Need some help...

[shannamae]

Hello,
My name is Shanna, and I am 20 years old. I have been suffering from anxiety and panic attacks for 7 years now, so most of the life I remember vividly. For the past 2 or 3 years I had been doing pretty good, only a few attacks a month, and they were mostly in high stress situations. But suddenly I have taken 100 steps back. You see, I am moving away to college in about 2 months and I am terrified, it is all I think about, and I am almost constantly anxious, and when I am not worried about college, I am worried about the anxiety itself. I have orientation for school on friday this week and I am so worried that if it ends badly, I could become even more terrified for the school year. It is so hard to think that I will be living an hour away from my parents, boyfriend, and dog, who have helped me get this far, and are like my security net. What I am looking for is advice, words of encouragement, and any similar stories you may have that can make me feel less alone, and more strong. Thank You!

[shane bevan]

What causes your attack? Sometimes its hard to even tell

[alankay]

What you're experiencing is Anticipatory Anxiety and Catastrophizing. I went through it when I went away(about 2 hours away) to college years ago. Maybe some fear of change as well.
You're probably imaging how anxious you'll feel in various circumstances and situations and or course making out or thinking about the worst possible scenarios or results. We all do it some extent. Me too still today but I'm wise to it and this still effects me but I know all about it and factor it in. I've never had anxiety as bad as I feared(anticipated). The worst is up to and just before the event. The worst scenarios never materialize though.
My advise, give yourself a "chance to fail" and you'll see, although you might be anxious like others, you'll do OK. You'll be surprised at what you can do when you actually try instead of passing on it because you expect the worst. Always try. Make preparatory visits to the school, line up contacts to call for support, find and record some therapists/docs in the new area(just to have) or see what Student Health Services has to offer(often covered by tuition) as others have trouble and/or anxiety too and there is often help there. I wish I had checked into that. If you are taking any meds ask your doc to be aware of your concerns in case you need refills, support, etc. Make sure you BF and folks have a heads up about your fears and above all, try to go and start(the hardest part). Make a deal with yourself that you'll (1)drive out there and (2)do the first day, (3)week, (4)month, etc. Try don't be afraid to fail and I bet you won't! Even if you do...so freakin what??!! Regroup and retry/try the next thing or get more help and try again. We're here too! PM me any time. Alankay

[shannamae]

Thank you very much, that is very helpful ideas, and you're right most of the time the anticipation is worse than the actual moment. However, I am still struggling with what to do when I am in the middle of a panic attack. I actually had one just a few minutes ago, I was out to eat with my dad at a local diner and the attack mixed with the stomach ache and headache made it so that I couldn't eat, so we chose to get the food to go and eat at home. I just am so confused what to do to stop the attack while it is happening.

[shannamae]

It depends, there is pretty much no place that is really truly "safe", I can have a panic attack anywhere at anytime. However, I can do something a million times, and then have a bad attack once, and suddenly that something seems to act as a trigger, which SUCKS! because some of my favorite things, or even basic things become triggers, and then I have to work to overcome them.

[Lin]

Shannamae it is quite natural to have these worries about moving away, even if you had never had anxiety before. Anyone, even if not had anxiety problems in past, would find it all hard and scary. Sometimes our body needs the adrenaline from worry to enable us to move forward and to do scary things.
Just think of yourself as having normal worries and you will be able to cope much better.