Hi!

Hey everyone, just an intro from me - look forward to posting and making some new friends!

I'm Gemma and I live in South East England. I work as a nursery nurse full time (tough job!!!)

I've suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for about 5 years now. It started at school and it snowballed until I became agoraphobic which in turn lead to depression. I didn't leave the house for about 2 years until I had a stroke of luck one day and, I thought by fluke, I went out for the day with a relative. I ended up working for her for a year and I have been in my current job for 18 months. But my anxiety still affects me every day. I still feel unable to go to new places, or places out of my 'comfort zone'. I decided to register with the site this evening as I have just been offered the chance to go to Barbados for a week in April, and of course any person without anxiety would jump at the chance, but I'm so scared!
So many reasons why, as I'm sure you can all sympathise with.

Hope to chat to you soon,

Gemma x

alright gemma, i know exacltly how you feel, ive suffered half my life and im 0nly 29! its a nightmare sometimes. i went on a plane for the first time in my life last year, and nothing was gonna stop me. o.k i still got pannic attacks but i would of only had them somewhere else, if not on the plane or abroad,
i had a great time, dont let it stop you, go for gold. goodluck
from wynt :D

Hiya Gemma, i'm new here too. Infact i only just discovered this forum 30 mins ago.

Wow how comforting to know that there are others out there who are experiencing the same things as myself. I dreamed of support and now i may have actually found it.

So i've been suffering from panic attacks/ anxiety from the age of about 6, where it manifested itself in me wanting the toilet all the time, regardless of whether i actually needed to go. I'm now 25 and the saga continues. It's resurfaced time and time again in various different guises, from an eating disorder. to problems breathing and full blown attacks. I've been through therapy and hypnosis and am currently trying to wean myself off anti depressants. I've also seen a food nutrianalist all with the support of my mum.

Anyway i have so many ambitions, and i just feel utterly frustrated because i know i'm not fulfilling my potential. Anxiety feels like prison. I feel as though i'm not allowed to be happy and am surrounded by negativity.

I really find it hard to concentrate, so as a degree student, worry that it's affecting my time at uni, both academically and socially.

Gemma, you talked about your 'comfort zone' which i think all of us have, which struck a chord.

Anyway i'm rambling....

I looked on Charles Lindons site....and i really want to believe there’s a cure out there. I'm thinking about buying his pack but i have reservations.

It sounds too good to be true (maybe it's me being cynical)

Ok that's my introduction,

Julia

I too only joined yesterday and can't stop reading. It is so helpful to read about others ahving the same symptoms as me. i have panic attacks and suffer with anxiety only for the last 8 months or so. i had so many awful things happen in a short space of time, I lost 5 close family members in as many years including my Mum. i was also very ill myself during this time, I had a big operation and alot of treatment and am well now. I carried on for about a year after my mum died saying I was ok and keeping so busy that i never sat down! Then it all seemed to catch up with me and I couldn't cope. I am on anti depressants which i have just cut down to the lowest dose. I feel i want to see how i am without them as sometimes i think the side effects closely mirror the effects of the anxiety.
i seem to get better for a couple of weeks and then go backwards again. at the moment I hate to go out alone as the fear of having a panic attack is awful. it has been the most frightening time of my life..........the horrible feeling of being breathless, dizzy, tightness in the chest all of it. But i do feel a lot better when I have read the postings here and find that so many people have these symptoms. I only wish i had found this site before. However as a bit of encouragement for you when I went to America in November i felt so good the change of scene really helped and i went for long periods of time not even thinking about all this and strangley enough I was fine on the plane this puzzled me as the week before i had to dash out of the supermarket after 5 mins. I hope your ho;iday does you good.

hello openhearted. sorry for the late reply and welcome to the forum!