Think I'm about to have a major attack......

[american_army_guy]

Stomach is turning, heavy forceful breathing, I keep tensing face muscles and grinding teeth, dread feeling coming on, tingling/ burning on chest......  Just telling my self it's anxiety and to embrace it but boy Its hard as hell.  Been going for about an hour now but not sure what triggered it.....   Feel like I wanna throw up.

[greeneyes2]

Hello, are you feeling any better now?

[american_army_guy in reply to greeneyes2]

I'm ok now....  Just said hell with it and embraced it...  I'm still here and still alive so that's evidence that this can't hurt or kill me.

[Agora1]

Hi American_army_guy,  what ended up happening yesterday?  Was it a major attack or a "what if"?   I have yet to learn to embrace anxiety.  For me, stopping it before it's full blown has been the way to go.  I do that with "deep breathing slowly" at the first sign of fear.  I may be in the store or driving and will consciously take a deep belly breathe and slowly blow it out through my mouth.  Nobody but myself knows what I am doing.  When at home, I listen daily to a meditation tape before getting out of bed. (I suffer from morning anxiety)   It is a good way to prepare yourself for the stresses of the day.  The are many times that we don't know what really causes anxiety to hit so we need to be prepared in reversing it more so than coping with it.  Take care.

[american_army_guy in reply to Agora1]

It was the big one, the yellowstone of panic attacks, I froze in subway parking lot for a hour and just embraced it.......  I felt the tight chest and all that, not on meds mind you, shortness of breath and the thought of this is it.....

What stopped the attack was this, I can't stop this, if it is a heart attack so be it, I am sick of worrying about panic just take me now....  Hell atleast with a heart attack I'll pass out and it'll be over.......  I didn't Go to the E.R. for the first time.....

Today paxil arrived in mail along with ativan, not going to take either, just the thought of having the ativan makes me feel better........  Don't have to take it but knowing it's by my head and ready makes me feel so much better.......   

I'm relying on CBT, I know CBT works because I did CPT for PTSD.......  I was able to back track my self to a near normal level and with that my panic came about because I reopened old wounds from PTSD.....  Alot I haven't dealt with, especially in the aspect of Death and loss....  That is my trigger......  I was numb to it with PTSD but when I fixed it I was overwhelmed.......  Bam panic happened.

[american_army_guy in reply to american_army_guy]

Embrace the heart palpaltions, embrace the shortness of breath, the burning sensation of your stomach because your blood is rushing away, embrace the tingling you get in your hands......  The light headedness, the feeling of fainting, if you embrace it truly, feel it in depth, it becomes less......  Let me tell you about a trick the army did to us......

The expirement was this,

They took 10 people, said this new vaccine will help you focus no joke......  

They split the groups up in to 5 and 5, and the first five go to get this shot, They claim o it works, makes me feel great and blah blah, the next 5 Go in.....

They have people who are actors acting like Its bad and horrible so they memic without realizing it that they must feel horrible too and they run out saying you could pay me a grand and I wouldn't take that shot again but the first group who got the same shot said they would take it for free.....  You know what was in the shot?  Adrenalin 

Both groups had the same shot....  Adrenalin when released in sports is a Great thing, or sex, or anything fun, WOO Hoo im having a blast!!!

A bad release is situations like o crap I'm about to die.....  Now they thing that is key is how your brain precieves that release....

That is panic disorder, so I and it sounds crazy will hop on a street bike and punch it when I feel an attack coming on and I'm around my bike...  It diverts my thoughts from a thinking stance to a reaction stance and makes the panic less....

Panic tricks us in to panic and I just trick my way back out and it works.....  My CBT doctor is intrigued by this and said it makes sense shockingly lol.  

[Agora1 in reply to american_army_guy]

I just saw this.  Interesting experiment with the 2 groups of men.  Doesn't surprise me though, even taking an antianxiety pill, I feel if you don't believe it's going to work, it won't.  It you took a sugar pill because you believed someone who told  you it would work in  5 min., it would work.  The mind is so powerful that you want it to work for us and not against us.   The idea of hopping on a bike and riding it into the ground is good therapy as well.  I was once told by a therapist you need to move into order to use up that extra adrenaline.  She had told me to climb up steps.  It works.  You really have thought this all out that even your CBT doctor is interested in what you have to say.  Keep giving us more of your ideas. 

[Agora1]

Hi:   Good job on handling the big panic attack.  An hour must have seem like an eternity stuck in that parking lot.  Negative thought came and yet you let yourself know either you will die or wait it out.  You didn't run to the ER, you didn't run at all.  Ironically, Paxil and Ativan arrive today but you choose not to take either.  (I got off my benzos too)  I like having a bottle on hand just like you as a comfort.  CBT is good, I also felt it was hard to deal with what I'm afraid of and forge ahead.  We each handle our fears and our panic attacks in our own way.  Whatever works.  The end result is getting better after all that's what counts. 

[american_army_guy in reply to Agora1]

Did you read the second part I posted about how to embrace it?  It really does work, it's miserable at first but it works trust me.....  That is key to making them stop for good.

[Agora1]

Yes I did read that.  I'm okay if I stop the feeling before it really takes hold, but unlike you I have trouble embracing the panic once my fear is out of control.  Fortunately, this doesn't happen anymore.  Since being off benzos for the last 2 years, I feel so much better.  Clear headed and more confident.  All the things I learned over the years, yes years of therapy have now paid off.  It all makes sense.  I wish you well.

[american_army_guy in reply to Agora1]

Thank you and one day at a time...  mine just started two months ago but I fought PTSD for 6 long years....  So I am equipped to take down panic....  My doctor is excited about my determination, I had a panic at a gas station that was horrid, next day I went back to that gas station and hung out all day lol.   He said most his patients wont do that.

[Agora1 in reply to american_army_guy]

That's good to do because it's not the gas station or store causing your panic.  That was a hard one to get over at the beginning of my panic.  If you start avoiding, your world will get smaller and smaller.  I totally agree with you.  My anxiety escalated 6 years ago.  Before that I was a paramedic and never felt any anxiety what so ever.  It seem to come from out of the shadows.  I may not be able to go out and save lives but enjoy being on this forum and helping others in a different way now.  There is always a reason for what happens in our lives.