Its all mental. Making oneself panic

DMP720 · Post by **DMP720** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 3:54 am

Its been a really great past 4 days. I went running for the first time in 9 months!! And for someone who use to train to prepare for figure competitions thats a LONG TIME!!
Also I've been to work three days in a row and survived!
Now...today seems a little different. Its seems like today I want to test myself...See if I can get through a panic attack. Its almost if I made myself have one!! Its crazy. Im like pushing bad thoughts back INTO my head. I keep telling myself that Im going to have one and make my heart race so fast its going to stop on me. WHAT THE H*LL!! All these good days and now today I have this little devil in me that wants to stop my progression??

Now I am REALLY starting to believe it is all MENTAL. My boyfriend has been telling me this for months after gaining a better understanding of what I have been going through.(hes is VERY supportive). Hes a MMA fighter (cage figher). Probably the STRONGEST man I have ever met. I dont mean strong by physical strength I mean mental. He weighs only about 165lbs and fights guys that are 250+ sometimes, and WINS. I ask him the same question everytime...how did you do it? His response its all mental, I just tell myself I can and I do it.

Then we all must be able to get through this!! We need to make our minds STRONG..POSITIVE/STRONG!!!

Think of a time when you where driving on the freeway and had to use the restroom really bad, and the next stop wasnt for 20min. Did you keep telling yourself..'i have to gooooo i have to gooo nowwwwwww'. NO! You would try to keep your mind off of it by talking to someone or starring at the trees or counting blue cars! Not dreaming of a toilet and waterfalls!!

The mind is so powerful we dont even realize it.

My question is....have any of you tried to make yourself panic to see if you could handle it??

<333333

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:26 am

You are so right. It is all mental. My husband has also been telling me the same thing but he is not very supportive. The mind is so poweful and I think when we do start feeling better like you have you start thinking oh know something is wrong I feel good. We get so used to feeling like crap all the time when we feel good is scares the heck out of us. You are doing so well. You should be very proud of yourself. You will continue to have off days every now and then but you just keep telling yourself you will get through it. I have not tried to make myself have a panic attack but I do hope one day it will get that way. Good Luck! god bless!

stephyannette · Post by **stephyannette** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:38 am

DMP720:
You are right about the mental part. My problem has been exsacerbated by a menopuausal mood swing that goes so high that I can't deal with it. I'm taking Lamictal and it levels out this roller coster a little. But this is chemical and I can't find anyone that can relate to this and my doctor said there's nothing to make it stop. So if there is ANYONE out there that knows what I'm going through with this and know of anything I can take to chill out that mood swing without a xanax I really need to hear from them. Menopause has "made" me bi-polar. And this is not "all in my head". It creates anxiety and panic attacks because it is sooo freaky. Knowing what it is helps, but no less tolerable. I'm asking/looking for help from anyone.
I am staying positive due to the program, but I can't talk myself out of this mood. I tell myself repeatedly "It's just a mood swing, It will be gone shortly, etc. That helps me stay "sane" LOL. I CAN talk and motivate myself out of the low mood, which is great, so I'm not complaining about that

And I love this forum. It's been great. I just hope I'm not being a downer for anyone. The forum is so uplifting for me.
Everyone keep up the good work. We are all going to be just fine!
Be well and God bless.
Anne

Rene98 · Post by **Rene98** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:44 am

You can not make yourself have a panic attack by saying, "OK, I'm ready. Let's have that attack." It won't happen. BUT, put yourself in a situation that causes you stress, yes, you can experience anxiety. If you have done lessons 1 and 2 it's very doubtful you'll have a panic attack again. Anxiety, yes. Life presents anxious moments from time to time.

Put yourself in situations on purpose that you know will cause you anxiety. Use your tools to move through. Your goal is to experience anxiety and handle it. It is not to 'not have anxiety'.

Sounds like your ready. The more you put yourself in anxious situations (and use your thought stoppage, calm breath and attention shifting) the easier it gets. Anxiety is less and less, and you desensitize to it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:06 am

Wow thanks for this post!

To answer your question, several years ago I took my first ever airplane flight. I was so worked up about this because it represented to me the ultimate thing you could ever do. If I could handle flying then everything else is like a whatever. I remember boarding the plane and the tension in me was so bad I started to cry to let loose some steam. As the plane took off I felt a lot of tension go away because now I was like saying to myself "see! nothing bad is gonna happen! I AM doing this!" and I totally chilled out.

After our short trip I reentered the plane and remember trying to make myself panic as weird as that sounds. I had to know that I had beaten this thing. I couldn't get panicky if I wanted to! And I think that's because I saw the truth that all I had been doing is negatively thinking myself into a corner about this and it was just me being afraid of my own thoughts!

Of course, I've had problems again with anxiety. This 'little devil' is just a really bad habit and we have to keep pushing out and taking control of our thinking. I want to get to the point where I don't care about panic attacks. I liked how you put it: Making our minds positive/strong. We just have to keep pushing out there and use our powerful minds FOR us and not against us.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:37 am

Originally posted by Sparkus:
Wow thanks for this post!

Of course, I've had problems again with anxiety. This 'little devil' is just a really bad habit and we have to keep pushing out and taking control of our thinking. I want to get to the point where I don't care about panic attacks. I liked how you put it: Making our minds positive/strong. We just have to keep pushing out there and use our powerful minds FOR us and not against us.

I know it is a terrrrible habit! I get obsessed with things easily..and I guess I got obsessed with negative thinking! How terrible! Ya sparkus I understand, where the panic attacks dont even bother us, where we can have that feeling of "excitement" without turning our minds negative thinking its a "panic attack". Exactly!!! FOR US!!!! Use our really powerful minds to do great things!!