Panic Attacks, Agoraphobia and seperation Anxiety

Conorisco

In the last six months i have Developed Panic attaks and along with these came Agroraphbia, Which i now understand to be more related with seperation Anxiety.

Anyway the main reason for this thread, is not to tell you what mental disorders i have but to tell you this. I do not recognise any of these as mental disorders i think these are normal and common, I am a normal happy person I got over panic attacks on my own. Although i went to councelling (on doctars advice) i found it of very little use, but i wouldn't go as far as saying counterproductive.
It angers me to think that these are diseases of the mind i just think that if someone develops attacks they can with the help of close friends, family and most of all strenght of will get over them.
I started college last september, i commmute every day to Dublin from about 40 miles away (1hr 10 min travel including buses and train) I decided to commute because i couldn't afford to live in dublin and also that i was a bit too young (being as i was, and still am 17) I would concider myself a bit immature compared to my peers but it doesn't bother me. I developed these attacks about a month and a hal;f into college. I beleived that i got panic attacks from the hassle of commutting, but i'd say now that it was prob being so young and not individual enough. I went to enourmous pressure in the next 2 months and was consideringstrongly leaving college.
I soon developed agoraphobia as you might expect, but it wasn't a new feeling; agoraphbia, it appears i've had it all along or rather what is called seperation anxiety. (i was one of those children who would rarely stay over in some one elses house beacuse in case i would feel sick of god forbid vomitt)
To save you a long boring annoying story of how i found myself again. Lets just say i don't get real attcks anymore, i don't have any anxiety traveling; but i have been left with a fear which i can't shake: seperation anxiety?- I can't for the life of me stay away from home, now this is causing a lot of bother for my socail life ( i Can't Get ****ed Drunk(or at least not in Dublin)). And also as i am currently planning to live in Dublin next year i really need to shake this, plus its sort of embarressing i'm 17 not 6 i can stay away from my mammy.
Sorry for being all formal but it is a public forum, Want i want to know is there anyone who has had/has anything like this? What worked for you to get rid of it? Not including bloody medication or councelling)??????????
Alrite sound

Gummy Panda

I suffer with panic attacks if I'm held down.

Example:

In Madrid with Ex, visiting her sister. I get on some warner bros park ride which goes straight up to the water tower. I hear the metal click on the harness locked in place, and all of a sudden i feel like i'm dying. My breathing becomes irratic and i'm using every bit of strenght to open the harness and get out. I start shouting but no one understand me as i don't speak spanish. Luckly my ex's sister's fella does and he got them to get me out before the ride began.

Funny thing is i'm not afraid of heights or speed.

Panic attacks are horrible things to experience and luckly for me its only rarely occasions that i have them.

Conorisco

The Thing i've found with panic attacks if you get them regularlly is that you have 2 options, 1) you break down.(which you will at the begining. or 2 you can controll them they are actually easy to controll, you know the feeling when your about to get one, and you just avoid it. its second nature to me now. You just have to remember Attacks cannot harm you in any way. its hard to beleive that when you're virtually choking, but its true.#
Yeah i heard of some people who like get they're neck held they have attacks or even drink coffee???

Silent Grape

i used to suffer from panic attacks a couple of years ago. i had flashbacks of an incident and it triggered the panicking.

im not sure what u mean, saying these mental disorders arnt disorders but normal. common, maybe, but i wish to god i knew more people who had soul crushing bouts of depression like i do. its not normal to get as depressed as i do. panic attacks arnt normal either. its a clear sign something is up, not that everything is fine. everyone gets a bit freaked out and worried when starting college. most of them arnt also suffering panic attacks. dont make it out to be less significant than it is. panic attacks are a clear indicator that somethings holding u back.

ANYWAY sorry, maybe u could talk to ur parents/family and explain to them how u feel. 17 is really young to be moving out. im 20 and still living at home (DAMMMIT). are there any friends/relatives who u could organise to live with in Dublin? how bad is it, can u stay away for one night? maybe u could biuld it up or something.

good luck anyway
x

catho_monster

i used to suffer from panic attacks too, and got over it. tried the councelling thing too and got really annoyed - ie. when one looks for reasons to a 'problem' they will inevitably find the reason they were looking for in the first place. they told me loads of 'reasons', that only with hindsight did i see to be a load of cr@p. (ie. breavement in the family, the way i was brought up etc etc)'

i think there were two reasons that i recovered.

the first was sharing my problem with people, even people you dont really know. you know the way an aquaintance will say 'how are you doing' (nb, only in certain social environments will this work) and you say 'ah, cr@ppy', and they go 'tell me about it!' etc etc etc. you'd be suprised how often this got me around to talking about the fact that i'd get panic attacks and they'd say that they did too, or they'd offer support. hearing that other people can deal with it, and how they did so, was a massive support to me. maybe i was just lucky with the people i encountered, but hell, these things have a way of coming around just when you need them.

the other thing that helped was actually realizing what caused me to panic in the first place. mine was a need to excel in college. it was a standard i placed on myself but because of that, i surrounded myself with over-achievers. i realised (by taking to the people i mentioned above) that i only got panic attacks when i was around the over-achievers. they pushed me when i thought i needed to be pushed. i thought i needed the crutch of having them around. i didnt. and when i realised that i could stand on my own two feet, i did. this was one of the hardest things for me to do, ever - i got rid of all of my close friends (of two and a half years).

anyhoo, in practice, the second point is probably the easiest (if i can dare to use that word). but these all just come with time. you seem to know what causes the anxiety...

but i have been left with a fear which i can't shake: seperation anxiety?- I can't for the life of me stay away from home,

...this is what you need to come to terms with. dont rush yourself.

i got into the mode where i couldnt leave the house if i didnt know where EXACTLY i was going, how long it would take, etc. For me, it all came down to a control issue, if i wasnt in complete control of a situation (ie me pushing myself to excel, not somebody else) i was a wreck. this illumination came to me out of the blue, i woke up one morning and went - ah, yeah, thats it! once i knew, i could deal with it.

i know ive been blathering on, and i apologise
just take comfort in those that will give it, accept your issues, and time will heal everything. with regard to it being normal: who the hell gets to say whats normal?

Conorisco

tried the councelling thing too and got really annoyed - ie. when one looks for reasons to a 'problem' they will inevitably find the reason they were looking for in the first place. they told me loads of 'reasons', that only with hindsight did i see to be a load of cr@p. (ie. breavement in the family, the way i was brought up etc etc)'

yeah i found this the exact same in my case, a load of bollocks,

it all came down to a control issue,

kinda the same here i have to know i'm in controll of a situation, or at least i did, i hope. Did you ever feel that it was more that you needed an escape route more than anything else?

Don't like your idea of getting rid of my best friends, i don't really use them as a crutch, but i would ask them for help if i really needed it as i would them. I don't share too much of this stuff it can get pretty prissy.

Everyone, well everyone in college plus my 2 best mates they are older than me and definitelf more independent, i think maybe it had someting to do with this why i got them in the first place
I was putting pressure on myself that i had to go live in Dublin and stop being a child, Prob just tying to grow up a little to soon. I do see the Agoraphobia/seperation Anxiety as my main problem, i need to get around it. Anyone had similar experiences? had it when they were achild but never truly went away

catho_monster

Don't like your idea of getting rid of my best friends, i don't really use them
as a crutch,

please dont misunderstand me. i choose those people as friends (subconciously) when i got to college so that they would push me to excel. it ended up that they were what made my anxiety worse and that our friendships revolved around work and nothing more. they were not supportive in any other aspect of my life. i had to move away from that situation to get better.

the last thing i meant to say was to get rid of your best mates. they are what will get you through...

seanybiker

i didnt read all of your post im a bit lazy but i have exactly what you have. about 2 years ago i didnt go outside me house for 6 months. i started doing good but the last 2 or 3 weeks i cant even go to my course which is 4-5 minutes away on my motorbike, its hard . try get to an NLP practitioner there brilliant better than shrinks. good luck bud.

I am MAN

I have been a sufferer for over 2 years now I take a tranquiliser and anti-depressants to combat the anxiety and they benefit. You say you have become anti-social and avoidance has set in I think you should discuss some medication with you GP even a low dosage to see if it picks you up a bit which it should.

Someone said above they cannot harm you which is important to remember it is just normal body functions overreacting I've been down the emergency room about 10 times thinking im having a heart attack or that my lungs are collapsing but I checked out fine, im 18 by the way.


Try browse through trappedminds
or depression forums have an anxiety support board

good luck

littlemiss

Hey, this isn't really related to Panic attacks so much as the difficulty of starting college so young. I started college when I was 17 I was still living at home which took minimum an hour by bus. It is difficult being younger but you will realise that no one cares. I was bullied at school but found some fantastic friends in college who were really good when I hit some rough patches. Don't worry about not wanting to move out, you are still really young and it takes time, some people are ready quicker than others. I'm doing my Phd and still living at home and quite happy there, I went to the states for the summer and found it difficult because I wasn't in control of having a job or having accomodation. What I am trying to say is what you are going through is normal, the need for control of a situation is a safety thing but as I have been told you can't organise everything.
If you are going out in college maybe try staying in one of your mates houses, don't drink if you don't feel like it just take it a step at a time.
Good luck with the attacks etc, but try and enjoy college, trust me second year is way more fun not to mention third

Typedef

One important thing you should remember when having a panic attack, is

"Even paranoids have enemies!"

-- Henry Kissinger

spectacleinrock

Councelling can work but it depends what type of one you have. Some want to delve into the past and find some incident from when you were three and blame everything on it. This for me didn't work at all and brought back to the bad times and left me there. Other councellors work with the here and now and it works, they're the type that can be a great help when it comes to panic attacks cause they'll show you how to deal with them and get through them. I suffer from panis attacks regulary but ive managed to get to the point where I'm not scared of them anymore. If i feel it coming on I try and find somewhere private, work through it and then get on with my day. I don't really know how i got too that point, i think i was just tired of it ruining my life.

Panic attacks are very common, most people will suffer one at some point in their life.

Emboss

it's the same as any fear be it flying, heights in general fear of open spaces or whatever the case maybe, is to keep doing what you're afraid of.

there's no magical potion there's nothing anyone can tell you to stop you having a fear of something

you just have to constantly keep facing the fear untill it goes away and becomes a normality.

easier said than done tho

:dunno:

Is1ldur

Couldn't help but post here. I have suffered from Panic Attacks for a number of years, been on anti-depressants, etc., which I did need at the time to get me through the first few months. Stopped having attacks, went off the anti-d's, had another attack, etc, you get the picture.
Anyway, I am off the Anti-d's about 2 years now, and have not had a full-blown panic attack in just over 2 years. I do, however, still get those awful feelings, you know, just before you get an attack, and I seem to be able to cope with them.
It has left me with a fear of flying, though, and I still do have a fear of being too far away from people or places I know. So much so that i don't know if I am ever going to get out of Ireland again. I can't see myself ever flying again and, I had planned on driving to Germany this year, but, the more I think about it, I feel the (irrational!) fear beginning to build up. It's just the thought of being stuck somewhere I don't know and having an attack, I suppose.
Anyway, I would be interested to hear if any others suffer anything similar, and what you did.
What I have been thinking lately is maybe just a short drive to England or something to see how I get on.

The_Goose

They are torture, the worst thing is the doctors havent a clue, just take the drugs drug drugs drugs!!!
Ive suffered from panic attacks for three years now and i m in total agreement about the doc's they haven't a clue! i think drugs are the worst way to go about tho, you need to do it on your own or you'll be dependent on them!! i havent had one in a while but its only because i ve been avoiding the situations that i think cause them!
Went to a faith healer a while back, excellent, he was brilliant!Discovered the reason finally why, fear of death!!! There was a devasting death in the family before i got them and he says i never really dealt with it!! He also told me to get a book, it helped me understand how i stop taking on pressure, its excellent
once you reach that place in your head where you realise your not in danger and you don't have to be in control of everything, you 'll face your fear and be done with it forever!I'm not cured yet but i will be!!
The book
The teaching

qwertyphobia

Hi

look for some anxiety managment type groups in your area, often run out of day patients side of psyhicaritic hosptials or health boards mental health services.

CBT cognitive behaviourly therapy has a good track record for dealing with this type of problem

best of luck

post where abouts are you in the counrty and I may have contact details for you.