Panic Attacks

[Guest guest]

I've had a few, but fortunately the thing that triggers my panic attacks is

mostly avoidable. Mine has to do with driving over big bridges; I start to

panic because I feel like I'm going to black out when I find myself unexpectedly

driving over a really big bridge: if I black out I will drive right over the

edge. And die.

So as long as I avoid driving over large bridges I'm OK. (I had never had a

panic attack in my life, then I went for a pleasure drive one day just to

explore and relax, and found myself about to enter the Oakland Bridge for the

first time; with no warning I experienced a full-blown, massive panic attack.

Very scary.)

Then for a while, back about a decade ago, I noticed that driving over small

bridges, like elevated on/off ramps on the freeway was starting to trigger that

black-out feeling and panic, but I developed a strategy for dealing with it, and

it doesn't bother me so much anymore. I consciously did not want the triggers

to escalate or, I believed, it would get to the point where I was afraid to

drive at all.

I discovered (quite recently) that oddly enough, having another person in the

car with me helps tremendously. It lowers the intensity of the sensation of

panic quite noticeably. The panic is more intense if I am alone.

The mind is an effing amazing and labyrinthine thing; it fascinates me that I

can have a panic attack and *at the same time* experience the sensation of

*observing* myself experience the panic but from a sort of third-person

perspective, as though I am floating outside my own body somewhere behind and

above my left shoulder. And commenting on the whole thing. Its quite

astonishing, really.

Oh: my strategy, if I find myself on an unusually long or high exit ramp, is to

tell myself that if I stay in the right lane, then my body is as close to the

center of the ramp as possible, and all I have to do is match the speed of the

car in front of me, focusing on their license plate, and I will be OK. Its like

self-hypnosis, I guess. Seems to work OK. Low-level sensations of panic are

still there, but they do not escalate into full-blown panic.

In a way (and this may sound really weird) I see this as life-affirming. I

apparently do not want to die, because the thought of losing consciousness and

driving off a bridge sends me into a panic. I guess that's a good thing (?)

I've also had a minor sensation of panic, more like " urgency " , to get out of a

large and very dense crowd, twice now. That happened a decade or so after the

bridge incident. I hope that does not escalate; there are several events I like

to attend that involve negotiating large crowds.

-Annie

>

> I am off my anxiety medication- I have been for several months.

> I have posted that I am exercising- dieting and trying to take better care of

myself. I also remain in therapy- my 5th year of therapy- actually.

>

> I hate the aniexty medication because I feel like it doesn't allow me to

feel- really feel what I am experiencing- good and bad. It also increases my

appetite- which I don't need.

>

> Lately at the gym- on the treadmill- I have experienced pretty bad panic

attacks. I am on the treadmill- ready to walk and once the speed starts I feel

like I am going to fall and hurt myself. I hold for dear life- it is so scary. I

am trying to work through these attacks. I do finish the workout- but it is

hard.

>

> I have also recently been quite upset about nada's comments- and just

selfish behaviors- I was - I thought doing so well- but there isn't enough

emotional insulation not to be effected by her.

>

> Does anyone else get panic attacks- and if so what do you do?

>

> Thanks everyone for listening,

> Malinda

>

[Guest guest]

I've been lucky, I have never had a panic attack ( sure, I've had those few

seconds when you hear car tires squeal and the horn blow and you realize

your dog is no longer laying behind you...) they sound terrible and scary

! I dont blame you for not wanting to be on the meds...can any herbal

replacement ( like St s wort) help and be less dulling of your feelings

?

Jackie

I am off my anxiety medication- I have been for several months.

I have posted that I am exercising- dieting and trying to take better care

of myself. I also remain in therapy- my 5th year of therapy- actually.

I hate the aniexty medication because I feel like it doesn't allow me to

feel- really feel what I am experiencing- good and bad. It also increases my

appetite- which I don't need.

Lately at the gym- on the treadmill- I have experienced pretty bad panic

attacks. I am on the treadmill- ready to walk and once the speed starts I

feel like I am going to fall and hurt myself. I hold for dear life- it is so

scary. I am trying to work through these attacks. I do finish the workout-

but it is hard.

I have also recently been quite upset about nada's comments- and just

selfish behaviors- I was - I thought doing so well- but there isn't enough

emotional insulation not to be effected by her.

Does anyone else get panic attacks- and if so what do you do?

Thanks everyone for listening,

Malinda

[Guest guest]

Annie,

You are so very kind- and I appreciate your response. I am sorry you

experience these darn things too. I know we are not only- but I want them to

stop.!!!

It is such a real and scary thing- but you made me feel it is something I

can get through.

Malinda

To: WTOAdultChildren1

From: anuria-67854@...

Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 02:39:32 +0000

Subject: Re: Panic Attacks

I've had a few, but fortunately the thing that triggers my panic attacks is

mostly avoidable. Mine has to do with driving over big bridges; I start to panic

because I feel like I'm going to black out when I find myself unexpectedly

driving over a really big bridge: if I black out I will drive right over the

edge. And die.

So as long as I avoid driving over large bridges I'm OK. (I had never had a

panic attack in my life, then I went for a pleasure drive one day just to

explore and relax, and found myself about to enter the Oakland Bridge for the

first time; with no warning I experienced a full-blown, massive panic attack.

Very scary.)

Then for a while, back about a decade ago, I noticed that driving over small

bridges, like elevated on/off ramps on the freeway was starting to trigger that

black-out feeling and panic, but I developed a strategy for dealing with it, and

it doesn't bother me so much anymore. I consciously did not want the triggers to

escalate or, I believed, it would get to the point where I was afraid to drive

at all.

I discovered (quite recently) that oddly enough, having another person in the

car with me helps tremendously. It lowers the intensity of the sensation of

panic quite noticeably. The panic is more intense if I am alone.

The mind is an effing amazing and labyrinthine thing; it fascinates me that I

can have a panic attack and *at the same time* experience the sensation of

*observing* myself experience the panic but from a sort of third-person

perspective, as though I am floating outside my own body somewhere behind and

above my left shoulder. And commenting on the whole thing. Its quite

astonishing, really.

Oh: my strategy, if I find myself on an unusually long or high exit ramp, is to

tell myself that if I stay in the right lane, then my body is as close to the

center of the ramp as possible, and all I have to do is match the speed of the

car in front of me, focusing on their license plate, and I will be OK. Its like

self-hypnosis, I guess. Seems to work OK. Low-level sensations of panic are

still there, but they do not escalate into full-blown panic.

In a way (and this may sound really weird) I see this as life-affirming. I

apparently do not want to die, because the thought of losing consciousness and

driving off a bridge sends me into a panic. I guess that's a good thing (?)

I've also had a minor sensation of panic, more like " urgency " , to get out of a

large and very dense crowd, twice now. That happened a decade or so after the

bridge incident. I hope that does not escalate; there are several events I like

to attend that involve negotiating large crowds.

-Annie

>

> I am off my anxiety medication- I have been for several months.

> I have posted that I am exercising- dieting and trying to take better care of

myself. I also remain in therapy- my 5th year of therapy- actually.

>

> I hate the aniexty medication because I feel like it doesn't allow me to feel-

really feel what I am experiencing- good and bad. It also increases my appetite-

which I don't need.

>

> Lately at the gym- on the treadmill- I have experienced pretty bad panic

attacks. I am on the treadmill- ready to walk and once the speed starts I feel

like I am going to fall and hurt myself. I hold for dear life- it is so scary. I

am trying to work through these attacks. I do finish the workout- but it is

hard.

>

> I have also recently been quite upset about nada's comments- and just selfish

behaviors- I was - I thought doing so well- but there isn't enough emotional

insulation not to be effected by her.

>

> Does anyone else get panic attacks- and if so what do you do?

>

> Thanks everyone for listening,

> Malinda

>

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[Guest guest]

Hi Malinda,

I am so busy putting my life together again that I don't have time to read the

posts. But I read yours and Annie's and I wanted to say " hang in there! " . I

experienced panic attacks in my late teens and developed full blown agoraphobia.

Annie described the experience so well.  I too used to be terrified of long,

high bridges. Then any bridge. It used to feel like I was driving upside down.

That I had no control. But someone pointed out that, in all the panic attacks I

had, I never experienced what I dreaded, like driving off the bridge, fainting,

peeing my pants...so I realized it was just a fear and trusted that and over a

period of years of not giving up, they permanently left. During stressful

periods, really stressful periods, I may get a panic attack. My body goes into

automatic mode and diffuses them. My thoughts automatically talk myself down and

out of it, and nothing lingers.. At all. It is the greatest proof that changing

your thoughts is in

your control and just takes practice. A lot of practice, yes, but if you hang

in there you will accomplish your goals. And the joy is indescribable. KO's have

so much stress from confusion, those with a certain nervous temperament to begin

with seem to be vulnerable to panic. It is curable. I know.

Leanne

Subject: RE: Re: Panic Attacks

To: wtoadultchildren1

Date: Saturday, December 5, 2009, 9:42 PM

Annie,

   You are so very kind- and I appreciate your response. I am sorry you

experience these  darn things too. I know we are not only- but I want them to

stop.!!!

    It is such a real and scary thing- but you made me feel it is something I

can get through.

      Malinda

To: WTOAdultChildren1

From: anuria-67854@...

Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 02:39:32 +0000

Subject: Re: Panic Attacks

 

I've had a few, but fortunately the thing that triggers my panic attacks is

mostly avoidable. Mine has to do with driving over big bridges; I start to panic

because I feel like I'm going to black out when I find myself unexpectedly

driving over a really big bridge: if I black out I will drive right over the

edge. And die.

So as long as I avoid driving over large bridges I'm OK. (I had never had a

panic attack in my life, then I went for a pleasure drive one day just to

explore and relax, and found myself about to enter the Oakland Bridge for the

first time; with no warning I experienced a full-blown, massive panic attack.

Very scary.)

Then for a while, back about a decade ago, I noticed that driving over small

bridges, like elevated on/off ramps on the freeway was starting to trigger that

black-out feeling and panic, but I developed a strategy for dealing with it, and

it doesn't bother me so much anymore. I consciously did not want the triggers to

escalate or, I believed, it would get to the point where I was afraid to drive

at all.

I discovered (quite recently) that oddly enough, having another person in the

car with me helps tremendously. It lowers the intensity of the sensation of

panic quite noticeably. The panic is more intense if I am alone.

The mind is an effing amazing and labyrinthine thing; it fascinates me that I

can have a panic attack and *at the same time* experience the sensation of

*observing* myself experience the panic but from a sort of third-person

perspective, as though I am floating outside my own body somewhere behind and

above my left shoulder. And commenting on the whole thing. Its quite

astonishing, really.

Oh: my strategy, if I find myself on an unusually long or high exit ramp, is to

tell myself that if I stay in the right lane, then my body is as close to the

center of the ramp as possible, and all I have to do is match the speed of the

car in front of me, focusing on their license plate, and I will be OK. Its like

self-hypnosis, I guess. Seems to work OK. Low-level sensations of panic are

still there, but they do not escalate into full-blown panic.

In a way (and this may sound really weird) I see this as life-affirming. I

apparently do not want to die, because the thought of losing consciousness and

driving off a bridge sends me into a panic. I guess that's a good thing (?)

I've also had a minor sensation of panic, more like " urgency " , to get out of a

large and very dense crowd, twice now. That happened a decade or so after the

bridge incident. I hope that does not escalate; there are several events I like

to attend that involve negotiating large crowds.

-Annie

>

> I am off my anxiety medication- I have been for several months.

> I have posted that I am exercising- dieting and trying to take better care of

myself. I also remain in therapy- my 5th year of therapy- actually.

>

> I hate the aniexty medication because I feel like it doesn't allow me to feel-

really feel what I am experiencing- good and bad. It also increases my appetite-

which I don't need.

>

> Lately at the gym- on the treadmill- I have experienced pretty bad panic

attacks. I am on the treadmill- ready to walk and once the speed starts I feel

like I am going to fall and hurt myself. I hold for dear life- it is so scary. I

am trying to work through these attacks. I do finish the workout- but it is

hard.

>

> I have also recently been quite upset about nada's comments- and just selfish

behaviors- I was - I thought doing so well- but there isn't enough emotional

insulation not to be effected by her.

>

> Does anyone else get panic attacks- and if so what do you do?

>

> Thanks everyone for listening,

> Malinda

>

                         

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[Guest guest]

Annie,

I wonder if you're being triggered by something that occurred with your nada as

a child. I think I remember you mentioning that your nada has a thing about

cars? No? Trapping you in the car, or something? I wonder if you didn't have

some kind of traumatic episode with your nada in the car, or near a bridge as a

child?

Just a thought.

>

> I've had a few, but fortunately the thing that triggers my panic attacks is

mostly avoidable. Mine has to do with driving over big bridges;

[Guest guest]

I've wondered about that myself, whether the bridge phobia is due to a real-life

childhood trauma or if its more symbolic and unconscious?

I do not recall any incidents involving bridges as a child, but I do remember

being trapped in the car with nada more than once when she was furious at me and

screaming at me and her erratic driving was terrifying.

But I don't have these panicky feelings when *other* people are driving over a

bridge with me as the passenger, its only when *I* am driving. Weird!

-Annie

> >

> > I've had a few, but fortunately the thing that triggers my panic attacks is

mostly avoidable. Mine has to do with driving over big bridges;

>

[Guest guest]

If it is ok, I'd like to jump in here. I am new to this Group but I am not new

to panic attacks. Two things that helped me tremendously, actually 3. 1)

magnesium - you have to take enough and the right kinds. I take magnesium pills

that have 3 or more different kinds in them including Malate. 2) I went to an

energy therapist and she helped me get over some baggage in my past. 3) I

divorced my husband.

There is lots of information on the web about magnesium and one of it's benefits

is that it helps panic attacks.

Hope this helps!

[Guest guest]

I have not taken anything for mine. i think some of my pain might be from stress

an anxiety. so maybe i would try it. since i am in a lot of pain now.

>Wow, thanks, I had forgotten this. I used to take a product called " calm " which

I think is the malate form? Not sure but it does work for anxiety. It helps keep

the bowels moving and regular too!