Stress Center Peer Support

hi everyone! my name is Lisa i am 24 years old, and my cds just arrived today so i will be starting tomorrow. I am going to take this seriously because my life has been no picnic the last couple of years.

i wanted to start off by sharing my story.. growing up i was a happy girl i always hung out with my friends and i did everything with no worries. When i turned 22 everything starting to go down hill. i can remember my first panic attack like it was yesterday, the feeling like you cant breath, dizzy, weak in the knees, and the heart racing which made it feel like i was having a heart attack even my arms and fingers would tingle. my parents would tell me just to relax, but how can you tell a person to relax when they are all bent out of shape, i got to the point where relax was just a word that would make me angry. My whole life has changed i no longer go out cause i have the fear of anixety, i lost pratically all my friends, and i even had to attend college online because going to school was just not possible. i spend all my time in my house and at work its like my comfort zones if i leave my comfort zones everything falls apart. i always think to myself why me, what did i do wrong, i just want a better life i want to get betterm i tried doctors and i seemed like i wasnt getting better. On top of all this my self esteem went down hill, i am very lonely i know longer think im pretty and im sad all the time, i just dont know what happened. there are times when i just cry and wish i could do this things again like have my old life back. I try to think back about what could of caused this i have ideas but i guess ill never know.

I know how you feel. I got my first panic attack in college to. just remember...We are all here to support you, we'll get thru this together.

The way you described your situation sounded like just out of the blue things went south, so to speak, for you.
It made me think of when I had some spontaneous panic attacks in the middle of the night. I had gotten interested in
religion because of having such a hard time getting through college (I had a hard time concentrating and studying).
I also had a terrible time socializing. I would be at a party or something and would not be socializing basically at all.
I just couldn't relax and think of anything to say to anybody, so it goes without saying that I was not enjoying myself
at all. As a matter of fact it was a little like torture to just stay there. I think its called being painfully shy. Anyway, I
would stay at that party until there were only a few stragglers left, because I didn't want to attract any attention to
myself by leaving earlier. I didn't want to leave because I thought it would look stupid to say goodbye or thank you
to anybody since I hadn't talked to anybody all night at all. Thats how bad it was. And I was a homecoming king candidate
in high school. Anyway, after college it was basically the same story at the job I got. I couldn't concentrate, wasn't
very productive at all, mostly I was just there physically. Anyway, I happened to pick up a magazine in the back of
church that had an article on self-acceptance. There were 10 points they had listed to go through for self-acceptance
and I had to keep reading them over and over and over to get any of it to sink in. I don't know why. Anyway then I started
getting real interested in religion (I'm catholic). So I'm starting to say all these rosaries, and I wake up in the middle of
the night one time and there's hail marys going on about 100mph in my head . That was weird. I think probably what
we're dealing with is irrational fears. My mother was very domineering, by the way. I hope this program helps us both.