First Post - Short Term Anxiety

[joejoejoe]

Hi all.

I'm an early 30s male. I'm generally happy and have only normal anxiety, but I've had 3 separate instances where I experienced intense anxiety for over a month.

The first instance started after scuba diving in a foreign country about 8 years ago. The potential to not breath really freaked me out. I was on a tour and took about 5 dives, then traveled around the country for the next 2 weeks. My anxiety grew and I had a panic attack near the end of the trip.

After about a month, everything returned to normal. I could travel alone to a foreign country with only a backpack and no worries.

The 2nd and 3rd times had no obvious trigger though. In both I was visiting family. Anxiety just started to overcome me, starting slowly, and by the end of the trip I couldn't sleep and was filled with constant worry, even though I had nothing to worry about. I was exhausted, irritable, and had intense feelings that I needed to escape. These feelings lasted for several weeks after returning home.

Does anybody know what could cause this? It seems routed in a situation that I can't control, where I feel trapped but have to participate with a group for an extended period of time. If this happens again, I'd like to find a way to stop the anxiety before it snowballs. Thanks!

[Lin]

Anxiety and panic attacks are very individual so you have to try and work out your own triggers so can stop them happening, and then you will know when they are going to happen which helps. But don't start to avoid going to places or doing things which start them, because then your life gets restricted and worse, just learn to control the attacks and continue your life as normal.

When having a panic attack, try concentrating on your breathing because it will have gone really shallow and fast. So slow it down and try to breath deeper from your stomach. Also have some water because your mouth will be dry and wetting it helps. Learning how to cope with your attacks is really good and then if you know you can control them you will feel less anxious about them. If you start to hyperventilate, cup your hands over your nose and mouth and breath deeply - just like using a paper bag over your nose and mouth and it will help.

All the books etc say that anxiety and panuc attacks are based on false fears about something bad which might happen, and not on real fears of bad things actually happening. Also everyone says to realise that you are not going to die from a panic attack, so you should be able to calm down.

I am now learning meditation, so when I am out and getting bad, I just concentrate on my breath and it slows it down and interrupts my bad thought pattern, especially if not only i concentrate on my breath but I count them too.

Hope this helps. This forum is really good and you will probably get lits of different good advice, but remember we are all individual so you have to work out what works for you.

[joejoejoe]

Thanks Lin. If there's one positive about these experiences, it's that it made me a more understanding, accepting person.

The previous 2 times I suffered alone. This time I plan to seek help and share my experiences with family.