[christophegeorg]

It's hard to impress upon people who are afflicted with this terrible disorder that there is a common sense solution to reduce or end the symptoms of this fear based disorder, however what it takes is conviction and the will to attempt their recovery! Through the years of my anxiety disorder and thousands of panic attacks, acute avoidance, and finally agoraphobia which left me housebound I never had the benefit of an explanation of what I was suffering from or why? With so many visits to emergency rooms I lost count, but the only answer was always, that I just had suffered a panic attack! Not until I recovered over thirty-five years ago and seeing over a dozen doctors did I discover that I was both victim and perpetrator of my own disorder! Without anticipitory anxiety and dwelling on the fear of my next attack there would have been no disorder!

[christophegeorg]

Cyrano and Sundog,
With all due respect to how you feel and the medication you take,
any information or advice you receive from others on Psych Central is absolutely useless, unless you use it! What you don't seem to realize is, that everyone with these disorders goes through the same symptoms of anxiety,panic agoraphobia, avoidance, depression, many do not understand the reason for their disorder, but many others do! I'm sure talking about your particular disorder feels good at that moment, "but" how about the times when your not, what do you do to help recover, anything?
I sent a post this AM asking, what are you doing when your not having panic attacks and you said in one of your posts that when your busy at work you have none. In answer to your visit to IHOP I wrote where ever you are or what ever your doing when you feel a panic attack coming on immediately stop thinking about the attack and occupy your mind with something completly different. Get your mind on something else other than 'you", I'm sure you can understand that no one else, "no one else can do it for you". The only reason why I post is to help others avoid what I didn't know years ago, when I needed help so desperately! What I'm suggesting you do is called a Cognitive Shift, to change your way of thinking at the moment of terrifying fear when your about to become (MANIC) thats when you lose control of mind and behaviour! If my suggestion seems harsh, think about your attacks that take you to the brink!!
I'm with you in suffering!!

Thanks for reading my post !









quote=christophegeorg;1774731]It's hard to impress upon people who are afflicted with this terrible disorder that there is a common sense solution to reduce or end the symptoms of this fear based disorder, however what it takes is conviction and the will to attempt their recovery! Through the years of my anxiety disorder and thousands of panic attacks, acute avoidance, and finally agoraphobia which left me housebound I never had the benefit of an explanation of what I was suffering from or why? With so many visits to emergency rooms I lost count, but the only answer was always, that I just had suffered a panic attack! Not until I recovered over thirty-five years ago and seeing over a dozen doctors did I discover that I was both victim and perpetrator of my own disorder! Without anticipitory anxiety and dwelling on the fear of my next attack there would have been no disorder![/quote]

[christophegeorg]

To those who have the ever present obsessive trepidation every morning and have no idea why, the answer is you carry over the fearful feeling from the night before and when you wake, the first thing on your mind is will I feel the same way today, and your mindset obliges you and does the very thing that your afraid of because you have already set the groundwork for it. I remember how it felt every morning before I even opened my eyes, that question was number one on my mind! The first few doctors I went to had no idea of what anxiety disorder really was, aside from a clinical diagnosis they had no answer then that many do not have today, let me add, that doctors today will offer a clinical diagnosis but are unable to see this disorder from the patients point of view, believe me the two are not the same!! I'll be happy to entertain questions from the medical community if there are any!! People who see doctors today about an anxiety problem should be offered an explanation about why their recurrent attacks happen, I give all my word, not knowing that answer is what made the term of my disorder so long, the fear of not knowing what and why!
Thank you for reading my post!!!

Originally Posted by christophegeorg

Cyrano and Sundog,
With all due respect to how you feel and the medication you take,
any information or advice you receive from others on Psych Central is absolutely useless, unless you use it! What you don't seem to realize is, that everyone with these disorders goes through the same symptoms of anxiety,panic agoraphobia, avoidance, depression, many do not understand the reason for their disorder, but many others do! I'm sure talking about your particular disorder feels good at that moment, "but" how about the times when your not, what do you do to help recover, anything?
I sent a post this AM asking, what are you doing when your not having panic attacks and you said in one of your posts that when your busy at work you have none. In answer to your visit to IHOP I wrote where ever you are or what ever your doing when you feel a panic attack coming on immediately stop thinking about the attack and occupy your mind with something completly different. Get your mind on something else other than 'you", I'm sure you can understand that no one else, "no one else can do it for you". The only reason why I post is to help others avoid what I didn't know years ago, when I needed help so desperately! What I'm suggesting you do is called a Cognitive Shift, to change your way of thinking at the moment of terrifying fear when your about to become (MANIC) thats when you lose control of mind and behaviour! If my suggestion seems harsh, think about your attacks that take you to the brink!!
I'm with you in suffering!!

Thanks for reading my post !









quote=christophegeorg;1774731]It's hard to impress upon people who are afflicted with this terrible disorder that there is a common sense solution to reduce or end the symptoms of this fear based disorder, however what it takes is conviction and the will to attempt their recovery! Through the years of my anxiety disorder and thousands of panic attacks, acute avoidance, and finally agoraphobia which left me housebound I never had the benefit of an explanation of what I was suffering from or why? With so many visits to emergency rooms I lost count, but the only answer was always, that I just had suffered a panic attack! Not until I recovered over thirty-five years ago and seeing over a dozen doctors did I discover that I was both victim and perpetrator of my own disorder! Without anticipitory anxiety and dwelling on the fear of my next attack there would have been no disorder!

[/quote]

[sundog]

Originally Posted by christophegeorg

To those who have the ever present obsessive trepidation every morning and have no idea why, the answer is you carry over the fearful feeling from the night before and when you wake, the first thing on your mind is will I feel the same way today, and your mindset obliges you and does the very thing that your afraid of because you have already set the groundwork for it. I remember how it felt every morning before I even opened my eyes, that question was number one on my mind! The first few doctors I went to had no idea of what anxiety disorder really was, aside from a clinical diagnosis they had no answer then that many do not have today, let me add, that doctors today will offer a clinical diagnosis but are unable to see this disorder from the patients point of view, believe me the two are not the same!! I'll be happy to entertain questions from the medical community if there are any!! People who see doctors today about an anxiety problem should be offered an explanation about why their recurrent attacks happen, I give all my word, not knowing that answer is what made the term of my disorder so long, the fear of not knowing what and why!
Thank you for reading my post!!!

With all due respect, if it was as simple as making a "Cognitive Shift", nobody would have an Anxiety Disorder. Come to think of it, if it was that simple, nobody would have Depression either.

Clearly your "Cognitive Shift" technique has worked for you, and it may well work for others. That is all well and good. But it does not work for everybody.

Furthermore, you are not me, and you cannot presume to know what will work for me. Please speak for yourself and not for me.

[christophegeorg]

Sundog,
I'll be happy to explain further, but first let me say that I do not offer these things to offend, only what I know through the experience of myself and others! First let me add, That seventy-five% of people with anxiety disorder are affected by depression, and when the symptoms of the disorder lessen or end , so does the depression! To expand what you said about it does not work for everybody, whenever someone has (CBT) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, the end result ( is) a Cognitive Shift! There are those who are not helped because of denial or disbelief that it will not work for them, the solution is simple, but there has to be conviction and the understanding of this disorder to work! Sometimes medication helps ease the symptoms, but not for others like myself. You have my apology if you find my words offensive!!
Thanks for reading my post!!

Originally Posted by sundog

With all due respect, if it was as simple as making a "Cognitive Shift", nobody would have an Anxiety Disorder. Come to think of it, if it was that simple, nobody would have Depression either.

Clearly your "Cognitive Shift" technique has worked for you, and it may well work for others. That is all well and good. But it does not work for everybody.

Furthermore, you are not me, and you cannot presume to know what will work for me. Please speak for yourself and not for me.

[Twisti]

I have panic attacks....not as bad as I used to but still have them at times....when I do...at times I can think myself out of "small" ones...but most of the time i have to leave the situation and get myself to a place that feels safe to me...which if im out..is my car. Then calm down and drive home. So for me, THAT only works very little. I can pop a klonipin and it calms me down enough to maybe continue shopping or whatever im doing after catching some air or something. Im not dependant on meds, but they DO work for me. But you cant "think" your way into everything. Its like, I hate peas. You say I can think myself into likeing them. So I Make myself eat them until I like them. No. Wouldnt happen....Id still gag and maybe puke while and after eating them no matter how much thinking about something else I do. Not being a smart as^ here just saying, that really doesnt make alot of sense to me. And like I said I dont even have every day all the time panic attacks like i used to. I dont see how that is going to work with anyone who deals with having several a day....its tirering.....Gawd my spelling is horrid, sorry about that.

[Cyran0]

Like sundog, I'm glad your technique is working for you, but as I said in a different reply to your hypothesis, I don't agree that it's that simple for everyone. I'm not dismissing it because clearly it works for you but it honestly reminds me of a lot of the self help books that are out there. Clearly those work for some people too but again, if it were a universal fix, this illness would have gone the way of small pox.

What I don't like is that you are being pretty aggressive with your pitch and it has an accusatory tone to it. Between the lines is the message that there really is no problem save for the problem I myself am creating. I take serious issue with that as it completely belittles and undermines how hard I've been trying to hold my life together. In other words, all you're really accomplishing is to make myself feel bad for feeling bad.

So please, I've listened to what you have to say, but I clearly disagree with you so don't address any more of your comments toward me.

Thank you.

Cyran0

[disguise123]

well when i had some of my worst panic attacks i cannot imagine havinging the time or the mindset to apply cognitive behavioural techniques.
The idea is good and if it works for you then fantastic, but you must be careful not to push your beliefs and treatments on to others, especially unsolicited
Advice.

Im glad you have found something that works for you.
Maybe you could just post about it in the forum and see if anyone wants to hear more rather than directing it at anyone?

[christophegeorg]

Twist,
I can recite stories of people who have left their car during a red light or in heavy traffic, you happen to feel safe in yours. Twist, all symptoms are the same, only the triggers are different, and there are thousands of triggers that are different for all. Your question about peas is that you dislike them but, your not afraid of them. Many people are terrified of malls, or elevators or highways with exits that are far apart, I used to be terrified of certain streets when I was affected with acute avoidance, but little by little my world became so small I became agoraphobic and housebound.
We all suffer the same fear and the apprehension from our disorder, but the only way to end the symptoms is to know what your dealing with. In the years that I have been dealing with these disorders since my recovery, I often find some difference of opinion, but that very often is partly due to this disorder. There is so much to know about anxiety,panic, agoraphobia, and depression and the different ways this disorder manifests itself, but unfortunately some take offense were no offense was meant!
Thanks for reading my post!










Twist

Originally Posted by Twisti

I have panic attacks....not as bad as I used to but still have them at times....when I do...at times I can think myself out of "small" ones...but most of the time i have to leave the situation and get myself to a place that feels safe to me...which if im out..is my car. Then calm down and drive home. So for me, THAT only works very little. I can pop a klonipin and it calms me down enough to maybe continue shopping or whatever im doing after catching some air or something. Im not dependant on meds, but they DO work for me. But you cant "think" your way into everything. Its like, I hate peas. You say I can think myself into likeing them. So I Make myself eat them until I like them. No. Wouldnt happen....Id still gag and maybe puke while and after eating them no matter how much thinking about something else I do. Not being a smart as^ here just saying, that really doesnt make alot of sense to me. And like I said I dont even have every day all the time panic attacks like i used to. I dont see how that is going to work with anyone who deals with having several a day....its tirering.....Gawd my spelling is horrid, sorry about that.

[christophegeorg]

I apologize if you see thing differently and do not agree!
Thanks for the post

Originally Posted by Cyran0

Like sundog, I'm glad your technique is working for you, but as I said in a different reply to your hypothesis, I don't agree that it's that simple for everyone. I'm not dismissing it because clearly it works for you but it honestly reminds me of a lot of the self help books that are out there. Clearly those work for some people too but again, if it were a universal fix, this illness would have gone the way of small pox.

What I don't like is that you are being pretty aggressive with your pitch and it has an accusatory tone to it. Between the lines is the message that there really is no problem save for the problem I myself am creating. I take serious issue with that as it completely belittles and undermines how hard I've been trying to hold my life together. In other words, all you're really accomplishing is to make myself feel bad for feeling bad.

So please, I've listened to what you have to say, but I clearly disagree with you so don't address any more of your comments toward me.

Thank you.

Cyran0

[Cyran0]

I didn't take offense, I took issue with what you were saying and how you were saying it. And no, not because of my disorder, but because you were presuming to tell me what my problem was and how to fix it. My response meant "you are not my therapist, you don't know all that much about me, and I'm not here to be lectured or to have my treatment plan changed."

You are very self righteous and I'm done with this. I come here for camaraderie and support and there are other places I can go for that.

Good day to you sir.

Cyran0

[christophegeorg]

I would like to make it clear,
What I post is what I learned through my experience as well as others over the years and what I write about is not a hypothesis, there is only one thing I can say to any critic about what I recount, changing the way you think can only reduce or end the symptoms, and that is my only intention.
I may have sounded too agressive as was stated, I believe it to be more emphatic!
Again I thank you,








[quote=christophegeorg;1775391]Twist,
I can recite stories of people who have left their car during a red light or in heavy traffic, you happen to feel safe in yours. Twist, all symptoms are the same, only the triggers are different, and there are thousands of triggers that are different for all. Your question about peas is that you dislike them but, your not afraid of them. Many people are terrified of malls, or elevators or highways with exits that are far apart, I used to be terrified of certain streets when I was affected with acute avoidance, but little by little my world became so small I became agoraphobic and housebound.
We all suffer the same fear and the apprehension from our disorder, but the only way to end the symptoms is to know what your dealing with. In the years that I have been dealing with these disorders since my recovery, I often find some difference of opinion, but that very often is partly due to this disorder. There is so much to know about anxiety,panic, agoraphobia, and depression and the different ways this disorder manifests itself, but unfortunately some take offense were no offense was meant!
Thanks for reading my post!

[Cyran0]

After taking some time I decided I didn't want to leave things as I did. I will assume that you really are just trying to help and that being the case, I should not have gotten so angry. For that I apologize. But please understand that many of us here are in a great deal of pain and we, or in this case I, can be rather sensitive.

To try to mend fences here, let me better explain why I reacted the way I did. It wasn't your assertion that changing how we think can help reduce symptoms (obviously this is true or therapy would be pointless) it was more your broad assertion that this would solve all problems and that our failure to do it was why we were suffering. This is an illness and while smoking may cause lung cancer, you wouldn't exactly run into a cancer ward and start pointing fingers. Well without meaning to you were kind of doing that here.

How you conduct yourself here is up to you but between you and I I'd like to propose a deal so we can better get along. Don't address my disorder as a whole as I have a team of psychiatric professionals helping me with that. Instead share insights into how your approach can help in individual scenarios. I will happily listen to those smaller pieces of advice. Deal?

[christophegeorg]

Cyrano,

Thank You for texting me back I was quite upset to think I may caused you any pain, try to understand, and I think you can see by my words to you that I dealt with the most frightening symptoms in my life that were caused by this disorder, and I try to spare anyone I speak to of going through the same thing! I can say That I had visited over a dozen doctors including therapy and none were any help to me, I hope you have better success!
Thanks again for the re-post

Originally Posted by Cyran0

After taking some time I decided I didn't want to leave things as I did. I will assume that you really are just trying to help and that being the case, I should not have gotten so angry. For that I apologize. But please understand that many of us here are in a great deal of pain and we, or in this case I, can be rather sensitive.

To try to mend fences here, let me better explain why I reacted the way I did. It wasn't your assertion that changing how we think can help reduce symptoms (obviously this is true or therapy would be pointless) it was more your broad assertion that this would solve all problems and that our failure to do it was why we were suffering. This is an illness and while smoking may cause lung cancer, you wouldn't exactly run into a cancer ward and start pointing fingers. Well without meaning to you were kind of doing that here.

How you conduct yourself here is up to you but between you and I I'd like to propose a deal so we can better get along. Don't address my disorder as a whole as I have a team of psychiatric professionals helping me with that. Instead share insights into how your approach can help in individual scenarios. I will happily listen to those smaller pieces of advice. Deal?

[Cyran0]

Well, I'm sorry we upset each other. lol. And it is inspiring to hear that you're doing so well after having gone through so much.

I'm glad I wrote you back. This struggle is hard and we all need to stick together, no matter where we are in that journey.

I hope all is well with you.

Cyran0

[christophegeorg]

CyranO
Thanks for your return post, keep fighting the good fight! Whatever I can do to answer any questions or doubts, just ask?
Thanks for reading my post!

Originally Posted by [FONT=Georgia

Cyran0[/FONT];1777744]Well, I'm sorry we upset each other. lol. And it is inspiring to hear that you're doing so well after having gone through so much.

I'm glad I wrote you back. This struggle is hard and we all need to stick together, no matter where we are in that journey.

I hope all is well with you.

Cyran0

[Unrealityfeeling]

thanks for posting this, very helpfull im going away from home for some few days and i will remember this when i have a panic attack

[sleepless in Beirut]

You are absolutely right ..as soon as you feel it coming, just take a deeeeeep breath and do something totally different. put sports shoes on and go for a walk or a jog. listen to music you love .. really loud. Watch a movie that grabs your full attention. Remember, it is all in the head.