Welcome to the Anxiety Forum - A Home for Those with Anxiety, Fear, or Panic Attacks.
Page 2 of 17 FirstFirst 123412 ... LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 168
  1. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Posts
    1,244
    I forgot to mention that I was meditating a lot during my healing. Sometimes multiple times a day. I would combine Buteyko breathing with meditation or just let go and meditate. I also did yoga 2-3 times a week when I could.

  2. #12
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    2
    Yes, thank you for posting this. The only thing that worked for me was applying Dr. Claire Weekes advice.. At first long ago it seemed too simple... I'm fully recovered, I still get a surge of panic once in a while, but I accepted it basically said, ok, bring it on..It disappeared as fast as it came, and haven't had a flash of fear since.. Recovery takes a while, that's the key.. Give it as much time as it takes.. It maybe months or years, but it does go away and you become a much stronger person as a result.. I'd be happy to share my experience with anyone who's interested and how I recovered.. Glad I found this thread..

  3. #13
    hi , a small question in relation to the big picture but you say to cutndown on sugar, does this include fruit as it has sugar in it or is that ok because its natural? thanks

  4. #14
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Posts
    1,244
    Eat fruit. Maybe less fruit late at night, but of course eat fruit. I read that biting into a very cold apple can help stop panic attacks. What I meant was too much sugar can be over stimulating. Of course a bit of raw honey in tea is ok. Just don't over do the sugar.

  5. #15
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    calgary, alberta
    Posts
    8
    thank you for for this post, i right now am at the poit where u were, i,m terrified to leave my room, ive taken to watching the same movies just because they are familiar and comforting, alot of times i cant sleep unless im watching the lord of the rings or reading a fimiliar book. i stay in my room like i said most of the day every day, ive become a convict of my home. Although i do have to leave the appartment once a day to get methadone from addiction issues, i scurry back as fast as possible and hide basically. i saw a shrink once or twice, he said it sounds like a little mix of GAD, PTSD, and agoraphobia, from what i told him but really i didnt even tell him the whole truth cuz like you said im afraid the men in the white coats and butterfly nets are gonna come. but im willing to try what i can, since this last saturday, i had a massive panic attack to the point where ny heart was actually skipping beats, see recently ive been having other health issues, some of wich im sure are related to my mental state, others are impossible to relate to it and im undergoing testing right now, see i have swollen part or growth of some sort in my neck, and other symptoms that can be related to something thats not that bad or in my mind its gotta be cancer, i say that because i jump to the worst case scenerio and then i feed it by loking up the symptoms of like hodgkens, or lymphoma and i dwell on it until im in panic mode, plus i get drug coverage from the government cuz my costs are in the 600$ a month range and im currently unemployed. and i got a letter saying they are gonna cut me off unless my doctor fills out some invoice, but i imidiatly jump to 'he's not going to and im gonna loose my coverage' and then the two things collide, i guess thats the 2nd fer thing you mention and next thing i know im in the urgent care bulding with a pulse of 150bpm pale as a ghost wondering when my hearts gonna say enoughs enough. but this doctor i saw this time really reached me i dont know why i guess it was his personality or the way he carried himself but he was young nice and took the time to listen to all my fears of my physical state with sincearity and one by one got me to a point where i was like, what am i doing here this guy must think im nuts, buut he didnt, he hooked me up with the mental health team and im gonna be in contact with a social worker to help with the drug coverage thing nd will be meeting with a councellor once a week. plus ive decided to give my shrink a 2nd chance. anyway the point is ive had a little spark of hope started in me, i mean yesterday i actually came out of my room for an hour and watched football with my dad, that was like the equal to sky-diving for me right now, although i know he's very concerned and wants to help but is just unsure of how, hes gonna come with me to my doctor's appt this week for support and to give his observations so the doc dosent think im jusst saying all this to get him to fill out the drug coverage form. im currently taking clonazepam 3 times a day, the .5mgs and 40mgs of celexa, but im still a mental mess. i just hope i can get where you are one day. it just seems like a big dark tunnel, see id rather be in a small burrough thats fimiliar where i can meel the walls around me its open spaces and stuff that freak me out. but i guess ive talked enough for now. im gonna look into the Buteyo breathing technique and see what thats all about cuz sometimes i finde myself short of breath and my chest feels heavy and no matter how deep i breath it gets worse and my hands get tingly, it the opposite of what ive been taught the deep breathing thing should do. anyway thanks again foor the post and i'll be trying some of your suggestions. fingers crossed

  6. #16
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Posts
    1,244
    A few things:

    You have addiction issues and you are on methadone. My guess is heroine? Now you are taking a highly addictive substance, Clonazepam, AKA Klonopins. You have panic disorder on top of withdrawal, and will maybe have more withdrawal once you try to get off Klonopins.

    You are going to have to be patient.

    For Klonopins, do not take them unless you absolutely need to! Don't take it as a "Might as well" kind of thing. Those things hook you fast, and you may even find at some point they don't work as strong. ONLY take them when you really need them. If you have been on them for over 2 months, or feel withdrawal when not taking them, when the time is right, and you want to get off them, I recommend a very slow taper cutting the dose very small, 1/8-1/16 and stabilizing every 2 weeks, then cut again, and repeat.

    What you want to try and get clear is what is withdrawal and what is anxiety. They both can seem similar.

    About your agoraphobia, I had this, and I no longer have this anymore. I know what it's like. It is really weird and you can't get people to understand it unless they been through it. It's really really bizarre! But let me ask you this, has anything bad ever really happened once you left your comfort zone? Have you collapsed? Did your heart ever stop? Anything? If no, then you must get this clear in your head that it is a bluff!Go and push yourself to leave your home as much as possible. Why is your home safer than outside? Why is any place safer than any other place?

    About your heart, I don't know what you have exactly, and go get it checked out, but my heart skips beats sometimes and has for years. Some arrhythmias are dangerous and some mean nothing. All the docs say it's not an issue. Now I work out pretty hard, and I get my heart beating super fast in squats and deadlifts. My target heart rate zone for maximum fitness is up to 155 beats per minute. That means at 150 beats a minute, is considered a very good way to strengthen my heart. Past 155 is like a sprint. David Johnson os Freedom From Fear program, told me when you feel your heart beating really fast, think of it as the lazy man's exercise.

    If you breathe a lot, and almost are hyperventilating and you feel your jaw and hands tingle, that is probably from too much CO2 being breathed out. I was in a hyperventilating state all the time before I read about Buteyko breathing.

    I know what it's like to barely be able to move, let alone leave your home. It's like you are a walking time bomb, but you have to trust me, that you need to fight this fear. When you are in the middle of a panic attack, it's so hard to see it as just that. I know how hard that is. All you want to do is call an ambulance. But you need to reevaluate has anything ever actually happened? Panic attacks can't last that long because you only have a certain amount of adrenaline to go around. And after, you may shiver for a bit, but then you calm down. Then you realize it was all a bluff. Then it repeats. At some point, you have to man up and say enough! Get your nervous system calm, so your body can recover.

    Get everything checked out at the doc, if all comes out normal, then move on. If there are problems, than take the appropriate measures to get better. Focus on your recovery from addiction, and live each day as you want to take full advantage of this wonderful gift of life. One day, we all will die, but while we are here, let's make the best of every moment.
    Last edited by PanicCured; 11-21-2011 at 11:27 AM.

  7. #17
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    calgary, alberta
    Posts
    8
    yeah the agoraphobia is the worst, i litteraly shake when im not in my room, but ive been taking baby steps to come out as much as i can cope with for now, today i stayed out and cleaned the appartment for an hour or so and tonight me and my dad might go play some pool like we used to back when i was a teen, with the addiction thing it was oxycontins after 2 surgurys on my arm where a plate was put in then it started to shift cuz of bone growth causing severe pain and the doc thought giving a 17yr old 160 40mg oxy's was a good idea. ive been sober for 2 years now but ive been on benzo's for a year and a half, started with ativan as needed but then switched to klonopins everyday. but im gonna talk to my doctor about switching to diazapam to taper slowly once i get my health issues sorted, cuz theres been alot going on, and no doubt im sure some symptoms are due to my mental state but others are not, my mind cant trick myself into beleiving theres a lump in my neck, its like i have 2 adams apples, and its painfull adding to my anxiety, like i said my brain goes automatically to the worst, its gotta be cancer or something like that. then yeah its just a nasty cycle. i checked out the Buteyo breathing technique and practiced it today with some calm insturmental music on when i found myself wound up and it actually really helped, basically i have to disract myself or i get lost in my mind like a dark tunnel and i stumbel over bad thoughts, the what if's, the could haves and should haves, but i find this forum theraputic to just spew it out cuz i know the ppl reading have similar things or had going on in their life and know im not some nut. i also get this sharp pain in my left chest dunno if its my heart or lung but again my thoughts go to lung cancer or copd, its a nightmare. but im starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel, anyways your main post helped and i took some good suggestions outta it. i hope to be where your at sometime in the not too distant future, i want to be able to go back out and enjoy life instead of being afraid of it. one day at a time like they told me in re-hab. i'll be keeping a up to date kinda journal on this thread maybe and express every so often what ive done and how i did it and maybe it can help others too, cuz you'v already helped me, thanks for the post and reply, its good to know ppl out there understand and care enough to reach out to others that are suffering.

  8. #18
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Posts
    1,244
    You have the most important part fo all this, and that is the will to get better, so you eventually will be!

    You are most likely addicted to Benzos which can cause anxiety in themselves for the amount you've been n them, especially in between doses. When I was getting off Klonopins I used http://www.benzobuddies.org/ to help me. When the time is right, post your story on that site and have them help you.

    You may have a thyroid issue, which is the lump in your neck. If so, it's easily treatable. Go get everything checked out.

    When you go out with your dad, just know, what's the worst that can happen? You have a panic attack. I had them in public a few times and here I am. A panic attack is just a fight or flight response inherently built into your biology as a survival mechanism.

  9. #19
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    calgary, alberta
    Posts
    8
    lol thats the thing i actually had my thyroid destroyed with radiation 2 years agot because i was extreamly hyper thyroid, graves deseise its calles, i just had an ultrasound done a week and a half ago and they said theres no thyrooid tissue present, thats why the lump is concerning, i take synthroid daily now but my dose is stabilized, i know this cuz i had bloood work done too and my t3 and t4 levels are right where they should be, so its not anxiety due to too much thyroid hormone, its just scary cuz i've been loosing alot of weight and i sleep like 12 hours a day, although the sleep i can probably attribute to the anxiety cuz after so long of being reved up in anxiety mode your body needs to recoup, im going in for more testing to see whats going on in my neck, lymphatic nodes are swelling up too ujnder my chin with no pain, wich if it were a virus or bacterial infection they usually are sore, so there are concerning symptoms but i feed the fire by looking up the worst case problems and dwell on them. my dad had to work late so we unfourtunatly didnt get out but at least made myself go out to the living room and watch some tv out there for a couple hours to get out of my room, im trying little steps, today i gotta get testing done on my heart again, not looking forward to it but like you said, its probably safer in public let alone a medical building, its unfourtunatly a waiting game right now with finding answers to the physical side of things, in canada we get health care from the government but the weels turn slow, i gotta wat till next march for an mri on my abdomin, ive had pain there ever since i had my gall bladder out last year, so you see for a young guy ive had alot to deal with health wise and no doubt that adds to my fears of "whats next?" but im trying. and looking for ways to help me cope.

  10. #20
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    calgary, alberta
    Posts
    8
    well saw my doctor today and like i fiigured alot of my symptoms were from the anxiety, and also because ive been on the same dose of klonopins for so lonng he said im going through tolorance withdrawl as well most likely, but my pituitary gland is acting messed up wich he said hes gotta researh, cuz hes never encountered what mine is doing before, so they upped my celexa and klonopins for now to ease my anxiety for the short term and im gona be doing some aggresive councelling to help with the agoraphobia. then hopefully when my anxiety eases off a bit we can start the taper from the benzo's. all one step at a time, its been a rough day though, my hearts been jumpin all day, so im gonna try to sleep a little once my meds kick in and start a fresh day!

 

 

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •