Craig-SA
11-16-2016, 12:02 AM
I'm a new member and I just wanted to share how I managed to complete eliminate my anxiety, depression and panic attacks and get my life back. The changes I made have had such an enormously profound impact on my life that I feel I need to share them as it may help others. I feel it is my responsibility to do this. Nothing would make me happier than to hear from someone who has done what helped me and had success.
Disclaimer: I’m not a psychologist and I don’t pretend to know the in depth way the brain works, though I did have several sessions with various psychologists. What worked for me may not work for you; your situation and symptoms may be completely different. I'm hoping it may help someone or totally resolve it like it did for me.
I’ll start my story at the height of my anxiety.
I was having 3 or 4 panic attacks a day, and every few weeks I’d have an incredibly severe attack where if I was in public somewhere I would need to leave wherever I was; it would last sometimes half an hour or more and they were so severe I’d shut myself in a room or a bathroom and not be able to leave until it subsided. My panic attacks seemed to occur in public places, particularly when there was focus on me. They also happened every time I tried to exercise.
This had been gradually increasing over the span of several years and I was now not able to live a normal life as a result of it. I’d seen several psychologists and tried all sorts of techniques but nothing was working. I wasn’t willing to take medication as it seems to just mask the symptoms, I wanted to try and figure out if there was a cause – I just think this is the only way to treat something. I was willing to do pretty much whatever it took.
In terms of other aspects in my life at the time, I ran my own business which was stressful. I had a fair amount of responsibility and being young and inexperienced things went wrong regularly. I was living with a long term girlfriend also, I loved her dearly but we had been growing apart for a few years and we weren’t sure where our relationship was going as we wanted different things out of life. I was also pretty isolated and lonely, I didn’t have many friends and had little interest in socializing with a group of people or in public through fear of a panic attack.
Up to this point I had gained weight (I was 230lbs – 5’10, whereas 8 or 9 years ago I was 175) and I’d been eating sugary foods and drinking soft drink and coffee as these were the things I loved. I also had been trying to cut down on sugar and had diet drinks/foods with artificial sweeteners in them.
I felt sluggish and unwell, I was lethargic, needed a lot of sleep, and didn’t seem to sleep well. Aside from the panic attacks I also had depressive episodes where I had no energy and felt quite down.
I decided I needed to try absolutely everything I could to get better.
I didn’t want to take medication and the psychologist sessions weren’t helping much. I read that artificial sweeteners have been linked with anxiety and depression so I cut them out. Within a month or so my panic attacks had reduced significantly. I felt a lot better – I could think more clearly, I had more energy and I felt more relaxed.
I then cut out both sugar and caffeine completely. This changed my life.
Within a month or two I felt absolutely incredible. I had many times more energy, optimism and my panic attacks had been reduced by about 85%. I cannot emphasize enough how much better I felt. I even slept better, I needed about an hour or so less sleep every night and woke up feeling fresh and positive. I continued with this and realized pretty quickly this is how I am going to have to live the rest of my life. I had my life back.
With this new found optimism and wellbeing, gradually, I started sorting out my life. I sorted through the junk I had accumulated in several rooms of the house and in the office and filled two dumpsters with my old stuff. It felt great. I got back into exercise and was able to push harder without having a panic attack every time like I did before. I was making changes in the business, and I gradually got things sorted to the point where I could outsource a lot of the stressful stuff so I wasn’t so overwhelmed.
I had lost about 30lbs and felt and looked great! I then planned an overseas trip, now that I could step away from my business. Things were going great. My anxiety was so minor that it was now just occasional symptoms and minor panic attacks now only every few months.
Then the biggest tragedy of my life happened. My girlfriend of 8 years, whom I loved dearly and was the sweetest person in the world, decided she wanted to move on. I agreed it was the best thing. It absolutely destroyed me, but we had been in a holding pattern for many years not knowing what to do. I didn’t want to leave as I loved her but we wanted completely different things out of life – I won’t elaborate as it’s complicated.
For weeks I had pain so severe I could feel it in my abdomen, like hundreds of nails in my stomach. For days on end I lay on the floor screaming at the top of my lungs and crying. For some reason it hit me like a ton of bricks – this was the first time I’d been single since I was 16 (I was 32 at the time). It felt like an exorcism of love from my body.
So one day I decided to run for about 2 hours. I knew exercise helped make you feel better so I just went on 1 hour + runs every single day. That was my new rule. Sometimes twice a day. This helped a lot and it was the only way I could keep sane.
At that point I noticed something. My anxiety and panic was COMPLETELY GONE. Not a single symptom. It was as though the anxiety had been taken away in my emotional exorcism. I could push as hard as I wanted in my exercise or go to a busy public place and unlike before, nothing could bring on a panic attack.
I was off my food also at this point – I just didn’t have an appetite. I lost a further 10lbs in a few weeks. For the next few months I swung between being massively sad and down to euphoria like I have never experienced before. One night I just started dancing. I turned the light off and went crazy for hours on end. I’d sometimes be feeling total euphoria while I was dancing but also crying at the same time. It was the most bizarre conflict of emotions I’d ever experienced. I joined some dance classes to get over my fear of dancing in public. I made some amazing new friends and had some of the most fun and best times I’d ever had in my life. I was going out to parties and clubs and could let loose. I had become a new person.
Fast forward 2 years and here I am today. I continued on my journey – and I haven't had any anxiety or depression issues since and I'm really enjoying life. I sometimes have caffeine and sugar for a few months at a time, and during those times I very occasionally feel very slight anxiety symptoms, but I have not had a single panic attack since. I have found that I feel much, much better without them, so I aim to never have them again.
The worst panic attack I have had since then was while doing a stage performance in front of several hundred people – which is possibly classified as a normal reaction to that scenario given I had never participated in a live show in my life! It lasted about a minute while I was stage and then didn’t come back again.
What I have figured out from my journey is that anxiety is a complex condition. Maybe there are things that are causing it, and some things that are making it worse. For me, it seems my relationship was one of the major causes. My business was certainly contributing, and it seemed to be massively amplified by my consumption of sugar, caffeine and artificial sweeteners. But also – I was isolated in that period of my life – I spent a lot of time alone and focused on myself a lot. I now socialize regularly and always keep my mind busy as I think that’s a big part of it also.
I hope my experiences can help some of you. Some of the causes could be some of the big and important things in your life. These are NOT easy to change or fix – it could be a total lifestyle change. The whole process took me about 3 years and I had to let go of someone that was very dear to me but just wasn’t right. I had to exit a business I’d taken years to build. I had to give up the foods and drinks I loved the most. Again, I can’t emphasize enough how hard these things were to do and how long it took to change my mindset and habits. But maybe it will help you. Or completely fix it.
Disclaimer: I’m not a psychologist and I don’t pretend to know the in depth way the brain works, though I did have several sessions with various psychologists. What worked for me may not work for you; your situation and symptoms may be completely different. I'm hoping it may help someone or totally resolve it like it did for me.
I’ll start my story at the height of my anxiety.
I was having 3 or 4 panic attacks a day, and every few weeks I’d have an incredibly severe attack where if I was in public somewhere I would need to leave wherever I was; it would last sometimes half an hour or more and they were so severe I’d shut myself in a room or a bathroom and not be able to leave until it subsided. My panic attacks seemed to occur in public places, particularly when there was focus on me. They also happened every time I tried to exercise.
This had been gradually increasing over the span of several years and I was now not able to live a normal life as a result of it. I’d seen several psychologists and tried all sorts of techniques but nothing was working. I wasn’t willing to take medication as it seems to just mask the symptoms, I wanted to try and figure out if there was a cause – I just think this is the only way to treat something. I was willing to do pretty much whatever it took.
In terms of other aspects in my life at the time, I ran my own business which was stressful. I had a fair amount of responsibility and being young and inexperienced things went wrong regularly. I was living with a long term girlfriend also, I loved her dearly but we had been growing apart for a few years and we weren’t sure where our relationship was going as we wanted different things out of life. I was also pretty isolated and lonely, I didn’t have many friends and had little interest in socializing with a group of people or in public through fear of a panic attack.
Up to this point I had gained weight (I was 230lbs – 5’10, whereas 8 or 9 years ago I was 175) and I’d been eating sugary foods and drinking soft drink and coffee as these were the things I loved. I also had been trying to cut down on sugar and had diet drinks/foods with artificial sweeteners in them.
I felt sluggish and unwell, I was lethargic, needed a lot of sleep, and didn’t seem to sleep well. Aside from the panic attacks I also had depressive episodes where I had no energy and felt quite down.
I decided I needed to try absolutely everything I could to get better.
I didn’t want to take medication and the psychologist sessions weren’t helping much. I read that artificial sweeteners have been linked with anxiety and depression so I cut them out. Within a month or so my panic attacks had reduced significantly. I felt a lot better – I could think more clearly, I had more energy and I felt more relaxed.
I then cut out both sugar and caffeine completely. This changed my life.
Within a month or two I felt absolutely incredible. I had many times more energy, optimism and my panic attacks had been reduced by about 85%. I cannot emphasize enough how much better I felt. I even slept better, I needed about an hour or so less sleep every night and woke up feeling fresh and positive. I continued with this and realized pretty quickly this is how I am going to have to live the rest of my life. I had my life back.
With this new found optimism and wellbeing, gradually, I started sorting out my life. I sorted through the junk I had accumulated in several rooms of the house and in the office and filled two dumpsters with my old stuff. It felt great. I got back into exercise and was able to push harder without having a panic attack every time like I did before. I was making changes in the business, and I gradually got things sorted to the point where I could outsource a lot of the stressful stuff so I wasn’t so overwhelmed.
I had lost about 30lbs and felt and looked great! I then planned an overseas trip, now that I could step away from my business. Things were going great. My anxiety was so minor that it was now just occasional symptoms and minor panic attacks now only every few months.
Then the biggest tragedy of my life happened. My girlfriend of 8 years, whom I loved dearly and was the sweetest person in the world, decided she wanted to move on. I agreed it was the best thing. It absolutely destroyed me, but we had been in a holding pattern for many years not knowing what to do. I didn’t want to leave as I loved her but we wanted completely different things out of life – I won’t elaborate as it’s complicated.
For weeks I had pain so severe I could feel it in my abdomen, like hundreds of nails in my stomach. For days on end I lay on the floor screaming at the top of my lungs and crying. For some reason it hit me like a ton of bricks – this was the first time I’d been single since I was 16 (I was 32 at the time). It felt like an exorcism of love from my body.
So one day I decided to run for about 2 hours. I knew exercise helped make you feel better so I just went on 1 hour + runs every single day. That was my new rule. Sometimes twice a day. This helped a lot and it was the only way I could keep sane.
At that point I noticed something. My anxiety and panic was COMPLETELY GONE. Not a single symptom. It was as though the anxiety had been taken away in my emotional exorcism. I could push as hard as I wanted in my exercise or go to a busy public place and unlike before, nothing could bring on a panic attack.
I was off my food also at this point – I just didn’t have an appetite. I lost a further 10lbs in a few weeks. For the next few months I swung between being massively sad and down to euphoria like I have never experienced before. One night I just started dancing. I turned the light off and went crazy for hours on end. I’d sometimes be feeling total euphoria while I was dancing but also crying at the same time. It was the most bizarre conflict of emotions I’d ever experienced. I joined some dance classes to get over my fear of dancing in public. I made some amazing new friends and had some of the most fun and best times I’d ever had in my life. I was going out to parties and clubs and could let loose. I had become a new person.
Fast forward 2 years and here I am today. I continued on my journey – and I haven't had any anxiety or depression issues since and I'm really enjoying life. I sometimes have caffeine and sugar for a few months at a time, and during those times I very occasionally feel very slight anxiety symptoms, but I have not had a single panic attack since. I have found that I feel much, much better without them, so I aim to never have them again.
The worst panic attack I have had since then was while doing a stage performance in front of several hundred people – which is possibly classified as a normal reaction to that scenario given I had never participated in a live show in my life! It lasted about a minute while I was stage and then didn’t come back again.
What I have figured out from my journey is that anxiety is a complex condition. Maybe there are things that are causing it, and some things that are making it worse. For me, it seems my relationship was one of the major causes. My business was certainly contributing, and it seemed to be massively amplified by my consumption of sugar, caffeine and artificial sweeteners. But also – I was isolated in that period of my life – I spent a lot of time alone and focused on myself a lot. I now socialize regularly and always keep my mind busy as I think that’s a big part of it also.
I hope my experiences can help some of you. Some of the causes could be some of the big and important things in your life. These are NOT easy to change or fix – it could be a total lifestyle change. The whole process took me about 3 years and I had to let go of someone that was very dear to me but just wasn’t right. I had to exit a business I’d taken years to build. I had to give up the foods and drinks I loved the most. Again, I can’t emphasize enough how hard these things were to do and how long it took to change my mindset and habits. But maybe it will help you. Or completely fix it.