So Mom and I thought we were feeling well enough to go get some groceries, but while walking around Walmart, my knee tweaked and Mom told me to go back to the car.
Once back at the car, I had a complete breakdown - crying, shaking, and not being able to stop.
Fortunately I had myself under control by the time mom came out with the groceries, so she didn't see my breakdown, but honestly, I still feel pretty shaky
so hugs appreciated.
Comments
Anxiety Attacks
Forty years ago, I suffered horribly from anxiety attacks. They would come on for no apparent reason at very strange and random times.
I read several self-help books and put my college-trained behavioral psychology to work.
Within a very short time, I was able to tell that my attacks were due to:
1.) Too much caffeine
2.) Lack of sleep
3.) Too little exercise
4) Improper diet
5.) Stress
Some of the things that triggered my attacks were:
a.) Being in a situation I couldn't control
b.) Health issues
c.) Money matters
d.) Negative thinking
I identified my attacks as being improper use of adrenalin by my body.
Once I had made that identification I no longer had a bogeyman and the attacks happened less and less frequently. I haven't had one in years.
Your situation might be entirely different, but keeping on top of 1 through 5 above can't hurt.
Anxiety is tough. My very pretty and talented daughter graduated from college Cum Laude and Blue Key. She teaches geometry to ninth graders. She has a great marriage and a beautiful, healthy baby. She has panic attacks quite often.
Just know there are people who care about you and that you might be part of the twenty percent that suffer from a form of panic disorder.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Yikes! Sorry! Good news is ...
... you 'kept it together' long enough to do what was needed - get to where you & knee were safe. Yay You! :)
I think when we get to certain age (I'm 67), or we accumulate 'some number' of injuries, then any new 'tweak' scares us: "Am I falling apart?". "is this the lead-in to 'the big one'?", ...
My shrink, long ago, told me that sometimes the way we react to 'this event' may have a lot of baggage from a prior similar event.
And if I recall, you have had quite a few, just in the last year, a lot of 'scary'/worry-some things going on ...
There are many reports of people going thru all sorts of things and seeming to be just fine, and then "one little thing" sets them off. It's not the little thing (but it may be a Big Thing on their inside), it's everything else - and feels like all-at-once.
Anyhow, that's my guess.
---
"Baby" the knee for a couple of days, if you can.
Hugs!
Hugs, hugs, hugs.
Hugs, hugs.
You came to the right place.
Hugs, hugs, hugs, hugs!
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Walmart would give me anxiety too
Seriously though, anyone these days who says they have no anxiety is probably lying. I used to have serious panic attacks but slowly over a period of decades they have gone away. They didn't go away by themselves. I became skilled at identifying what were my causes of stress and I also molded my world to be less stressful. That meant changing my career path, separately myself from toxic people, recognising my boundaries and externalising my stress by talking to trustworthy people.
Your mileage may vary. I still sometimes get overwhelmed but I retreat from the situation as fast as I can and use some bio-feedback calming techniques. Most of all, I stopped beating myself up for being human and having limits to my coping abilities. Everyone has their breaking point. There are no prizes for best stiff upper lip.
Exactly!!!
Dr. Claire Weekes wrote several self-help books for coping with anxiety.
Her mantra was: Face, Accept, Float, Let Time Pass.
Face - When an attack hits see if for what it is. Don't feed it by fearing it.
Accept - What is happening to you is a normal human reaction.
Float - Go to your happy place mentally. For me it was lying on my back on a stack of fresh cut hay,staring at clouds in a perfect summer sky.
Let Time Pass - In time the excess adrenalin in your body will dissipate.
For me it was just that easy. Combine that with a no caffeine diet and proper rest.
It took me a few years to add excess alcohol to my list of things I couldn't handle. Once that was under control the panic attacks were a thing of the past.
I've been stress-tested many times since and survived.
Good luck to you.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)