Can anyone relate to my anxiety disorder?

**Posts:** 72 · by **theboydonut** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 8:26 am

hi there just looking for anyones thoughts or advice on anxiety

my panic attacks started after i broke up with a long term girlfriend, however before that time i would often make up nightmare scenarios about going to the airport and getting blown up by terrorist or crashing the car but only when i was on a motorway just imaging the worst really about anything.

However the main reason I think for my panic was when i was being drivin in my friends car, he avoided another car and my heart skipped a beat something that hadnt happend to me before, anyway since that point i started to get pains in my chest and dizzy after execrise I had a few ECGs and blood test and nothing was found but i was convinced i had a heart problem, even to this day a year later Im still getting the odd panic attack but i regularly get odd palpitations like skipped or multiple added beats which really scare the crap out of me, the thing is i dont just get them when im anxious but also when Im just resting which is why I think their not from my anxiety alone.

Now my concern has also turned slightly to germs nothing excessive I suppose to be honest it might just be a healthy amount cause before i never washed my hands at all, when i walk down the street as well im always worried about being attacked the town i live in isnt particulary pleasant and people are always getting mugged and attacked i worry that someone will attack my and i'll have a heart attack from the fear.

I started tai chi but started getting palpitations and then a small panic attack in a class and am a bit worried about going back.

I was just wondering if this sounds similar to anyone elses experiences and if they have any advice.

im covinced ive got a vitamin deficencey but then i also worry about taking to much vitamin although i never take over the recommended amount i also worry about drinking too much water and suffering the effects from that, all in all im pretty worried but it does seem that before i would worry about things like terrorist attacks now i worry right down to how much water ive drank

Im half way between trying to find an adjustment in my diet that will sort out my anxiety or just excepting its all in my mind

**Posts:** 2821 · by **Roger Elliott** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:44 am

Dear the boydonut - wow, you sure do worry a lot! Sounds like when you stop misusing your imagination in that way you're going to have a heck of a lot of energy for other things. In fact, with that level of creativity you could do pretty much anything!

**Posts:** 72 · by **theboydonut** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:56 am

lol yeah that might be the case but i really have found it all quite crippling i had to quit uni cause i couldnt concentrate in my lectures because of my panic attacks i find it difficult to imagine anything good happening, and add the symptoms that i get on top of that my mind just races thru possible outcomes and illnesses i have! i think i suffer from learning difficulties to but im past education now i cant really see the point in having a test for it at such a late stage?

maybe i have an untamed imagination but how do i begin to controll it?

**Posts:** 2821 · by **Roger Elliott** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:40 pm

Well the first step is to recognise that it is your imagination doing these things, which you have done.

That allows you to begin to separate yourself from the content of your imagination - you can happily imagine anything as long as you do not respod to it emotionally. The two are separate things - the imagination and the emotional response.

For example, I can imagine having my arm chopped off but because I know I am imagining it deliberately, there is no reason for an emotional response - I am aware that there is no real threat. Anxiety is for response to real threats.

Another thing to do is to start using your imagination constructively by, say, learning self hypnosis. Self hypnosis is simply the deliberate use of the imagination to create a desired emotional state (usually relaxation).

You can also, once relaxed, think about the things that you have been terrorising yourself with to decondition your response to them - in other words to learn to think of unpleasant things without getting anxious.

Can anyone relate to my anxiety disorder?

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