I'm on the site researching some information for a presentation to the staff for a local school, when I saw this string.
I had anxiety attacks 25 years ago while a pilot in the military. The Panic attacks were debilitating to say the least. I started really fearing these attacks and would think of endless "what if" scenarios. My heart raced, when I had these attacks, I felt dizzy, like I was tumbling end over end, and I felt unreal. I felt like I lost my "normal" life.
I had no idea where to turn for help (this was before the internet!). There was no consistent message on what these attacks were let alone a definitive treatment. Fortunately, I stumbled on Dr. Claire Weekes, "Peace from Nervous Suffering". She was a medical doctor in Australia who suffered from an anxiety disorder and was able to treat herself through it. She devoted a large part of her life to the cure of this disorder and she helped me immensely. One day, I hope to hug her in the hereafter!
Panic Disorder and Anxiety attacks are completely curable. No question about it. There is a biological component to it that is independent from the triggering event whatever that was! To cure these attacks, you do not need to uncover past issues. The cure does lie in psychological awareness but physiological imperatives that help keep you and I alive and helped our ancestors do the same. I am not a doctor but I now this disorder as well as I know anything in my life. If you google the web, you'll see endless sites devoted to the cure of anxiety disorders, mostly by lay people who've experienced it.
Now here's the kicker. It's 100% curable and you will get through this. You won't fear a reoccurrence. It's been 25 years and I have not had a reoccurrence and could care less if I did.
When you get through this, and you will, your life will be sweeter than you can possibly imagine right now. The OCD will go (it's comorbid or coincident to anxiety issues) and you will lose the feeling of unreality and with that normalcy will come back to you. But having made it through this, your normalcy will be other people's cloud 9. It's been 25 years for me, with one reoccurrence a few years later, which I dealt with fairly easily and I'm still smelling the roses, having felt like I received a new lease on life!
Remember, that anxiety attacks are caused by your fear of the anxiety itself! You start fearing the Panic Attacks and you start to limit where you go, what you eat, what you do, and etc. The reality is that you've taught yourself to fear these attacks as our ancestors learned to fear real threats (lions, tigers, bears and etc. You're constantly activating your body's "fight or flight" response.
Your body is not malfunctioning but working like a top. You've trained it to fear these attacks and it's complying. You've trained yourself to put Panic attacks right there with the tigers and bears. So when you start to worry and fear another attack, your body is right there with you pumping adrenaline into your blood to help you better cope with this threat.
Problem is there's no tiger!
You've now got all of these chemicals floating around your body with nowhere to go. So they apply themselves to helping to make any Panic attack worse and to making your stomach turn, your head feel dizzy, tunnel vision, and a racing heart. Compounding this is how long this has been going on for you and the fact that your body is in a state of constant vigilance.
Now the good part; finally! These attacks cannot hurt you! Not no how not no way! They are awful to experience but they cannot hurt you and they cannot go on forever. Your body has defenses that will always stop a Panic attack from being overly long. Operative piece; the attacks cannot hurt you!
The cure lies in not fighting these attacks but accepting them. Allow these horrible attacks to come and just "float" through them. Make this pain your friend. Go to places that you know will cause an attack. Ask your body to produce one. You're brave for having suffered so long with this. You can do this!
What you will be doing is retraining your brain to remove Panic Attacks from the tiger and bear list. The only way to do this is to not fear these things. Sounds impossible but you can do this. With repetition you are going to start getting these attacks less and less frequently and they will start to lose their sting. Eventually, over time, you will break the cycle and once you do your body will finally "stand down" and start to relax.
Remember, no more fighting these attacks! Let them come and when they do, float through them and let them pass the way they always have and always will.
As an aside and as mentioned, there are many excellent programs on the web that teach the general concepts I was mentioning above in a far better manner.
Make sure you are talking to trusted adults and health care professionals about your feelings and your condition.
Good luck and do not give up hope.
You are already on your path to recovery!
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