Severe Panic and Anxiety

[Jann3]

As soon as I awake, the panic begins and it grips me the entire day into evening. I have been a prisoner to my bed. The physical symptoms that come along with my fear is IBS and tight chest and overwhelming panic. I cannot think straight and I have two beautiful girls 3 and 8 to take care of and I can barely manage. I feel so guilty for being agitated or off or not engaged with them. I have lost so much quality time with them that it rips at my heart. The guilt is overpowering.

My doctors cannot find any med to help calm me and I feel hopeless. Simple tasks make me want to crawl back into bed.

I feel scared all the time and cannot focus. I feel alone and afraid and my support system is nil. I’m having a difficult time beyond all words with managing my life, getting out the door, completing tasks, cleaning, cooking, I get so overwhelmed so fast. Which has lead to a pile up of problems. Clutter...and strain on my marriage as it’s all falling in my husband.

I don’t know what to do anymore. I feel horrible daily. And the thought of my girls going back to school and the one just starting school makes me panic. I’ve lost so much time with them and I’ve been off work to raise them and as well as my panic was getting in the way of me getting to teaching assignments. I’d have to make pit stops along the way because my anxiety drove me into instant urgent IBS. Its been a nightmare.

[Hidden]

I can totally relate to the panic gripping you in the morning and making you so miserable and paralyzed. I too have horrible panic in the morning that usually lasts into mid day, I seriously think I’m losing my sanity. The energy drain is enormous, completely depleted feeling and a loss of joy. Lexapro has helped some, but I have some stubborn panic. You are not hopeless, and you are not alone. How long has it been this bad? Was there a triggering event that happened?

[Jodi_S]

I understand how you feel. I too have extreme morning panic. As a matter of fact, it’s only 8:10 and I just had a panic attack. It’s an awful cycle. You wake up in the morning trying to tell yourself this is the day it all stop and you feel normal again. Then the attack comes.

You are not alone. You will get through this. Anxiety is a temporary state of mind. It’s tough right now but it will get better.

[Jeff1943]

Jann3, I believe that you can recover from this. Many people here have felt the symptoms that you mention so you are not alone and you can recover just as many others have.

I don't know what started your anxiety but I believe it has now become self-perpetuating: fuelled by the fear you feel on a daily basis. It's a vicious circle, you experience the symptoms and the bad feelings and you respond with fear. The new fear causes more bad feelings which cause more fear and on it goes. The vicious circle can be broken through understanding, reassurance and a shift in the way you respond to your symptoms. So I say again, you can recover no matter how long or how deeply you have suffered.

Anxiety disorder occurs after a long period of stress, worry, overwork, loss, grief and/or disappointment. Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint the original cause. No matter, the result is the same: your nervous system becomes highly sensitised and in this state it starts to mislead us with exaggerated fears and false symptoms of illness. Every minor task is magnified into a major challenge, each small problem normally easily solved becomes a crisis. The organ that is usually first to be affected is the stomach, hence the IBS. All caused by the over sensitive state of your nerves. But it can be reversed. Now you know what's happening to you, it's a perfectly normal reaction to stress and it's kept alive by fear.

Anxiety can make us feel awful but its power is limited. It can't kill you or disable you or make you lose your mind. Be reassured by its limitations.

You can bring about your recovery by doing the opposite to what you're doing now. Stop fighting it, fighting causes more stress and strain, your nervous system needs less not more of those. Instead of rejecting the bad feelings accept them for the moment. Accept them utterly and agree to co-exist with them for the time being. You know they can do you no permanent damage so accept the symptoms, replace fear with acceptance. You cannot both accept something and fear it at the same time, choose acceptance over fear.

When the first pang of fear comes whether first thing when you wake or later in the day do not add second fear to first fear. If you truly accept then you won't be constantly testing yourself to see if the bad feelings have gone. Let them have their day, their reign is coming to an end. You win not by the punches that you give but by the punches that you take.

Are you still there, Jenn3, I do hope so because this is about freeing you from the misery of anxiety for the rest of your life. By stemming the flow of fear hormones to your nervous system it rests and eventually recovers. You see, your body is waiting to heal you but you keep stopping that from happening by fighting and fearing and testing and stressing and obsessing.

Instead you win by doing nothing. Yes, you read that right, you win by doing nothing: no fighting, no adding second fear to first fear, just carry on as normal with your daily routine despite the bad feelings because before long you aren't going to feel those bad feelings any more.

You're probably exhausted, the last thing you want to do is read a book but I'm going to suggest you read a book. A short one that has allowed untold thousands to recover. The same book has two titles 'Self help for your nerves' and 'Hope and help for your nerves' by Doctor Claire Weekes and available from Amazon or Ebay. Weekes was the person who many years ago set out the Acceptance method for recovery from anxiety disorder and she describes it in her book far better than I ever can here. You will soon recognise yourself in its pages.

Give it a try, for your sake and your family's sake. What's to lose?

[Coward123]

I know what you're talking about . The way I try to handle it , is I look at my self in a mirror and I get mad . I say what f is wrong with you , do you like being like this and give myself a dummy slap . I bought a home gym , I tell myself if I use it and it kills me at least I'll look good . Than I work my ass off . It's hard not easy , but I feel a lot better , but the anxiety does eventually come back , but I feel like I'm fighting back .

[Agora1]

Oh I've had many talks with myself in the mirror Jann3. Sometimes saying things out loud to snap us into a reality check helps a lot. Keep that humor in your day as well. A good laugh, a positive attitude and accepting this is not harmful will get you through x