the whole point of that post that you commented on, is that all these people are here to get help,but are any actually doing the coping skills? i've recovered from them too, and i totally agree with you're coping skills, theirs alot of good thoughts and skills that are posted on this. are they actually doing them? how come they don't ask for more specific help? i know alot are scared ,but not all? i feel better taking advice with someone who has recovered than one that hasn't.alot of talk with prescription drugs,i totally understand if someone is on them because they were born with a real chemical balance , but the ones who are ok ,and have anxiety and panic attacks do not have a chemical balance for life it's something that can be dealt with without medication, i don't care what anyone says anyone can recover from this, and if a doctor tells you that you will have this for life and need to be on med , their wrong and find a different doctor, many doctors have told me this, and it's wrong many have recoveed from this , whose had doctors tell them the same thing including me!!!!!!!!! some doctors feel they knowit all, and that is just not reality! i don't know about you, but do you feel that maybe they don't take this seriously enough to actually, beleive that what some of us say could really help them? and who has really tried them?
i hope you didn't take that post offensivily? i just care about all these gals and men, and wonder if their taking are help serioulsy? chris
I am willing to listen and seriously attempt to implicate coping skills into my life.
What are some clear reccomendations?
I do not want to be on prozac and klonopin for the rest of my life.
Let me give you a situation I could use help coping with right now.
Today is my little girls fourth birthday, and I am supposed to take my other two along with her to a Halloween Harvist Festival tonight.
However I am sitting here on the verge of panic because a way older friend of mine that has actual heart problems stopped taking his meds about a week ago, He if feeling pain (you know where) doesnt think he needs a doctor, I dont know where he is and I am scared for him.
He doesnt have panic he has actual medical physical concerns.
How should I cope with this?
[This message has been edited by DawnMarie1978 (edited 10-25-2003).]
ha, i thought someone might get confused. this was for fm5 ,he replied to one of my posts and i wasn't sure if he was upset or took me wrong, thats all !!
anyways i'm alot better giving advice on the anxiety,than this, but i'll try.
this is a real situation you have ,and i'm sorry about you're friend.first of all : nothing has happened to you're friend that you can be sure of, right? so what i would do is focuse on the positive. tell yourself that he'll be ok, it's sad he qiut taking his med, but he's the only one who can make that decision. what ever is going to happen is out of you're control! their two types of situations; ones that you can do something about, and of course ones that are out of you're control , and this sounds like this is out of you're control? right? all you can do is pray for him. don't feel yourself with nagetive what if's,and yourself with scary thoughts that haven't even happened. talk to you're self like you would your daughter, tell yourself that he'll probably be ok, and if something happened he'll get himself help,keep you're self focused on you're daughter, this worry is useless, what is it going to do for you, is it going to help you're friend? all you are going to do is make yourself sick with worry. and nothing has even happened, would if the pain went away? what if he's doing something fun, and enjoying himself? maybe he's relaxing somewhere? what if nothing even comes out of this? practice with this. set down right now and write your nagetive thoughts, then write a positive, something that is true and less scary. believe me ,you can't just think of positive thoughts it doesn't work this way, write it down!!keep a smile on you're face, keep distracting yourself, you can do this! keep positive everytime you have a nagitive ,replace it with something true, don't go to extreme with you nagetive thoughts keep them in perspective, the neat thing about telling yourself the truth is you can't scare yourself, because nothing has happened to him!
I am very interested in talking with you sometime. Right now I am heading out the door with my babies. But I think I could benefit greatly from listening to what you have to say, hopefully I will see you later.
It sounds like you are doing alright with your panic.
As far as your question as to "whether the posters are doing the coping skills" - of course, I probably wouldn't know, unless they actually posted that they were.
Panic disorder is a very complicated insidious disorder as you know. There is normally a lot of steps that people have to take in order to come out of this. They are:
- A basic undestanding of this disorder. That, yes, it is a vicious cycle - that you have the symptoms from panicking and then you panic from the symptoms. It is also a disorder that has what I call an insidious "snowballing effect" (please see my thread on "the snowball effect of panic disorder).
- The person has to come to the firm belief that their symptoms are not "physically related" but are the result of what I call "catastrophic thinking" - that is, thoughts like "I am going to pass out. I am going to die, etc.". These are thoughts that initiate the panic attacks themselves. These "thoughts" are what throw the whole body into a whirlwind of symptoms of not being able to breath, nervousness, trembling, fast beating heart, etc. And then, the fear of having another panic attack ontop of already existing symptoms throws the person into further panic.
- Normally and I say "normally" panic attacks are originally initiated by having a major change in one's life - when I say "change", this could mean positive or negative. For instance it could be someone going off to college or having a baby for instance. If there is an overabundance of stress in one's life from any changes in one's life, they should just sort it out with a counsellor.
- The person should learn how to do the distracting techniques I have often mentioned (see my thread on "distracting techniques - I think it is on page 11 or 12 now.) They should learn other coping skills such as breathing exercises and positive "self talk".
- If the person and their doctor deems it fit, they should try an anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medication(s).
- They have to actually "get out there" and do their exposure work. That is, they have to go to those stores, drive their car, go out walking, etc. NO MATTER HOW BAD THEY FEEL. Avoiding these situations, only makes this illness even more debilitating because it can actually box people into corners, and some people do become agoraphobic from this.
So you see, Chris, it is not a simple illness to get out of. I often said this is not a "namby pamby" illness to treat. It takes, courage, knowledge, belief in one's self, and actual implementation of doing these things to get better.
[This message has been edited by fm5 (edited 10-26-2003).]
fm5 
ha, i thought someone might get confused. this was for fm5 ,he replied to one of my posts and i wasn't sure if he was upset or took me wrong, thats all 
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