ok until going home?

[tgr17]

I'm a college student. My problems with anxiety began my sophmore year in college. I am not a senior. I have my good days and bad. I've taken meds for it and tried not having meds. Mostly my anxiety is under control but for some reason everytime I go home and visit my family I get panic attacks and anxiety gets really bad....followed by slight depression when I go back to college. I can't figure out why my anxiety flares up when going back to my hometown. I don't have family problems or anything that would seem to make it happen...it just does. Any ideas? The only thing I can think is I was living at home when my first experiences with GAD and panic attacks began. Could the whole experience of being back home trigger panic attacks from just simply having the memory of having them there before? I don't know...I'm clueless but I'd like to get over it because I avoid going home for fear of panic attacks.

[northstar]

hallo again!

i know you must have looked at this situtation over and over again trying to figure out what's going on. have you looked a whats different when you go home? e.g. do you eat different kinds of foods to the kind you eat at college? or are you consuming more than you usual level of coffee or tea or alchohol or sugary foods and drinks when you go home? do you get enough sleep, or do you spend time talking to your family and not get many hours of rest in? take a good look at how your living patterns differ between the two places.

i know when i head back home to visit my parents i get really bad about my diet and i tend to succumb to the kinds of things i know i shouldn't eat too much of like chinese food, sugary cereals, tea, coke and chocolate - all of this combines to make me feel bad and can last a few days after i go back to the city until my diet straightens out again! but it's my own fault!

the other thing to look at is kind of the same as my last reply, perhaps you've gotten into a pattern of feeling bad when you go home and so you expect to feel that way and your body responds to it. if you're feeling on edge in any way and you're waiting for the anxiety to come then it can trigger the stress response and make you feel bad. avoidance is not the answer unfortunately, the best way is to deal with it head on. go home, feel the anxiety but know that you are ok, you're not gonna die or go crazy, you've been through it before and you've come out just fine :) many people here will tell you the key is in acceptance. do you really want to allow yourself to be a victim to the anxiety and let it stop you from going home to spend time with your folks? the control is in your hands. you might like to consider talking to a therapist about it, you'll be surprised how much it can help!