I wondered whether anyone in this forum or program can relate, If so, if you have any advice. I feel like this feeling is worse than the panic attacks, because this numbness and feeling of unreality is soooo scary. I feel like my head is separated from my body and that I am not in control at all. I really don't know what to do next because I don't want to do anything that will make it worse. This does not feel like anxiety. I was an extremely bubbly and emotional person, a humorous person that always loved to make people laugh and feel better, I also used to love life to its fullest so this feeling is sooooo awful. I feel like the walking dead. I always would break my back to please everybody and that is why I had to slow my sales business down to hardly nothing. I want to have hope that I will get better.

Hi Mo,

It sounds just like anxiety to me! I hate those feelings more than a panic attack too. At least with a panic attack, it comes and then disappears. The anxiety symptoms seem to just hang around.

Do you have the program? It talks about these symptoms and give you skills to overcome them. It has helped me tremendously. Good luck! Sue

Thanks Sue for your reply.You sound like you are recovering very nicely. How long have you had the program? Is it really helping you? How long have you suffered with anxiety? I thought I had just suffered for the last 4 years but I think I have suffered my whole life since I was very young. It is so hard to change, but I am desperate to change because this affects every area of your life and your health and your families. Any other suggestions or advice that has helped you, let me know.

Hi Mo, There is really so much i want to tell you, to put your mind at ease. But it's 1:30 a.m. and i'm off to bed. So, just for now... Yes...i have had all those bizarre feelings and more. The numbness, the sense of complete unreality, feeling like i'm outside of my own body, like i'm dissolving, you name it! They are all forms of extreme anxiety and the very worst that can happen...is that it feels what it feels like, awful and very scary! In clinical terms, it's called 'dissociation'...like you're removed from yourself. And these feelings that are so wierd arise when we're very afraid. At least for me, i came to understand that. It's something i learned to do at a very young age. But remember...they are symptoms of something else. It sounds like you don't have this Program for Recovery in your possession. Are you able to purchase it? It will save you going through other less understanding and less effective programs out there. In the meantime, if these feelings are happening when you're at home, you can start practicing doing your best to stop fighting it, stop struggling with it, stop wishing they'd go away. I realize how strange this concept can sound. It's about 'just sitting with it'.... allowing however you are feeling to just be there. When you resist and fear this, it fights back. When you start practicing the lessons in the program, you'll notice changes and perhaps even begin to understand what it is, underneath all this wierdness, that is really upsetting you. These symptoms serve a purpose...in keeping us away from what is really the matter! I understand that it's hard to believe you can just 'sit with it' because you actually think it can harm you! But it can't. It's a boogeyman. I hope you're able to obtain this recovery program. And i hope even one thing i've written...can help in some way. God bless, Linda.



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Linda

Hi Mo,

I am also beginning to realize that I have had anxiety all my life to some degree.
I began having severe symptoms about ten years ago. Books by Claire Weekes were enough to get me over this first experience with severe anxiety. Once I had an explanation of my symptoms, they disappeared.

The symptoms returned about four years ago off and on but become severe about a year ago. This was due to the tremendous stress surrounding raising teenage boys My husband heard about Lucinda's program on TV and I was skeptical to order it thinking it was probably another infomercial scam. Boy was I wrong! This program teaches the skills to cope with the anxiety and panic and has taught me a lot of other things about myself and my life. I am only on lesson six and the level of my anxiety has gone way done and I have been able to avoid panic attacks altogether. Of course some days are better than others and I know it will take a long time for me to truly recover completely.

In adition, I would highly recommend books by Claire Weekes. They are a must for anyone who is still not convinced that their symptoms are due to anxiety. She vividly describes all of the possible feelings thereby validating the strange things many of us are feeling. I am re-reading a lot of her materials while going through the Midwest Program.

Hope this helps! Sue



[This message has been edited by Sue (edited 03-23-2001).]

Hey Mo,
I definitely can relate to the feelings you're having, they come and they go, but mostly just kind of linger and range in intensity, I am in the 2nd week of the program and I have to admit the more intense feelings are happening less frequently, so you're not alone and from what I've come to learn, I know that we are not alone, there is a lot of people with the same disorder and many have overcome this feeling, which brings comfort to me and I hope can bring the same comfort to you....good luck

Hi All, Thanks for the replies. This feeling is now coming and going. I have to talk positive self talk to get out of it and pray and know that I am getting better. It would be nice if we could see ourselves getting better like we see everybody else improve. Unfortunately I'm not the best judge of myself right now. I am sooooo hard on myself, but I am not to other people, that's so hard to figure out. I do have the program and had it since December but I am having a hard time making the changes. This anxiety has turned into a very deep depression. I need to just keep going. I like interacting with people. This forum is actually helping me a little more than the program.I hope Lindi can reply again and tell me what is helping her. Thank you for any input.

Mo:

I have had these same symptoms. Actually, that's what starts the panic. The program describes these symptoms, along with the reason for them, on the first or second tape. What a relief to know the physiological reason for something - - - and the reason is not that I am about to die!

It sounds like you aren't sure you want to buy the program yet. Before I purchased the program I first bought Lucinda's book "on tape" from Border's. I think it was $16.95 for two tapes. I listened to them in the car, which was a very good distraction for me. Actually, I was already checking out all sorts of self-help books on tape before coming across Lucinda's infomercial. Anyway, you may have already seen many posts with respect to how we learn to distract ourselves from over-focusing on our body symptoms. That is a very important part of the program. One of many parts!

Obviously, you can get a lot of good information from this Forum, however, there is a 1/2" workbook one must use to help get over this. The program is like going to college. There is homework - - - and we don't usually "pass" until we do it all.

Many of us here are doing the program for the second time because we didn't want to do it "completely". We saw almost immediate results just from listening to the first few tapes, which reinforces to us that we needn't do it the way the we're supposed to. It doesn't work that way. I am doing it completely this time.

Anyway, the program works - - - if you work at it.

GOOD LUCK! Betsy

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Always Hopeful, Betsy H.
Marietta, GA (East Cobb)

[This message has been edited by EastCobbGABetsyH (edited 03-24-2001).]

Hi Mo! It's Linda here (Lindi). I just happened to take a peak at this posting...you asked what is helping me. Regarding all those bizarre and scary feelings....numbness, etc... again, i do realize how hard it can be to believe that this is part of anxiety, because it feels so extreme! I can tell you that because I have experienced so many of these unusual feelings over a period of so many years, i KNOW that they don't go any further.... they cannot hurt us. As far as what's helping, i began to help myself with this quite a long time ago, in many different ways. I still (back then) couldn't help myself overcome panic attacks and the fear of them, but i could learn to be MUCH less fearful of the bizarre feelings we're talking about. It's wierd, isn't it, how we can experience this over and over again, and STILL, when it happens, we believe it'll never end!! And it always does. It happens more often, if we don't know how to let go of it, and by how we think about it...we keep it going. In this way, you really CAN try practicing acceptance of whatever you are feeling, as difficult as this may sound. I know it can feel impossible, but you have to start wherever you're at. Even a small change is something!! What is 'acceptance'....it means, to stop fighting it. Stop wishing it away. This only keeps you stuck. I couldn't do that in the past, so i learned how to do various relaxation techniques, which made me feel more 'rooted', or 'grounded'. A little more safe. For myself, "dialogue" with the fear helped me tremendously! You can think of fear as a scared little kid (you!) and instead of arguing with her (as a not-so-great parent would do) you can Stop and Listen and allow the kid to tell you how she feels, and ask her what she needs. (i know this may sound corny to you, but it really isn't...it's becoming familiar with what's going on inside of us, rather than ignoring it) The body hold alot of wisdom, you just need to ask what it needs. This is one way of learning to accept, rather than avoid. How to get more comfy with yourself. You can speak compassionately, with love and understanding...to that little, scared child. You will find that when you accept her, the fear, whatever feeling you are having.... it will calm down all by itself. It may sound like magic, but it makes alot of sense. So, for me, in terms of what's helping me at this point, i am using everything offered in these lessons, because i believe they work. And at the same time, i'm not there yet...in terms of being free of panic attacks. I don't expect to change this overnight! I have had this condition chronically and my mind and body are used to reacting in this habitual way, and want to run away when panic comes. So, i've been starting 'small'. I've been practicing working Lesson 2 in places that are not THAT far from home.(i've been agoraphobic) I'm not trusting enough yet, to venture far on my own. But i have plenty of chance to use these skills, even when just a few blocks away! You mention that you are in a depression. About 7 years ago, when i was severely depressed, i eventually agreed to take an anti-depressent called Zoloft. This happened to work for me almost instantly...it was such a life saver...i was out of this dark hole i was in, within the week. I went off it after 8 months and had no withdrawal. But this isn't necessary for everyone. At that time, i needed to do this just to be ABLE to start helping myself. At some point, i came across a book that helped me SO MUCH, and it's about what i mentioned above: Voice Dialogue. It's called: The Manual for Voice Dialogue by Hal Stone and Sidra Winkleman. You can order it from your library, i'm sure. I suggest you read it over once, and then begin again and start to 'practice' what's there. You mentioned 'pleasing everybody'. Well, that can certainly be 'draining'! That is one thing that can cause an enormous amount of stress. Ask yourself a "what would happen if i stopped trying to please everybody?" This is something you learned a long time ago, and i'm sure it's not serving you well. Lots of literature on that one! When you practice this Midwest program, i'm sure that will begin to change as well. I hope i've helped in some way. Let me know how you are doing. God bless, Linda

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Linda

Hi Linda, Thanks for your help and it really helps knowing that you are getting better and through all the tough years with the help that has been provided through this program. I just have to keep working the program, and keep positive, which used to be easy for me until these last couple of years since G.A.D. I really try to distract myself when it gets really bad. I have the opposite of Agoraphobia. I feel good when I'm out. I become alive and happy, and when I am home I am overwhelmed. I am a wife and mother of 4 kids, ranging from 23 years down to 8 years old. I am learning the skills on how to cope with it. I am sooooo different than I was before, I used to handle things so much better and easier, Many days I don't know how to relax no matter how hard I try. Regards the medication, I was put on 3 different SSRI's for what the doctor called achemical imbalance, they made me very sick. I have an extremely sensitive system and I.B.S. and it triggered my anxiety even more. I didn't try Zoloft though. I will keep working the program, I am really glad that they have this forum. I thought the program had more follow-up from the company, on how you are doing and I thought we would receive monthly mailings and newsletters with testimonials. It is so encouraging hearing from other people that they are getting better. It gives us all hope and that is what we all need. I love the words to a D.C. Talk song, There is hope for the hopeless. No one is beyond hope with God. Love Maureen. Keep smiling and it will cheer yourself up!!!