Panic Attacks

Hey @Pippa4 ,

That sounds incredibly tough in that your daily life revolves around anxiety and panic.

I'm sorry this is happening. Have you been able to speak to your GP or doctor about it?

I hear where your psychologist is coming from in that if it is just too stressful, the last thing we want is for you to have a panic attack on the plane etc. At the same time, it sounds like you do not want it to be like this forever?

From my experience with anxiety and panic attacks, I had a lot of therapy to help me be in charge. That is, to control my breathing in a way so that my body gets out of the flight/fright/freeze mode. Have you don't any of this work with your psychologist?

Hi @Pippa4

@Pippa4 I'm sorry to hear how much anxiety is affecting your life. I totally get that. I have an anxiety disorder too but am in a better place now that I once was. One of my true fears is flying. I cannot relax the entire time on a plane. But I don't want to miss out on life either so have had to work on ways to manage my fear. I'm surprised your psychologist told you not to go to be honest as one of the ways to help with flying anxiety is to actually face it by 'exposing' yourself to it. I'm hearing that by not going it would cause a lot of stress too. So wondering if you want to work through the anxiety and get to maybe go and have an amazing holiday ??? I take anxiety medication to help my nerves - is that an option for you for the flight? It really really helps me but obviously something you would have to ask your doctor about.

sending hugs

Hanami

Hi @tyme @hanami

My doctor has prescribed me an antidepressant to help treat my anxiety and depression.

I've been taking it for a year now. My psychologist has recommended me taking ** [medication name removed by moderator], but I don't want to rely on it as I know that v** [medication name removed by moderator] can be quite addicting and it's not good for me. It also interacts with my other medication that I take so I can't take it.

My psychologist have given me breathing techniques to get through a panic attack but sometimes my panic attacks goes on for an hour or so. I get really long ones. The breathing techniques does help. She also said to name 5 things you see, feel, hear, taste etc. to help me get through a panic attack. Grounding techniques. This helps me get my mind off the panic attack.

I don't want these panic attacks to interfere with my life. Anyone else who experiences them will know how scary a panic attack feels.

I also suffer from psychosis and my symptoms are pretty bad. I get hallucinations. I hear voices and it causes me a lot of distress. My psychologist said that I'm nowhere near ready to jump on a plane and socialize with people for too long of a time as it could make my symptoms worse and that I need to be in a quiet environment. Avoid noisy busy places she said. The airport will be busy, the plane will be busy, and where we are catching up in Queensland will be busy. So my mind is saying don't go which is a shame because I want to enjoy my life but I can't.

Is everything okay @Pippa4 ?

Yeah, some meds can be quite addictive @Pippa4 . It's definitely good to be able to let them know you still feel quite anxious with the meds you are on. They may be able to do a med review. At the same time, I hope some psychotherapy helps.

Do you find anything else helpful? e.g art, pets, music?

@tyme

I just had some trouble posting. I realise that it doesn’t let you name a medication on here.

That’s a good idea. I’ll let me doctor know that I still feel really anxious while taking my antidepressant.

I enjoy horse riding.

I've seen documentaries about the power of horses @Pippa4 . It's incredible how intuitive they are and how they can connect with people. Do you find that?

I remember the term "Horse Whisperer" and am in awe over it.

@tyme

Yes I totally agree with you 🙂