Quote Originally Posted by TheNightWalker View Post
Hello everyone,

My name is James and I discovered this community while performing a Google search and I’m glad I did. With that said, here’s my story:
Ever since I was a little child, I appeared shy and simply wanted to avoid people around me. Like many other children, this behavior wasn’t expected to be unusual and everyone viewed me as “The quiet kid.” Throughout my childhood life, I had very few friends and my isolation and avoidance behavior continued throughout my early adulthood life as well.

One day while sitting in my front living room, my right arm started to go numb as my entire body began sweating and heart-rate went through the roof. Like many people who experienced an anxiety attack for the first time, I thought I was going to die. Before the next day even started, I awoken to my entire body covered in sweat, racing heart-rate, and felt like my head was going to explode. Fearing for me life, I went to the hospital immediately and after several visitations within the period of 3-months, I was diagnosed with “General Anxiety Disorder.”

Although I was prescribed medication for my newly discovered condition, my situation only gotten worse as I tried everything imaginable to avoid social contact (going to church was a complete nightmare). While attending a church session, I was once again hit with the reality of social anxiety as being around so many people caused my body to feel like it was breaking down from the inside out and I was completely covered in sweat; it felt as if I was at the end of a mountain top, about to hit ground bottom.

From these ordeals and others, I began developing depression symptoms as the slightest thing from people would bother me. Eventually, I lost all hope: I withdrew from all activities, had zero motivation to do my college assignments, nor go to work. In my mind, all I could think about was how worthless I was and the endless stream of suicidal thoughts. Before things got worse, I went to my local hospital and got help and was institutionalized.
Even as I’m typing this, I am feeling quite depressed and every time I’m involved in social situations, I am constantly overwhelmed and it is difficult to perform my duties at work. At times, it seems like a roller-coaster: Sometimes I get better, and then I get worse. Since I’m a man and supposed to be “Strong,” people have even looked at my condition as a weakness. Some days, I feel that I’m completely going insane.

When I’m around people besides family, I have racing thoughts of negativity and I constantly think about the things I said or what I shouldn’t do (is it rude to not look at this person, am I’m staring at this person too much, I don’t know what to say, etc). When I’m alone, I’m often trapped in a cocoon of my own thoughts as my mind begins to attack itself reflecting on bad experiences. Sadly, people avoid me because my condition and I never been in a relationship as a result.
TheNightWalker, you and I should be pals! I had the exact same forms of anxiety! Down to the attacks!

First off, let me say I am sorry you are suffering from a condition that millions suffer from. You have two battles. The physical, and mental battle. Here's how RECENTLY I cured myself of anxiety. Here's my story. I hope you can take my experiences as a helpful tool for your cure:

Every morning I would wake up, shower, and in the shower I would think about "I wonder where I'll be today in the office when I have a panic attack". It's these thoughts that I woke up to in the morning after kissing my girlfriend. I was hiding my anxiety. I went to work and was too afraid to have one on one meetings with colleagues in fear of having a panic attack in a closed space. I made excuses. Finally, after months of panic attacks, some of which lasted hours, I decided it was enough.

I'm a military man now working as a civilian, I should be tough right? Well, at that time, I was not. I was at my weakest. Physically and mentally weak. One day after work I realized, "AV1988, you need to exercise. You are really out of shape. Maybe that'll help the anxiety?". So I went to the gym, pumped Iron, ran (all of which I hate doing), and essentially tuckered myself out. The next day, I didn't really feel any better. Then a friend of mine called me that very next day and asked if I wanted to play tennis. I thought "man, it's been since high school but I love the sport". I borrowed one of his rackets that afternoon and we hit for hours. I got sweaty, tired, all without knowing it. I was having FUN!

I went home after that and felt great. I was happy. I started thinking about things I couldn't think about when I was anxious. "I have a beautiful girlfriend. I have a wonderful family. I have a job in this bad economy. I have hospitals if I ever were to need one...etc". I was grateful. These are things you can't focus on when you are having a panic attack. THESE are what you need to train your mind to go over when you feel like you might panic.

Do you want to know the real secret? What REALLY cured my anxiety? I CONVINCED my brain that I have survived 100% of my panic attacks. Panic attacks have never killed me. Heck, after they end, I feel fine. I'm UNDEFEATED against panic attacks.

Seriously, after a few days, if I felt my heart begin to race in panic, my mind would circle back to that notion. I've survived every panic attack. This is stupid! It's all in my mind!

With the right dose of mental strength I built through these tactics, and the right amount of physical activity, I KICKED PANIC ATTACKS LIKE A BAD HABBIT!

You can do it. You have the strength, it's time to use it! Please reach out if you need anything.