can panic make you actually go nuts?

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-11-2004
can panic make you actually go nuts?
11
Mon, 01-23-2006 - 11:15pm

Hi, I had panic disorder for about 6 years and was pretty much cured about 5 years ago. I mostly avoided certain situations that I had a previous attack in; driving alone with nothing in site, in meetings, during shows, or anything that there was no "safety." I felt it got so bad that I may die and need some sort of help. I was always looking for a "safe place." I would be very aware of nearby hospitals, just in case. I had very bad panic attacks almost every day at one point. I hid them well. In fact, I came off as a mellow person and very sociable, independent. I know people thought I was a hypochondriac but I didn't come off as anxious. Anyway, I went to therapy years ago. No meds. I refuse to take them. But for the most part, I am panic free. there are some situations, however, that I do avoid because I never got over the fear and did them since I have been panic free. I still get anxious in meetings or in a place where if a panic attack suddenly came on, and I felt I had to run out of the room, that I would be embarrassed. I do most of these things, but not without anxiety. I have actually run out of a room while paniking...

So, here is my current problem... The one thing I have been avoiding is going skiing because of the lift. I didn't even have a panic attack on a lift in the past when the panic was real bad. I just have a mental block against it, like it is a situation I should avoid in case a panic attack comes out of the blue. I know once I am on that lift there is no turning back. I can't run or get off. I'm stuck. If I panic, I am afraid I will need to get off it immediately and jump and die. I realize that I am rarely in situations that I cannot get out of in case I had a panic attack. I mean, I don't really think about it much. But I am so obsessed with the thought of the ski lift and I am so anxious just thinking about the lift. I have looked at pictures of it and tried to imagine myself on the lift and I feel sick...

I WANT to get on that lift. My boyfriend is a huge snowboarder and we both are athletes. I know I will LOVE snowboarding. But I am deathly afraid of that lift. I know he will support me but what can I do to prepare myself??? What if I get on that lift and can't do it and go crazy???? I know everyone says panic attacks will not make you actually do this and your mind knows not to do anything to endanger yourself but can someone please help me believe this? He wants me to go this wkend and I don't know if I can do it. If I do it I will feel like I have fully recovered...

I need some encouraging. I am so worried.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Tue, 01-24-2006 - 12:37am

Hi! I'm not sure why you would think that panic attacks could actually make you go nuts. That is a very common fear, but we all know that won't happen. When panic strikes, most of us use the positive affirmations that work the best for us. Reassuring ourselves that our fears aren't realistic & they have no relevance to what is happening @ the time of the attack.


I am sorry to hear that you're still having a fear of using the ski lift. I seem to be out of new suggestions. Maybe you could read a past post. http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-bhpanic&msg=18016.1

 

 


 



iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 01-24-2006 - 10:47am

FACE YOUR FEAR!!

i ski and think the SAME thing, but i've
never done it, i also see myself jumping
when on the second floor of the mall.
AND going over bridges, i think i'm i gonna
get out of my car and jump??

i have int. thoughts that cause panic attacks
about harming my son, this is the same premise
but not about your kid.

b/f i had jason i had these thoughts here and there,
they never really caused panic attacks but made
me uncomfortable.

when i ski for the first time of the season i take
a 1/2 of xanex, it's better than staying home.
can you take SOMETHING that will calm you.

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO JUMP!!!
do not let this keep you from
having a great time, i am going to post
something that may comfort you..

hth,
kris

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 01-24-2006 - 10:50am

Panic is perhaps the most intense and the most
challenging of all human emotions. What is panic, and
how can we best understand it?

Panic comes from the "fight-or-flight" response that
all of us have and that has been key to our survival
as a species. In prehistoric times, when a
saber-toothed tiger or neighboring cannibal tribe
wanted to have us for dinner, the fight-or-flight
response kicked in. Instantly, we would have
superhuman strength and speed, to either fight or
flee.

Today, the stresses we face are very different from
what they were in prehistoric times. Sometimes, our
fight-or-flight response gets triggered when there is
no actual threat to our survival. With no external,
life-threatening danger to focus on, bodily sensations
and scary thoughts can spiral into a panic attack.

It's helpful to think of our fight-or-flight response
as having two parts. The first part is an internal
alarm. A great analogy is a fire alarm bell. A fire
alarm is loud, scary and very unpleasant, but the
alarm itself is never dangerous. In fact, the fire
alarm is designed to insure our protection and
survival in the event of an actual fire.

Once our internal alarm bell gets triggered, the
second part of our fight-or-flight response kicks in -
we instinctively search for the danger. We need to
know instantly what kind of danger we are facing, in
order to know whether to fight, flee or climb a tree!
A great way to think of this part of our survival
response is a huge, round clock with only one hand, in
the shape of a huge POINTER. The POINTER spins around
at top speed, locating the danger, so that you can
instantly respond and save yourself from great peril.

But what happens when your internal alarm is a false
alarm? The POINTER spins around wildly, desperately
trying to locate the danger, in order to save you.
But there aren't any tigers or cannibals around. The
only thing unusual is what's going on in your own body
- sensations that relate to the activation of the
fight-or-flight response. So the POINTER, with no
other place to go, points inside, to those strange and
strong sensations.

All of these sensations are completely harmless. In
fact, the body is mobilizing for heroic action. If
you were really facing a tiger or a cannibal, you
wouldn't notice these sensations - you'd be too busy
fighting or fleeing. But with no external danger,
your POINTER focuses on these strange sensations -
they are the only thing unusual that's going on.

And yes, the sensations are unusual. The
fight-or-flight response doesn't often get turned on.
In fact, the first time you experienced a panic attack
may have been the first time your fight-or-flight
response was triggered without a real, external
emergency to focus on. So, yes, the sensations are
unusual. And completely harmless.

Fast on the heels of the strange sensations, the scary
thoughts come in. "What if I'm going crazy?", "What
if I'm having a heart attack?", etc., etc. Your
POINTER has found a "danger". And this "danger", as
convincing as it seems, is composed only of
sensations, each of which is completely harmless and
scary thoughts, each of which is completely untrue.

In fact, these scary thoughts are just about the most
false thoughts the world has ever seen. They are less
likely to happen than the sun not rising tomorrow.
They are even less likely to happen than the Cubs
winning the World Series.

Let's take one of the most popular scary thoughts as
an example: "What if I'm going crazy?"

With all the millions of people experiencing tens of
millions of panic attacks, there is not a single case
of anyone ever going crazy from a panic attack. Not
ever. Psychotic disorders develop gradually over a
period of many years, and do not arise from panic
attacks. Psychosis has to do with losing touch with
reality. This couldn't be further from the experience
of the panic sufferer, who is super-attuned to
reality.So, how do these completely false, scary
thoughts arise?

Again, let's take the example of "What if I'm going
crazy?"

Now, we all have a vocabulary that includes the scary
thought of going crazy. Cultural myths about people
"going mad" run very deep. We've seen more than
enough horror movies, from an early age. We have
plenty of images in our brains of psychopathic
killers, snakepit asylums and padded cells. So, when
our POINTER is spinning around, desperately trying to
locate a danger, the best it can find might be: "Maybe
these strange sensations mean I'm going crazy!"

Panic is a fascinating and very odd emotion. But
remember, the fight-or-flight response resides in a
very old part of the human brain. Prehistoric times
were very, uhh, colorful. Without our survival
response, we wouldn't be here today. And in giving us
the gift of our fight-or-flight response, our Creator
was more concerned with ensuring our protection than
with avoiding false alarms.

The most sensitive among us are the ones who get to
experience the false alarms. We can feel victimized,
or we can use the experience to learn and grow in some
extraordinary ways.

Understanding Panic Disorder



iVillage Member
Registered: 01-17-2001
Tue, 01-24-2006 - 12:29pm

I think that everything you said is wonderful and make so much sense..However, this I disagree with this statement...


"

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 01-24-2006 - 12:45pm

did this make you uneasy?? i am so sorry this
was NOT my intention.

someone sent this to me, i did not write it,
it is from a panic website somewhere, i found
great comfort in this writing and have posted
it here before, i love the part that says,
noone has ever gone crazy from a panic attack!

i aslo get "unreal" feelings, i did not take
that statement as a feeling but actually losing
touch with reality.....i do actually feel "crazy"
when i am in full panic, i feel that my brain
is not my own and i can't control my thoughts,
isn't this writing saying that all those feelings
are false??

kris

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-17-2001
Tue, 01-24-2006 - 12:54pm

Hi Kris,


It did make me feel uneasy, I never did think that it was your intention.


I also

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 01-24-2006 - 12:58pm

Heather,

how are you now? i feel so bad, i have always
LOVED this piece and wanted to share it with
the world when i first got it......ugh

kris

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Tue, 01-24-2006 - 1:11pm

I think this was just a misunderstanding. I understood what Kris posted as meaning that we do have the *unreal* feelings during a panic attack which cause us to question that we might be going crazy or mad or insane. But, though this may scare us into thinking we're psychotic, in reality, it's a temporary *feeling* not a permanent state

 

 


 



iVillage Member
Registered: 01-17-2001
Tue, 01-24-2006 - 1:21pm

Kris,


PLEASE don't feel BAD.


It is a GREAT piece, my weird anxious mind just picked out one part of it....LOL


You are only trying to help, and YOU DID!


Thank You for sharing that!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-22-2003
Tue, 01-24-2006 - 1:50pm

Kris, that was a great piece, thank-you for posting it!

Sheri Ann

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