Strong fear, sense of panic

[mags78]

Im suffering from this internal sense if fear, i dont even know what im scared of, it just comes and makes me feel dreadful. Pounding heart, sadness, tearfulness etc. Started (again) last week but i suffer from GAD and health anxiety all my life. Im on Prozac and dont know why these attacks still happen. Should prozac not protect me? I had a health scare two weeks ago and even though all turned out to be fine the anxiety lingers on. Crying so bad right now. I dont know how to help myself anymore. ;-( xx

[Stan_K]

Hey mags78. I’ve suffered with anxiety and depression for a long time and for the longest time, things weren’t bad. The only thing that made things become a little rough is when traumatic or scary things with close people happened. One thing that I know you have to do to get rid of the way that these thoughts and fears affect you is to change the way you think. The best way to do that is to change your schedule. We’ve been thinking the wrong way since we were little kids and it’s finally caught up to us and that’s the problem. We have to change the way we think by changing our schedules. Besides work, I’ve changed my schedule and began exercising and I’ve had about a 70% turnaround and I feel great. I started off taking medications when I first began having issues but the medication didn’t really help, it only made me feel like a zombie. My recent turnaround has been medication free(although I do take vitamins), and I feel great. Go jogging, take long walks, get in tune with nature(the trees, leaves, animals, sunsets, rain, etc). Observe your surroundings to see if your environment stresses you out and get away from it. Try these things and always remember that Your Mind can cause you to feel either good or bad, happy or sad, peaceful or miserable. Always pray to GOD and trust that he will guide you and heal you 😏

Hope this helps. Take care.

[Lu2356 in reply to Stan_K]

Thanks! I needed to hear this. Having been my mom’s caregiver for 10 months straight, took a toll on me in all aspects. I will definitely make the effort and time to schedule something better than what I am doing now.

[Agora1 in reply to Lu2356]

Hi Lu2356, I can relate to what you are going through right now. In one word, Burnout. At one time, I thought I was invincible. Was my mother's caretaker as well as my Anorexic daughter. Running from one appointment to another with each one of them when suddenly I became mentally frozen. My anxiety spiraled out of control having fear of anything and everything. I couldn't function. That is until I realized that I had to take care of "me" before I could reach out to others.

Besides having frequent therapy, I also looked into Meditation, Deep Breathing and Self Hypnosis. I needed a respite, an escape w/o going away. I used moments in the day to rejuvenate mentally and physically. By allowing 10-15 min each afternoon to totally relax, I was given a second breath.. It's all about Balance in our lives. We do what we can to help our loved ones but not at our expense or no one wins.

Being on call 24/7 for someone is overwhelming. Maybe you could possibly have someone relieve you from time to time would be beneficial. I so understand where you are coming from. Finding methods/tools that work for you will help relieve some of the stress you are under. Coming to this site you will find understanding and caring.

Lu, take care of yourself. You are important too. We are here for you xx

[Lu2356 in reply to Agora1]

Thank u! I really needed to hear this. Everything u described I have been feeling these past few days, so intense. I need to set my boundaries with my brothers and tell them that I am not on call 24/7 for my mother. My son recently got diagnosed with adhd. He is going to counseling also. I believe it has been helping. Medications are the last resort for me. I realize I need to put effort in helping myself and not expect for things to fade away or them fix themselves. Thank u reaching out. God bless.

[Agora1 in reply to Lu2356]

Stay strong Lu, I'm here for you if you need to talk. xx

[Stan_K in reply to Lu2356]

You’re so very welcome!! And please don’t hesitate to ask me for any help in the future😄

[mags78 in reply to Stan_K]

Bless you. Thank you so much. I also can have very long periods of time when things are absolutely fine. Then something triggers worry (like health or bad news) and while normal reaction would be to grieve, process and heal, mine is to grieve, catastrophise, become anxious, think that this time it will be worst ever, catastrophise more and increase anxiety and the vicious circle continues. In the past i always managed to snap out of it, after a longer or shorter time. So i need to believe this time i can too. Just when im in this dark place its somehow hard to believe in success. X

[Lu2356 in reply to mags78]

I believe we can do it. We can support one another. I have to do it for myself and kiddos. They need me more than anyone else right now. I don’t like them seeing me defeated and wanting to sleep during the day bc I was up all night struggling.

[Indigojoe in reply to mags78]

I get it.

[Platesofmeat]

Hi,

I agree with what has been said about meditation and self hypnosis.

It sounds like your nervous system is in a highly sensitized state and the feelings of panic is your mind looking for attention as it is telling you to rest up/ change what you are currently doing.

The panicky feelings can never hurt you but are uncomfortable and can be terrifying.

We have to change what we can, and one way is to do meditation to learn how to give yourself space.

The following is a free APP of the biggest meditation library in the world. Some programmes you have to pay for or if you want the capability to listen to your favourite meditations offline you need to pay £2 a Month. I think that is more than worth it.

Research has shown it takes 28 days of practice every day to form a new habit, take time out for yourself to get into a healthy one.

Best wishes....

insighttimer.com/meditation...

[mags78 in reply to Platesofmeat]

Thank you xx