hello i am new here what is exactly the best way t stop a panic attack and could someone please explain the floating process? how can you float when you feel sick to your stomach?

I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THIS SUBJECT ALSO. ONCE YOU START THINKING ABOUT IT AND THEN YOU GET ALL THE CHEMICALS GOING IN YOUR BODY, IS IT POSSIBLE TO STOP IT OR DO WE HAVE TO LET IT PASS THRU US. I SEEM TO GET THE CHEMICALS GOING AND IT JUST BUILDS AND BUILDS. THATS WHAT SCARES ME SO MUCH. ALSO, I FIND MYSELF FEELING OK AND THEN WHEN I START THINKING HEY I FEEL OK RIGHT NOW, THEN IT STARTS TO HAPPEN, ALMOST LIKE MY MIND IS SAYING OH NO YOU DONT. CAN ANYONE RELATE TO THIS. SORRY TO ADD SO MUCH TO THE FIRST QUESTION BUT IT JUST GOT MY MIND GOING. THANKS! LC

Pennie,

There is never a way to just stop an attack or anxious feelings and the more you try to stop them the more anxious you will get. The program will teach you all the steps it takes but here are a few important ones to remember. #1. Accept the feelings and know they won't hurt you. You gotta start telling yourself that it's just anxiety and it wont kill you and that it will pass like it has all the other times. #2. You have to slow your breathing, becuase the faster you breathe the more dizzy you're gonna feel, so you have to breathe in for 2 seconds from your nose keeping your chest at minimal movement, (most of your breathing should be felt coming from your stomach)then exhale from your mouth for 4 seconds.. this will control your breathing and prevent it from getting shallow #3. Distract yourself with anything other than the anxiety thought. Nine times outa ten for me, once I do step one I tend to forget about the anxiety, unless I am in a real tense situation then I need to constantly baby it.

LC,

I understand what you mean by the "im fine" thought that starts the anxiety. It's almost like we have to be anxious all the time otherwise something might happen. When you start feeling that way, you gotta do the positive diologue as I explained in #1 above. The float with it thing is also a really good one. Think of it like this.. if you are accpeting your feelings what else is left to fight against? It's truly the key to recovery from this whole thing. Always tell yourself to ACCEPT.

All the best

CAdude

Pennie and LC,

CADude is right--the program will teach you how to understand and deal with your anxiety... After years of trying various counselors, therapists, medications, books, etc, the program was a godsend for me...

One thing I learned from the program and from experience is that the thing that starts and keeps an attack going is your fear of it. The fear of fear. I have found that if I get anxious, rather than feeling like a victim ("Oh, my gosh, here it comes and I can't stop it"), it helps if I talk myself into feeling more powerful.

I know it sounds crazy, but I talk TO my panic attacks. Whenever I feel that familiar jittery sensation coming on, I get defiant. I stop and say to myself and the panic, "Bring it on! If I'm going to have the attack, let's have it! Right here, right now! I don't want to wait for it. You're my body, you're on MY time and MY schedule. Come on, right now, let's go!" Then I sit and wait for it. I find that if I confront the feelings instead of running from them, I'm not as afraid of them (I actually laugh at myself, pacing around saying, "Bring it on!" to the air) and the feeling passes much more quickly, usually with no full-blown attack.

Different methods work for different people. Try it sometime; maybe it will help you out as well!

THANKS for your comments i am on week 3 i have a little extra time on lesson 2 i am stil trying to digest all of this and i am doing rhe self talk but sometimes those feelings try to creep in anyway. we have to fight really hard. my thought is what if i go away from home and i get sick. ia can't enjoy anything anymore because of this. if i go out to eat i will get sick gosh a never ending cycle sometimes. i loved the suggestion about talking to the panic attack. aometimes it is hard to distinguish if we are really feeling bad or it is a panic attack. or at least i do.

I am new to this forum and not yet following the program. I want to but I cannot afford it. I have the same type of feelings that you have. The constant thought that I am going to get sick in public. That is what causes my anxiety and makes me not want to go anywhere. It doesn't help that I have stomach problems. It is like a neverending vicious cycle. I just wish that I could be happy again. I don't really know what to do. I am on Paxil cr and for the first couple months I did really well. But over the past seven months I have had so many health problems that I think I just couldn't take anymore and now my anxiety level is back up. I don't like depending on medication and I get so angry with myself whenever I have to take Xanax. No one understands and they act like I am completely mentally ill and they think that all my health problems are caused by anxiety. This is not my doctors but my family. That makes it so much harder to deal with, all I want is support and help to return to a normal life. I hope that joining this forum will give me some of the support that I need.

izzybee, YES i do know how you feel. i also get upset when i have to take my medicine. i am on knloipin as needed. i really hopes that this program works so is just will not have these feelings about sickness anymore . i am scared to death of antidepressants so i applaud you for trying them. i probably should have but i like to do things on my own.

I just went to the doctor yesterday and I discussed with him that my anxiety level had been raised over the past two months. When we looked at the dates we figured out that it is most likely a side effect of the birth control pill that I was put on two months ago. He took me off the pill and said I should feel better soon. I hope I do. What a relief!