Anxiety/Panic Attacks

I'm so sorry you are dealing with this.

 

Thanks everyone. I'm heading to the lake with my kid for a few days. Maybe that will help. Thanks for the PMs also.

 

10 years ago while going through a divorce, and 1 day after double hernia surgery, I had to get out of the house, so I decided to go for a drive. I started to sweat, got dizzy, and couldn't breathe, my first thought was I was having a heart attack! I called a friend for help, she brought me a Zanex and all was well! I have not had had a panic attack, or a Zanex since. Good luck.

 

No one definitely thinks any less of you Putter. This Beeb right here is awesome and everyone here has your back and we don't even know each other. I think I had one a few weeks back. Told the spousal unit that if anything happens, this is what i'm feeling. It felt like a freaking heart attack.

Take it easy...enjoy the lake with the kiddo and listen to some motorcycle sounds on your walkman

 

This is so true. Some of you may say blah, blah, blah. But, I have had more support through this place when I was down than from any other group. Can't say enough about our WERA family.
Sir Putt-a-lot, you are not alone!

 

My buddy is bringing up his new R1 so I'm gonna get some motorcycle therapy!

 

You guys are the best. Even Paige has her moments.

 

People who don't have them don't get it. Dern included - I don't even get the "buck up little camper" speech from him when I have anxiety, I get the "stop being an idiot" lecture.

I have gotten to the point where I am unmedicated and won't touch the shit with a ten-foot pole. Sure it was easier, but I hated that I was needing it to function. I am not saying it isn't good for other people, it just wasn't good for me. Through meditation, diet and exercise I have been able to get through the worst of it. Getting into the mechanics of panic disorder - it is basically just your fight/flight reaction in overdrive. You aren't getting chased by a mastodon, so your brain turns everything into a mastodon. Kind of sucks. Only by pushing your body and mind can you overcome this - exercise really does help, so does meditation.

I have a few books if you are interested. I still fight with it daily, but I would rather actively work on my brain then passively float through life on Klonopin. That shit is evil. Again - I am talking about myself. Other people may need it and that is fine, nothing wrong with it at all. Some days are good and some days are bad and some days are so overwhelming I would like to put Dern in the freezer cuz everything is his fault

 

unplugging from network television may help, tune out for awhile, and definitely dump talk radio shows-right or left.

 

You reckon?

 

Yeah, right now, I think the reputation you were trying to build as a pimp is not looking too good.

I had a new screen name figured out by the end of the first post.

You couldn't be more wrong about this place. How could you think that after being here several years? When did you see someone in need not getting support?

 

I know. And I knew that 99% of the reactions would be awesome, like the ones in this thread. But there is always that 1% that doesn't know where "the line" is and will throw out a smartass comment to anything.

I get fucked with a lot on here and I know it is all in good fun. I also know that i bring a lot of it on myself. It doesnt bother me and it is entertaining. But I have been struggling with this all year and it is one of those things that I didn't want to hear any smartass comments about.

I have only talked about it with 2 really close friends. One of them is a regular on the beeb, the other one "lurks" the beeb from time to time, but never posts. Other than that, I have kept it to myself (aside from Lora, obviously). While i know the majority of responses would have been supportive, there is always that chance on here that somebody would try to be funny...and I just didn't want to deal with any bullshit about it.

 

That shit is no joke.

 

I'm getting a sense that most of you guys started getting those as adults. Do children get them? Any of you guys been experiencing that since you were a child?

 

I never got them until I actually had things to care about in life. I.e. when my wife was pregnant and I was no longer able to be the narcissistic fuck that I am by nature, that's when they hit.

For me, they occur when I'm in a situation in which I have no control, like when the door on the airplane closes or some shit like that. All I've found that works is daily cymbalta, xanax when I fly and circular breathing when I start to feel a little uneasy.

This shit is definitely real and will put you in your place real quick. I think the best answer is probably cognitive therapy, but for me finding the time for proper treatment is always the hardest part of that equation.

 

How old is the cut off for a child? As I mentioned earlier my girlfriend who was 16 at the time got them all the time. Enough to be committed at one point (although she was 17 then).

Apparently my Mom used to get them too (when I was a child). If you want to met someone who is a perfectionist (and had the brain horsepower to back it up)...that's my Mom. I think that didn't help the who anxiety thing.

 

I had a serious panic attack when I had a complex migraine about 3-4 years ago, and thought I was gonna die. Couldn't put sentences together, left side was completely number, couldn't see. The panic attack compounded those symptoms of the complex migraine and I was hyperventilating and couldnt' breath.

They put me on an SSRI as well to help prevent the migraines and xanax in the event that I was having any type of serious panic attack. Actually just talked with my doctor yesterday about getting off the SSRI after the last few years of being on it, so we're going to scale it back over the next 3 months till I don't take it anymore.

A few things have helped me.
1) Transcendental Meditation. Yes, it's new agey, and you feel dumb when you try it out, but holy shit does it work. Read up on it, and give it a try. 15 minutes 2x a day. It works! It's helped me with controlling my anger, helped my focus, reduced my stress, and made me easier to get along with.

2) At the beginning I went to my psycologist, and he gave me a bunch of calming exercises to help prevent the onset of a panic attack.

Yeah man, panic attacks are absolutely no fun.

 

Kids can get them, but it's much more rare in kids. I never had anything like this shit till after I turned 30.