help needed - happening without warning or reason

[bettingdata]

Hi all,

I am a newbie here and I need some serious help before I start writing my will and preparing my family for what I feel like is about to happen.

In the last week I have had really bad shortness of breath, like no matter how hard I breath I can't get enough oxygen. It's almost like breathing through a straw. Then I started getting tingling sensations in my left arm. I went to the doctor and she could find nothing wrong bar a high blood pressure reading and asked me to come back in two weeks for a blood test.

Later that day it got worse and I had chest pain, I went to the emergency room and they did an ECG but said there was nothing acute on it. He suggested it was anxiety.

I could be willing to accept that it's just anxiety if i started happening when I was worrying about something. But it can start anytime for no reason, I can be sitting at work typing a document and then bang i can't breath. Surely if it was anxiety it would be trigged by something not just happening randomly.

We went to the theatre last night and bang in the middle of the play I felt my neck tighten and my hand started to tingle.

I have never had any sort of feeling like this before and I don't know why it's started but it scares the hell out of me.

[gavin]

ok you have just describe my first and now your first panic attack the tingling in your hands is you taking in to much oxygen now the chest pains is from your anxiety i get chest pains muscle tension in the left shoulder heart burn muscle twicting dissy spells and the list go on its all cause by anxiety but the worse one off then is the heart pulpation thats what really freacks me out ive been in the emergency room that many time and had all the test and they all come up that iam very healthy so what you need to do now is go get a book called living with it by bev aisbett

[bettingdata]

Thanks Gavin

But shouldn't this be triggered by something, why does it just happen at random?

[RabidBadger]

Hi bettingdata

It is not uncommon for worrying thoughts to enter your mind without you consciously recognising them amongst the thousands of other thoughts we have. This doesn't mean they are not there.

Sometimes when you get an itch, you scratch it without even noticing you've done it. This is the same thing - we are not always privvy or in-tune to the things that are happening in our subconscious minds.

Chris

[Robbed]

It is not uncommon for worrying thoughts to enter your mind without you consciously recognising them amongst the thousands of other thoughts we have. This doesn't mean they are not there.

Sometimes when you get an itch, you scratch it without even noticing you've done it. This is the same thing - we are not always privvy or in-tune to the things that are happening in our subconscious minds.

Chris

Then again, the steadfast belief that ALL panic attacks and other flashes of anxiety MUST have been thought-provoked is one area where MANY therapists and psychologists go wrong. If you are having panic attaks, your brain is in an anxiety state. And there's the rub. The anxiety state itself causes the brain to operate somewhat erratically, somwhat like a misfiring engine. And this causes panic attacks to occur WITHOUT ANY PROVOCATION. In fact, this is the way that most panic attacks occur.

[RabidBadger]

There has to be a triggering thought to cause the state of anxiety in the first place.

Panic doesn't happen without frightening thoughts.

[Robbed]

There has to be a triggering thought to cause the state of anxiety in the first place.

Panic doesn't happen without frightening thoughts.

It depends on how you want to look at it. The anxiety state is caused by changes to the brain that occur when either chronic and/or EXREMELY acute stress is present. So it is actualy stress, not thought(s) that cause anxiety. Yes, you can consider thoughts to be the cause, since the stress is caused by the thoughts. But it isn't always. Some people can have certain thoughts without generating stress, while other people DO generate stress from the thoughts. So really, it is stress that leads to the anxiety state. And once in the anxiety state, you don't need triggering thoughts to cause anxiety or panic. And by triggering thoughts, I mean thoughts that immediately preceed the anxiety/panic rather than the thoughts that caused stress for all those years which lead to the anxiety condition.

I emphasize that panc attacks are not always caused by triggering thoughts for ONE reason: if you beieve this, then you will likely always be searching for these triggering thoughts. And if they are not apparent (or non-existant), trying to find them can cause MUCH additional stress and worry - something you don't want.

[RabidBadger]

The only thing that determines whether a certain thought generates stress or not is your own individual perception.

Whatever emotion you choose to single out - stress, anxiety, hate, love, pride, jealousy - there is always a thought process behind it. Emotions are cognitive processes.

I emphasise that panic is always caused by one or a series of triggering thoughts. If anyone disagrees with this then I would love to learn something new.

Furthermore, I will add that, as a psychologist and recovering agoraphobic, the best thing I ever did was to learn to recognise negative thoughts. When I first started having panic atacks, they seemed to come out of nowhere but with practice you learn to recognise your negative thoughts.

[Mark]

How did you learn to recognise negative thoughts?

I have always lived with chronic stress (I'm the guy everyone tells to "chill out" because I can't seem to just relax). A couple of weeks ago, I had my first panic attack, not fun at all. Since then I have attempted to do things to calm myself down (watch movies, go to casinos, go to hockey games, try to forget everything and anything that causes me stress). This works for the time that I am doing the activity but, once it is over, the stress and anxiety returns.

What I am wondering is if I learn to recognise the negative thoughts, can I push them aside?

Like bettingdata, my anxiety seems to come up when I least expect it. I could be sitting at my computer working away, then boom, there it is.

I am not currently on medication and am not interested in going that route. Just wondering if learning to use my mind properly would help do the trick.

[RabidBadger]

Hi Mark

You will certainly be much better placed to deal with negative thoughts if you can identify them.

The way I started out was to recognise every negative thought that came along - no matter how trifling. If I was watching television and someone annoying came on, I'd think "I can't stand that bloke". If it started raining I'd think "bloody miserable weather".

I amazed myself at how much of my life I spent in an unnecessarily negative state of mind.

I'm not suggesting that you beat yourself up about it, just realise that it's happening.

Chris

[badger]

I know exactly how you are feeling. years ago i went through a stage of having these attacks and they are hideous. i had the chest pains, the tingling and such a bad headache i thought i was having a stroke (leading to a horrendously embarrassing trip to A & E).

as soon as you can believe that it is over breathing causing the symptoms and learn to regulate it, you will feel better i promise. it truely is the most terrible feeling but understanding why its happening and what is causing it will stop it. also don't forget that a lot of things are going on in your subconscious all the time, this probably isn't at all random. hang in there!

[jlyaphrodite]

My dr. told ,e anxiety happens just because. There does not have to be a reason for you to have an attack. I have no stress or issues in my life that would cause itand I am experiencing problems. My mom and sister have had issues with anxiety so I think it is more of a chemical and hereditary thing for me. Good luck!

[dedlus]

I remember those days, in and out of emergency. Thinking i was dying or that I had some terrible disease. Every test comes out normal and it is soooo frustrating.
I have had panic disorder for 4 years now. The attacks come out of the blue for no reason. But at least now I know that when I start feeling lightheaded that I should take something before it turns bad.
Some people are lucky and can find there trigger and some of us can't.

Mine all started 7 months into owning a hairsalon with 17 female stylists. I now know the stress that comes with this job caused my panic attacks but I still don't know what triggers them. I am now in the process of selling my salon and am hoping as a result of this that I can get my life back...

Do you remember what you were doing when your attack happened? Or did anything major happen sometime prior in life?[/quote]

[saskykitty]

Sounds to me like you breathing incorrectly.

Look up deep abdominal breathing and practise it regularly.

You will start to feel better. Try inhaling a menthol cream or sucking on strong menthol sweets when it happens. Its a bad breathing habit that is causing this feeling.

Through out the day check your posture and whether you are taking deep breaths or if you maybe constricting your breathing.

Mabye take up some yoga classes.

Please let me know if this helped.

[SuperMegaRichard]

I found the problem with myself and anxiety is that it is my brains self defense to shut doors on things that causes stress. This makes it hard to find out what triggers it. Basically i believe my brain shuts these doors on stressors to protect itself instead of dealing with them properly. For example if there is something you should cry about and come to terms with like a loss of a loved on, instead of going through the proper channels of relief a person can just shut them off and this drives the brain crazy in the end. So basically yes anxiety is most likely genetics. That basically means that genetics doesn't allow us to handle our stress and thoughts properly, but this can be a learned. So basically if someone had no stress or anything then they might be susceptible to anxiety through genetics but being void of stress it doesnt manifest.

[SuperMegaRichard]

I found the problem with myself and anxiety is that it is my brains self defense to shut doors on things that causes stress. This makes it hard to find out what triggers it. Basically i believe my brain shuts these doors on stressors to protect itself instead of dealing with them properly. For example if there is something you should cry about and come to terms with like a loss of a loved on, instead of going through the proper channels of relief a person can just shut them off and this drives the brain crazy in the end. So basically yes anxiety is most likely genetics. That basically means that genetics doesn't allow us to handle our stress and thoughts properly, but this can be a learned. So basically if someone had no stress or anything then they might be susceptible to anxiety through genetics but being void of stress it doesnt manifest.