hello,
I have panic attacks 3 to 4 times a day and in my sleep. What can i do to realx more? It's seem as though I get stressed then depression and then a full blown panic attack. I am so tiered of having them I cry almost everynight. I want to have faith that one day they will just stop and I will live my life agian. What should I do? my family doesn't really understand. Sometimes I feel alone and very scared. I can't sleep tonight because of stomach pains and I just had a panic attack. Please help me. I don't want to spend another night crying myself to sleep. this effects my daily life and I don't know what to do! Any suggestions? please.
Thank You!!:(
rabidbadger 26-04-07, 08:43 AM Hi Idiv
Sorry to hear you are having such a bad time. What is the focus of your panic, you mention stomach pains, is it always health anxiety?
Chris
yes they are health anxiety's. I have had alot of people leave my life due to health problems so when I think something is wrong with me I get very anxious and start to panic.
rabidbadger 27-04-07, 06:51 PM Hi again
Forgive me if I'm suggesting things that you've already tried...
First of all, maybe you should get yourself to your GP for a full check-up. That may put your mind at rest in the short-term.
Do you keep any written records of what scary physical effects you experience? Writing things down makes them much easier to rationalise and you can also look back through your records and see that you keep getting the same symptoms but they don't do you any harm.
With most health-anxiety sufferers, there aren't any real health issues, just an overwhelming need to be reassured about their health. Even if you were suffering from some terminal illness (WHICH YOU ARE NOT), you wouldn't want to feel so scared every day would you? It's a problem with anxiety, not with your health - try to keep that in mind.
Chris
I sometimes need to hear it a few times for it to sink through. I have sscary bad thought's about dying. I am scared because, I know my family wouldn't see me ever agian. I'm just so scared if someone is sick and die's I can't even go to the funeral because I'm so scared!! my mother was 36 years old and she passed away of heart failure when I was 18 years old. And my husband's brother who was 18 died a week later. Then my aunt died suddenly of anurrysum. I am scared!!! Any little thing I feel in my body I get terrified. I shake bad because, I think about all negative things first. I have been to so many doctor's and I Feel like maybe they are missing something because I don't feel good even thought they say I'm ok. I need help!!!!!! I 'm scared of my own self. I don't go out much because I'm scared about having a panic attack in public. And I stay in my room alll day because, I don't want my kids to see me like this. Now, I have some issues likke sinus problems,bad allergies,acid reflux, and middle ear infection. most of my pan is between my head and my chest so, I think bad things. I want to life my life agian. I want to go out with freinds and spend time with my children. Not scared in my room all day! Just wish it would stop and I could feel better! right about now if I could feel good for one day with no pain and no negative thought's I would be so happy! Any suggestions?
Thank You for taking the time to respond!!
idiv6
I am sorry to hear how much you are suffering I suffer quite bad myself but it is ussally only when anything changes in my life like if I am going on holiday or some one comes to stay or on Friday I found out I was pregnant which should be the best news in the world which it is as I have a very loving husband but I start to panic what is going to happen to my body and the way the anxiety effects me is I cannot eat very well which makes me worse and makes me feel ill and then I get pains in my stomach which makes it worse.
I to are looking for help how to snap out of this as it makes all the happy times in my life a nightware
Tracy
rabidbadger 29-04-07, 07:08 PM Hi Idiv
There is one thing that helped me but I don't know if it will work the same for you. I'll try to explain...
Your anxiety is rooted in insecurity. In other words, because of the impact past events have had on you, you don't trust that your body is ok. You try to but there is always a little voice in the back of your mind saying "yeah but you could be seriously ill" or "if other people have died young, you might too." You don't even trust the doctors because this little voice says "they could be wrong". (it is not always a voice, sometimes it is an image or a feeling).
Like most anxiety and phobias, this initial trigger is only a small part of it. Once the anxiety has started, your body starts reacting in ways that scare you further and you then start generating your own fear - and the fear you generate internally is very often much greater than the fear caused by the initial trigger.
What I try to do, whenever I get an idea in my head like "your heart might fail" or "you might collapse", is try to imagine that this voice is coming from a little insecure child. I look at this child and think "what do you know, you're just a child. I'm an adult and I don't have to listen to you."
There is no point at all trying to tell yourself that you're not ill. This doesn't work because it just keeps your mind on the possibility of being ill. You have to find a way to tell yourself "this isn't even worth thinking about, the possibilities are so remote". Try to treat it with distain and disregard.
I sincerely hope this helps
Chris
I don't hear little voice but, my mind is thinking these things. I find it really hard to disregard what I am thinking in my head. I think this is very good advice. I think it's called changing your thought proccess. Which I have been trying to work on. It's very hard! But, I do believe it can be done. Sometimes it gets so bad I feel like just giving in. especially if I'm alone.
Thank You
You suffer from health anxiety's too? I have anxiety when anything goes wrong with my body! I get so scared and almost incapable of functioning. I need help because, I can't take it anymore.
rabidbadger 30-04-07, 10:04 AM Hi Idiv
Yes, I suffer from health anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia. I have had the panic attacks and health anxiety for over 8 years but the agoraphobia is more recent.
I got to a point about 7 months ago when I was so bad that I was spending days on end just lying in bed worrying about my health and expecting to die any day. I have been on medication since then and the anxiety has eased a lot but it's still there. I very rarely have panic attacks now but I do still feel that constant niggling worry about my health.
Another thing that has helped me to calm down when I have been really bad was to type up an objective check-list on my computer and refer to it every time I felt that I had a problem with my health. The check-list was something like this:
Am I tachycardic (heart-beat over 100 for a sustained period)?
Am I bradicardic (heart-beat under 60 for a sustained period)?
Am I gasping for breath?
Am I wheezing?
Am I coughing?
Am I bleeding?
Am I vomiting?
Am I in pain (enough to need pain relief)?
Am I immobile (can't walk up the stairs, run down the street, do some press-ups)?
Am I incoherent (speech doesn't make sense, can't read, write)?
Have I got any physical signs (lumps, bruises, rashes)
You will never get a true picture while you are looking at things subjectively because you are measuring things by how you perceive them rather than using hard facts - and your perceptions are being influenced by your anxiety. By using the above check-list, you are turning a subjective opinion into an objective evaluation.
Think about the following example... a person gets out of breath walking up the stairs and so they start to worry about their health. They start going to the gym and six months later they are really fit and decide to run a marathon. At the end of the marathon they cross the finish-line and think "hang on a minute, I'm still out of breath." Looking at things subjectively it is easy to think that because you still get out of breath, you still have a problem with your health, whereas if you look at it objectively you will see that it takes a lot more to make you out of breath.
While you have the health anxiety you will always feel like there is something wrong with you - if you didn't you wouldn't have health anxiety and you wouldn't be looking for help on this forum.
Like I said, last September I spent a lot of my time lying in bed feeling like I was about to die and I felt dreadful. Recently I have built two patios, a pond and a gate in the garden. Looking subjectively I could say "well I still feel crap and I still worry about my health so I can't be any better". It's only when you start to look at the real evidence that you can see any improvement.
Again, hope this helps. PM me or email me if you want to rabid.badger@ntlworld.com
Best of luck
Chris
helena27 04-05-07, 08:48 PM I sometimes need to hear it a few times for it to sink through. I have sscary bad thought's about dying. I am scared because, I know my family wouldn't see me ever agian. I'm just so scared if someone is sick and die's I can't even go to the funeral because I'm so scared!! my mother was 36 years old and she passed away of heart failure when I was 18 years old. And my husband's brother who was 18 died a week later. Then my aunt died suddenly of anurrysum. I am scared!!! Any little thing I feel in my body I get terrified. I shake bad because, I think about all negative things first. I have been to so many doctor's and I Feel like maybe they are missing something because I don't feel good even thought they say I'm ok. I need help!!!!!! I 'm scared of my own self. I don't go out much because I'm scared about having a panic attack in public. And I stay in my room alll day because, I don't want my kids to see me like this. Now, I have some issues likke sinus problems,bad allergies,acid reflux, and middle ear infection. most of my pan is between my head and my chest so, I think bad things. I want to life my life agian. I want to go out with freinds and spend time with my children. Not scared in my room all day! Just wish it would stop and I could feel better! right about now if I could feel good for one day with no pain and no negative thought's I would be so happy! Any suggestions?
Thank You for taking the time to respond!!
I know how you feel, I constantly suffer unless I am unless I have the feeling of a tight chest and feeling like I am forcing the air in. I have suffered on and off for 3 years but it has been at its worst the past few months. I'm scared to go out but yet scared to stay in, I can't take any meds as I am 7 months pregnant and all I do is cry all day. I def am conscious about my health as I always have the feeling like I can't breathe and terrible chest pains so its always on my mind. More recently my dad died and that has affected me 2 as he was the only one I could go to who i felt understood me. I'm so low at the min and don't know what to do.
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