More help and awareness needed!

There should really be more information about panic attacks and anxiety. I have been doing research into it and found that so many people suffer from it. When I have to let

Psychotherapy

I was told by my counsellor that psychotherapy would be good to do. Also something long term. This is especially useful for people who have suffered from health issues over a long period of time. Therefore, I researched psychotherapy.

Anxiety with work.

I know many people are scared of talking to their bosses at work about their anxiety, in fear that they would not understand. I have worked at my weekend job for over 3 years and never once mentioned it to them. This is because even though at times I felt horrible, I stayed and just coped. A few weeks ago,

Face it.. accept it.

You need to really want to, deep down, get better. That is the first thing that you need to do to get over this anxiety. Anxiety is not what makes you, you are a person who can live without it and will live without it if you believe enough. I know it is hard. I have been saying for years, I don't want to be this way...who would?! But

Hypnotherapy

So had hypnotherapy today...was interesting. First 30 mins just spoke about everything going on at the moment in my life and then I was told to relax. She made me imagine different feelings such as anger, fear and

Laughter is the best medicine....

So...I wake up, all anxious and feeling sick. The tablets seem to be making me feel bad. I always feel sick in the mornings and then do not sleep. Also, had lots of negative thoughts in my head, such as 'that I will never get better'. However, I got up and tried to get through the day. It turned out to be quite a positive day.

To pay or not to pay...

So...finding urgent help for anxiety/depression/panic is very hard in England it seems. I was put on a 2 month waiting list for free counselling (which will include CBT I think) , asked what I could do in the meantime as needed some help. I was referred to paid counselling. This would cost

Life changer...

Most anxiety books I have read always say 'face the anxiety head on, let it ride through you'. I was always so terrified to do this because what if I did go crazy.... or die... or just it's horrible feeling why should I let it happen to me. So I always ran away from it,

Just a picture to make people remember that the world is a beautiful place and things around us can be seen as very funny. Try and smile/laugh every single day, even if the laugh is forced, it releases chemicals in your brain and your brain does not know the difference between forced and real laughter so it will still release happy chemicals.

Paroxetine day 2.

So second day on Paroxetine. Thought I would take half a tablet instead of whole because of being sick yesterday. Good news is that I wasn't sick today but still really anxious all day so that

Challenge your thoughts

Challenge the negative thoughts which occur.  For example, you leave your home and suddenly you are thinking I need to go home because otherwise I will die, or something will happen to me. Challenge these. Will you really die if you went out, or would something happen to you. Has it ever? You need to acknowledge

Things to do which help

These are techniques I have picked up over the years to help me fight this anxiety or make me feel better when feeling really bad.

When having a bad anxiety attack/panic attack you need to distract yourself. I try everything from using my laptop to playing games. If you feel a little better then start to do some breathing techniques such as breath in 8 seconds through your nose and out 16 seconds through your mouth. This will decrease your heart rate. The thoughts you need to be saying are: I can only be in a hightened state of panic for a short amount of time so it will go away, it can not harm me and I will not die or go crazy ( big one for me as I always think I will flip out).

One of the things you need to set your mind to,

Day one on paroxetine

So started taking paroxetine 20mg today. Took one this morning. It didn't have much affect until late afternoon evening, where I was violently sick and then again an hour or so later so that nothing is left inside of me. Also felt extremely anxious and horrible. I have heard with all drugs, especially this kind, it gets worse before it gets better so here's hoping and seeing how it is tomorrow. I will be taking a lower dosage tomorrow though. Think will take half, so 10mg, and see how that goes before upping it to 20mg.