Does anyone here suffer with panic attacks or anxiety? I guess I have since 1999 after coming out of a particularly abusive relationship that stripped my confidence. Funny thing back then was that my first "attack" was whilst I was on holiday relaxed when it struck. It was awful, the worst feeling you could ever imagine, more than a feeling that you were about to die, a feeling like you need to run, but you don't know where to escape, the worst thing is not knowing what you're trying to escape from. When I used to hear in my job about people who had "nerves" or panic attacks, I used to think, for goodness sake, get a grip. How wrong I was.
Things have got better for me, I picked up a couple of good books, one being by a Dr Claire Weekes, this woman is/was amazing, the first person to ever understand what I was feeling, it sure helped me on the way to recovery. Things are much better these days, I just have the occasional "attack" like yesterday whilst sitting in a boring nurse managers meeting, suddenly I just knew I had to get out, I felt breathless, panicky, the room spun, everything seemed to blur, my legs felt like jelly and the floor seemed to give way, so I made my excuses and left. Of course I felt daft afterwards, and felt like slapping myself up a bit, but when its happening it feels oh so real. Correct breathing techniques help so much though. The funny thing is colleagues at work tell me they think I would be the last person to suffer from them. I suppose its because I always look so confident to others and put on a work front, when sometimes underneath I feel like I'm crumbling.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is, have hope if you suffer from this, whether you have, do or might sometime in the future. You are not alone, things do get better, you learn to not let your mind bluff you so much into a downward spiral. So Take courage. Also pick up that book I mentioned. Any thoughts?
Peace all. Scoob