Give a lil help....to a friend?

[breuner]

I'm Dave. I'm 45. My anxiety is panic and social mostly. I've been self medicating with alcohol since my early teens. I honestly had no idea what my deal was til my late 30's. Sad...yup...

I have been given several different meds since my diagnosis. At first, when i was given medication, I thought.......holy crap. This!!!!!!is what is what it means to actually feel in control.....

Prior to any medication, my good friends used to describe me as " Dave, is 60 cups of espresso"...and that's his normal day. That was my norm. Then, I got Meds and went "whoa.....this is life"??

That was then, this is now.....

I have been sick. Cancer. Got past it, for now. After treatment, nothing seems to work. I have panic attacks several times a day. I live hour to hour or minute to minute. I am battling alcohol. Well, I'm not. It's the only saving grace i have. But, i hate it. The taste, the smell, the feeling.

Basically, i want to die. I'm so done w it. All of it. I'm tired of battling demons i cannot see. I just want relief.....

 

[janemariesayed]

I'm Dave. I'm 45. My anxiety is panic and social mostly. I've been self medicating with alcohol since my early teens. I honestly had no idea what my deal was til my late 30's. Sad...yup...

I have been given several different meds since my diagnosis. At first, when i was given medication, I thought.......holy crap. This!!!!!!is what is what it means to actually feel in control.....

Prior to any medication, my good friends used to describe me as " Dave, is 60 cups of espresso"...and that's his normal day. That was my norm. Then, I got Meds and went "whoa.....this is life"??

That was then, this is now.....

I have been sick. Cancer. Got past it, for now. After treatment, nothing seems to work. I have panic attacks several times a day. I live hour to hour or minute to minute. I am battling alcohol. Well, I'm not. It's the only saving grace i have. But, i hate it. The taste, the smell, the feeling.

Basically, i want to die. I'm so done w it. All of it. I'm tired of battling demons i cannot see. I just want relief.....

Hello Dave, nice to meet you I'm Jane. Your story sounds very sad indeed. I am really sorry for your suffering.

It is strange how your medication isn't working after having your cancer treatment. Praise the Gods that you are through it now. Have you spoken with your doctor about the fact that your meds are no longer working since your treatment?

Do you have any coping techniques for your panic attacks? I get panic attacks too and a past therapist told me what to do. He told me that before we have the attack, we are shallow breathing. So our hearts start to pump faster to get air around the body. The thing to do is to take in a slow deep breath and hold it in. I know that this is really hard to do. Sometimes when I am in the midst of an attack I cant breath, I can't get any air in. So the only way I can get air in is as if I am breathing through a straw. I force myself to get that air into my lungs. I don't stop forcing air through that imaginary straw until my lungs are full of air and then I let it out the same way. Slowly and through that imaginary straw.

When I manage to do this I start to feel better straight away. Immediately. Try it.

Now, your life. Your life is worth it. before you go to bed each night, as you are drifting off to sleep say thankyou for five good things that have happened to you that day. If you can't think of anything you can say thankyou for the food you've eaten. You don't have to say thank you to anything or anyone in particular. Just say thanks for five things. I promise you will find more than five things to say thankyou for. I also promise that you will fall asleep feeling better.

Well done for staying off the booze. Good for you, you achieved something very difficult so a pat on the back! Please think your life is worth it. You can always come on here and talk, we are like a big family here.

 

[XmasCarol52]

Hello Dave welcome you will love it here ,this place is like family.I hope we can help each other.

 

[breuner]

Got a beacon of light today. Get to see a psychiatrist Tuesday. I'm in KS. Not a lot of support where I live for anxiety or depression. Just your normal fam practice MD. Looking forward to someone who hopefully knows how to treat my malady.

Will press on till then. Tuesday is my goal...

Ty for the advice. Deep breathing seems to help.

 

[janemariesayed]

Got a beacon of light today. Get to see a psychiatrist Tuesday. I'm in KS. Not a lot of support where I live for anxiety or depression. Just your normal fam practice MD. Looking forward to someone who hopefully knows how to treat my malady.

Will press on till then. Tuesday is my goal...

Ty for the advice. Deep breathing seems to help.

Yes, deep breathing really can make all the difference to calming someone down. The breathing is part of the panic attack as we start to breathe fast suddenly or want to breathe deeply suddenly. Because of the lack of air that we had in our lungs beforehand. It then makes our heart pump faster. Holding on to the breath helps to get some air circulating again. I'm really glad you found it helpful.

If you do the breathing exercises for long enough, (45 mins) you will end up feeling quite giggly too. I use it as a feel good exercise sometimes.