panic attack now!!

Joined: 26 Nov 2008 Posts: 68

I am in the midst of a panic attack. I hate these feelings / sensations! It doesnâ€™t happen all that often, but oh my God, when it does it is awful. It sort of started yesterday and I made an appointment with my tdoc for Friday. My stomach is in a knot, my eyes are not focusing, I canâ€™t breathe, I canâ€™t concentrateâ€¦Iâ€™m trying some deep breathing. I am trying to not dwell on my negative thoughts, but I canâ€™t seem to find replacements for them. I hate this!! I want to scream to try to let the tension out â€“ it doesnâ€™t work usually and Iâ€™m sitting in my office. That might cause a few unwanted reactions. Part of the panic is that Iâ€™m getting flooded with work, so leaving the office isnâ€™t going to help. God, please make it stop! Sad

Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 3:00 pm

Oh Polar Bear, I hope you are ok. Can you go to a safe place right now and try to stay calm? Can you listen to soft music and try to relax a bit? I know it seems like hell right now, but it does go away. Friday will be here soon. When you feel better can you tell me what kind of work you do? Do you work away from home? If you work away from home, can you go to a conference room or break room or bathroom and collect your calm? Would headphones help with music that you can enjoy? What about B-Complex vitamins? Do you belong to a support group in your area?

Please keep posting.
Leah

Joined: 26 Nov 2008 Posts: 68

Leah,
Thank you so much. I'm trying to do what my tdoc has taught me, but it is not going well. I'm supposed to write down the negative thoughts I'm having and challenge them with something that proves the thoughts are a lie. I can definitely identify the negative, but am not so good with finding a way to show that they are a lie.

At least now when I have these attacks, I know that I'm not dying. The first one I had was so awful and I was sure it was physical. That was pre-therapy, pre-diagnosis, etc.

I still feel it, but not as intense. I am feeling really overwhelmed at work. I had to take time off to deal with my daughter's health issues and now I feel like I just can't catch up - which makes me not concentrate very well, and round and round I go. I'll be traveling next week and won't get a lot of my normal work done - except in the evenings at the hotel.

I'll hang for now and pray for better feelings and thoughts. Right now my brain is telling me that I am such a loser, failure, etc. and I can't find a way to prove myself wrong.

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 5:20 am

Sorry I didn't post sooner yesterday. Now that it's Friday, you will have your appointment and maybe things will go smoother for you. I think removing yourself from the situation that was triggering anxiety was a good move. Sounds like things calmed for you when you did that. Thoughts are transient unless we fixate, but that doesn't mean they are any less powerful. I like your Tdocs idea about writing down positive thoughts. If it's hard to do in the middle of an attack, maybe you could wait till you are in a better frame of mind. Carry those positives with you and then pull them out when you need to. Do you sense when an attack is coming on?

Peace to you,
Leah