Stress Center Peer Support

I have been having some serious anxiety issues. Not only constant nausea and loss of appetite, but the past couple days I've noticed an acute sensitivity to sound. It doesn't sound loud or distorted, just normal household sounds are sending me into a panic. Like I'm overly hypersensitive. This is the first time I've felt so out of control and a sense of going crazy from panic. Has anyone else had such intense fear and feeling like they were truly going insane from panic. It's been coming in waves several times a day. I'm now on ativan and it takes the edge off, but doesn't take the feeling completely away. Today I was completely frozen and didn't know what to do with myself, so I had my bf take me back to the er. I'm feeling like I need to be commmited or something!

It's easy to think that we're losing our minds when we experience panic out of context. And that's what anxiety attacks are all about: panicking at the wrong time. When that happens, our minds try to make sense of all the changes our bodies are going through at the time. While all the changes are appropriate in a dangerous situation, they are very confusing and scary when happening in an inappropriate situation.

I can tell you that I've suffered from anxiety, panic, and depression for over twenty-one years now. At first, my primary fears were of dying and of going insane. After so many years, those thoughts don't scare me like they used to. I've gone through the anxiety and panic so many times and come out just find on the other end that I've finally learned that this condition doesn't lead to death or mental illness. So until you make that realization, you'll just have to trust me that you're going to be OK. Hang in there!

Jamie