hello!

:?hello, i'm rachel and i have been having panic attacks for the last 5 years. i dont know if anyone has this, but whenever something major happens in life, the stress seems to bring them on tenfold. i'm in the middle of a bad bout at the moment. sometimes i feel "normal", like before i started to get them. at other times i just seem to go right back, to the point where i cant go anywhere or do anything on my own. at the moment i cant go out on my own, my front door seems to be like a brick wall. even though i know what it's about now, it doe'snt get any easier. i dont know a lot of people with panic attacks, so i sometimes it does feel like i'm the only one.

HI rachel I feel just like you sometimes I just can't get out the door. Just when i make some improvement it comes back again. I have been reding all the other posts and have a lot of the same symptoms. I am so tired of it all now. I just want to be ok again and sometimes think I never will, then I have a few good days and it's ok. I never knew that panic and anxiety could make you feel physically unwell. The whole thing is driving me nuts now ! I do find that if anything stressful happens in my life I can't cope with it like I used to , I try and avoid stressful situations but don't know if this the right thing to do and is not always possible any way. I have read you should face your fears but the fear it's self is my fear if you know what I mean!!

hello sarah! thanks for replying. i know exactly what you mean about being tired of being like this. i used to be such an outgoing person. i always used to be out and about. but then all of a sudden i was finding it more and more difficult to go outside. i thought i was going mad! it was a very strange thing for me. then i had my first panic attack. i could'nt breathe, i was dizzy, sweaty, very scared and with weird thoughts of doom. wow!! it turned me upside down. it all happened very quickly, all in about 2 weeks, i felt like there was no-one else who was like me on earth, totally alone. this was before i had a computer, i could'nt go to the library so i could'nt read up on it. my partner told his sister and it came out that she too had them!! no-one knew!! for about 5 minutes i was so happy i cried!! some-one else had them too, i was'nt alone. although obviously i would'nt wish this on anyone. after 5 years i know when it's coming, i dont fight them. i think that helps!!

welcome to the forum rachel. if you still feel troubled please pm me.