first real anxiety attack

i've been in busy stores before and felt crowded and started to get all nervous and uncomfortable and feel like i need to run out of the store screaming b/c i just couldn't take people anymore but this today was like wierd different obsessive thoughts were racing through my head and i started to get easily annoyed and agitated. then it was like the fricken dog would not stop whining and crying b.c there were people outside and i lost it and had to shut myself of b/c i literally felt like everything was coming down on me physically i was all tense and couldn't breath normally its like all of this tension inside you that just wells up ughghgh ocd and anxiety together drive me crazy.

Well I would have let the dog inside, and then tried to call my therapist. This always works for me. I feel so much better talking to him.

Hope you feel better soon.

Colors

Hi hopestheory,

You describe the attack very clearly. I think that when we have high anxiety and panic it's not so much what's going on around us, or irritating us that's so upsetting, it's the state inside ourselves.

I have been in the situation you describe so many times, and it has taken a very long time to gradually face up to the changes that happen inside me when anxiety rises. It doesn't really matter where I am or what seems to be causing it, the anxiety is always the same and always horrible.

The positive thing is that I have learned to go through it without causing a rumpus. I am able to slow down, to breath and to acknowledge that it is happening. This way I am not so afraid of triggers and I can now go where I want to, when I want to. For me, the key has been to separate the anxiety from the situation, and that helps me to go through it.

Anxiety is never nice, it's no friend, but it can be dealt with.

Maybe some CBT would be helpful.

Good luck, Myzen