Your Symptoms are NOT the Cause

[PanicCured]

I know it's hard to not obsess on how you feel from the horrible symptoms, but your symptoms are not the cause. Anxiety symptoms are simply the result of a deeper cause or causes. Many of you seem to only want to focus on the symptoms such as chest pain, heart racing, sweaty, insomnia, shaking, etc. This spins a vicious circle where you obsess on one sensation then in comes another sensation and another and you are spiraling down in a whirlpool of horrible symptoms and sensations that you are obsessing on. The mind is a tricky thing and the worse you feel the more it will make you feel worse. You can easily drown in a sea of anxiety symptoms if you let it be like this. You have to stop falling for the bluff. Soon your whole entire life is based on sensations you are feeling. Some will go years like this. Doctor's do not understand causes. Our modern medicine is made to treat only manifestations, not underlying causes. At some point, you just have to wake up and realize that all of your fears of what if never happened.

Think of this, if I go run very fast, as fast as I can for 30 seconds, then stop, and I am short of breathe and my heart is beating 170 beats per minute, wouldn't that be crazy to obsess on my symptoms? It would be obvious my heart was beating fast and my shortness of breathe was normal causes of running. What if I went to a doctor and then he puts me on Beta Blockers because when I sprint, and run very fast, my heart beats fast. Would that make any sense?

So why is it weird if when you have adrenaline coursing through your body that you have adrenaline type symptoms? Why is that strange that when you go "Oh shit! Something bad is happening! My God HELP!" and you run around looking for a safe place or person, your body goes into emergency mode and activates the Fight or Flight response making you panic? Wouldn't a panic attack and all its symptoms be the normal course of events here?

The question is what triggers this and how to get it better. Why os this happening to you so often and in inappropriate times? This has to be done by you and you alone! Of course you can use the help of doctors, therapists, herbs, supplements, etc., but even a therapist just allows you to heal yourself. Healing does not happen overnight but is a process. But you have to push yourself to get better instead of spinning your wheels everyday, only seeking temporary comfort and venting.

I can't believe when I see people here say anxiety can't be cured. This line of thinking is so foreign to me I can't even comprehend it. Anxiety Disorder can absolutely be cured. Not that you will never feel fear or won't; ever have anxiety, but that the disorder and how it runs your life you can 100% get over and move past it.

Stop adding 2nd fear. When you feel the fear, do not add fear to it, and allow it to pass. You are giving it power. Stop feeding it. Understand how to breathe properly and research Dr. Buteyko's scientific research on breathing. To not release too much CO2 and to almost always breathe through your nose. This is important. Even minor hyperventilation can trigger anxiety. Go breathe really fast in and out right now and watch your anxiety symptoms pop up. Try and breathe more oxygen. Breathe in 100 times in a minute and you will pass out. It's because you are releasing too much carbon dioxide. Listen to Claire Weekes, Charles Linden, David Johnson, Amelina Linsdale, and whoever is out there that had anxiety and then got better sowing you how to get better.

Your symptoms are not the cause!

[manz82]

This post is inspiring, realistic, helpful and insightful. There are so many symptoms to dwell on with anxiety disorder and I am guilty of this, but seeing this refreshing piece and actually thinking that anxiety doesn't have to mean life imprisonment is delightful!
Can I ask, were you ever really bad with anxiety?

[PanicCured]

This post is inspiring, realistic, helpful and insightful. There are so many symptoms to dwell on with anxiety disorder and I am guilty of this, but seeing this refreshing piece and actually thinking that anxiety doesn't have to mean life imprisonment is delightful!
Can I ask, were you ever really bad with anxiety?

Well at one point I could barely leave my house. I couldn't go in elevators without extreme anxiety. Leaving my home was like climbing Mt Everest. I had to take Klonopins to leave my front door. I couldn't take subways. I couldn't take a shower without a friend in a room next door, I could barely shop, I woke up at 5 AM almost every day with massive panic attacks, Sometimes I was scared to get out of bed for fear of panic attacks. I was frozen in fear, I would shake really bad, I couldn't go 3 days without klonopins or I suffered withdrawal symptoms, so I would say it was pretty bad. But I didn't let it go on too long and got right to trying to cure it after suffering a few months of this. Then spent the next 6 -8 months healing.

[jesikahlaine]

U sound like me forwells. I have started to edge away the fears thanks to meds. I only started them because i needed some relief & help but i do plan to help myself & get off the meds too.. everything the creator of this thread said is exactly what my therapist said to me. & its so true. But hard to think like it when u feel like crap !

[jesikahlaine]

But do u have any advice for being alone & scar

[jesikahlaine]

But do u have any advice for being scared to be alone & scared to leave the house alone. I havent it in months my fear is too high. Especially being alone with my daughter. I fear the attack nothing else.

[jessed03]

A wise man once said; "When you take away the Shepard, all the sheep will scatter"

This couldn't be more true of anxiety. You can't look at anxiety, and think, how do I get rid of my palpitations, or how do I get rid of my night time sweating, or even how do I get rid of this particular though, or that particular fear. This won't solve so much, and it's taking on the wrong perception. When you first start to tackle anxiety, make the commitment to live with the symptoms of it, and instead tackle the anxiety problem. Anxiety follows formulas. Once you take away your anxiety problem, once you soothe your nervous system, and you remove the hangups in your mind, you WILL be anxiety free. It's just fact. Let the symptoms take care of themselves, and you take care of the anxiety. :)

[locksey]

A wise man once said; "When you take away the Shepard, all the sheep will scatter"

This couldn't be more true of anxiety. You can't look at anxiety, and think, how do I get rid of my palpitations, or how do I get rid of my night time sweating, or even how do I get rid of this particular though, or that particular fear. This won't solve so much, and it's taking on the wrong perception. When you first start to tackle anxiety, make the commitment to live with the symptoms of it, and instead tackle the anxiety problem. Anxiety follows formulas. Once you take away your anxiety problem, once you soothe your nervous system, and you remove the hangups in your mind, you WILL be anxiety free. It's just fact. Let the symptoms take care of themselves, and you take care of the anxiety. :)

What if u have panic attacks for no reason , as in , yr not an anxious person , u dnt get stressed over things etc ... But for example , last nite I was sitting watchin T.V and started to have one
( didnt last ) but there was no reason for it

[PanicCured]

You don't have panic attacks for no reason. If you think about it deep enough, you will see most likely you caused it. There was a moment you felt weird or scared then you added the 2nd fear which then triggered fight or flight. The nervous system is set to high so it can get triggered extremely easily, but they do not come for no reason. Once you nourish and calm your nerves they won't be set on high anymore. So that part that creeps up on you before you add the 2nd fear, is a physical component from what I call a "crashed nervous system" and this is why the proper supplements like Eastern Essentials Calm and Relaxed are very helpful. To rebuild it. Nourish the nerves. I think Chamomile is great too. Also it can't be overlooked how retraining your brain and exercise and yoga and meditation and all these good things will little by little also help bring back your nervous system to proper levels. For me, the key was Buteyko breathing exercises I learned from Patrick McKeown's book and learning to almost always breathe through my nose and never to hyperventilate. I learned how the more you breathe the less oxygen you actually obtain. Breathing needs to be calm and balanced. Exercise you breathe more but still need to keep the right balance of CO2 and O2. There are possibly some medical causes to anxiety that can be diagnosed such as a heart valve prolapse. But if you have been thoroughly checked and the doc says its anxiety, then I would assume it is what I described here. Most people can't look at themselves and admit they are their own worst enemy. You are the disease but you are also the cure. Instead of looking at anxiety as some virus that attacked you, people should look at themselves as having the power to cure it. There are many therapies, techniques and supplements available to help you in this process but the core is you healing yourself.

[locksey]

Hi ... Mine do just suddenly cum 4 no reason .. Yes , I kan make it escalate by getting wrked up once its started but I cud wake up in middle ov nite and have one or b sitting watchin tv .....

I dnt hyperventilate so breathing techniques wudnt b helpful....

[PanicCured]

UNBELIEVABLE! WHATEVER someone throws at you you will just say it won;t work for you.

I think I am going to bang my head against a brick wall instead for my leisure. THERE IS A MOMENT BEFORE THE PANIC ATTACK STARTS ISN'T THERE? THAT IS CAUSED BY YOU! 2ND FEAR!

My god! Take some ownership or responsibility. You haven't been struck with Malaria or Polio for gods sakes! You gusy act like God put a curse on you and you are hopeless. It's nervous illness and you are making it worse. You guys over complicate everything. It is all so simple.


"breathing techniques wudnt b helpful...."

UNBELIEVABLE!

Someone else take over here. I don't have the patience. I really can't believe what I hear some of you say on this website. You guys are so damn literal. just get the gist and try to get better. Just take the support and do what you want with it. Doesn't have to be so perfect and exact.

UNBELIEVABLE!

[locksey]

I'm sry I wasn't goin 2 reply but I am !! Yr attitude on here is disgusting and i know uve alredi upset a few on pple on here .... U dnt knw pple , u dnt knw their circumstances , u dnt knw how pple deal with things ,, what they are dealing wid , what theyve had to deal wid etc , u dnt knw them as an individual !!! So I suggest u calm dwn a bit , keep yr opinions to yrself " unless sumone wants help frm u ! And ASKS !! ) otherwise why are u on here ?? Great , uve been able to cure yrself ( as u out in a previous post ) but dnt expect everyone to be like u and if they dnt then there is sumink wrong or u verbally put then dwn on here ..... Anyway , that's it....

[jamus75]

I understand what I have to do and want to thank people like you paniccured and Jesse for your help and advice. We should all listen to what people who have been to the edge and back have to say instead of the people stuck on the edge and not sure how to get back. That is me. I'm stuck and can't focus long enough on how to get back. I admittedly half ass try some of these techniques because when I'm ready to try them I'm usually feeling fine and don't think I need them. It's only when panic sets in when I think I should try these after I calm down but rarely do. Your delivery may seem a bit crude for some people but hey I get it, not everyone is a public speaker. Lol. I don't offend easy so it doesn't bother me. My sensations trigger my panic
Attacks 98% of the time so most of the time I can acknowledge this and not let it escalate. Then there are times that I didn't catch it in time and its too late. Hard to stop the fear once it escalates. Keep posting your suggestions and ideas. I've already benefited from this site.

[mglover92]

Paniccured how do you feel about the supplement mood boost for the time being? http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Vegetarian-Capsules-L-Tyrosine-L-Theanine/dp/B00A4OVLRS

im doing ALOT better but its just something to hold us over and heal our nervous systems for the time being.

at the moment I am using the linden method and trying to occupy the subconscious mind. It is helping. People need to listen to these folks on here.

[Judie]

Well you have become Agoraphobic, which I am sure you are aware. The key to Agoraphobia is " going outside" or leaving your safe place or in fact standing up to the Anxiety. You need to do this accompanied by another person, whom you trust.The fear of an Anxiety Attack is all consuming and we begin to alter our lives to avoid them but the sad reality is you can't avoid them, the outside, the highway,the grocery store none of these places cause an attack. A Panic Attack originates in thought process and you feed the anxiety with fearful thought, "I can't handle this, I am going to die, I am having a breakdown". For me it was always "I am having a stroke"and having High blood pressure obviously feeds the fear. Now my blood pressure is controlled but it is easy for me to go to that place with my thoughts and in fact " feed" the anxiety. The anxiety really isn't an enemy( probably one of the hardest concepts to believe), it is in fact a normal body's reaction to a streesful situation. This reaction would actually aid in saving your life by increasing muscle strength in the appropriate scituation. Let me ask you to do one thing in the midst of Panic Attacks, note and pay attention to the most important one thing, " you have not and will not have a heart attack, stroke or die". You don't believe me and the only way I can prove this is for you to master or become " friends " ( I mean after all it is your body's way of protecting you from danger so therefore anxiety is an allie not an enemy...sadly the allie is simply " misinformed" at the moment. In order to calm anxiety you need to accept it and accept that there is a stress or depression that has caused the misfiring...or rather the Negative Thoughts.When you have that feeling of dizziness, heart palpitations instead of thinking " Oh My God my heart skipped a beat/racing what's wrong...answer that calmly with the fact that NOTHING is wrong, a skipped beat is just a skipped beat ( take slow deep breaths in through the nose- 4 seconds inhale and release also 4 seconds out through the mouth and FOCUS, a fast pulse is simply a fast pulse ( also try spashing your face with cold water). Easier said then done correct ? So when we take a test or learn a new skill we pay attention, we study and we learn. You are afraid to be alone because you are afraid of the attack. Don't be afraid of the attack, know that the reality is you need to experience these attacks to become familiar with the very real fact that they will not harm you. Hang in there !

[locksey]

Well you have become Agoraphobic, which I am sure you are aware. The key to Agoraphobia is " going outside" or leaving your safe place or in fact standing up to the Anxiety. You need to do this accompanied by another person, whom you trust.The fear of an Anxiety Attack is all consuming and we begin to alter our lives to avoid them but the sad reality is you can't avoid them, the outside, the highway,the grocery store none of these places cause an attack. A Panic Attack originates in thought process and you feed the anxiety with fearful thought, "I can't handle this, I am going to die, I am having a breakdown". For me it was always "I am having a stroke"and having High blood pressure obviously feeds the fear. Now my blood pressure is controlled but it is easy for me to go to that place with my thoughts and in fact " feed" the anxiety. The anxiety really isn't an enemy( probably one of the hardest concepts to believe), it is in fact a normal body's reaction to a streesful situation. This reaction would actually aid in saving your life by increasing muscle strength in the appropriate scituation. Let me ask you to do one thing in the midst of Panic Attacks, note and pay attention to the most important one thing, " you have not and will not have a heart attack, stroke or die". You don't believe me and the only way I can prove this is for you to master or become " friends " ( I mean after all it is your body's way of protecting you from danger so therefore anxiety is an allie not an enemy...sadly the allie is simply " misinformed" at the moment. In order to calm anxiety you need to accept it and accept that there is a stress or depression that has caused the misfiring...or rather the Negative Thoughts.When you have that feeling of dizziness, heart palpitations instead of thinking " Oh My God my heart skipped a beat/racing what's wrong...answer that calmly with the fact that NOTHING is wrong, a skipped beat is just a skipped beat ( take slow deep breaths in through the nose- 4 seconds inhale and release also 4 seconds out through the mouth and FOCUS, a fast pulse is simply a fast pulse ( also try spashing your face with cold water). Easier said then done correct ? So when we take a test or learn a new skill we pay attention, we study and we learn. You are afraid to be alone because you are afraid of the attack. Don't be afraid of the attack, know that the reality is you need to experience these attacks to become familiar with the very real fact that they will not harm you. Hang in there !

Good advice :-)

[Judie]

Locksey, Regardless of whether you hyperventilate or not breathing techniques are helpful, because they calm a racing heart, tense muscles and actually your whole being. I have had a Panic Disorder for 29 years and I am quite confident that scares many of you, "oh my god I'll never get rid of this". Whether that is true or not probably depends on your thought process,mastering the anxiety and very important " coping skills". I was so very sick when my Panic Attacks surfaced, my Mom had recently died, lots and lots of stress...not important what-just the catylyst) Ambulances, ER's on and on. I weighed 95 lbs at the time , stress had burned off the 25. LOL I wish that were the case now. I had no idea what was wrong and neither did DRS. Panic Disorder wasn't common then, in fact I knew no one who had suffered relentlessly.In fact I was at the beach ( I will never forget that day) and feeling completely horrible and I opened a Glamour Magazine and they had an article about " Panic Disorder". I said " Oh My God " to my cousin, who had in fact called the ambulance, accompanied me to ER's etc and handed him the article. His mother was an agoraphobic-yes the inclination toward Panic Attacks is hereditary. My daughter actually has periods of acute anxiety..it's a battle I know all to well. I will share my knowledge and experiences with all who may benefit. Do not get discouraged, you will be fine. I am happily married and have a beautiful daughter. I am an Artist ( yes another tidbit of info, creative people are more prone to anxiety- most likely IMAGINATION and ability to go to the worse case scenario in thought process so easily-lol) Hang in there, you WILL BE FINE.

[locksey]

Locksey, Regardless of whether you hyperventilate or not breathing techniques are helpful, because they calm a racing heart, tense muscles and actually your whole being. I have had a Panic Disorder for 29 years and I am quite confident that scares many of you, "oh my god I'll never get rid of this". Whether that is true or not probably depends on your thought process,mastering the anxiety and very important " coping skills". I was so very sick when my Panic Attacks surfaced, my Mom had recently died, lots and lots of stress...not important what-just the catylyst) Ambulances, ER's on and on. I weighed 95 lbs at the time , stress had burned off the 25. LOL I wish that were the case now. I had no idea what was wrong and neither did DRS. Panic Disorder wasn't common then, in fact I knew no one who had suffered relentlessly.In fact I was at the beach ( I will never forget that day) and feeling completely horrible and I opened a Glamour Magazine and they had an article about " Panic Disorder". I said " Oh My God " to my cousin, who had in fact called the ambulance, accompanied me to ER's etc and handed him the article. His mother was an agoraphobic-yes the inclination toward Panic Attacks is hereditary. My daughter actually has periods of acute anxiety..it's a battle I know all to well. I will share my knowledge and experiences with all who may benefit. Do not get discouraged, you will be fine. I am happily married and have a beautiful daughter. I am an Artist ( yes another tidbit of info, creative people are more prone to anxiety- most likely IMAGINATION and ability to go to the worse case scenario in thought process so easily-lol) Hang in there, you WILL BE FINE.

Yeah , I knw .. It was just the way the other person came across that I thought was wrong and I wasn't the only one to think this ... But what uve put is gd and makes sense :-)

[Judie]

Well fear is an amazing deterent for many and I think many of those on the site are are very new to the experience of anxiety. You are correct PanicCured people need to accept anxiety, rather then run from it. Very hard to master but certainly attainable. Fear causes us to say things like " breathing techniques won't help etc..." after all we live in a society of immediate gratification. In other words the attacks came on quickly so I should be able to get rid of them quickly or perhaps a pill ? So basically people have to accept that getting rid of anxiety, " managing" is actually a more appropriate term, it takes knowledge both in coping skills ( until you are in fact " better") and knowledge of what is the catalyst behind the attacks. Thought process is tough and lots of things going on for everyone but not accepting your thoughts, depression, stress etc..will really make anxiety roar like a lion. I mean after all anxiety ( heightened alert is our bodies protective response to danger. It's simply misfiring ( simply need to repair the trigger)

[locksey]

Well fear is an amazing deterent for many and I think many of those on the site are are very new to the experience of anxiety. You are correct PanicCured people need to accept anxiety, rather then run from it. Very hard to master but certainly attainable. Fear causes us to say things like " breathing techniques won't help etc..." after all we live in a society of immediate gratification. In other words the attacks came on quickly so I should be able to get rid of them quickly or perhaps a pill ? So basically people have to accept that getting rid of anxiety, " managing" is actually a more appropriate term, it takes knowledge both in coping skills ( until you are in fact " better") and knowledge of what is the catalyst behind the attacks. Thought process is tough and lots of things going on for everyone but not accepting your thoughts, depression, stress etc..will really make anxiety roar like a lion. I mean after all anxiety ( heightened alert is our bodies protective response to danger. It's simply misfiring ( simply need to repair the trigger)

Yeah ... I've had it 27 years :-/

[Judie]

Locksey, People's personalities are different that's all. I remember 29 years ago someone said " Just snap out of it". I will never forget those words, they were like a knife. Obviously if I could have snapped out of it I would have right ? It's simply I was under a tremendous amount of stress and was very depressed about my mom's death. The problem me being a comedic, outgoing personality I was " REPRESSING "those emotions. Well when we do this the mind says you aren't listening to me so I am going to make you sick then YOU WILL PAY ATTENTION. So in all actuality anxiety is your allie, telling you when to take notice. I am confident that most people on this forum are NOT addressing something, perhaps a bad/abusive marriage, addiction etc...Something is causing an acute reaction. Often these feelings are subliminal and we push them further back. BUT here's the GOOD THING you are on a forum, so you are in fact addressing the FACT that you have ANXIETY DISORDER and that it is NOT life threatening ( albeit I promise you are fighting the thought that it isn't a health problem) LOL we'll get you past that. You are taking action and are on a very good path Hang in there !

[Judie]

Well Panic Attacks " appear" to come for no reason but often they " surface" after prolonged stress or depression which you are not addressing or perhaps handling correctly. People are masters at " stifling" their emotions. Just think about the last time you may have done that, for instance a time when there was a breakup and you were hurt but let others believe you didn't care or a time of grief where you wished to appear strong and didn't cry. These are potentially dangerous situations. You need to feel, to truly live. Many comedians suffer from anxiety/depression. Why ? Because if they stopped laughing for a moment, perhaps they would cry. I cried the night my mother died and didn't shed a tear again for a very very very long time. Panic Attacks over the years have made me acutely aware of the problem with pretending everything is ok when clearly it is not. Own your anxiety and more importantly own your feelings. For anyone that has addiction problems( I myself don't but I am very familiar with the disease) know that when you use you are self medicating and masking feelings ( drugs/alcohol -not allowing you too experience grief, emotional problems anger ect..) When an addict/alcoholic become sober they are flooded with emotions with "fear" being at the top of the list...hence MOST newly sober people will experience bouts of ACUTE ANXIETY.

[Judie]

Good that we can work together. Stressful life ?

[locksey]

Good that we can work together. Stressful life ?

I will Send u a msg thru PM