Anxiety/Panic Attacks

I can generally feel it coming. I kind of figured them out now. I take a step back from whatever I'm doing, close my eyes, focus on my breathing and then I go outside. I get away from whatever I was doing and take that feeling like you don't know what to do with your hands and I just walk. If I'm at home I grab my bmx bike out of the garage, I take all that energy and refocus it somewhere else. 10-15 minutes of that and I'm ok for the most part. I'm exhausted afterwards though. Thankfully now that I have had those for the last couple of years I have cut them down to twice a week max and I learned what worked for myself.

 

I exercise but it's impossible during an attack. I've been doing some deep breathing crap too. I have no idea how to meditate (without LSD).

 

Thanks. I had one a couple of hours ago (when I was playing with my kid, poor girl) and now I'm literally exhausted.

 

This is making me think of Tony Soprano.

 

Music helped me a ton too. I listen to something while I'm walking. Zeppelin or something along those lines. Just trying to focus on the guitar and the beat. Trying to reset.

 

A lot of what you see, read, hear, etc etc as an adult seems designed to make people freak the f@ck out. Then you compare your situation to these things and start believing you're headed down some horrendous path...


Don't buy into it. Chill, make your choices, and relax knowing you're doing the best you can - especially if that's what your ultimate intention is.

 

Find an empty wall in quiet area of your house. Take a sharpie and put a small circle at eye level if you're sitting down. Sit about five feet away on the floor. Force yourself to stare at it for longer and longer periods every night. eventually your mind will be able to go blank while staring. then start doing it eyes closed.

 

Not sure if this applies to you, but I used to have MASSIVE anxiety attacks...couldnt figure it out for months. Then, BOOM, it hit me that they happened anywhere from an hour to 3 hours after I took prescription Zantac for my stomach. I quit taking it and have never had one since. Ever since then I have avoided prescription fixes as much as possible.

If you are on any sort of maintenance drugs whatsoever, please look there...

Good luck brother...I feel your pain.

 

Thanks man. :up:

 

Diet and sleep go a lonnnnnng ways with it too. I had gotten super sick about 6 months back and lost nearly 45 pounds. Mind you I'm 6 foot 5 and I generally weigh anywhere between 185-190 when I'm in shape (about where I am now). I looked like a holocaust victim. I was getting 2-3 hours of sleep a night, waking up with major anxiety attacks, mood swings, etc. After we figured out what was wrong and I got my nutrition and sleep back on track they mellowed out quite to a point where it's controllable and slowly going away. I think if I quit smoking they would completely stop. That's my next step.


I'm real big on not taking medication for anything. To an extent anyways. I would make sure you're taking really good care of yourself.

 

Look into whatever you might have been repressing for a long time. Anxiety attacks are merely a symptom of that sh!t coming back to the surface.

 

I know the feeling. I didnt want to mention it or talk about it because i know how people are, especially in this place. But my elbow is only one of the reasons i haven't been racing.

I don't do well with things that I can't control or rationalize. So when I first had one, I ended up mad as hell after the fact because i couldnt control it and couldnt understand why it happened.

I deal with stuff by exposure. I will force myself into the situation that caused it and battle it head on. I tend to think that anything can be resolved with time and enough man-up. But that doesnt work for everybody. So im sorry i don't have much to offer in the form of advice. But i hope you get it sorted out.

To the people that have never had one, they aren't something to joke about or take lightly. I was one of those people that thought they were bullshit and just something people made up for one reason or another. Then i learned that couldnt be further from the truth.

 

Hey Putter, the mental side of the health house can be just as painful as the physical side. If a simple cure works, as for some here, then you are not seriously hurting in this way. Sounds like you know of what I speak.
Gonna PM you my cell, call anytime if you need to. There are other illnesses that resemble what you are going thru and are treatable.
Hang in my friend.

 

Try the Bob Newhart stop it approach. Google it.

I have a brother in law who started having a problem with small spaces after standing in line for a ride and listening to other people close to him. We were all going to dinner and he had to get into the back of the suburban and started having trouble breathing. I looked in the rear view mirror and used the Bob Newhart on him and he was cured (at least for that trip).

Hope you find something that helps.

 

You just need a man hug. We need to take up a donation and get you on a flight to France so you and Papa can make up.

 

Rub one out.

Hey, might as well put that nervous energy to some good.

Srsly tho, my advice is to *not* take any advice from me. I don't get 'em, can't comprehend 'em, and think you're all cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs...

Oh, speaking of Cocoa Puffs...dietary triggers are a HUGE component of a number of neurological/psychological disorders. SSRI's also do a fuckery on your brain chemistry, I recognize their necessity in a therapeutic sense but disagree with their use as a maintenance drug. Like was said earlier, drugs attack symptoms, not causes, and WTF are you gonna do when the zombie apocalypse comes and the speed freaks have cleared all the Cymbalta and Xanax out?

Sarah eats pretty damn clean and pure, and still can work herself up into a frothy lather over ridiculous shit, but she's a woman and she's expected to be hysterical 90% of the time. I've got her down to 72% so I'm mu'fuggin livin' large, fool!

Get the food dyes, sugars and preservatives out of your system. Cut back on your coffee intake (if you're a drinker of fine caffeinated brews) and take the cracka-ass cracka's advice on the exercise. And keep your appt with the behavioral therapist, and if she's a hot chica, don't show her your tighty whiteys. If he's a creepy old Jewish dude, go for it. :up:

And maybe you could come visiting, you know, while we're still alive over here? Your Uncle Moshe has been asking about you, and what can I tell him, you don't call, you don't write, you listen to that rap & roll music, oy vey!

 

Putter, First you are NOT alone, so many people deal with this but very very few ever talk about it. Between dealing with it myself on and off and what my wife sees as a nurse i'd say the MAJORITY of people deal with this in some form or another just very reach out to anyone..

 

I had one back in the 90's.

I was getting ready to start two big projects with new clients, so I was worried as hell that everything had to go perfect.

I woke up in the middle of the night and was convinced that my heart had stopped beating. I walked out in the kitchen and had to tell myself that I wouldn't be standing here if my heart wasn't beating....but I wasn't believing it.

Eventually I settled down and that was when I knew that I had a panic attack. It was scary shit and thankfully I haven't had one since.

 

Putter, I had one just two days ago in the uptown apple store. That place triggers them for me everytime I walk in. Funny thing is when I get them in an apple store, I start getting angry and want to choke all the hipsters.

I hate getting them! I started getting them a few years ago and it seems to not be consistent in any way that I can figure out. Sometimes certain places that I go to with crowds triggers it, sometimes not. My ex wife gets them real bad, it was painful to watch. I have two friends on medication who get them real bad...it can be crippling because they get to where they can't leave their house!

I feel your pain man...come up to the 5 hr. and pit crew for us, it will be therapy!

 

I have general anxiety and I am on Lexapro for it. It started off really scary as I literally thought I was having heart attacks. The medication helps to fight off the attacks, but like you it's forever and a day to get in and see a cognitive therapist. The interesting thing is I cannot figure out what it is that is causing it. I love my job, my wife, my golf game is getting better, life is good right!?!

It bothered me (and to an extent it still does) to think that I need a pill to make me "normal" however, being able to feel like myself around my wife and not a stressed out freak makes it worth while. I've been dealing with it going on 7 years now, and if you have any questions I will be more than happy to answer.