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Old 15th May 2019, 23:34
snoo snoo is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2017
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Default Panic Attacks and Anxiety

A recent BBC article piqued my interest:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48226326

I suffer from panic attacks, not very often at all now (perhaps once every few months), and neither are they very long (once I can remove myself from the situation), and once passed I quickly go back to normal.

Can't really find a pattern or a trigger except that they only occur in busy places where I am not in control of things. So mainly public transport, but can be other outside places as well that I don't know well. I could say I am claustrophobic as I hate enclosed spaces but I have taken the Tube so much in my life that this probably isn't it.

But this is enough to have a big affect. I still go out, but a good portion of the time is spent being anxious about what might happen if an attack struck. This is never far from the front of the mind. I dislike travelling with people I don't know, because I would be ashamed if I had an attack in front of them. Obviously this has had a bad effect on friendships down the years as I have declined a few social invites that might have been good.

I have read the advice is to try and live with the feeling, but I find that quite difficult. The last attack I had last week I was meant to be taking the Tube just one stop. Got down to the platform and it hit, the familiar feeling of dread, stomach churning and heart racing. Had to walk all the way back out of the station to a 'safe place' (almost always a toilet cubicle). A few minutes later I had recovered, and it was like nothing had happened.

Did have therapy in the past and mentioned the panic, but recanting stories of childhood didn't help. The frequency of them has dropped a little since they started (age 20) but then I have more experience of the build-up. Sometimes I can feel one coming but it can be postponed with breathing deeply (sometimes it cannot). Also before days where potential things might happen I dose up on medicines to help settle the stomach.

I suppose the greatest fear is embarrassing myself, looking like an idiot or being sick. I have had some close calls. On one occasion I was walking down the street with my girlfriend, thankfully she went into a shop, I ran around the corner and finding nowhere good to be sick apart from someones front garden (apologies). On multiple occasions I have been driving in the car and it has hit.

Tried a lot of things such as diet, but nothing has really helped apart from avoiding situations which is no real help. For instance, I would like to get a job and this would probably mean early starts on the train - by far the worst memories as when I did have a job I hated the morning commute (strangely I never had a problem with the evening one).

Anyway thanks for reading, if anyone else suffers it would be great to know your experiences and how you manage it.
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