Lived Experience Forum

[Kelly83a]

Hi all,

I'm only new to this. I'm just wondering, for all you anxiety & panic attack sufferers- what do you do to help with your anxiety? I've suffered for many years now, and I'm so mentally & physically drained from fighting this, I'd love to hear how others have delt with living with such a horrible illness 😞 thank you for your time.

[Former-Member]

Hi,

Welcome to the forums, its a great place for people who have been through all of this stuff. I have ptsd, anxiety and depression. Its hard and im still in the learning how to cope with it all phase. I guess one thing that i've been learning more recently, some help from a psychologist and gp that fighting the fears/anxieties makes them stronger.. some combination of facing them and reducing the reactions that i have to past events.... and accepting the fear and anxieties seems to be helping. Although in saying that ive been having a bit of a hard time recently and finding it hard to believe that i've changed at all in a good way. However... I keep reminding myself of small things... two years ago it took me a week to buy a set of cutlery that we needed because of fear lol (i know it sounds ridiculous now.) but i'd had no control over anything for a long time and starting to take control over things was so frightening! now I can buy things that we need with relative ease i guess.

There will be other who are more helpful than I, im sure! 

Welcome and I hope you find the forums as helpful as I have. You are definitely not alone and there are so many different ways to recovery and living life well and its great to be in a place where people can share and provide so many different perspectives and experiences to help each other,

LJ

[Kelly83a]

Hi Lj,

Thank you for your reply. Reading your comment made me smile...reason being, I can see you are pushing yourself to be the real "you" again...though the struggle is still there for you, you are slowly breaking free from the anxiety demon. I wish I was strong enough. It's just so hard & draining. Hope to hear from you soon 🙂 Kelly x

[Former-Member]

If i can, you can 🙂 we're all stronger than we realise, just have to find ways/skills/strategies that allow that strength to come out... and get back up when we fall over hehe! but it is extremely draining, sometimes i think we do just need to be really nice to ourselves and say its ok to just stop and rest and do nothing for a bit (an hour, day ... a month in hospital for me lol!) to be able to build up the reserves to be able to get back to the madness of fighting/accepting/skilling up/strategising that mental health or wellness needs!

here listening!

LJ

[Appleblossom]

Hi @Kelly83a Welcome

I have had chronic anxiety and panic attacks with specific triggers ... ie like @Former-Member it was about supermarket shopping... never owned a "born to shop" tshirt. ...

Sometimes it is low grade anxiety sometimes full blown ... but it is always with me ... however .. I am a doer and I take things on and I try to live with courage so I dont really stop .. just slow down or retreat when things get too much.

Cheers