For those who are suffering from panic attacks you have probably been on every site on the internet and followed every page about anxiety on Facebook, like I have. Everything I read and watched all seemed to be helpless for me, or in my eyes I would think that the advice given was very silly, as though if it was that simple to stop the panic attacks nobody would suffer from them. In college after my first semester exams I started to suffer really bad with panic attacks, doctors and friends would ask me did anything happen or was I thinking about something that happened in the past a lot, I honestly can say I was doing fine, nothing was bothering me, the panic attacks just dropped back into my life for no reason as if to say "you may have thought we were gone but were not". The first couple of weeks suffering really bad with panic attacks was hard, as the longer I was having the attacks the more classes I was missing, I was falling behind more and more every day which increased my stress/anxiety levels. Noticing myself and personality changing I started to get worried about myself, nobody can make you do anything but yourself, I knew I was the only one who could get myself help and make myself better.
I decided to go to my General practitioner and told her all the thought and feelings I was having, don’t get me wrong this is not an easy thing to do. My doctor prescribe me some medication to see if it would relax me, I believe in anti-anxiety medication as when I was suffering from anxiety before I did find a big difference from when I was on them to when I was off them, a lot of people look at medication as a placebo but if the "placebo" works then why not give them a go. However I recommend you go to your GP first if you are thinking about going down the medication route. It is not for everyone, but it can work for a short period of time for some people. My doctor also referred me to a Councillor. After a few weeks on the tablets and going to the Councillor I was able to manage better, studying at home was possible, and I was able to stay longer and longer in each lecture, starting off with only 5 minutes to reaching a half an hour, one thing I will always say is never stop trying, even though I knew I would have to leave the lectures early I would always make my long journey into college every day because then I couldn’t tell myself that I didn’t try. By doing this you also learn what works better for you and what actually makes you worse, for example, I felt panicky and sweaty when lecture started, bringing in a cold drink to put on the back of my neck really helped and wearing low cut sleeveless tops rather than jumpers ( typical college kids would wear) by doing this I learnt from my own body that getting cooled down would stop the sweating which would act like a knocking affect on all the other symptoms of the panic attacks. I found that concentrating on the lecture whilst in a panic attack actually makes things worse, acknowledging that you are having an attack and you should follow the steps that YOU know help YOUR body, not what your doctors thinks or any other person suffering from attacks, every person is different, therefore every person will have different rituals/steps that will help their body to calm down. After a while realizing that my steps were helping and I was actually able to listen to lectures again rather than only hearing my own voice in my head, I started to feel in control, feeling in control is the best feeling ever, because panicky attacks really do feel like someone is holding you down, and you having the strength to be able to push that person off you and say "I am control of my body not you" brings strength into your body/mind/soul, which lessens your fear, you will no longer fear to go the cinema or to go to Starbucks to have tea and chats with your friends because you have the power in yourself to know when and what you need to do, may it be that you need to bring a bottle of iced water and wear low cut sleeveless tops everywhere you go or put your head in-between your legs and take deep breaths, you know what to do now, and that’s what we are all asking for isn’t it, the main thing about panic attacks is that there is no "cure" well you are the cure, you just need to find your cure by trial and error, easier said than done I know, but it worked for me. Give it a go, like I said only you can make yourself better, I could sit here and write away to you for a whole year and never make you feel any better only you can go out and get the help on what you need. Ni x
7 Comments
Terri
6/2/2015 10:00:57 pm
The Blog is very informative and helpful :)
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Louise
6/3/2015 04:35:09 am
Yes . I'm finding it really helpful. Thank you for setting up this blog - I'm definitly a follower now 😊
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RIta
6/3/2015 07:00:40 am
well done you two ,about time that this blog is here for people to forget about Stigma and talk to others who understand ,without Judgement , ps Louis , will you spread the news in your circles , this should help a lot of people x
mary
6/3/2015 06:22:40 am
This is a very informative blog. Thank you for sharing your stories.
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Rita
6/3/2015 06:58:21 am
wow , how great to see young people not afraid of Stigma , about time this happened, congrats to you both for setting up this blog well done xx
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Denise
6/3/2015 07:09:00 pm
So great to see a blog thats not written from an experts point of view but from the perspective of young women who have experienced mental health issues. 👍
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megan
6/20/2015 03:52:20 am
Finding this blog really helpful. Shows that depression is something that can happen to anyone but by being open and not being afraid of being judged, everyday will be better than the day before.
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