Point of Exit Methodology (POEM System)
The point of exit methodology is a thought process that I’ve been perfecting for over twenty years now. The point of exit in the context of the following methodology is the point in which you finish a full blown anxiety attack. Click here to see graph – Click here for video explanation
What Is The Poem System
In a nutshell, the point of exit methodology (or POEM system) is a thought process that deflates the extreme nature of a anxiety sufferers emotional state. When exercising the poem system the panic sufferer learns to not fear a possible panic attack. As the sufferer masters the poem system they can effectively eradicate their fear of panic attacks, and henceforth stop having panic attacks.
How To Practice The Poem System
When you are in a high enough state of anxiety that you are entering into the anxiety cloud state, and fearful of a panic attack, you can avoid the attack by focusing on the end (or point of exit) of the attack.
The anxiety sufferer focuses only at the end of the panic episode and practices disregarding the the actual panic attack. They focus on how they are going to reward themselves when the panic attack is over. I suggest using a walk as the reward. Look at a walk in the fresh air as a fantastic reward. It’s exercise and it’s small celebration of life.
Another reason a walk is recommended is because you can usually achieve that. Outdoors is preferred, but indoors can work to on a treadmill or simply walking up and down stairs. Any kind of exercise can be good, but a walk outdoors is preferred. Rain or shine. However, the reward can be anything you enjoy.
When you are highly stressed, and you begin fearing a panic attack, tell yourself that the panic attack would be “no big deal”, and that if it happens you will reward yourself when it’s over. No matter what your imagination tells you during your time of panic, remember that facts – you are not alone, the panic attack won’t hurt you, and focus only on your reward that is coming.
It’s key that you let the panic attack come and don’t try to fight it. Practice telling yourself that “a panic attack is no big deal”, and if you have the panic attack, really focus on telling yourself that it was “not a big deal”.
Carry out rewarding yourself, and make sure you launch into some kind of activity that has you moving. Walking, running, or working with your hands…..anything – but get yourself moving. If you are OK to drive, then go for a drive. Take a bus ride. Just get moving.
Practicing Point of Exit
When you practice the point of exit methodology, you must focus all your thought at the moment you feel your panic attack subsiding. Right when the cold sweats appear, or after you have cried, etc. At that point of release you are entering your point of exit. You must get some physical activity at this point. Tell yourself how it was no big deal, and how much you are going to enjoy your reward.
If you have multiple panic attacks in a day, you can’t sleep, and you are extremely frightened all the time, the POEM system will help you, and it might even pull you completely out of your anxious state. It might not if you don’t practice diligently. You may need to see a doctor and get a prescription to get your anxiety and depression under control.
Don’t ever forget – you are not alone. You are not a victim. You are a perfect creation of universal energy and universal intelligence. Your anxiety is actually a gift in disguise my friend. You will certainly appreciate the moments of your life when you are not anxious and afraid. You will very likely be enlightened when your journey to recovery is over. At the very least, you will be able to help other people who suffer from the same problem.
In my long effort to finally find a lasting relief I ended up using a low dosage of Paxil. It’s been a wild ride, and some days I still have panic attacks, but I rebound from them much faster now because I have educated myself.
In the end….it’s no big deal. In the end (which will be soon) you will recover from your anxiety and/or depression.
Jacob
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Hi my name is David and I had a panic attack after a long period of depression about a year ago it was so strong that that I could hardly walk I was sure that I was dying and called for an ambulance. I am now on the other side of the world by myself in Argentina and I am getting panicy again I cant speak Spanish and it is terrible when at night in a crowded places on my own. Although I knew that panic attacks were not supposed to be dangerous I still got scared but after reading your page I feel more strenghth to leave my room. I dont think I will kill myself I dont want to be a coward…
I had a girlfriend who had this and I could never understand why she cut herself, withdrew from social situations and had a series of minor car accidents now it seems I have contracted her desiese. Thanks again for your insight. Regards David
Hi David,
Sorry to hear you are in the midst of full blown anxiety. This will pass David. You’re not alone friend. You are never alone. I want to give you a quest while you are in Argentina.
You are in beautiful country. Take lots of walks in the early morning to places of solitude away from people. Your true connection to universal source (God) is with nature and animals. If you can find a way to spend some time with some dogs or cats that is good too.
Take long extended walks to nature where there are trees, grass, flowers, water, rivers. You are at a cross-roads and you are transforming my friend. After each panic attack shake your limbs. Legs and arms. Shake it off. Say to yourself, “Wow that was a wild ride but I’m going make it through this. Make constant comments to yourself that are positive.”
Say, “I am beautiful and I am a piece of God. I will survive this because I am a piece of God. I Want to Feel Good. I want to feel good”. This is your mantra David. Even if you don’t believe these words right now, keep saying them. “I want to feel good”.
I know you are in a complete fog of fear and just terrified of the next panic attack. When you feel heavy stress get out and walk. walk. walk. walk. Don’t worry about your body or mind. Your body is a God connected creation and can handle no food for awhile. Make sure you drink water though. If you feel hungry and have a small window where you have an appetite, take advantage of that small window and eat some veggies and light food. You don’t need allot of food David. Just a little bit here and there will be fine. You may lose some weight if you don’t have an appetite but that’s not a big deal either.
The more you say to yourself, “This is no big deal and a very common experience for millions of others in the world”, the sooner you will leave the panic attacks behind.
Now one more thing, If there is an English bookstore anywhere go get a book / or the CD version of The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer. This book will help even when you are in a full blown panic attack. Focus on the parts of the book where Wayne explains your connection to universal love.
One last thing. When you are suffering, start telling yourself how much you love all human beings. Send silent blessing to your friends, family, Mom and Dad, partner etc. Also, send blessings of compassion and love to all strangers you see. When you go for your early morning walks and see other people send them a silent blessing of love and understanding. Say this when you see a stranger, “I send you my blessing dear friend and I love you as God loves us both.”
All of these things will help you through this. If you can find someone to talk to who understands what you are going through do that. If not, spend your time in God’s hands. Visualize yourself being held in the palm of God’s hands.
You will be OK. Those thoughts of suicide and/or scary thoughts of hurting yourself or others is just your brain giving you something unreal to think about instead of all the other stress points that have brought you to this junction.
If you can, think about all of the situations in your life that may have stressed you and brought you to a feeling of depression, anxiety, and fear. When you begin to come out of this AND YOU WILL COME OUT OF THIS. Begin tearing down all of the aspects of your life, your love, your friends, your job, your hobbies. Throw out the stuff that brings you stress, and keep the things that give you peace.
You are perfect the way you are and you are NEVER alone. No-one is ever alone. Keep sending out quiet blessing to others and MAKE SURE you send quiet blessings to yourself.
This will you help through this David. You’ll make it my friend. I promise you that.
God will bless you today and all days,
Jacob
Did you watch this video:
http://www.saneadvice.com/more-on-the-poem-system/
[...] is nothing fancy about this idea, but it works very well. In the POEM system the important idea is to “snap yourself out of it” so to speak. With the POEM system [...]
Thank you so much Jacob! I have read over the POEM system. I get my panic attacks when i am driving by myself. I am going to try this on my way home tonight from work. Thank you a million times over!!!
Yes…thank you. I tried this method and my panic attacks were much lessened.
I even managed to go for a walk today in the morning as you suggested to David. I’m feeling like I am starting get some control back in my life.
Anyway, thanks again!
I want to thank you so very much Jacob. I just started to read the POEM and I will try the things that you have explained to David. Lately I have been highly stressed and have had 2 panic attacks at night within the last two months. Before that it was Oct 07 on my last panic attack. I also thought that panic attacks would hurt me but after reading your response to David’s email, I think the opposite. I have just come off a panic attack as of last night. I didn’t get much sleep and the stomach was upset. If I would have know about the POEM system, I think I would have worked it out and wouldn’t have had the attack lasting 6 hours. Thank you so very much again.
Hi Heather,
Sorry to hear that you are experiencing panic attacks. Glad you started researching right away online and have taken action to understand your thought processing.
Always with people who suffer from extreme anxiety and/or panic attacks, there are mitigating circumstances in their lives that are the root cause of the overload of anxiety.
In my experience, and in the case of the people I talk to with anxiety problems, it’s usually NEVER one stressful thing that causes an overload. It’s a combination of various stressful things that add up. I’ve found that this paragraph is very important. Why? Because once you know this you can start your inventory.
Create a stress inventory on a piece of paper. Write down a list of all the “stressful items” in your life. Don’t do it by priority – just let your pen fly and write down ALL stress factors. Don’t forget the little ones because they are very important too. Below is an example.
- fear of dying (not likely to happen so forget about it)
- fear of losing your mind (not going to happen so forget about it)
- fear of losing job or income (so what…get another one even better than the one you have now. Isn’t there some things about the job you have now that you hate anyway. A new second chance could be upon you!)
- fear of being alone (no-one is ever alone, besides it would be good to get your own space and total control of your day to day life, and you can make sure you find the right person next time)
- fear of divorce (so join the club and follow the above)
- fear for children safety and unhappiness/development (kids are only lent to you and the universal (and God) will guide them fine without you worrying about it)
- fear of health problems (good – maybe this will get you exercising more and eating better)
- fear for family members (same as your children)
- fear of having to move (exciting to move and start a new journey)
- fear of losing house (exciting to move and start a new journey)
- bad relationship (work on it and if the partner is completely out of it, then dump em and move on)
- bad job (get resume together and get it together – quit all jobs until you find one you LOVE) keeping a bad job is the same as cutting yourself. It’s self-abuse.
- bad neighbors (work on it, ignore them, and if it gets stupid bad then move)
- being sued (this one is tough. Losing all your money is NOT the end of your world. Let the courts deal with it and be HONEST, HONEST, HONEST…..it will be OK.)
- getting married and not sure about soon to be spouse (postpone postpone postpone – damn the torpedoes and if he/or she can’t handle it then you are dealing with a bad proposition and it shouldn’t happen anyway. Being alone is much better than being miserable with someone)
- financial stress due to (stop spending and start finding free thing to do. Exercising, reading, cheap hobbies, etc. No-one needs all these vacations trips and JUNK anyway. Use your lean day as a way to rediscover yourself without the need for stuff)
So a list like that. When you are done, think about each item and write down a REALISTIC outcome if the worst did happen. I’ve done that above in brackets for example.
Never worry about what OTHERS think you should be doing. Don’t worry about finances. Just take action to get your finances under control. Find a trustee and setup a monthly payment plan and consolidation plan.
Remember that panic attacks and anxiety overloads happen because you are assuming negative outcomes to all of your life changes. It can be caused from guilt. Screw guilt. It’s useless and hurts everyone. Especially yourself.
Start thinking about the best scenarios in your future. You will setup your life so it’s not so stressful. You will learn to be strong and CLEAR away all of the things, people, commitments, hobbies, jobs, thoughts, and fears that make you anxious.
Remember this too – you have years and years to learn from what is causing you stress. This stress is wake up call to you so you can CHANGE your attitude, thoughts and perception.
Really. Life is good. Life is fun. Life is dynamic and not static. Embrace the uncertainty. Embrace the changes all good and bad. Embrace yourself because you are a piece of god.
And for God’s sake remember that panic attacks won’t hurt you, harm you, or change you. You WILL get through this phase of your life. It’s just a phase.
God bless,
Jacob
Hi Jacob,
What a great service you are rendering…apart from a solution that is working…as seen from the messages above…the touch of genuine concern and care is so nice to see in your responses.
I have been through the episode a couple of years back…with no one to help…no one to accept and problem…its a stigma in the place I live…you see…! But I have managed to come out of it…(I have prayed…I have repeatedly told myself that my life will not be wasted in moments of fear alone) …only felt enriched with the experience…it’s like, an earthquake is bad but it also gives us a chance to see what is beneath the hard crust…similarly I have been able to understand the presence of a deeper being (call it sub or un conscious or soul or whatever…), had a chance to look at my life as I had lived and built the stresses so much that, they would explode as panic attack – I also felt my self-awareness has increased a lot..and I have put it to positive use…panic attack experience ‘imposes’ the on-guard behavior…but we can use it to know ourselves better…what emotions we experience in social situations…what and how are others feeling…what makes us happy etc…essentially utilizing the heightened self-consciouness to make it into a positive self-awareness – And my suggestion to others goign through the attacks is…do feel proud about yourself…for you are brave enough and strong enough to live through and come out a very very challenging experience…there’s a way to see it and feel a sense of achievement…you have seen the highest and most intense of fears….what else in life can challenge you…? How better you are as compared to others, in handling traumatic and fearsome events that everyone is bound to experience…loss of near and dear ones…old age…death…oh death…well we live it on a daily basis…so whenever death comes near…its just business as usual isn’t it?
If there is anyone who can live the rest of life without bothering about death…it’ll be you…let it come when it comes…at the most it will be like just one more apisode of attack…meanwhile ot to keep doing and enjoying things that matter most…
As Jacob said, panic attack makes us realize that there’s more to us than what we know of us and the world around…that countenance with the larger scheme of events…call it God…call it Nature…or whatever…but relaize that you are an intrinsic part of it…this increased awareness shoudl in turn make you feel good about yourself…since this is not a readily avialble understanding/experience to every other person…although we pay a heavy price to get it we should nevertheless feel confident and enriched…”a part in the whole has nothing to fear…for its only the whole that sustains forever…” eventually this sense of confidence will help you to easily downplay and ignore the harmless ‘alarms’…you can just tell yourself that there are other important things to do in life which are interesting to me and are more meaningful than waste time in getting scared of things that would never happen…
Good luck to you all and just get back to normal ways but keep the treasures of understanding your emotions, self-awareness that you have earned by facing the depths of your being…
I couldn’t see a way but to to extract something positive out of the experience…I think it makes a difference…
anyways, POEM looks a fantastic strategy…try whatever…but do get over it…
This is to give encouragement to others that, it can be overcome…and in a way one can see it as a ‘costly/painful’ but enriching experience that exposes to deeper levels of reality, ordinarily ignored in the humdrum of life…
Best Regards,
-Benevolent Voice
Fear is an overwhelming force… But I am not afraid and I think that is what scares me most.
When the attacks come they are a surprise, they start mildly, a tightening of the chest, a stabbing pain, excessive wind and thing really. Not just one thing.
Once I recognize the first sign, it becomes a battle to prevent a full blown attack. If I am luck I can ride the initial storm, using breathing exercises, physical activity and positive reinforcement.
My doctor prescribed Zanor SR which has prevented a majority of my attacks. I have been taking the drug for the last ten years.
Initially I was having at least five or six attacks a week. Major experimentation with drugs ended with Zanor SR being the ideal solution for me.
This is not a recommendation of the drug which unfortunately is addictive and habit forming, but it is the price I pay to work and conduct a normal life.
My doctor stresses that I can only consider weaning myself off the drug once I stop work.
That said while it has reduced the number of attacks, nothing ever really takes them away forever, it is a demon that follows me stalking my waking hours ready to strike without warning.
As a journalist I do a highly stressful job and my wife always asks why I never have attacks when I am at my most stressed. It is always when I have met my deadline or have a long weekend off that the attacks take place.
Ironically a friend of mine suffered from the same disorder and he died of a heart attack in his shower.
I always imagine him in his last few minutes telling himself not to worry, just another panic attack and boom it’s for real.
What I would like to share with everyone that reads this post is that like you said, “we are not alone” and that normal person sitting across the table from you could be just like you, either taking drugs for life or reciting the mantra “I am beautiful” under his breath.
In the end at least we know it will pass and when it does, life goes on.
Hello Benevolent,
Thanks for dropping by. You have a fantastic metaphor there,
“…it’s like, an earthquake is bad but it also gives us a chance to see what is beneath the hard crust…”
This is so very very true. There has been times in my life when I was very angry with the fact that I have an anxiety disorder. When we’re in the depths of the dark valley it’s so hard to see any good coming from extreme anxiety and panic attacks.
Is obvious that you are an experienced sufferer of anxiety. Your post is very helpful to the readers on this site who have only been dealing with their anxiety disorder for a couple of years. When we first get the full force anxiety attacks, and/or depression it’s extremely frightening, so when “anxiety newbies” read posts from folks like you they see the light at the end of the tunnel.
What’s amazing to me is that the light at the end of the tunnel is actually brighter than ever before. For all those reading this are just entering into the dark valley for the first time……do not worry……you will get through all of this and you will have a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you.
Through your anxiety, panic, and fear you are mutating into a new person, and you are being given a chance to purge your greatest fear.
Real life is love, kindness, compassion (God) Fake life is anger, bitterness, and selfishness.
Those of us who sufferer from an anxiety disorder have been given a reat gift of insight. I am far better person because of my anxiety problems of the past and present.
Benevolent….you understand this and your words can help thousands understand that the light at the other end of tunnel DOES burn bright.
All the very best….
Jacob
Rod,
Great info there.
“…….as a journalist I do a highly stressful job and my wife always asks why I never have attacks when I am at my most stressed. It is always when I have met my deadline or have a long weekend off that the attacks take place…..”
I have found this to be incredibly true. Idle hands and idle minds are tools of the devil (even though there is no such thing as the devil or hell
) Being busy doing something you love is a key factor for extreme stress sufferers. Creating a project is a super way to avoid anxiety attacks.
…..ironically a friend of mine suffered from the same disorder and he died of a heart attack in his shower……”
Don’t worry about that one too much Rod. Medical science has pretty well ruled out cardiac arrest from JUST anxiety and panic. The anxiety sufferer has to have a problematic heart in the first place for acute anxiety to kill them. Otherwise there would millions of people in the world dropping dead every 5 minutes.
I believe that as modern society evolves us humans will have more and more free time and this can be a recipe for stress, depression, etc. We were not meant to sit around contemplating that much. We were built to hunt and gather.
First of all gongratulations for trying to help people Jacob – it’s a job worthy of all our respect. I have been suffering of anxiety attacks since 2002 and only this year I found out what it really was, thanks to internet and people like youself. I have all the symptoms that everybody here has, but those that come at night are the worst. They keep me up, in a semi-sleepy state, as my brain is ‘raped’ by thoughts that really hurt, am from time to time, just when I’m about to fell asleep, my breath suddenly stops, and I’m forced to awake (probably my brain remindes my body of that possible threat, danger) and when I open my eyes for a secound there my room suddenly enlightens as if someone turns on the light and then turns it off. is that also a symptom? Thank you, and thank you all, for shareing your pain here, it fells good to know that I’m not marching alone through the light. God help us all!
Thanks Ivan…you’re not alone at that symptom either Ivan. If and when I ever fell asleep during my weeks and days of high anxiety and panic attacks, I would awake suddenly and my breathing was messed up.
When I tried to sleep I would just begin dozing off and I would snap awake in sever panic. The room did seem “enlightened” momentarily as well.
When you get this happening don’t just lie there worrying about everything (don’t we love to that) – get up and move around. Go to the kitchen and drink a cold glass of water, read something, watch an old movie, whatever to get your mind on something else.
You really need to get your mind on something else. Remember this one….think about the fact that will all of the things you worry about, you’re still here and doing fine. Remember that your body is a powerful creation that is fully capable of handling stress like this.
Try to forget about loss. Loss of status, loss of love, loss of job, loss of dignity. Just be. Think of yourself as an animal and stop thinking all together. Just sleep, eat, and let God look after ALL the rest.
Always remember that severe anxiety is way universal energy is putting “you on notice” that it’s time to change the way you think and the way you look at things.
“Change the way you look at things in your world, and the things in your world will change” (Quote from Wayne Dyer)
All the best Ivan. Now relax and get some sleep my friend. You can relax…..you’re in good hands. Turn of the brain, ignore your negative thoughts. Thoughts mean nothing….actions mean everything. You’re a good person and God loves you.
I too have had the occasional attack over the past few years, at first I thought it was maybe a heart attack. After a few of them I figured well if it was a heart attack then I would be done by now. However they have gotten worse lately due to what I believe is chronic pain. Feel the pain and freak out. I am planning to see my doctor over the next week to see what he has to say about it but don’t really want to go the drug route, which is generally in my experience the way they go. I have found that the chronic pain is controlled with a few drinks and well… a few turn into more and more and I am sick of the lifestyle now. I had my potentially the worst one last week. Just sitting at a computer at my side job and all of a sudden tunnel vision, feeling loss of control, sweating. I really can’t and don’t want to deal with it any more. I have even contempleted not going to Vegas this year with my buddies because of it. It is affecting work and just every day life. I too as one person mentioned when driving alone have the problem. I have noticed that sometimes finding an activity takes my mind off the chronic pain does help but there is always some sharp pain in the hand or foot or somewhere that can spark an attack. I have seen in the posts here that God plays a significant role for some but I am not a religious person, not that I don’t necessarily believe in God, just not religious. I also live alone, off of a relationship of 7 years, which actually I am happy about. But gives too much time to think. It makes it hard with these attacks to get out and meet people so I hope that either someone can help me a bit and get a better mind set on this issue or at least let someone else know they are not alone because it does suck.
Thanks!
DC
DC,
Physical pain is a VERY common trigger to anxiety and panic attacks. The worst anxiety I’ve ever had in my life were triggered by bad back pain (herniated disks).
Keeping your mind on something else is a good way to avoid panic. Another important thing to remember is that the pain won’t hurt you or kill you. Remember that you are not falling apart, and that your body is an incredible force to reckon with. It will naturally heal itself if you help it along.
Also, when you have extreme anxiety, you are hyper-sensitive to any kind of physical pain. When you get your anxiety under control you won’t be as sensitive physically.
You said this,
“…..I am sick of the lifestyle now”
BINGO, your entire being is crying out for change, and your anxiety is the result of your body and mind telling you that you need to make some changes. Getting out of a bad relationship was an obvious example of how you are taking action to make those changes.
Likely you are slowly spooling up to make even more changes. What kind of pain are you dealing with right now? Do your homework on the cause of the pain and take action to help your amazing body recover over time.
Be patient with yourself, your body, and your mind.
As far as religion and God goes, I believe in a universal mind of compassionate loving power. Scientists now believe that the universe of planets could not exist as it does without some form of organization. This is a new development in the scientific world. Einstein also believed that there is “universal mind or power” at work in our cosmos.
Your body, mind, and spirit are born of this beauty. Your mind and body are directly connected to nature, trees, animals, the atmosphere. Give your body the credit and love it deserves. Try and focus on giving your healing body and mind the attention it needs and help it along.
My wife sufferers from chronic pain and by using the ideas I’ve mentioned above she has greatly improved her life.
Living alone can be very isolating and sometimes frightening. I’ve been there. Very poor, very sick, very addicted, and very frightened. Not being physically touched by other humans for a long stretch is hard on us. When we can’t touch and hold humans, animals are a super substitute. Animals are even more connected to universal energy than humans. Do you have dog or a cat?
Another great thing to do is find a hospital or clinic where others suffer from the same pain you have and volunteer. You can soon realize that you are not alone, and helping others will automatically align you with universal spirit. Even if you only volunteer 1 hour a week spending time talking with sufferers will make a HUGE change in your life.
All ideas, and I hope some of these ideas can help you along as your body, spirit, and mind heal.
You will heal. You’re going to be OK. You’re going to be just fine. Be kind to yourself. You are a true miracle of life and you are about to find out how much of a miracle you really are. I predict that in a year or two you will look back on 2008 as a miraculous time of awakening.
You will never take for granted a pain-free day, and you will never look at a blue sky, a tree, a field, or a stream the same. Have you read “The Way of The Peaceful Warrior” (Dan Millman) yet? Have you read “A New Earth” (Eckhart Toole) yet?
For now, hang in there and breath in as much fresh air as you can. Breath deep and be grateful for that breath.
Jacob
Thanks for the insight, it actually has made me feal much better already, I am not one to discuss my fealings very readilly with people and this page is nice. It makes me feel better that I am not alone. I have not had an attack since I learned of your system but today I thought I may as I was driving and I went around the block and got control of it. However I have been in my “safe place” all day, but no pain so it was a good day. I plan to practice your plan in case of the next instance. I am curious how you came up with the POEM idea. It makes sense but just haven’t been able to implement yet.
Hi my name is Edward, I just turned 26, and I recently developed what I believe to be panic disorder.
It started about 7 months ago when I was studying for some very stressful final exams and I snapped – I had very little sleep and had taken an extra dosage of my prescribed Adderall and I completely freaked out thinking that something was wrong with my brain.
After that, the last 6 months have been miserable for me because I am constantly in a state of hyper-vigilance. If I’m not monitoring my head, I’m monitoring my heart, which is by far the worst of the two and has been plaguing me most recently.
The panic attacks actually just resurfaced recently, the constant hyper-vigilance is what torments me the most, and words cannot described how desperate and miserable this is making me.
I want nothing more than to be normal again – to experience life as I did prior to my first panic attack.
I’m so frustrated that I look forward to sleep and my first waking hour as my only moments of freedom, I often think of suicide and death as a release because I can’t bear the thought of living like this for the rest of my life. I am not a naturally depressed person, and I don’t really want to die, but I just can’t handle experiencing this for the rest of my life
I did see my doctor and he said that I am wired this way and will carry it with me my whole life. He offered anti-depressants, which I am not interested in taking, and beta-blockers which I have tried but they only curb the physical effects.
I’m glad I found this site because it gives me a place to vent my feelings, which I can’t share with anyone else, and I am hopeful that this technique will help.
I don’t believe medication is going to solve anything because it’s all psychological to begin with – I am looking into CBT as my last resort.
Thanks for reading if you’ve gotten this far.
Hi Edward,
You will NOT have this problem the rest of your life. With or without medication, these days of fear and anxiety will pass.
This hyper-sensitivity is very normal after someone has had their first panic attack.
Please update us here as your anxiety begins to pass. After a week or two you should start to see your symptoms begin to back down. BUT, this will only happen if you begin taking action and changing your life course.
Something is causing you to have great stress, and your doctor is right (sort of), you are like me and the others on this page, in that you are hyper-sensitive. That’s OK though. If you start looking a the future without dread, and looking to the past without guilt, you can pull out of this.
It’s usually in our early or mid twenties that we begin to experience these symptoms. Rest assured that how you feel right now is NOT how you will feel your whole life.
You nailed it on the head when you said that with or without medication it comes down to what is in your head and how you are looking at things.
Try not to put too much pressure on yourself. That means exams, advancements, etc. What is the most important thing is your personal connection to source energy. Your connection with universal love is the key thing. All of the aspirations of life and our present form are not worth stressing about. Don’t worry about what OTHER people want you to do either.
Jacob
Hi,
My name is Emily. I have had panic disorder for the past three years now. My feelings are very similar to Edward’s as he described in his previous comment. I am 20 years old and in college. I live in Ireland and I’m finding it very difficult to get any help. Does anyone have any information that would help me out?
I have been to see a therapist, and found this very helpful. But the panic attacks still didn’t stop. I don’t want to resort to medication, I would prefer to do this on my own. It’s hard to know where to start with getting help. I’ve been researching about panic since it started, but I found that I became a bit obsessed and was getting very stressed. So now I just document the attacks as I hope that my experience could help others in the future.
It’s so great to find a site that has real people talking about their experiences. A common question that I seem to be asking my boy friend now is ‘Is this really happening? Am I really here?’. He’s getting a bit freaked out! I don’t blame him but I could do with talking to people who understand what panic feels like so I don’t feel so crazy!
I’ve started Kundalini yoga which does a lot of breathing work. I find this very helpful.
Thanks for reading.
Emily
Dear jacob
I am 20 yrs old and have been suffering from panic attacks for 4 to 5 yrs now. I believe i suffer from them due to my mother, whom i am very close to. she is very sick and in & out of hospital. I have just came accross the POEM system, and kin to give it ago. I already enjoy walking my dogs on a daily basis.Anything else you can tell me to help me will be great. I feel i have lost control of my life and need to get it back. help!
from deano
Hi Jacob ( and everyone else here)
I want to share my story, 4 years ago I suffered depression and suddenly started with panic attacks (mostly when I was driving by myself in Mexico City’s traffic jams). The attacks and anxiety lasted for almost 2 years, the more panic attacks I had, the more frightened and depressed I became. My personality changed completely, I was a lider with a magnetic carisma ( or so I was told), and it all disappeared.. friends, social life, self confidence, faith… al vbeacuse of this.
Once I met a Reiki teacher, she told me about the universe and the energy, I also learned The “so-called” Secret, so I tried and visualized myself as I was 2 years before it all began… a healthy, intelligent, fun and beautiful girl… and stopped taking the medication ( which I hated)…
It worked, I cannot explain how but it has been 2 years since I made the decision and haven’t had a panic attack… I have felt the symptoms several times, but I guess I have been using the POEM even without knowing about it…
I came accross this post… and I was about to cry, because I did not know any other person with the same problem. I felt so alone, nobody understood. I even left my parents house to stop causing them pain, they did not know what happened to their daughter… neither did I.
But I am back home now, I have a good job and even when I am not close to the brave, confident and popular person I was not so far in the past, I think I am getting closer to what I want to be and I don’t want to be afraid anymore.
I want to thank you Jacob for your genuine concern and wise advice.
To those of you have posted here, I too have had all of the symptoms, driving alone, etc, actually I have found driving my dad’s truck, a different environment helps. My cause seems to be chronic pain that causes my anxiety. Unfortunately I turned to alcohol to relieve that but when I have a good day, I embrace the hell out of it and enjoy as much as possible. I don’t get them very often but like Edward, my first hour in bed is great waking up but as the day goes on my mind messes with me. I too don’t want the drugs but hang in there and embrace the good days and sometimes I have found that I can make a bad day good by just waking up telling myself that I am going to have a good day and not think about everything. I appreciate this site Jacob, thank you!!
Hi all,
I hope you have had a stress free day. I have been enjoying “lack of thought” lately and been concentrating on “toiling”.
Working with our hands is beneficial, as it turns off our brain as we work on our projects.
Been reading and traveling allot lately as well so that is another form of turning off the noise.
I have noticed that some of the people posting in the last few posts are all new comers to their disorder. I was 21 when it changed my life for the bad. It’s very frightening when you first have panic attacks and depression.
My advice to the new comers is to consider your connection to God source, and begin changing their thought process from one of dread to one of glory.
You are young, healthy, and glorious. Universal love is flowing in your veins and in your body. Your mind is simply out of sync with the truth. The truth is beauty, love, and acceptance. The falsehoods are fear, dread, and anxiety.
Everything will be OK. You will be OK. You will live a long time. Begin to realize that you are learning something that some people never learn. You are learning compassion, love and glory. This dark valley is a portal to this glory.
To walk on the mountain tops, and discover the glory of universal love, one MUST go through the dark portal and face their greatest fears. When you come out the other side you will find you are a better person than you ever thought you were. You will find out that you are stronger than you ever thought you were.
Love Jacob
I am thankful to have found your article. It is very helpful. At this point I believe I am suffering from panic attacks. I’ve been a frequent smoker of marijuana for the past four years and only started to cut down maybe six months ago. About a month ago I started to experience chest pains. After having my symptoms checked by my local physician, it was discovered that my heart and surrounding areas were in perfect conditioning. Still the pain continues. Everytime I smoke even the smallest ammount of marijuana it seems to strike. I’ve all but quit smoking. I know it’s bad for my health, but I can’t say that there is anything I’d like to do more on a Sunday evening than turn on a nice jazz album and settle down with a book and my pipe. I’ve accepted that smoking marijuana full time is a thing of the past. Still, I am curious as to how these effect future smoke sessions. Will I ever be able to smoke and not feel these terrible sensations again?
I’d just like to come back here and give an update.
My panic attacks have completely subsided and my stress is at an all time low – I feel more normal now than I have in 7 months and it’s great.
It wasn’t immediate, but the first and foremost thing was getting off the beta blockers and reducing my stress as much as possible.
I wasn’t able to utilize the POEM system and I’ll explain why – once a panic attack or anxiety is triggered, your body is flooded with chemicals and neurotransmitters like epiphrenine and adrenaline, and no amount of rationalizing, logic or discipline can completely erase what you’re going to feel as a result of these chemicals surging through you.
I will share the two things I have used:
1) Caffeine therapy. I read about a doctor who used caffeine in controlled doses as a form of therapy. Basically, you start off having a sip of a soda once a day, as your body (and mind adjusts) to the effects of this, you gradually increase the amount (such as a single can of soda for a week or two, then two, then a cup of coffee, etc.)
The important thing is to control the amount strictly so that you adjust to a certain amount without going over the amount and tripping your internal alarm system which will reset your progress.
2) Desensitization therapy. I noticed that simply looking up anything related to the heart on wikipedia would fill me with an uncomfortable anxiety – just a picture of a heart was making me feel anxious about my own heart.
So I decided that the best way to attack my own mind and solve my problem was in the basic language that the mind speaks in.
I developed my own little regiment of looking up things like “heart attacks”, “cardiac arrest”, “heart pumping” which would evoke feelings of anxiety for anywhere between 30 seconds and 1 minute and then stopping three times a day.
This helped tremendously because it helped to desensitize myself to the whole thing – desensitization being one of the other little facets of our subconcious that can in this case be used to our advantage
I feel this is kind of therapy is absolutely necessary to effectively treating a panic attack condition because self-talk and relaxation excercises tend to either work at a higher level than where the problem resides or they only combat the symptoms.
Lastly, get a prescription for Xanax to use ONLY in the case of an attack, simply having the pills available will reduce your anxiety because you know that you can effectively respond to a panic attack if one arises.
And as always, identify your stressors and see where you can eliminate some – don’t be afraid to take time to yourself and withdraw your own energy and sense of identity back within yourself.
I am now 38
I suffered with panic attacks at 21 years, I believed at the time I was going mad, I truly believed I was schizophrenic, I was seriously depressed and on a bunch of medicines (from memory, largactil, melleril, seroxat, valium, diazepan, prozac, (not all at once though))
I am a Builder with 10 guys working for me, very successful (at times inordinatley stressful)
I have a few insights that helped me a great deal
1 Do not fuse with all your thoughts, they are just thoughts and they change and change and change
2 You cant really control what comes into your mind, you can only control what you pay attention to
3 Try and develop a teflon mind, let the thoughts come and go
(there maybe a little voice saying I cant I cant let that go too, and that, and that, and that, and that, eventually your mind becomes quit when you stop getting in the way of yourself.
4 learn a systematic relaxation method to help all the above
5 Thinking of ways to stop yourself thinking doesnt seem to work, you cant exterminate a part of yourself, nor should you, it has evolved to protect you and should get some airtime now and then.
I hope this helps in some small way, and remember, it does come to an end, it isnt actually anything other than a bunch of thoughts that you happen to be tuned into. YOU ARE NOT ALONE did you get that NOT ALONE
Love to you all
B
Hi Jacob.
I am so glad to have read about the POEM method. I have a feeling its going to help me out alot. I’m 20 years old, and ive been suffering from anxiety and panic attacks since i was about 12 years old! I never talked to anyone about it until just a few years ago, because i was afraid that there was something wrong with me or that i was different and no one understood how i felt. I usually suffer from existential anxiety, where i feel like i dont exist or that im about to die…my heart starts racing, i feel like i cant breathe, i feel like im going crazy, my body will feel numb, i start shaking, and sometimes its so overwhelming i begin to cry. i get at least a few of those symptoms every time, and it usually happens during night time or when im driving. i find myself asking “why me? why do i have to go through this?” after i started talking about it, i found out my mom, my aunt and a few cousins have it as well. it helps to talk to other people who go through it.
When i have panic attacks, it helps me to eat or drink something really sweet. i usually have a cup of water with lots of sugar, i think the sweetness makes me snap back into reality somehow, and it aids my blood sugar.
also i have found that smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee increase my anxiety.
I also tried smoking marijuana one time, and it made me experience one of the scariest panic attacks ever.
I’m really glad i stumbled upon your site. Thank you for being so helpful! i’ll be sure to come back and let you know how your method worked for me.
- Tina
Hi Jacob,
Thanks for posting, and thank you for the responses to the comments. They are uplifting and helpful. I don’t suffer frequently from panic attacks, nor do I have prolonged ones, usually about 15 minutes and after I cry off the panic, I am suddenly Ok. I think it makes much sense to concentrate on that time after I cry. That usually feels very good, knowing the worst is over.
Thanks and please continue helping people.
Candy
(This is a bit long…)
Jacob, and all,
I would like to start off by thanking everyone. It was one thing to find the POEM System that Jacob has discovered, but another thing completely to see all of the Responses from other people out there like me. I thank you all sincerely.
I have suffered from Depression, Stress Management Issues, and Panic Attacks, for a little while now. Early on, it was resentment towards my Parents that caused Stress. This was mostly childhood Stresses, but in Adolescence there developed new Resentments towards them. They didn’t do anything to intentionally harm me or anything. I resented them for Uprooting my family and moving to a New Country. 5 Years Later, another relocation, and I have had a hard time with coming to terms with what happened.
The last move was 10 years ago, and I am finally learning to deal with those Emotions, and to Forgive my Parents.
Unfortunately, during the last 10 years, my resentments towards my Parents, my Peers, and Society as a whole have taken over. I let my Depression and Fear take over me. I started doing things I would never have done before, like Smoking, Experimenting with Drugs, Shoplifting, Driving Erratically… These things all contributed to a decline in my overall well-being.
My Depression hit an all time Low a few years ago. I was on a Week-Long Vacation to England with my then Girlfriend. We fought, which was caused by my own Stress. When we got to the Airport at the end of the week, she abandonned me. I was left alone in a Foreign Country, I had no Idea what had happened. Everything felt Surreal. I couldn’t stop crying. It took me a while to figure out how to continue my journey home. The only thing that held me together was reading a Book. I read “the Catcher in the Rye” at the Airport and on the Plane. I read the whole Book that day. I felt like I was Cheating myself by taking my mind off of what I thought was a very important subject for me, which was the loss of Love, but ultimately I have discovered that taking your mind off of the Pain is the best way to treat it.
I was single for about 2 years after that experience. I suffered from some pretty severe Depression, which I tried to treat through Group Therapy and light Medication. The Medicine only made me feel light-headed, and disconnected from myself, but the Group Therapy helped. Unfortunately, it was expensive, and my Parents were footing the bill. This caused Guilt, which combined with the earlier Guilt I had developed as a reaction to the Resenment I had felt towards them.
I left Therapy, and stopped taking the Medicine. I actually felt better having experienced these things and making the Decision to move on without them. I was starting to really feel Happy with myself again.
After a while, I met an Incredible Woman. She is now my Fiancee.
We have been together for 4 Years now. Most of that time was fantastic, but Stress began to creep back into my Life and take control over it. This happened when we started to both Work and Live together. Also, there is Stress in her Life caused by having a very sick Mother and an Estranged Father, and those things only Compounded my initial Stress.
In the Past, the Stress and Anxiety was really a part of my Depression. Now, it is something even more. In the last couple of years, I have started having more Panic Attacks that lead me to Act Out. I have been Verbally and Emotionally Abusive to my Fiancee, as well as other undeserving people, and I don’t understand how I get to that point. My Fiancee and I always seem to work things out, but at this point we are fighting weekly and the Anxiety and Panic Attacks have become causes of Stress themselves.
I can always seem to find myself after the Attack, and rationalize it. I just have a difficult time getting there. Unfortunately, last night my Fiancee Moved out of our Apartment. We have spoken, and we are trying to continue to work this out, but it is the Stress Management Issues, and the Panic Attacks, that have driven her out. It would be easy enough to say “forget about her, plenty of fish in the sea” and whatnot, but the reality is that we have a very strong Relationship as long as I can keep my Anxiety from popping up. As long as I can keep myself from doing and saying those Hurtful things that happen when Blinded by my Emotions.
I don’t want to be like this. I want to be Happy, like I was before all of this. I want to grow into a Stronger Man. I have Quit Smoking Cigarettes, haven’t had one in a year and a half. I also haven’t taken any psychedelic substances in over a year. Just yesterday I Quit Smoking Marijuana.
That last one will be the hardest. Sometimes, after fighting all day, my Fiancee and I could return home and Smoke a little Marijuana, and it would calm us both down enough to talk about things rationally. The problem I was having was that I was smoking about 5 or more times a day, for almost 10 Years now, and it was affecting my Base Mood.
I also got fired from my Job this morning for having a Panic Attack while at work yesterday, which ended up as a Fight between my Fiancee and I. Getting Fired caused another Panic Attack, even though the Job was Terrible. I was afraid of the Loss of my Fiancee, the Loss of my Job, of our Apartment, of so many things. I know now that there is nothing to be afraid of. I have been having small Attacks all day long, and it was a huge relief to find this site. I now have some Support from people who understand, and I have a Plan for Future Attacks.
I am going to do whatever it takes to become who I believe I can be, not the person I convince myself I am destined to be whenever I am Anxious.
I can not go on any longer feeling so miserable, uncontrollable, and vulnerable. I can not continue to feed my Anger and Depression with Suicidal Thoughts. I WILL become a Better Person.
If anyone has any additional insight to help me deal with my Emotions, to help me to prevent myself from acting out, please let me know.
Thanks to everyone for sharing,
–JM
Hello all,
I’m new to this anxiety/ panic/ scary attack thing myself. I’m 24 and have been dealing with this for 6 months months now. I had about one each month that i felt like i had no control over. Its nice to know that I’m not alone. Well God Bless and I hope to read good news from you all.
Much <3,
Mike
Hey Jacob,
I’ve been dealing with panic attacks for the last four years of my life but this year has been the worst. Lately I’ve been having them about three days a week and at least two to three times a day, ranging from minute long to what seems like hours. When I’m not having a full blown attack there is a constant state of anxiety looming over me, waiting for me to fall into another one. After four years I finally decided to see what I could find to help myself, because they obviously aren’t going away. I was in the midst of one while I was searching desperately online for something when I found your site. Just reading how you described them and being able to connect with the description, knowing I wasn’t the only one feeling that way helped. Reading this POEM technique got me excited and hopeful that something might be able to put a stop to these. I can’t imagine a going through life like this so I’m very hopeful that this POEM system will work, although I know it will take some time. Thank you so much for what you’re doing.. it’s wonderful and it’s helping so many people!
Hi to all readers,
Luckily there was only about 15 minutes of the work day to go so I struggled through without telling anyone. Interestingly not one of my workmates noticed anything was wrong that day which now years later is easy for me to understand because often it’s not obvious someone is feeling panic at all. Anyway, I slowly drove the 30min trip home down back streets so I wouldn’t hurt anyone if I passed out at the wheel but of course I didn’t pass out and arrived home safely. I told my parents something felt wrong with me but that I was OK and not to worry and I was going to lay on my bed for awhile. The feeling of anxiety and panic increased and lasted all that night in varying ‘waves’ of severity. My parents had worked out my problem was more serious by this stage and were very supportive. I knew I couldn’t return to work so I rang up the next morning and took sick leave. It didn’t get much better over the first week. Instead of sleeping at night I’d be sitting on my bed with a racing mind and having strange mini-dreams. Lots of sweating, shaking, tingles all over my body and just feeling really scared but not knowing exactly what I was scared of. Watching TV was unbearable and I’d have to turn it off but then the silence would be unbearable too. I was staying up for 36 hours or more before exhaustion would force me to sleep for a few hours and then it started again. The panic didn’t ever seem to wear off completely and it was difficult to even fake a smile for my family. It was very, very hard. After a week I finally had to tell someone other than my parents so I went to the doctor. He gave me Diazapam for the panic which gave me some relief and booked me an appointment with a Psychiatrist specialising in anxiety and panic disorders. I tried a few medications at the start but was so scared and mixed up that I couldn’t make myself take them. I have since met an old friend that is was taking Zoloft and he claimed the improvement in his life when using it was quite fast and problem free. Even my Pharmacist happily told me he takes one every morning for anxiety relief and feels great! I wish I’d given the medications a fair chance at the start but it’s not worth worrying about now. Luckily my job had income insurance and I was able to take two months off work but eventually had to try to return. After 2 weeks back I wasn’t coping well and quit in frustration which was silly. That was three years ago and I’m now much better but haven’t conquered it fully. I have faith I will eventually because there’s been massive improvement even without meds and I feel more confident that it’s just an unexpected and challenging part of my life that needs to be dealt with before moving on to bigger and better things. My panic attacks are much milder now and I have them much less frequently. The constant strong anxiety I felt has eased and I have days of feeling pretty good again. I’m sure I’d be even further along now if I’d exercised more often too. I truly believe exercise is an important key to reducing panic and anxiety and gaining confidence in your body again. Life is starting to look up. I’m seeing the beauty around me again. So will you. If you’re struggling try to remember there’s a lot of people who know the feeling out here. Chances are someone you already know has, does or will feel the same at some stage. I know it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with but it’s something. You will get better over time. You’re NOT permanently ‘damaged’ like I used to think in the dark times. Find a good doctor that you like and who understands anxiety and panic. Tell your loved ones how you feel. They WILL understand and support you if you let them. The world is basically good and I’ve seen and heard some amazing stories over the past 3 years. I’ve had tough guy friends admit they’ve walked or are walking similar paths to mine. I believe in 2008 that I’m a much nicer, more considerate person than I was in 2004. It’s been a huge reality check for me and this whole thing may yet have a silver lining. All the best everyone.
Would like to thank Jacob for providing this resource and also to the many brave people sharing their stories here. I also have an anxiety and panic disorder and haven’t quite conquered it yet but am improving all the time. My story begins during 2003-4 when I slowly developed a nagging feeling of being very uncomfortable in my body and also feeling quite emotionless and cynical about life. I had never been a person that let others get too close to me and never, ever shared personal feelings with anyone. At the time I was far too ‘tough’ and proud to tell family or see a doctor and explain the way I felt. I really wish now I’d told someone and fixed the situation early! Anyway, one day I had a big panic attack at work. When it hit me I didn’t know anything about panic attacks so I just thought something terrible had happened and I was going to die. Of course I didn’t.
Hi Jacob,
I’m very thankful for having accidentally found this site. I have read that many here are young sufferers, I’m a lot older, I’m 52 menopaused woman. I know I have this anxiety, fear, panic disorder since I was younger but this time is the worst one. Been one month since I felt this dizziness thing, I went to an ENT doc. by my own thinking that this is a balance disorder since it runs in the family, the doc said I have positional vertigo. This dizziness is trigerring my anxiety and panic, I think I cannot cope with it. I do experience what others say here of tingling, dizziness, a little numbing here and there, and I felt I will faint in a market place making me scared to go to places where there are a lot of people. I’m used to be a very independent person, I go wherever I want to, do whatever I want to do, but now, I got scared most of the times, feeling that I will passed out. This dizziness is triggering my panic and anxiety. My life changed a lot. I can’t accept I am now a different person from how I used to be. This anxiety thing is hampering my normal life and I feel so depressed about it. But anyways, the journals that I had read in your site is really an eye-opening to me…I know now that I am not alone here, that there are people who are coping and coped. I’ts already a month and I don’t like to take mediccations, it’s psychological I know and I have to work on it. Thanks for this site Jacob, I am enlightened in a way. I know it’s not easy to get out of it but your site is really an enlightenment. Please pray for me because I’m really sufering a lot. Sometimes I think that I can’t handle it.
Lista
Thanks for all your input everyone. These genuine accounts help countless others. This one page alone is getting over 300 visitors a day looking for help.
Lista’s story reminds me how physical discomfort, pain, or a change in our bodies can trigger anxiety. I’ve found this to be true in my own experiences (which I’ve mentioned above). I have a few more comments I want to make regarding the physical part of it.
(By the way Lista, I have experienced the dizziness problem before. The dizziness was from some bad food poisoning and not from the stress. Like you said, the dizziness came first and felt scary enough to put myself into the same anxiety trip. I passed out 3 times during that episode, but the doctor said it was from dehydration, and not the panic attacks. Sometimes it’s hard to find out what came first – chicken or the egg right?)
When I have some physical discomfort, or pain, I quickly start telling myself the truth. The truth is that our bodies will deal with what is causing the pain or discomfort. All we can do is help our bodies along. This is really all that doctors do – they help our bodies along in the right direction, and allow our miraculous bodies to what they do best…..heal.
It’s wonderful thing when we can learn to stop worrying about our health and let our natural bodies take over the healing process.
It’s a wonderful thing when we can stop worrying…
Jacob,
thank you for helping me. I am so greatful for your website. I am so desperate for coping and healing from my panic attack. I tried Lexapro for 2 days and hated it and just a few hours ago I wished to die..I didn’t think I could take this any longer. I felt so alone. Thank you for your poem system. I will try it. I used to be so healthy…Oh God! ….I just want to we well again.
God bless you, and all of us who are suffering.
Beáta
jacob-
i happened to find your site while looking up “panic attacks” on wikipedia.
i have had panic attacks since college here and there, at the time not knowing what they were. after leaving my abusive husband, they came on so strong that i felt like i was going crazy.
now, four years later, they are back. i have primary custody of my daughter, i am in a new, healthy loving relationship–but the ex is still around due to his court ordered visitation with our daughter. this means i have to see him often at drop-offs, and deal with his ongoing verbally abusive behavior.
all of this leads to panic attacks frequently; feeling horrible physical symptoms, as well as mental and emotional. i can usually get out of them without meds, but they are so frequent now that its frustrating!
i will try your method. im a firm believer in taking control of my life and these panic attacks. its been long enough!
i also like the idea of writing the stressors down and getting them out of my head. i will try this as well.
thank you~
Jacob, finally someone who really knows what is going on.. and how to help. I just stumbled onto this site and reading all the responses you give has already made me feel much better. Thank you for helping so many people including myself. And with such sincerity, I can see it in the words you write.
Hi everyone,
I also stumbled across this website as I was searching the web for anxiety information. I am 18 years old, and I think that what I’m experiencing is due to anxiety.
I’ve had anxiety problems my whole life, but it has recently become worse. One of the main symptoms I’ve had is sweaty palms and feet. I’ve had this since grade school. I think this is due to never really being calm. My concern is not about my sweaty palms and feet, although it is embarassing when shaking other people’s hands, but my other symptoms.
Last December, I think I experienced my first major panic attack. I felt like I was going to faint and like I was going crazy. There were many, many stressors in my life at that time. I also had major stomach problems, and constant nausea, which is my main concern. It was very hard to eat, as I regularly felt like I was going to throw up. I lost 15 pounds due to my nausea and stomach pains. This caused me even more anxiety as I am already very skinny. I love food, and eating, but when I have anxiety I can hardly eat. At the time, we didn’t know what was causing my stomach pains. I went to the doctor’s and everything checked out alright. That made me scared, as I knew something was the matter with my stomach and not allowing me to eat properly. I left to go back home with my family, which helped me heal tremendously. Always remember that being around people who care for you helps so much.
Months later, I am now back in school and far away from my family. I live with my sister, but I do not find that as comforting as living with my parents and other siblings, as she is always busy and does not understand what I’m going through. She tells me that I’m acting like a baby and to stop the drama. That makes me even more anxious. I am constantly worrying about everything, big things and small, and often experience panic attacks where I feel sick and like I’m going crazy. I often feel like I can’t do it, and freak out. Sometimes, what I worry about seems so ridiculous and irrational. I find that having to take care of myself is very stressful. I worry if I can do it. It is always comforting having someone take care of you. I guess that it’s normal for young kids out on their own for the first time to feel uncomfortable with it. As soon as I’m worrying though, my stomach starts hurting, and I feel nauseated. When I worry constantly, I throw up as well. I force myself to eat, but it is very hard sometimes. I do not want to live my life like this. I am usually a very happy person, confident, smiling, smart, and optimistic. I do not want to feel as bad as I did last December, and I want control of my problem. My brothers constantly tell me it’s all in my head. I know this is true, but I do not know how to control it. Everyone tells me to stay calm and not think so much. How do I do that? Any input and advice would be very much appreciated.
I guess I’m a little bit concerned reading everyone’s responses. No one has talked about the same symptoms that I have, and that makes me worried. Is this anxiety that is causing my problems, or is it something else? Is there anyone else out there like me?
Thanks for reading. Also, thank you Jacob for starting this website and giving people so much confidence and support. It is always comforting to know that there are people out there who are dealing with the same thing.
Take care,
CN
hi i’ve been experiencing panic attacks since I was young. I thought I wascrazy. I asked myself if I was the only one who was experiencing that kind of episode: intense separation from reality. When it happens, it feels that I am not myself, that I am watching myself from a distant, or that I disappear, and I ask myself why am I this person. I feel that, the walls are closing in on me.
Before, the episodes were terrible. I shout, scream, and my parents would come and think that I was just having a nightmare. It usually happens when I go to bed. One time, I was taking a bath before I went to bed. Suddenly, it happened. It was more than what I could handle. I opened the door and I screamed. Then, I went to my parents and hugged my mother as tight as I can. My father was scared and was thinking of bringing me to the hospital. They talked to me and asked if i had any traumatic experience. I said, no. There was none. Then they sent me to a psychiatrist. this person, old man, gold rings around his fingers, cigarette on his desk, that grin on his face, he said that I was just experiencing something very normal, something teenagers would be experiencing, just an identity crisis. He was absurd, and I felt that I was better than him when it comes to psychoanalyzing myself (when we were young we were not allowed to play with other kids. We stayed in the house, lonely and looking sadly at the boisterous dirty-faced chidlren), i brought in Erik Erikson’s pyschosocial development (my parents didnt trust me, thats why i dont trust myself)he gave me medicine, but i didnt take it.now that im in my twentys, and especially the units i had in psychology, im hoping that it would disappear. But it keeps hounding me. I fear that it might happen again and again. it keeps happening. that’s why, I sleep in the living room with the TV on.
MAYbe poem will help me. =)
I think I have been having Panic Attacks for the last year. When it first started I went to the ER Twice both time because I was having chest pain I ended up in the Hospital for 3-4 days of test nothing was found. The attacks I have chest pain and a feeling like I am about to die. I have these attacks usually late a night and I end up only getting an avg of 2-3 hours sleep a night. In the last two months I have found that I have Helicobacter pyori infection a parasite. I have read that panic attacks can be a result of parasitic infection. And the first time I had an attack was a short time after I started to have abdominal pain. So I hope after the doctor helps me to kill the parasites in me I will no longer get these attacks.
Thank You
I’ve only just started having panic attacks within the past 6 months while I’ve suffered from depression on and off for about 7 years. I’ve yet to try the POEM system, but I think just reading about others experiences has helped me a little. I was just wishing I hadn’t left my meds at my boyfriend’s house as I was on the edge of an attack when I started reading this website. The support from knowing you’re not alone and that there are good days is so helpful to me.
I’m trying to get over my anxiety of starting a career that I both love and fear. I want it, but I’m so afraid of it and not knowing enough that I’ve been avoiding it all together. I’m working now on an application and I think I can get a little farther tonight just because I found this site.
Thank you to everyone for sharing your stories. I know what it’s like to be depressed…don’t any of you give up.
im 18 and ive been dealing with panic attacks/panic disorder for a few years now. however, things seem to have gotten worse in the last year or so. i usually only experience attacks/feelings of an attack where im in a situation dealing with heights. just this past year ive started getting them in school when im on the 3rd floor. i want to be rid of these uncomfortable problems in my life but dont know how to solve them
I just recently started getting panic attacks, and they only seem to come at night, when i have nothing better to do. Even when laying down, half asleep, or fully awake watching tv or even driving around, as long as its night, (when the attacks usually happen) it is possible. I feel like i’m about to vomit, which i absolutely fear only because i have only done it twice. It’s really weird. I have yet to find the chance to try your method, my attacks seem to be occuring daily, so i’m definitely going to give it a try.
Thanks for your help, and to all the visitors. Because we aren’t alone.
- Darcy T
I had my first panic attack when I was nineteen and I still can’t recall being so frightened. I ended up in the local emergency room that day, breathing into a paper bag and being talked down by the nurse on duty. Well, I didn’t have another one for twenty-five years. Everything in my life during those years wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t all that bad either. The attack I had three years ago was a real doozy. In fact it was worse than the first one I had. I had the sweats, horrible palpitations and nausea. I thought I was going to give up the ghost that night. Although I haven’t had another one that intense since then, the anxiety has been with me almost daily and sometimes I have to talk myself down to avoid having another one. I don’t like them, however harmless they may be. All I want is to feel good and robust like I did during the time between the two attacks. I don’t smoke, drink, take drugs, drink sodas or consume caffeine. I’ve been an avid weightlifter and fitness enthusiast since I was twelve. I’m forty-seven now and I plan on living a long and full life. Any thoughts you might have would certainly be appreciated. Thank you.
I’ve had a good number of panic attacks throughout my life, and grew up thinking they were either normal or a defect peculiar to myself. I’m currently on treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and I suspect that I may have Panic Disorder. Since I grew up with panic attacks happening during my childhood in a loving home, for the most part, I am able to live a normal and relatively healthy life. This is something I am thankful for every day. I enjoy healthy food and exercise and am a social person with a life that I consider pretty good for someone suffering from such a debilitating illness.
However, when the attacks happen, they are severe and excruciating. It has gotten to the point that I am mostly at peace with them and can spend the attack knowing that it is a chemical problem, not a defect of my personality. However, this does not stop them from happening or make them any more fun. I have long ago taken up Buddhism and meditation as part of my solution to the anxiety and depression that run in my family.
The process you describe here, Jacob, is wonderful in its simplicity. While I am waiting for an attack to occur in order to test it, I have no doubts as to its validity. Just from reading it and knowing a good bit about how humans think and how their minds work, I can see that this is a powerful, simple tactic to relieve what has been a ravaging force on my life, as well as the lives of others.
I tip my hat to you sir, for there is no greater gift than the gift of hope!
J
Hi Permalink,
I read your comment with interest.
I am 33, I have NEVER felt depressed or anxious to the point that I didn’t feel in control. Though, I tend to be a perfectionist and workaholic, highly strung, ambitious, perfectionist.. etc
Then,.. about a month ago, whilst sitting at my desk I felt extremely nauseous and dizzy so I got up to get a drink of water and collapsed unconscious for a few minutes.. I was at home at the time so a family member called an ambulance.
My doctor can give no explanation for the collapse, It could be anything, and sometimes people ‘just faint’ because they haven’t had breakfast or they’ve got the flu. It was like the idiot doctor thought I was fine, when I had collapsed unconscious ! (for the first time in my life)
Anyway, following this episode I felt disassociated/hazzy, and physically numb for weeks, like half my brain had died, the end was near and I hadn’t achieved anything. Also, whilst driving I have had the nauseous feeling, like I’m going to faint again (so had to stop beside the road like a nervous wreck). Which I now realize was a panic attack.
I have woken up at around five in the morning with feelings of absolute terror.
The first few nights, I was sure if I closed my eyes, I wouldn’t be waking up, experienced the Hyper-vigilance you have described.
The feeling that you are going to die, or faint in the car or under-water (I usually enjoy snorkeling), or go insane and go on a killing rampage (that’s what brain tumours can do), Also I have an ache in my left testicle, maybe that’s the problem..? (had it checked it was nothing).
… I don’t fully subscribe to the idea that this experience is all psychological, the brain and the nervous system are a complex physical system..
Perhaps if I look at it like a physical injury (eg a broken leg), that takes months, or even years to fully recover.
I too dislike the idea of brain medications;
My treatment consists of:
One dose of St Johns wort every day (proven natural anti-axiety).
Every morning: breakfast and a walk.
Physical exercise, (eg bike ride) as much as possible.
No coffee (liquid panic).
No more than one cup of tea per day.
If any activity, or thoughts become panicky/ stressful. take a break (give your damaged nervous system a rest).
If you start to panic, think about your next exercise (walk, bike ride, gym etc)…
Think to yourself, “I am going to exercise until I really DO drop dead”.
(What actually happens is you become really fit).
PS: don’t mix St-johns wort with other medications without consulting a doctor. It is herbal, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t strong.
The above is my opinion, I still feel anxious for no particular reason, and still may discover it was a brain tumor all along.
But I am feeling much better than I did a month ago..
There is a simple cure to any panic episodes anybody is feeling.
One must comprehend the fact that a panic attack is nothing short of a fear of bodily sensations, resulting in an escalation of fear, and that escalation of fear causing you to fear the escalation in itself.
I have personally been suffering from panic attacks for the past four years. I’m current 22 years old and attending university.
Listen and follow what i say closely, and you will overcome panic attacks.
Firstly, you must accept the sensations that you’re experiencing. The dizziness, tightness in chest, and shortness of breath. Accept them but remember not to fight them.
You must then invite them to rush over you like a wave. Experience them in all their entirety.
At this point, you must encourage them to become more severe. Seek them out. See how bad they can get.
Even when you’re totally calm, seek out panic. And rest assured – once you actively SEEK out these sensations, they will abate.
It is important to understand that panic operates on your underlying fear of them. Once that fear is undermined they will disappear.
This may be hard at first, but it will work if you trust with all your heart and soul that you will not die or faint from the sensations you’re experiencing.
If anybody finds that this technique doesn’t work, it would be because they are still resisting the bodily sensations.
Trust is key.
Trust in yourselves,
Michael.
How brave you all are, telling your stories. I’ve taken a lot of strength from what you’ve all had to say, from those still suffering horribly to those who are building happiness, so I’d like to repay you all by sharing mine.
I had my first panic attack in a Pyramid. Yes, one of the ones in Egypt. It was so airless in there, so cramped, I was so trapped, I thought I was suffocating, all of which lead to panic – or as I experienced it, the feeling like I was going to die coupled with the conviction that I had just gone completely insane.
I had absolutely no idea what was happening to me.
The thing was, I couldn’t scurry off to a safe place – I was in Cairo, not my home. The feeling wore off, and I thought it must have been some sort of a blip. That was a fairly good explanation, until I had to fly home. The horror of being trapped in that metal tube… it happened again. And that’s when I realised it could happen again whenever the hell it wanted to.
I don’t need to tell anyone here about the torture that came next – the fear of the fear, the rolling attacks, the bewilderment and the inexplicable horror. I didn’t know what a panic attack was, so I just thought ‘well, that’s that, I’ve gone mad.’ I sat next to an open window all day, convinced I was about to suffocate (and for the record, this was in England in January – very cold). It seems mad to me now, but I started to get worried about wireless internet rays going into my brain. Crazy! I knew it was crazy, too, but that didn’t stop me! My brain was searching for any, any reason for this experience, any reason to explain the terror and the madness.
Horrible days.
But the end of the story is this – it stopped.
So much good advice here, I won’t repeat all the techniques I learned, but I will say that with perseverance you’ll find something that works. I’ve found acceptance – total acceptance – is the first and most valuable tool in my kit. The book ’self-help for your nerves’ by Claire Weeks is a goldmine. (It was also recommended to me by my Vicar, which is some commendation – she’s the wisest woman I know.)
One or two people here have said something that I hadn’t thought of before, but you know, I think they’re right – we’re tougher than most people. We’ve seen horror, and we’ve seen it more than once, and we’ve still got up in the morning and eaten our toast and had a shower and gotten on with our lives. That’s not a small achievement – it’s remarkable. It might be that our families and workmates don’t know how remarkable it is, but I the people who’ve lived through it themselves do. And there’s a lot of us out there. Not one of us is alone.
To everyone who gets up in the morning – I salute you. Good work, and God bless.
Jacob,
I don’t suffer from panic attacks, but I found this page and read your long message to Heather. What a wonderful approach to life! I know I can benefit from your advice. Keep up the good work.
And to everyone who posted–my thoughts & best wishes are with you. Take care.
Hi Jacob.
I’m looking forward (or not so looking forward) to employing the POEM system to my next panic attack.
Lately I feel as though I’m literally afraid to even leave my house. I have recently come to a point in my life where I have significantly more free time than I used to. The other day I decided to take a trip to the park with my dog on a nice sunny day only to find that the subway ride had me feeling trapped, in which I had a full blown panic attack where I was about to ask a woman next to me to deliver my dog and belongings to my family if I were to die. INSANE!
Looking back on it now I am able to see how ridiculous I was, but even still I have been unable to ride the subway normally ever since. I find myself getting the courage to take it uptown (NYC) to then have to walk over 60 blocks just to get back home after a terrible episode on the train (the thought of a cab is even scarier).
I have faith in that I will be able to either ride out, or even maybe avoid the next one…
Good luck everyone!
I am 33 and started having panic attacks last year. The first one was scared me to death through out the last year I have worried of dying and going certain places. I have made my self go out anyway as oppossed to staying at home. Sometimes its been bad sometimes its been ok. Last week I almost passed out at work and went out in a ambulance. I work in a factory so I was put on short term disabilty. I am going to a cardi doctor to get checked out. I hope if I get a clean bill of health that meds and theropy will help. My twin bother has suffered from this as well. He lost a child at six months old bless his soul and when I told him of my symptoms he said it was exactly what he had and theropy has worked well for him. I dont wantb this to escalate to some of the horror stories I’ve read on here but sometimes I feel like it is only getting worse
I’ve been reading everyone’s comments and I can relate to a lot of them. My first panic attack hit me like a bucket of water. I was in a work meeting room and everything was fine (normal) for the first hour. Then all of a sudden, a rush came over me and I immediately felt like I was going to pass out right there. I remember imagining what it was going to look like – me passing out in my chair and everyone coming over and fanning me with paper and the like. Now I never actually passed out (and never have to this date) but for the rest of the twenty minutes left in the meeting, I experienced that sensation and tried to hide it from the others as best I could. Back then I didn’t even know what panic attacks were, but I know now that that was my first one and the birth of this terrible (life) of panic attacks.
I’ve had many panic attacks since that day, about eight years ago. I now categorize my attacks into two columns: mild and severe.
My so-called mild attacks are the ones where I feel like passing out. These happen frequently. They happen at work or at the movies. They even happen when I’m standing in line to order food-to-go. I’ve even experienced something like vertigo – a couple times these have gotten so bad that I got tunnel vision and it felt like my body was shutting down. While these mild attacks are upsetting, they are nowhere near the scale of my severe ones.
My first severe panic attack happened some time after my first attack in the meeting, perhaps a year or two after. I was sleeping and instantly woke up and felt like I was dying of a heart attack. I remember jumping up out of bed and ran to my window, threw it open, and tried to take in deep breaths of fresh air. My wife works nights so she wasn’t home and I just felt like I was going to die right there, in my room, all alone. Since then, I’ve had quite a few of these severe attacks. Where I feel like I can somewhat handle the mild ones, these ones I can’t handle and just completely melt down.
For all these attacks, it feels like the only thing I can do is ride them out. No matter how many times I tell myself that I’m safe and I’m not going to die, they don’t just turn off like a light switch. I find that ironic because they certainly turn on like a light switch, out of the blue if you will. I have to deal with them for however much time they take to subside. These attacks have drastically changed the way I live my life. I find myself trying to stay home as much as possible. And in this way, not only do I suffer, but my wife, kids, and friends suffer as well. Something that should be a definite, “Yes, let’s go!”, like a concert or sporting event turns into, “You guys go ahead, I’ll just stay here.” And that is no way to live.
I’ve spent quite a few hundreds of dollars on doctor visits, meds, therapy sessions, and reading material. I’ve tried to implement a lot of what I’ve heard/read. I quit smoking, stay clear of caffeine, stopped taking my prescribed Paxil, and try to work out regularly. I just pray and dream of the day when I can live normal, like the way I was before that work meeting day.
I will certainly give the POEM system a try. I also thought about doing what Michael suggested — about seeking them out and wanting to face them — before actually coming here and reading his post. So seeing his post really makes me want to do it. Anyway, I’m glad I found this place and read all these posts. I really hope we all find a way to end these terrible feelings. Good luck everyone!
-John
Hi Everyone,
Since finding this site a few months ago I have finished my summer holidays and I’m back to University. I am in my final year and have a big project to complete. I want to create an online community website for people who suffer from panic attacks. The site will allow users to create an online profile and upload videos, images, audio and text to share their experiences.
Another element to the website will be the video installations. I find it so hard to explain to non-panicers what the symptoms feel/look like. So I want to have a video for each symptom showing (as best I can) life through the eyes of a panicer.
This is where I need help. Everyone experiences panic differently and I want to get the best overall view of the symptoms. If anyone thinks they can talk about the symptoms and describe them I would like your help. Well to be honest I need your help!
Anyone who thinks they can help please send me an email – emilyridge@hotmail.com I won’t need to know any personal details and won’t push anyone to talk about anything they are not comfortable with.
I’ve come to the stage in my life where I can openly talk about panic attacks and doing this website is a huge thing for me. It will mean dealing with all of my own fears/anxities and listening to others. But sometimes all you need to know is that your not alone.
Thanks for reading,
Also, Jacob – hope you don’t mind me posting this on your site. Your site was the inspiration for my project.
Emily
Emily,
I’m happy to see you are talking your project online. I have no problem with people using this site and even snippets of content. Only thing I ask, is that if you use some of our comments or pieces of content, you link back to Saneadvice.com as reference.
I’ll give you some startup inbound links to get your started. Leave your URL in a comment.
Good for you!
Dear Jacob
I think your system is great, however in my case, it can’t always be applied and I am looking for some advice.
I generally only get panic attacks in situations where I cant just get up and go for a walk or do anything that would look odd to other people. I only get panic attacks if I’m, lets say, at a job interview or in a restaurant having lunch or on a date or at the movies with a friend or at someone’s house for dinner right as we sat down and started eating. It’s usually related to food because when i get an attack, i feel very nauseous so when I’m on a date and we go out to dinner, I get very frightened about having a panic attack and well, having to run to the bathroom and embarassing myself. The only way I have been able to treat that is if I know i’m going to be facing a situation like this, I avoid eating for the entire day, so I dont feel nauseous! And I come up with an excuse to why I can’t eat (like pretend i have food poisoning or just had a big meal). Its very upsetting and frustrating because at times i am starving and i’m looking at the food but can’t eat it!
I dont know if anybody goes through something like this but I was wondering if you had any advice i could use to help me cope with this or recover!
Thank you very much
Patty
Hello, Very interesting reading. I’m 55 and had my first panic attack two years ago during a bout with the flu that lasted two weeks. The attack scared me to death. It just happened when I was going through a high fever with vomiting.Felt like I couldn’t breath, I stood on the porch in the cold as it seemed to help.
After that I would go a month or so, a movie on tv or a moment thinking about a childhood memory would trigger a episode. This week I have had two incidences, from out of the blue. The thing is I feel sick, short of breath like I can’t get enough oxygen, with hot and cold flashes,and feeling like i’m going crazy. I have a outdoor job which I enjoy, a loving wife, I ride a motorcycle and I’m active doing outdoor activites. The only phobia I have is being in tight places. Is what I have been experiencing panic attacks?Why is it that it seems to be occuring more for no reason?
hi, well i’m 18 and I’m from argentina so my english could possibly not be the best you’ve read but I really need to hear it coming from someone who really knows about these episodes. I’ve been having mild panic attacks over the last few months (about 4 strong episodes wich I could handle with a lot of effort) and I’m afraid I could lose my mind (with no other motives than these symptoms and the derealization i feel), I also have the symptoms from an anxiety disorder all day long (dizziness, derealization, light headedness) and I’m on Clonazepam (my physician prescripted it for me).
Many people dont get it at all and it all upsets me even more (i.e. the other day I was explaining what I was going through to a girl I met in a party and told her i was on clonazepam and she said something like: “so you are a psycho”) and I can’t get over those feelings, the derealization doesnt help much either.
The fact is one of the major sources of these panic attacks (or LSAs, I’m not really sure) may be a love relationship i’m in in wich I’m quite sure she loves me a lot more than I do love her, being the other causes a deep feeling of isolation, existencialist issues I’m really afraid of, unemployment, feeling of uselessness, social anxiety, etc. But I’d feel a lot of guilt if I dumped this girl, besides I can’t find anything better at the moment so I guess this is the best relationship I can look forward to right now. On the other hand,I do love her I guess. This all adds to a panic attack a friend of mine had while we both were on cannabis (we even had to take him to the ER) and a past love relationship in wich i fell deeply in love with this girl who just treated me like a piece of crap enhancing the inferiority complex i’ve sort of always had.
I’m really lost here, and I could really use a hand.
I hope I made it to make myself clear.
Thanks for your job jacob.
Damian.
Hi Jacob,
I’ve been having panic attacks for most of my life, but never realised it. Can you believe it? lol
One night I had a big attack where I thought I was going to die. I was running around the place trying to escape it, I must have looked ridiculous! When it was over I wondered what the hell had happened to me and so decided to start searching on the internet. Now I get attacks on a regular basis, sometimes twice a day. I’ve gotten so good at recognising when an attack comes, I can feel it like a wave coming over me. Sometimes I can stop it at that stage, other times it just takes over. I used to shout at myself to stop the attack, or after an attack and tell myself to stop being so stupid. This I found doesn’t work so well. Now I’ve found a better way to calm myself before or during and attack. I breath slowly, like you recommend and then I talk gently to myself and tell myself that it is ok. This works well for me. Now I just wish the attacks would stop coming. I will give your POEM thing a whirl.
Thank you for caring for all us neurotics out there! lol
Alison
Hello Everyone,
I have to say it was a great feeling today that I was able to get on the computer and do some research on my anxiety without getting overly anxious or getting the feeling that I was going to have to deal with an attack. It was quite liberating. I came across this site and started reading some of these posts and could not go about the rest of my day without sending out a message to you all. So here’s my story:
I am 24 yrs old and I have been dealing with my anxiety for three years now. Looking back, I realize this was brought on by three things 1) It runs in my family (yes u can be predisposed to anxiety/panic per your DNA) 2) Family turmoil 3) Major life changes/transitions.
Before I get into this, I first want to repeat others messages that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. YOU ARE NOT CRAZY. LIFE IS ALWAYS WORTH LIVING (because this WILL go away and one day you will be able to view this period of your life as the benevolent voice posted on June 20th that said u “can see it as a âcostly/painfulâ but enriching experience that exposes to deeper levels of reality, ordinarily ignored in the humdrum of life”. At this point in my life, I am sad that I had to deal with this for years, but glad in a way as I see things much more clearly and have realized many things about myself and my life that I probably never would have unless I had dealt with this horrible experince. Also note that you DO NOT have to deal with this for years before you get a handle on this. You can get your life back on track starting NOW if you take my advice and many of the others advice listed through out this blog.
Over the years (and according to my therapist), I have experienced just about the worst panic experiences one can possibly have. I used to get every symptom in the book during my attacks and to the most severe extent, which is why I wanted to take some time to write to you all. My heart goes out to anyone who experiences ANY one (or all) of these symptoms as I know how scary/confusing/life altering they can be. But again, this is only a phase and this WILL come to an end.
If you are getting panic attacks for the first time, you NEED to get a list of the symptoms of panic attacks. I had no idea what a panic attack was until my dad forced me to see a doctor when I was visiting my home in Chicago during my college years. The therapist showed me the symptoms from a medical book. I felt SO relieved. All my symptoms were listed right there. That is step one: assuring yourself that you are NOT crazy, are not going GOING crazy etc. Rather, you are simply dealing with a very common “issue” (i call it an issue rather than a disorder because I used to see the word “disorder” and freak out and try to convince myself that I didnt have one). I wouldn’t call an alcoholic someone with a disorder. Rather, they have a problem that can be tackled and they need to deal with it accordingly. Everyone has their own problems in many different forms, anxiety is just ours. It’s tough. But like I said, one day you can look at this in a positive light.
Next, you HAVE to realize that your mind and body are in sync. If you treat your body like crap, then ur mind will follow suit. So, before you do anything you need to start getting healthy. I wish I realized this in the past. I partied hard in college and I studied hard in school. I was always run down from lack of sleep and heavy drinking and thus, susceptible to panic attacks. Don’t run yourself down. You can’t handle stress and think straight when u are exhausted.
Well rested is easier said than done for some. I can relate to those whom lay in bed, heart pounding, having racing “crazy” thoughts. I used to dread bedtime as that was when my anxiety peaked. If that is the case, it is especially important for you to work out. The chances of you falling asleep and staying asleep increases 10 fold. Working out releases dopamine, which is ur best friend in fighting anxiety. It is the feel good drug that your brain releases naturally and working out triggers this. Even walking induces dopamine release so Jacob is EXACTLY correct. Take deep breaths, tell yourself positive things like “this panic will wear off.. I just need to ride this out and I will be ok” while u put on ur walking shoes, and get out there and start walking/running. It’s the best anti-anxiety natural drug there is. And you feel “tired” at night, not exhausted and can fall asleep a lot easier without the racing thoughts.
So, u now know u are not crazy and hopefully u’ve started/or are looking into getting ur body healthy to give urself a shot at beating this. And you CAN beat this. These two steps are a must and ur already on ur way.
Next step is to start talking to others. Whether it be a friend, your family, a therapist, etc. Keeping this horrible experience inside is the most unhealthy thing you can do. If you’re on this site reading this, you are on the course to recovering. I was too scared to see a therapist consistently because I thought crazy people saw therapists. So stupid. No one can go through life without help. And they are there to help you. There’s a reason why humans have lived in communities since the beginning of time. We are communal. We can’t go at this alone. So DONT!! So see a doctor. If you are too scared then at minimum find someone that has had these experiences and talk to them. MILLIONS of ppl experience this, but ppl are scared to tell others bc they dont want to seem crazy, or weak. Tell ur parents and friends, so they can support you and so u are comfortable if you are ever having these symptoms around them. Also, try to do things that forces you to FOCUS ON SOMETHING OTHER THAN YOURSELF. Focusing on urself all the time is unhealthy…and selfish. Community service, give $20 to a charity every month for starving children, help your friend/family move….anything to focus on others for a change. You’ll realize there are problems that others have that are far beyond panic/anxiety. And you can give your mind a break for a change and put things into perspective.
Next, start thinking about what stresses you out. What situations give you anxiety. What PEOPLE make your life more difficult. You need to start recognizing these things if you are going to tackle this. Also, if you are in a transition in life (as I was leaving college and living on my own 1000 miles away from friends and family, working a highly stressful job, dealing with family turmoil), give yourself some credit. Its normal to feel worried or anxious. But try to spin it as a positive thing. Change is ok. It’s part of life. And you need to learn to deal with the transition and learn from it as you will also learn to beat anxiety/panic/depression. You will be a stronger person after this chapter in ur life. Again: its just a chapter in ur life, this wont be a part of every chapter for the rest of your life.
If you can bear it, get some anti-anxiety medicine. Personally, I was too scared to take a drug every day. But there are prescription medicines to take at the point you feel this “cloud” coming as Jacob calls it or when the panic is coming. These drugs are made for these situations and are not a crutch. Panic attacks are natural….ie the fight or flight” situation. However, self induced panic attacks are not. Panic attacks “trick” ur mind into thinking u are in a fight or flight situation when in fact, u are not. Which is why u feel crazy because everything is fine, yet ur having all of these “abnormal” symptoms. These one at a time drugs (given by ur doctor) keep u from getting these intense symptoms of fight or flight. So keep this as an option if you are up to it. You take aspirin when u have a headache right? Thats what I tell myself, and its just that simple.
Anyways, I am at the point where I get about 4 panic attacks a year. They only occur when I’m tired from a long weekend of partying with friends, or massively stressed from work and havent slept much. And its nice to know that these attacks are not going to happen at any moment in the day and I can let my guard down. I say this as encouragement only, not to gloat. Once I get into some consistent therapy, work out a little more and eat better, age a few more years to where I wont drink much ever, I expect to be panic attack free for the remainder of my years.
So I said this has been a positive experience in the end right? Well….
-I know how important my health is. Both physical and mental. And their relationship to one another. Get healthy!
-I’ve reassessed my life and recognized what is important and what stresses me out. This is mandatory for those with panic, and in the end is a HUGE gift.
-I’ve learned a lot about myself, my fears, my weaknesses, my strengths.
-I feel proud that I have overcome something so awful and notably one of the worst things a human being can deal with. Yet, Im here. Im healthy. And Im happy again. Life goes on and will for you as well. And I feel stronger than anyone and prepared to take on anything. Because as you know, there isnt anything much worse than panic attacks.
-I’ve realized I cant always focus on myself and to be empathetic to others. After all this, I cannot honestly go through life and not think about the fact that other people suffer from much worse things that panic/anxiety. So silly to think we suffer from stressing over stupid things and there are people truly suffering in the world. You start to see life a little more clearly and a little more simply.
-I can deal with stress/anxiety. Everyone at some time or another will deal with life stressors. Im a PRO!!
I hope this has helped and given you hope that life will go back to normal, as that was what always worried me most. You are stronger than u give urself credit for and you can do this!! Just take baby steps towards conquering this, and you will find in the end you made steps towards becoming a better and STRONGER person too. And thank you Jacob for doing something for all those that suffer from this. I wish I would have seen this a long time ago!
“Dont worry. Be Happy”
God Bless and get started!!
Hi everyone!
I’ve been reading your posts and they have been helpful. I suffer from PTSD, and panic attacks. My doctor put me on Lexapro, and it controlled the attacks until I had an accident and now have severe pain in my neck and back. I am not getting proper help for my pain. I used to walk 6 miles a day. Now I sit because the pain is so bad. Disc problems and bad osteoarthritis are causing me to retreat. Today I was out with my husband to get a few things and I started sweating badly with blurry vision. My back and neck sre so bad I cannot stand the pain. My first attack since I’ve been on meds. Noone seems to understand the chronic pain and it is wearing on everyone I love. What can I do to help if I can’t exercise? It was really helping me before this. I have gained a lot of weight on meds, and now its even worse.
It is so great to have found this website! I have been suffering from anxiety for several years now, but have definitely had a slight case of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) for mostof my life. I’m a complete perfectionist. I think that the anxiety was brought brought on by trying to be perfect and failing. Apparently no one’s perfect! Anyways, the severe anziety started about a year ago. I, unfortunately, started using alcohol to self-medicate and calm myself down, but, of course, that just adds to the problem. Recently I was given a prescription from a so-called ‘anxiety specialist’ for depakote. The drug worked wonders for my anxiety in general, but the side effects were brutal: hair loss, weight gain, difficulty sleeping, etc. Once I decided to stop taking Depakote my anxiety returned even worse. I had the worse panic attack ever last night; I am still really shaky and exteremely anxious. I was so fortunate to come across this website where there are others like me, suffereing from the same disease. I defeinitely know how many of you feel; that no one knows how you feel! When trying to explain a panic attack to others they just look at you with a blank face; there is never any compassion. Anyways, thank you so much, again, for your website. I can’t wait to put your system into good use.
-E
Good for you for taking action and getting on with fixing your anxiety.
I’m encouraged by all of the comments from people getting themselves help.
Stay relaxed in 2009!!
Jacob
I wonder if this could work for me too. I have panic attacks at the gym, during or after working out. I had one so bad last year I went to the hospital in an ambulance because I was sure I was having a heart attack. They found nothing wrong with my heart, or lungs and told me I had a panic attack. I have suffered from general anxiety for years, but never this bad. I also get them driving sometimes, or sitting at an intersection or at a crowded store. Even if the doctors told me they couldn’t find anything physically wrong with me, I keep thinking there must be because the symptoms are so severe. I can’t breathe, I have chest pain, my head feels funny and my hands go sort of numb sometimes. If I take an anxiety pill all the symptoms go away within a short time ( xanax from my psychiatrist) but, I still keep thinking it’s a medical problem because it happens after I work out. Shouldn’t exercise make anxiety go away? It used to work for me until last year. My husband thinks it is because I fell off a treadmill at the gym ( minor injury). Should I just stop excercising? I am going to a different gym tonight, but been sitting here all day fighting anxiety.
This is for you Anny;
A year ago a drank some really bad milk and I got so sick that I lost too much water because of diarrhea. I passed out cold, threw up a few times, the ambulance came and took me to the hospital to have my fluids topped up and have all my vitals checked out.
KEEP READING MY FRIENDLY PANIC FANATICS.
So as I’m laying there in the hospital hallway in a stretcher I started having panic attacks one after the other.
I asked the nurse to please watch all my vital signs, blood pressure, heart rate, etc. while I was in the peak of a panic attack.
You know what she said happened! Almost nothing!
Remember this.
It’s usually never a medical problem – just in our heads as we roll around scary thoughts as a form of sick recreation.
Usually people who suffer from anxiety are more inquisitive and sensitive.
It’s important to remember that you are not your things, your body, your job, your marriage, family – you get the point.
I am also most effected by ailments the most – money second.
If I have even a patch of dry skin I assume it’s a flesh eating disease or skin cancer. Ridiculous.
Next time you have a panic attack remind yourself that it can’t really hurt you and say something like;
“GO AHEAD – HAVE FUN – PANIC AWAY because I don’t really care anymore and it’s no big deal”
This website has helped calm my anxiety down by a lot. I have been suffering from anxiety since I was small, when I was 19 I had a terrible bout of anxiety that lasted for a period of 6 months. I was put on effexor and then tried zoloft but stopped taking them as soon as I felt better, unfortunatly I didn’t seek therapy at that point. I have anxiety triggered by feeling sick and I have IBS which has recently started up my panic attacks. Now I am 26, I recently enrolled myself in university and work part time. I have been pushing myself really hard at school and started to get panic attacks about once a week for the last two months or so (aka just after exam periods). Any type of feeling from my stomach (especially feeling any kind of heartburn)or even just needing to go to the washroom in a public washroom sends me into a frenzy. My stomach keeps me on my toes and when I get anxious I get really bad nausea.
Of course I then automatically think I have cancer or some sort of seriously life threatening disease. Over the last week or so it has been really bad but because I experienced this before I have avoided going to the emergency room because I know it is just my anxiety. This website has encouraged me to go and seek professional help for my anxiety and has helped to remind me that it is only anxiety after all NOTHING SERIOUS. I do not really want to go on meds but I know that my anxiety has the potential to make me miss out on enjoying my experience with school, friends, and family and I don’t want my life to be clouded by something that is completely treatable in this day and age.
Thank you Jacob for providing hope, information, and support for people dealing with this.
AND THANKS FOR NOT TRYING TO SELL ME ANYTHING
Hello Jacob,
Great site, very helpful.
I am a trained health professional and understand the panic disorder 100% from the physiological point of view. Nevertheless, it did not stop me from experiencing a few episodes a few years ago, and several new ones just recently as well. Understanding the disorder does not prevent one from having it – our bodies are truly miraculous.
What triggers them in my case can be somewhat absurd – when I solve a big issue/life problem this is when I get them. This happened a few years ago, and again a month ago… The problem out of the way obviously opens up all this space in my mind to worry about other silent issues. And I do and this precipitates the attacks because the silent issues are making themselves heard through an attack. I never get any episodes while i am under stress, it’s when I am out of the danger zone that they happen.
I’ll tell you a bit more – some people could recognize themselves in this.
When my body is not in the panic state but is going through something/anything that causes it to start experiencing/resembling something like the ’symptoms of panic without the panic itself’ – this is when they potentially kick in. E.g., when I am exercising, walking fast, when the weather is extremely hot and humid, when i have gastrointestinal problems, bloating, gas, low blood sugar, etc… – all of these things push up the heart rate, make people rather breathless, worked up… and it’s almost like my body thinks in these instances – ‘why not, I am already worked up, I could now easily slip into the panic mode because I’m already having some symptoms of panic anyway’… it is like the body itself, the mind itself, craves the panic for a reason!
I strongly believe that panic attacks are telling us a lot, speaking volumes to us. They are a blessing! And they suck too. Like they need to happen so that we see ourselves better. I personaly experience some of the best moments of clarity, simple uncomplicated type of clarity, during my panic attacks (I’ve only had, perhaps, 10). Mind you, they are exhausting despite their short duration (from 10 to 30 mins).
What helps – another paradox. Despite the dizziness and the feeling like you’re going to collapse, sitting for a very short time helps. sipping on an energy drink also helps. but then starting to walk in the middle of the attack helps too – the oxygen in your blood gets used up more easily, the alkalotic state improves and all of the sudden you’re taking deep breaths because your CO2 levels are up and making you breathe! crying helps too. writing down all the questions that are buzzing through your head helps (especially if you re-read them later). in my case, being alone helps. i tell my loved ones to leave me alone in those moments.
and, finally, distractions in the form of an unexpected something always ‘interrupt’ the attack. like an important phone call – it interrupts the attack completely and all of the symptoms of panic go away. sadly, you go back to your attack when the distraction is over. it’s ridiculous.
wishing you all the best of health & lots of joy & glorious honesty with yourselves…
cheers,
m
Hello everyone!
Well, I guess I’m a psycho because I had my first 2 panic attacks this past week.
Wow, here I am, 46 years old and never had anything like this!
I had surgery (a very simple procedure) and when they were putting me under they held the cup over my nose and mouth and told me to breath deep but it seemed there was no air flowing. The only air seemed to be around the cup because the nurse was not pushing it tight or anything. Then he told me take 3 deep breaths and I tried but it felt like there was really no air because he was pushing it a little tighter to my face. I tried to pull away one way and the other and then he pushed it tight and I felt like I was being murdered. Suffocated.
Then I was out. The surgery went fine. I woke up fine. Then they gave me pain meds through the IV and I felt pressure on my chest like I couldnt breath and tingling sensations and extreme numbness in my arms and legs. I THOUGHT I was having a reaction to the pain meds. I THOUGHT I was going to die very soon.
I had a full blown 20-30 minute panic attack but didn’t know that’s what it was till 2 days later.
They checked all my vitals mid attack and everything was normal they said but I did not believe them. I thought they were just saying that so that I would stay calm before I died.
Then it passed and I was fine. I still thought it was a possible allergic reaction to the pain meds.
That happened Monday.
I was perfectly fine the next day and I was released and went to my hotel room. I was to fly home the next morning (Wednesday).
That morning I was sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for my ride and here came another episode. I ended up on the lobby floor shaking uncontrollably. Again, thinking something was REALLY bad wrong and that I needed an ambulance fast or I would die.
I went to the hospital and this time they were pretty sure what was wrong but did other tests just to be sure. After everything was fine again I thought about all that had happened and I broke down and cried about the feeling of being suffocated when put under anesthesia the day before.
The panic attacks didn’t scare me ~ the nurse putting that cup over my face and forcing it down on me was most disturbing : (
This may be what triggered this whole thing. IDK
Anyway, I ended up flying home Friday but had some minor waves which I fought off by trying to be happy and laugh about it being simple panic attacks plus they gave me Xanax and that helped too.
I was so happy to get home late that night and I have laughed about this now even to the point of crying.
In the hotel lobby, I told the nurse that if they didn’t hurry with the ambulance, that I was going to die. He said, “It’s okay, you’re not going to die.” I said to him, “You don’t know.”
Me saying that to him just cracks me up now.
I am so embarrassed but I can also laugh about the whole thing now that I know.
Still feel just a little numbness and tingling in my pinkies.
I only took the Xanax to get me safely home. I won’t need anymore ~ unless someone tries to suffocate me that is!!!
I now feel so bad for people who have to deal with this on a regular basis!!!
I hope 2 is all I will ever have!
Scared the bigeebies out of me at the time.
I wish I had found this site 3 days ago when I was in the midst of it all. I searched and searched on my computer while in the hotel and found some useful info. I pretty much did what you recommend and only knew to do it through prayer.
I knew that God could help walk me out of it.
I believe your theory is right on.
Obviously it is, judging from those posting.
Good luck to you all!!
Great comment and statement Chris. I’m so glad you told your story so that people who have just discovered they have an anxiety challenge can see how it does settle down like a wave coming to shore.
I had a few good chuckles reading your story. Every emotion and idea you mentioned I’ve thought through as well. When you mentioned that people around the world are “really suffering” and so many of us panic fanatics actually live in decent homes in a free Western society with decent incomes and family backgrounds, I had to chuckle because I have thought the same thing so many times. HOW DARE I COMPLAIN or worry about myself when so many other people have problems.
This is another example of how anxiety problems can actually change you for the better. I ended up donating to a charity (Freedom Writers) every month because of these feeling and emotion.
I now take better care of myself, and I practice empathy and sympathy instead of just feeling empathy and sympathy. I much more aware of my ego-state and have become better company for others.