If anyone reading this is a fellow sufferer or would like any further advice please feel free to privat message me on here and I will help all I can.

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Summary: Talk to someone!