[Johnbenson23]

Well to start off this is gonna be a bit lengthy but definitely worth reading. I'm a 19 year old male college student and this is going to be my first post ever. I would like to share my story with you guys because I believe that it could definitely help each and everyone of you guys. To start off, my first ever panic attack started on New Years day of 2013 when I decided to smoke pot and mix it with alcohol. Not a smart decision but I got over it and laughed it off. I had just started my first full time job a month after that and I was a full time student as well. One day I was sitting down with a coworker and my vision seemed a little bit of and I went into another full blown anxiety attack. It was terrible I was about to pass out and I went up to tell my boss and I was told to walk it off but I wanted to go strait to the hospital. Sure enough I left and went strait to the hospital with no health insurance and asked them to check to see if I had a heart attack and that I was having digestive issues so to check me for colon cancer. They ran a whole bunch of test that ended up being free thanks to their low income program, thank god, and guess what... I was a perfectly healthy young man (I play college football so even that should show that anxiety doesn't care and attacks the best of us). So after that I had a piece of mind but 2 months later around June, I started summer school for college and my anxiety came back during a health course I was taking. I questioned every single aspect of my body and I always thought something was wrong with me, chest pain was a heart attack, a headache became a brain tumor, diahrea became Colon cancer, upset stomach became stomach cancer, it was ridiculous but eventually time healed all of these thoughts. After that my anxiety had nowhere to turn to because I wasn't scared of my physical health anymore so what did it do? It introduced me into something called derealization. I had a panic attack because I felt I was going to go crazy in class and then followed an episode of derealization. It was pretty scary because it feels as if your on autopilot and your body is working but it seems like a dream. This happened on and off for about a week and that was my last derealization episode because I understood what it was and I took full control of my mind and body. After all this I decided to tell my parents about all of this because I was also having auditory hallucinations right before falling asleep, which are normal every one has them we just don't notice it unless you have anxiety, and my dad decided to say maybe you're schizophrenic. Wow what a **** because for two weeks I really thought I was. I started googling every symptom and sign of it and I literally gave myself the symptoms. I created voices in my head or thoughts and when I looked at a stuffed animal I created a voice for it in my head to try to scare myself into thinking I was. I then gained control once again, went to a therapist to reassure me, and realized that it was just pure anxiety and learned that anxiety never turns into anything worst than what it is. So I finally got over that but thanks to the controlling my thoughts, I began to experience something know as intrusive thoughts. Now out of all of the anxiety symptoms I'm gonna have to say that the intrusive thoughts are the worst ones. I will tell you right now, if you suffer from intrusive thoughts your going to have to let them punch you in the face and let them beat you up to death because that's the only way they will lose their aggressiveness. Intrusive thoughts are normal at moderation but with anxiety, they are very agressive and paralyzing. I was having thoughts of hurting my loved ones, significant other, my adorable little puppy who's the cutest thing in the world. I felt like I was going mad, which started my cycle all over again. So as a couple months went by I did nothing but research and realized that I need to start living life! I think some methods I learned may help everyone here and hopefully it does. For the panic attacks, you have to realize that anything wrong with you, unless you are over the age of 55 and haven't had a check up which at that age you should start the check ups, is due to anxiety !!!!!! Once you realize this you change your thought process and you realize that nothing is truly wrong with you! It took me a couple doctor visits to reassure me but that doesn't mean that the worry thoughts went away right away but it definitely helped defeat them with time! Secondly all the worrying and irrational thinking and intrusive thoughts, they are all anxiety trying to get you in a fear cycle again! Let them come into your mind and your brain eventually adapts and picks it up. Force yourself to think positive but mthat doesn't mean fight your thoughts, let them enter than change them to something positive. And for Anyone experiencing intrusive thoughts, deep down inside this means you are good hearted people because you don't want to think like that and you fear it, that's all it is a different form of fear. And finally, don't worry about anxiety not going away or coming back tomorrow, because it only makes you remember it, look at it as one day it will go away and one day you will get better. And no matter what anyone says anxiety is very very very 110% curable trust me. People who say its not are just trying to be smart asses because they are referring to your fight or flight response. But anxiety disorder itself is very curable and trust me it does go away on its own. I also wouldn't recommend medication to those who are new to it because I never took medication to control it and trust me it was pretty bad, I think medication is overprescribed and is just a quick fix. I think the brain alone and your soul, are what combine to beat anxiety! Look at anxiety as a challenge and a hurdle you have to get through and try to cope with it when your symptoms begin to come back ! The last thing I'm going to leave you guys with (I promise) is prayer. I believe prayer is very powerful more powerful than any medication and it gives each and everyone of us hope. Prayer to The Lord Jesus Christ helped me out and gave me hope each and everyday and when I began to feel negative I prayed and regained hope. God heals and I believe he helped me so much throughout my battle with anxiety. Remember, don't let this hinder your life ! Let it beat you up and you'll see you will live to see the next day. You've heard it many times from many people ! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger !!! This is very true I promise you guys that one day you will be yourself again and have full control of your life ! It will get better and the brighter days are just a couple more steps away.

[joshua_b]

Great post thank you! Congratulations on your success. I agree, God does indeed heal.

[iwalkwithjesus]

amen Praise God! prayer is the best thing. Thank you so much for your story. God bless







QUOTE=Johnbenson23;3212260]Well to start off this is gonna be a bit lengthy but definitely worth reading. I'm a 19 year old male college student and this is going to be my first post ever. I would like to share my story with you guys because I believe that it could definitely help each and everyone of you guys. To start off, my first ever panic attack started on New Years day of 2013 when I decided to smoke pot and mix it with alcohol. Not a smart decision but I got over it and laughed it off. I had just started my first full time job a month after that and I was a full time student as well. One day I was sitting down with a coworker and my vision seemed a little bit of and I went into another full blown anxiety attack. It was terrible I was about to pass out and I went up to tell my boss and I was told to walk it off but I wanted to go strait to the hospital. Sure enough I left and went strait to the hospital with no health insurance and asked them to check to see if I had a heart attack and that I was having digestive issues so to check me for colon cancer. They ran a whole bunch of test that ended up being free thanks to their low income program, thank god, and guess what... I was a perfectly healthy young man (I play college football so even that should show that anxiety doesn't care and attacks the best of us). So after that I had a piece of mind but 2 months later around June, I started summer school for collend my anxiety came back duriamenng a health course I was taking. I questioned every single aspect of my body and I always thought something was wrong with me, chest pain was a heart attack, a headache became a brain tumor, diahrea became Colon cancer, upset stomach became stomach cancer, it was ridiculous but eventually time healed all of these thoughts. After that my anxiety had nowhere to turn to because I wasn't scared of my physical health anymore so what did it do? It introduced me into something called derealization. I had a panic attack because I felt I was going to go crazy in class and then followed an episode of derealization. It was pretty scary because it feels as if your on autopilot and your body is working but it seems like a dream. This happened on and off for about a week and that was my last derealization episode because I understood what it was and I took full control of my mind and body. After all this I decided to tell my parents about all of this because I was also having auditory hallucinations right before falling asleep, which are normal every one has them we just don't notice it unless you have anxiety, and my dad decided to say maybe you're schizophrenic. Wow what a **** because for two weeks I really thought I was. I started googling every symptom and sign of it and I literally gave myself the symptoms. I created voices in my head or thoughts and when I looked at a stuffed animal I created a voice for it in my head to try to scare myself into thinking I was. I then gained control once again, went to a therapist to reassure me, and realized that it was just pure anxiety and learned that anxiety never turns into anything worst than what it is. So I finally got over that but thanks to the controlling my thoughts, I began to experience something know as intrusive thoughts. Now out of all of the anxiety symptoms I'm gonna have to say that the intrusive thoughts are the worst ones. I will tell you right now, if you suffer from intrusive thoughts your going to have to let them punch you in the face and let them beat you up to death because that's the only way they will lose their aggressiveness. Intrusive thoughts are normal at moderation but with anxiety, they are very agressive and paralyzing. I was having thoughts of hurting my loved ones, significant other, my adorable little puppy who's the cutest thing in the world. I felt like I was going mad, which started my cycle all over again. So as a couple months went by I did nothing but research and realized that I need to start living life! I think some methods I learned may help everyone here and hopefully it does. For the panic attacks, you have to realize that anything wrong with you, unless you are over the age of 55 and haven't had a check up which at that age you should start the check ups, is due to anxiety !!!!!! Once you realize this you change your thought process and you realize that nothing is truly wrong with you! It took me a couple doctor visits to reassure me but that doesn't mean that the worry thoughts went away right away but it definitely helped defeat them with time! Secondly all the worrying and irrational thinking and intrusive thoughts, they are all anxiety trying to get you in a fear cycle again! Let them come into your mind and your brain eventually adapts and picks it up. Force yourself to think positive but mthat doesn't mean fight your thoughts, let them enter than change them to something positive. And for Anyone experiencing intrusive thoughts, deep down inside this means you are good hearted people because you don't want to think like that and you fear it, that's all it is a different form of fear. And finally, don't worry about anxiety not going away or coming back tomorrow, because it only makes you remember it, look at it as one day it will go away and one day you will get better. And no matter what anyone says anxiety is very very very 110% curable trust me. People who say its not are just trying to be smart asses because they are referring to your fight or flight response. But anxiety disorder itself is very curable and trust me it does go away on its own. I also wouldn't recommend medication to those who are new to it because I never took medication to control it and trust me it was pretty bad, I think medication is overprescribed and is just a quick fix. I think the brain alone and your soul, are what combine to beat anxiety! Look at anxiety as a challenge and a hurdle you have to get through and try to cope with it when your symptoms begin to come back ! The last thing I'm going to leave you guys with (I promise) is prayer. I believe prayer is very powerful more powerful than any medication and it gives each and everyone of us hope. Prayer to The Lord Jesus Christ helped me out and gave me hope each and everyday and when I began to feel negative I prayed and regained hope. God heals and I believe he helped me so much throughout my battle with anxiety. Remember, don't let this hinder your life ! Let it beat you up and you'll see you will live to see the next day. You've heard it many times from many people ! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger !!! This is very true I promise you guys that one day you will be yourself again and have full control of your life ! It will get better and the brighter days are just a couple more steps away.[/QUOTE]

[ItGoesOn]

I'm also in college and turn to God for all the help I can't get on my own. Send me a message I'd love to hear how you've dealt with you problems and being so far away I could defiantly use some extra tips! I've been doing my best at school but am still suffering from frequent panic attacks, any advice helps even if its just your favorite bible verse

[Zahmom0725]

Wow this is truly amazing I'm.so grateful that I read this I'm going thru the same exact thing and still struggling please pm me I will love to chat wit you

[anxious123]

Wow man, this story is SPEAKING to me. Much like you I have had anxiety before (I'm 24) and were able to overcome it but now I started a new career after college and I am dealing with the intrusive thoughts and it scares the crapppppp out of me! Much like yourself its always about the people who I care most about and that is what is so difficult because I know I am a good person! Glad to know that this is curable and I know I will beat this but at times it gets so tough! I have been suffering for about 3 weeks now and I hoppe I start to see improvement soon! I did start a medication but hoping that I can get off it because I don't want to become reliant on it. Also God is great, I pray everyday multiple times a day and I know he works in mysterious ways and that he will help me through this!

[MMalguy]

This is, hands down, the best thing I have heard in a long time. This is my exact experience in a nutshell. By far, the most mentally and physically taxing experience I have dealt with. I am relieved to know that I am not the only one who has experienced such an extreme mental breakdown, and I am glad to know that I will bounce back someday. Thank you!