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Serious anxiety issues/ panic attacks

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Posted 7/10/2009 2:19 AM (GMT 0)
Today I had to goto a viewing for my good friends younger brother and step brother who died being hit by a train. They were only 17 and it was a very emotional/ depressing expierience. However I have a really bad panic disorder that effected me at this event. I could not stay in the room where everyone was and the body was I felt like I was going to pass out whenever I would stand up. I was panicking and having shortage of breath and could not control these symptoms. I had to go into the lower part and sit alone for about 25mins to try and fade the fainting feeling away but even after that I was still having alot of problems. I felt like I was being a bad person not supporting my friend for the time I was there. I am tired of these attacks taking me over. I tried medicine and it hasn't worked. I get these attacks when I am in a crowd of people or now..at funeral parlors. Can someone please help me?
Posted 7/10/2009 3:30 AM (GMT 0)
I am so sorry for your friends very traumatic loss.

I would have had a come-apart, too, not that it would make you feel any better. I have this thing I do in my mind where I try to put myself in the mind of a family member who has had such a loss. It throws me. I wish I knew how to not do that.

Don't have the right words for you, just that I'm sorry and I know how bad PA's feel.
Posted 7/10/2009 4:59 AM (GMT 0)

I can understand exactly what you are going through as I had suffered from panic attacks for many years. 

The attacks are much more under control now because I have finally realized two things:

1.  That I would forget to  breathe when I felt threatened or emotionally upset or under any other circumstance that would normally cause me to panic or feel anxious.   When I read about this some time ago, I found that I really had been forgetting to breathe.  So now, I  just try to remember to take slow, deep breaths before I can even start feeling anxious.  It works remarkably well.  I hope  you'll try it.

2.  That *I* am in control...not the anxiety.   I now say to myself, "I am strong, I am healthy, I am calm.  I am NOT going to let this anxiety feeling that I feel coming on control me."

Posted 7/10/2009 8:57 AM (GMT 0)
I have suffered from anxiety and depression for about 10 years...on and off several different meds that only caused nasty side effects, and didn't do much to combat the depression/ anxiety. I decided to stop meds all together because they weren't helping and I refused to go into a mental hospital...which was pretty much my next step because my shrink didn't know what else to do for me. I have been a hundred times better being off the meds because I think they were actually doing me more harm then good. I found myself in the waiting room waiting for my shrink, as I looked around the room at a very sad group of people who looked like they were all drugged up (I refused to be one of those people). I realized then and there that I was actually worse off then I was when I stated treatment, and I decided then and there that I would take control over my disease instead of letting it take me down. Since then, I try not to focus any energy on it. If I feel anxious, I start cleaning or I do something to get my mind off of it. If I feel depressed, I call a friend or listen to music. I also try to focus more of my energy on helping other people...this helps tremendously! I try to think of my disease as another entity...and I refuse to give it any attention. It's not an easy task, but after 1 awhile, I found myself just doing things automatically to make myself feel better. I have to say that my anxiety and depression are under control if not completely gone.

I don't suggest anyone stop taking their meds without talking to your doc first, but I just wanted to share what worked for me. My shrink didn't want me to stop taking my meds, but I just knew that it was best for me personally...if he had his way, I think I would be in a mental hospital by now.
Posted 7/10/2009 9:16 AM (GMT 0)
Hey Poet welcome to HW

I have anxiety attacks in crowded places, I cant explain it other than the too much information around for my brain to process so because i dont feel in control i panic.

I think in situation like this every1 comes up with their own coping strategy. I like to walk really quickly through the crowd that way my brain concentrates on where im going rather than the people that are around me.

Only problems are when the crowd is so big i cant walk quick and when im with a group of people. Then i have to use other ways to distract myself usually just talking to the people that are around me.

Badfish :P
Posted 7/10/2009 3:06 PM (GMT 0)
Poet Barbie

Bless you and no you are not a bad person.  My adult daughter is the very same way as you are and we have worked on conditioning with her.  However after many years of having panic under situations just like yours she still struggles.

I would like to see you give yourself permission to not feel guilty and if you know you are going to attend something that will trigger this panic then make an alternative plan. 

My daughter sits in the last pew or row near the exit door and will get up an leave if she starts to feel faint or the panic coming on.   She has had fainting spells and leaving the event is better then fainting and having to be rushed to the ER. She has had seizures with her fainting which is uncommon but it happens to her. Visiting someone who is in a hosptial is another of her panic inducing triggers. 

I wish you peace and remember be kind to yourself.

Hugs

Kitt

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