Anticipatory anxiety

Ive been finding that as soon as I leave the house Im starting to get anxious - it sort of starts to well up in my chest. Before I go out of course I am anticipating some sort of anxiety, cos it always happens, and how I can deal with it. But it just seems to make stuff worse. My breathing starts to get very bad when I go out and I try to breathe deeply to calm me down, but it doesnt seem to work (Emote: shake) If anything it makes it worse.

The thing is, I cant not think of anxiety before I go out, it's just expected. And even if I did try to not expect any, I would be scared that by doing so I would be more unprepared for when the anxiety would hit me - which might be even worse.

Oh I dunno what to do (Emote: shake) Going out at the moment is just torture, even more so with the bloody boiling weather.

I hope this makes sense.

pboy - sometimes focusing on your breathing can just increase your self-consciousness and feelings of discomfort. i used to get those kind of panic attacks too. it would feel like i'd forgotten how to breathe. it was because i had been concentrating on it so much that it no longer felt natural.

the best thing you can do is lower you shoulders and let go of any physical tension you are holding there. that automatically seems to have a knock-on effect on any tension in your lungs/diaphragm. try deliberately inhaling and holding your breath for a count of 10. also - if you cup your hands over your mouth and breathe in the air you have just exhaled, the carbon dioxide you are reabsorbing helps you to regulate your breathing again.

it is also best to focus your attention outside of your body after this so that your breathing becomes involuntary again and less laboured. try looking around the room and counting things or naming objects in your head (i know this sounds moronic) - do this for a few minutes and your breathing should ease again by itself.

breathing exercises can be really useful for general relaxation but if you over-focus on them they can make you more anxious, so you need external focus exercises to counterbalance them.

i don't use deep breathing exercises for relaxation anymore unless i am on my own - socially i think external focus is much more useful, as SA tends to make us much too focused on our internal physical sensations anyway - paying close attention to your breath can just magnify this.

there are some tips here too:

http://www.panic-attacks.co.uk/panic_attacks_4.htm

hope you feel better again soon pboy - the hot weather can make me feel quite short of breath too sometimes. i know how frightening it can be.
[2 edits; Last edit by threadbare at 14:56:44 Sun Jun 19 2005]

Quote: threadbare
it would feel like i'd forgotten how to breathe. it was because i had been concentrating on it so much that it no longer felt natural.

I know exactly how this feels, this didn't start until I was trying to treat my social anxiety.
Maybe this is similar for you pboy. This is because I was constantly thinking that I had social anxiety I would start to feel socialy anxious about that. I would then think about me breathing..etc.
I think it gets worse before it gets better, I now try to concentrate on a problem or something interesting before I leave the house so I don't think about breathing or being socialy anxious. I suppose its different for everyone.

Quote: threadbare
try deliberately inhaling and holding your breath for a count of 10. also - if you cup your hands over your mouth when you and breathe in the air you have just exhaled, the carbon dioxide you are reabsorbing helps you to regulate your breathing again

yes good advise, as too much oxygen gets you high.

"The thing is, I cant not think of anxiety before I go out, it's just expected. And even if I did try to not expect any, I would be scared that by doing so I would be more unprepared for when the anxiety would hit me - which might be even worse. "

Trouble is that sounds very true .Thats what keeps us doing it !
My therapist told me to attempt the impossible try not to anticipate.
Guess what! the world did NOT fall apart. I thank her very much for showing me the way.

Quote: hardy
My therapist told me to attempt the impossible and try not to anticipate.

Easier said than done. Whenever I try not to anticipate it only fans the flames of anxiety until I cannot think of anything else. Whatever the diversion, be it mental long division, internal recitation of a favourite poem, remembrance of a cherished moment, etc., the thing being pushed to the back springs forward and overshadows everything else.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Yes I think that focusing on my breathing was just making it worse, and worrying about it and so on. I try the focusing attention on external things too, trouble is the anxiety can be so welled up inside that it's hard to think of anything esle. For example I focus on the cars, what people are wearing, the weather and so on. The anxiety seems to stay bubbling underneath though.

Perhaps you're right hardy...as scary as it is maybe I should try that. But are you meant to not think of anything, ie not anticipate anything, or try to anticipate only good things happening.

I think youre meant to try not to prepare your mind at all Pboy!
If you think of bad things you'll be anxious . If you think of good things you'll feel bad if they don't happen!!

Try it at first with middle difficulty things . Not something major.