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moose1
162 Posts |
 Posted - 11/20/2004 : 22:31:21
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Hi All,
I'm a classic TMSer whose physical symptoms alternate with anxiety and panic attacks. Right now I'm in a panic attack stretch where I'm getting them at night. This is really unpleasant. Just as I'm about to enter deep sleep, wham!, I wake up with that awful rush of fear (which is why I'm online now at 12:30!). Of course, at the same time, I'm so tired that I just end up falling back to sleep again, only to have the panic hit me again again and again just as I'm about to drift off. It's like, geez, I wish my brain would switch over to, say, making my back ache so I could get some sleep.
Anyway, I've been surfing the anxiety/panic books on Amazon and there are just SO many of them. And of course, the reviews for EVERY book run the same gammut, from: "This book saved my life, literally, when nothing else helped!" to "This book is just more useless, positive thinking non-sense. I instead recommend Dr. ______'s book, "_______." It saved my life, literally, when nothing else helped!"
I've tried applying Sarno's theory specifically to the anxiety but I don't have much luck with it for some reason. It's like I need the Sarno equivilent specifically to attacking the anxiety. Is there one out there?
Thanks,
Moose |
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n/a
374 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2004 : 02:40:33
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Hi Moose
I can relate to what you describe here. Two years ago I went through something very similar. Back pain - anxiety - panic - fear - sleeplessness - on and on, ad nauseum. It was horrible.
I got it under control and I've got the defences in place to stop it coming back. Firstly, I have to say that I was in a position to give up work so I didn't have to worry about being unable to cope there. Most people can't do that, I know. That allowed me to concentrate on getting better from the anxiety/TMS. I don't have a magic bullet, but I'll tell you what worked for me.
I tried a variety of things - medication - I took low dose valium for seven months. That got the worst excesses of the panic symptoms under control, enough to let me explore other methods. That worked for me, but I know that valium is addictive and some people have problems. I had a supportive GP and weaned off it easily. I haven't taken it, or wanted to take it since.
I tried cognitive behaviour therapy. I found it no help at all. To me, it was a form of avoidance and I needed to get in behind what was happening and try to work out why it was happening.
I found hypnotherapy equally useless - avoidance again, I think.
Psychotherapy helped a great deal. My doctor wasn't keen. Psychotherapy is out of fashion in the UK right now. Eventually, after phoning just about every therapist in my area I found someone who believed strongly in a mind/body link, although she was not aware of Dr Sarno's work. I worked with her for around six months.
I read widely on anxiety/panic conditions. I had to read a lot of dross to find the helpful stuff. The books I found most helpful were those by Dr Claire Weekes, Jon Kabut-Zinn's 'The Whole Catastrophe' (that one got me into 'living mindfully' and was recommended by ny therapist), and my favourite, Rick Carson's 'Taming Your Gremlin'. It's light hearted, funny, but gave me lots of insights and strategies. Quite a few of us who post here like the Gremlin book. None of these books deal with physical/psychological links, although Kabut-Zinn does touch on that, but I found as the anxiety lessened the chronic back pain became less of a problem and gradually disappeared. I do still get pain but it is far less bad and doesn't last long.
Getting better was hard work, but well worth it. There is a fundamental change in how I deal with things now. I am calmer, more relaxed. Things don't get to me anymore.
Good luck and very best wishes
Anne
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Edited by - n/a on 11/21/2004 06:41:42 |
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plainchant
41 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2004 : 03:47:44
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Hi,
I had exactly the same problem. Here's what you can do right away: Start practicing the Relaxation Response:
http://www.ucop.edu/humres/eap/relaxationrespone.html
Dr. Herbert Benson's two books about it "The Relaxation Response" anb "Beyond the Relaxation Response" (where he basically says that it is even more helpful when you incorporate your relgious beliefs into the practice of the relaxation response) are interesting but won't help with your current sitation. Practice the relaxtion response for ten minutes a day twice a day you will soon be able to click it on automatically in order counteract your fight or flight mechanism.
And you must read, "Hope and Help for Your Nerves" by Dr. Claire Weekes. Many TMSers (including the post before this one) recommends this book. That's why I bought it and was great. I don't trust most modern self-help books (because they are usually written by messed-up people out to make a buck), but I love classic texts that have stood the test of time. Dr. Weekes was an Australian woman who probably never heard of TMS, but you will definitely see reflections of Dr. Sarno's words in this book.
Dr. Weekes will explain things you such as the nervous person does everything to distract himself or herself from symptoms instead of facing them and realizing that they are not bad. For example, heart palpitations usually freak people out. But at most your heart is going at 120 beats a minute, and that your heart can safely beat at 200 beats a minute for weeks without a problem. In fact the more it beats, the stronger it becomes. She provides a good strategy for getting over your anxiety.
The combination of the relaxation response and "Hope and Help for your Nerves" helped me get over my TMS anxiety which used to keep me up all night. But continue to learn about TMS in order that you arn't tricked by it. The pain can be replaced by anxiety. When you get rid of anxiety, you might plunge into depression. When you get over the depression. You might get a totally next time of pain in a scary place. So no matter what you do: focus on all those things affecting you emotions. |
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pault
USA
169 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2004 : 07:28:13
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| I use to get panic attacks years ago,as I was going to a therepest,we were able to identify several of the main reasons for the attacks.and they immediatly were gone,only the fear of reoccurance stayed with me for a while.Talking to me about the attacks and why they occured,I was in total disagreement with the therepest as to the root of the cause until I recognised what the reason was! It was very obvious but I could not see it without help,recognising the problem is the biggest help of all,sort of like tms-the knowlege is the cure!Funny how some things are so obvious and looking us right in the face and yet we cannot see them!Some times an objective view from an outsider it what is necessary to make things click.One thing that helped was to tell myself the attacks are harmless, Hope you get well soon. |
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moose1
162 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2004 : 09:19:29
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Thanks for all the helpful input. I've heard a lot of other people cite Claire Weekes as a very good resource despite the fact that she wrote a long time ago. I will check it out.
Thanks again to all!!
Moose |
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molomaf
119 Posts |
Posted - 11/22/2004 : 08:42:45
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Moose,
Anxiety attacks are just like back pain. It's just another distraction our brain comes up with. You deal with it the same way you deal with pain. Laugh at it, and realize it is nothing to be concerned with. I had anxiety attacks for many years and was almost housebound. So I know what a horrible feeling it is. Even though you feel like you are going to die or go crazy, just remember that it cannot hurt you and it won't last long if you don't become frightened. |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 11/22/2004 : 10:52:29
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Moose, I'm with the others here. Anxiety attacks are like the rest of TMS anomalies, a part of life that occurs to proabably everyone on the planet at some time in their life.
I have had several. I had chest pain, that I thought might be a heart-attack. My TMS pain volume control turned up the FEAR  knob and created anxiety and panic. The thought that you might die in a minute can do that to you  . I had two such attacks, spaced about ten years apart causing me to go to my doctor, (the next day). My family doc, a cardilogist put me on the EKG stress treadmill test and adjudged me in perfect health, second highest test to one of their patients who had climbed MT. Everest. The white-coat positive assesment alayed my fears  .
The problem is that my anxiety attacks due to chest pain, fear of heart attack, are spaced so many years apart. I forget what they feel like and thus they serve their TMS distraction purpose. I had one a few weeks ago and just observed it and it went away. I had a sensation in my upper chest this morning that evaporated also. I am starting to put together a pattern though. Increased stress, maybe a strong coffee, a pizza with everything on it stuffy room, tired, in-active, and maybe a beer = indigestion  .
Hope this helps,
tt
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Edited by - tennis tom on 11/22/2004 10:54:11 |
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moose1
162 Posts |
Posted - 11/22/2004 : 12:41:51
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it's funny. everyone has different panic symptoms. i've been having them for 14 years and i've never had a single heart palpitation. my attacks are purely mental...as in going mental. it's the most horrifying, stupefying fear imaginable, like i'm going to be sucked into an oblivion of total insanity...and that description doesn't even to it justice.
in any case, it sure does suck when it happens.
thanks again for all the adivce!
Moose |
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molomaf
119 Posts |
Posted - 11/22/2004 : 15:05:32
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Moose,
My fear always was going crazy because I was convinced that if I let go just a little, insanity was just around the corner. I thought that I needed to "hold myself together". I've had virtually all the classic anxiety symptoms. When I could handle one, I would get another. Sounds just like back pain, doesn't it? Don't be fooled by it. |
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moose1
162 Posts |
Posted - 11/22/2004 : 18:24:36
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molomaf,
you said:
"if I let go just a little, insanity was just around the corner" and also that you had to "hold myself together".
that is EXACTLY what mine are like. SO good to hear other people who have had these symptoms. are you completely over them now? and was there anything in particular that you found especially helpful?
thanks!
Moose |
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floridaboy
40 Posts |
Posted - 11/22/2004 : 19:37:16
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count me in as well. The attacks lasted 10 years or more. My attacks always came just as I laid down to go to sleep... It was a train wreck of thoughts that turned to indescribible fear. My heart beat extremly hard and fast, I thought I was hanging on to sanity by my fingertips. One night while up in a panic, I turned on my TV and saw an advertisement for this company: http://www.stresscenter.com/
The Midwest center for Stress and Anxiety.
I purchased some cassette tapes right then and there ($300 or so) and listened to them diligently over the next number of weeks. Until that moment that night I never knew what a panic attack was. I was thrilled to know I wasn't alone. The tapes basically cured me. I know that the attacks are supposed to be TMS...I am not saying they aren't. But I can assure you, EVERYONE could benefit from this program...panic attacks or not. It was worth every penny. Sadly my niece went through a serious period where her parents couldn't figure out what was going on. Couldn't go to school, leave the house, etc. I finally had to confess to everyone in my family what I had been going through for years...she had what I had. I gave her the tapes...she is panic attack free now too. Try it...can't hurt! |
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floridaboy
40 Posts |
Posted - 11/22/2004 : 19:39:08
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| PS Moose1. Had the same...fall asleep wake right back up thing too. It really sucks to finally calm down enough to fall asleep only to suddenly find you self "waking up" immmediately. Urrrrggghh. It is a pure sign of TONS of stress in your life. Tapes cured this too. |
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molomaf
119 Posts |
Posted - 11/22/2004 : 20:30:29
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Moose,
Because I was agoraphobic at one time, I had a big hole to climb out of. I finally was able to convince myself that nothing terrible was going to happen. I never did go crazy-funny thing about that! I guess if there was one thing I wish someone had told me when this was happening to me years ago, it would be that these scary feelings are nothing and if you don't add to the fear, they will go away.
I no longer have any anxiety attacks at all. My last hurdle was getting on a plane and I did that last year.
Treat the anxiety like you treat pain. It is a big distraction only if you let it. |
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plainchant
41 Posts |
Posted - 11/23/2004 : 03:41:46
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When I was extremely anxious because of my undiagnosable pain (at the time) the doctor gave me anti-anxiety tablets. I'm glad that I never took them. Knowledge really is power. Imagine the millions of people out there strung out on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication destroying their lives because the don't know about TMS.
P.S. I think there should be a spell check for this forum. That would make if far easier to write mistake-free posts. |
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Fox
USA
496 Posts |
Posted - 11/23/2004 : 08:01:36
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Plainchant -- I know what you mean about wanting a mistake-free post. I just hate it when I post, and I catch a mistake when I re-read the post. That demonstrates the perfectionism in us TMSers....I think I'll post a sentence right now containing a premediated mistakke -- Hey, that actually felt good!
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Anxiety/panic strategies
