Your a person that I wish, at this moment I could give you a big hug. I’m soooo glad you found a way to deal with this. I applaud you with doing all that you do. I know, just after listening to ou, I don’t have anxiety, but I do have pain which causes me to become very nervous because I’m just trying to prove myself and I want to be the best. If I can’t give my all, then I may as well forget it. Hank you for sharing your story. May you continue to be blessed. Gloria
susanjs said:
I think this is going to be a long post. Hope it helps.
Here are some of the things I have learned about agoraphobia and anxiety:
I suffered from agoraphobia for 5 years. I was unable to go out of the house (my safe place) and needed either my husband, my mother or stepfather with me to get to appointments (safe people). I got pregnant (god knows how - I think it was an immaculate conception) and decided mothers could not have agoraphobia. Therapy and drugs were not working. I happened on a book (can’t remember the title) that said extreme anxiety attacks (which I still had even though I was in my house or with a safe person) were a result of being hypersensitive to our bodies. I would have a symptom of anxiety and then would focus on it which just sent me reeling into a huge panic attack. “Normal” people have the same symptoms, but don’t notice them as we do and so don’t have the panic attacks. I also learned that anxiety attacks cannot last more than about 20 minutes (in the extreme form), so I began visualizing them as clouds that came to me, through me and passed out of me. That began to help.
So, I finally got out of the house, but continued to have huge panic attacks. I would be on the job, have a panic attack and just bolt out to my car and race home (way over the speed limit). I still needed “safe” people I could turn to that would talk to me until the panic subsided. I took a new job- my commute was 25 miles each way through rush hours and through tunnels. On snowy days (MN) it could take three hours both ways. I had huge panic attacks when stuck in a tunnel or in rush hour. I kept trying to visualize the cloud and kept telling myself that I was not going to die, throw up, have a heart attack, etc. I kept repeating my name and address out loud to try to ground myself and bring myself back into reality. Then one day, I had a John Denver tape in my car and was singing to it. I noticed that I was not panicked. It was sort of like you can’t have a panic attack and sing at the same time. So when I started to have an attack, I would crank John Denver and sing as loud as I could. It worked.
I am talking about a period spanning 35 years. The more I practiced the cloud visualization, sang and talked myself down, the less frequent the attacks became. They sort of lost their power. I have been an Executive Director of social service agencies and been in meetings from which I could not bolt or sing. The cloud visualization works for me.
At this point in my life, I do not have anxiety attacks. Once in a great while I can feel one trying to start and I just ignore it.
For all of you who are suffering panic attacks and great anxiety, I hope a couple of these tips work for you.
Susan