Push through

First off I just want to say how grateful I am to all of you who read my first post! The encouraging words from some of you made my day. It just gave me more motivation to  keep writing. 


Anyways, I've spent all day deciding what to write about. I realized that one of the main reasons most of you decided to read this blog in the first place is because you are probably looking for ways to help deal with your anxiety or panic attacks. Some of you rely on medications while some of you have found natural ways to cope. Before I go into this please remember that I am not a doctor (although I feel like I've been to enough doctos to be one) and these are just from my experiences. 


The first time I saw a psychiatrist was when I was about 19. Within the first 15 minutes he had diagnosed me and given me medication. I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be that easy. I was put on Paxil which made me EXTREMELY hyper. I also experienced short term memory loss. After deciding that I was tired of acting like a 5 year old who had just drank a pot of coffee I was put on Effexor. It seemed to help for a little while. After being on it for a year I was determined to be medicine free! I slowly took myself off of it and realized that all the medicine was doing was making me THINK it was helping. I felt  exactly the same. So now that I have been prescription free I can honestly say that it was the best for me. 


Some things that I have learned over the years to help me:


Breathing - I  know you read this on every single website to take deep breaths and hold them, then slowly release. NO. I'm sorry if I don't want to feel like I'm suffocating while I'm already panicking. I just take deep breaths and make my lips pucker out (like I'm giving a kiss) and just breathe out normally. For some reason it just helps. Like I said in the last post, I may look funny doing it but if it works I will do it. 


Cold Air - No matter if it's a little nervousness or full blown panic attack, anything cold helps. Turn on the air conditioner, stick your head in a freezer (I've done it many times), rub a cold drink on your forehead or just lay on a cold floor. I won't even tell you some of the places I've been in where I've had to lay on the bathroom floor.


Finding an exit - Whenever I panic, it's usually because I feel like I won't be able to leave a place fast enough or that there might not be a way out. I always look for restrooms and easy exits wherever I go now ahead of time that way I will be less likely to freak out later. 


6 years ago I was full on Agoraphobic. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is basically where you are too afraid to even leave your house. Fast forward to now, I am working, shopping, eating out, and enjoying life. I'm nowhere near "cured" but I really feel like I'm on the right path to getting better. The one thing I have really tried to do this past year is NO MATTER how scared I am to do something I just do it anyways. If I panic, who cares. I'll try again tomorrow. I have soooo many more thing I want to cover and will try to update every day. I hope I have helped some of you!