I had my panic disorder for nearly 5 years and the main trigger of my panic attacks is basically only due to intrusive thoughts about having more panic attacks. Nothing else triggers this. If I feel uncomfortable and have intrusive thoughts about panic attacks 9 times out of 10 I'll have a panic attack.
I'm curious to know if anyone else suffers this way too. Just feels a little abnormal to me to suffer because I fear the fear of having a panic attack. I wish I can say there is more to it but it's really that simple.
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Dnel82
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Calm Clinic Anxiety & Intrusive Thoughts Intro search on Google? Yeah my panic has been really kicking my behind the last few weeks. Not that it hasn't been but the last few weeks for me have been a lot of work trying to make it through the day.
Fear begets fear. Anxiety is all in the mind .... but shows up in many physical manifestations .... along with strange thoughts that either trigger or perpetuate it. Recalibrating the faulty thinking usually resolves much of the anxiety.
Yes I can identify with the "thinking" connection to the trigger...it is the main cause of anxiety (doom and gloom).....the brain does not identify the difference between imagination and reality....this is why you can wake up from a bad dream ....with your brain thinking it was real.
You only have to think somethings is going to go wrong...enough to send an alarm to the part of the brain responsible for fight or flight.
Body listening will do it too!
Looking/monitoring for early signs in an attempt to control a full blown attack will only exacerbate a physical/mental response.
My personal understanding through years of PAS is simply this.Once you experience the "first" full blown attack...you are so traumatised you will do anything to try and avoid the next one....
Thats where it goes sideways.....the learned mechanism is really created by the "alarm station" the Amygdala....which responds to everything as an emergency....it sees everything as a possible threat....sometimes known as the Amygdala Hijack.....
Its very difficult to "unlearn" things associated with physical or mental trauma.
Once you connect the dots....two things work the seesaw.
1:Body listening....or Stinking thinking.(thats you monitoring every twinge, heatbeat, breath on the lookout for an early warning sign)
2:Amygdala response.....fast heart rate....lots of adrenalin...disturbed breathing pattern...stomach churning...toilet visits....every part of the body...every part of the mind.
This over time will trigger even with minor issues perceived as danger whereby you are never far away from total meltdown.
The panic is really an overload of adrenalin/noradrenalin.
If you let them do their thing....without overly reacting...they eventually lessen....so the trick isnt trying to find how to do something....to avoid one...
Its doing nothing to add or subtract from the attack...just letting it do its thing.
If you have already had several then you already know there is a point where it settles...that you live through it...albeit a bit shaken.But that should tell you
nothing permanently bad has happened...just a set of uncomfortable feelings
that make you think your life is about to end.....99.9% of the time...you will live to experience another and another.
My trick is to give the Amygdala a first name...and talk to it next time it triggers its alarm...."Oh! Its you again nigglesworth.....can't you find something else to do?" ..humour it...employ you emergency brake and begin bringing you calmness back by just breathing through it and letting go....
Hope you can see the bogyman for what it truely is...a figment of your amygdalas imagination....take control of your stress...walk...relax...sleep...this panic will subside....
Mine started 40 years ago...three to four times aday...it should have killed me by now!...now i get one once in 6 months...l recognise it and let it run its path...because i no longer react to it.
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Some wise words, Jomico. Thank-you. 🌺
This happens to me, too, although it has gotten better over the past year. Fear of Fear sums it up in a nutshell. What did help was "accept and move on" as others have said. It takes a lot of practice and time and commitment on our part. We are worth it.
Yes, it's called anticipatory anxiety and is basically the fuel that feeds the anxiety. The good thing is that you are aware of what is happening so you can learn how to deal with it.
Hey, I feel the same... I don’t have phobias, I’m not scared of anything, I just get an overwhelming feeling whenever I’m about to do something that I perceive as being ‘embarrassing to have a panic attack’ and boom! There it is! The longer it goes on, the more situations it effects, and if I’ve been anxious in a particular situation, that then gets added to the list in my brain of things not to do just in case I feel that way again’ it’s relentless!
Hi! I suffer from panic Disorder for 20 years.. I have a lot's thought which make me panicking , but also I have fear from panic attacks... Cruel feeling
I’m dealing with this right now. I’ve never had panic attacks until this May. And now I’m panicking about panicking. It’s a terrible feeling and has made me entirely depressed. It’s consumed my entire life and I would do anything to feel normal again.
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Anxiety and Panic Attacks that will not go away
Still suffering from panic attacks due to my claustrophobia and emetophobia 
Scared! Reply asap! :(
Obsessive thoughts
