Depressed. 😞

thank you so much. i really appreciate it.

its not a problem to visit the doctor but with my case, they ridicule me when they realize that my symptoms are "ordinary". 😦

hey thank you so much. id do the research for sure. anything to feel well again. i really needed this. thank you again, so much.

no problem, how are you getting on?

thank you for asking. im doing better these days. although its how it usually goes. i have a couple really bad days and then some pretty ok ones. i woke up in a panic last night which was strange cuz i went to bed peacefully. never the less, at least im alright. ive been reading on the fight or flight response and its effects on people like me. its brought me some ease, though i still have fear and panic. thanks again so much for the advice and for checking in. i really appreciate it.

in the UK we have cbt cognitive behavioural therapy as a treatment for panic. when mine was first bad the CBT therapist told me to learn as much about fight or flight. i took it with a pinch of salt. trouble with anxiety it's all about belief and i didn't believe the advice of someone who has not had panic issue themselves. hopefully as I've been there you can trust me it is a big part of the solution. you need to learn enough about it to start changing your belief.

you can compare it to a car in the street. the wind blows and there's always that one car alarm that goes off. our fight or flight response has become very sensitive.

the trouble is, the part of the brain responsible for this response is part of the unconscious brain ie you cannot physically control it.

what I've learnt is that when the panic comes on, the way you think will either let it die out or make it worse.

it's like a flame, the way you think either let's it go out or adds fuel to it.

adding fuel to it; oh no it's coming on, it's getting worse.

letting it go out; it is only the body's right it flight response. let's see what happens. let it do it's worse

over time applying this way of thinking has made my body less sensitive, i panic much less however when I'm tired i do succumb to the wrong way of thinking and struggle with it

Agree with your points about the anxiety loop. I also think there is often a certain amount of 'emotional reasoning' occurring: I feel something is happening, the feeling feels so real, therefore it must be true, rather than merely being a physical response to a thought or stimulus.

thanks so much. i love how youve compared it to a sensitive car alarm cuz thats exactly how i feel. when the attacks come on i just try to calm myself and they usually go away but it leaves me feeling really messed up and worried further. we dont have the option to CBT with out a big cost attached to it where im from but i have been reading alot on the fight or flight response and it has been clearing up a couple things. its my own mentality that has me feeling the way i do. as much as i try, i feel like im afraid to think that everythings ok with me cuz some how ive led myself to believe that if i think im ok, im leaving myself unguarded and thats when something catastrophic would happen. i need to be brave but im just not brave enough yet.

yes ur absolutely right. as simple as a headache, i cant see it as just a headache. i always attach it to brain tumors or aneurysms etc.

what's your story with anxiety? i haven't fully figured it out yet. still doing research.

I'm noticing things that would set panic off straight away no longer have the same effect. so I'm definitely de-sensitising but still struggle with it.

how have the just few days been? you need to change

im having a great problem. i feel like a big part of me is ready to let all the health anxiety go because im not "freaking out" the way i usually do lately, but the fact that im not freaking out has me freaking out. i feel like theres a little part of me thats still worried. the majority of me understands that its just anxiety and it not really a big deal but this little part is telling me that if i give up on worrying all the time, im leaving myself unguarded. this is frustrating. thing is, i want to feel well:... i want to feel like im ok. why am i so scared to let this fear go.

it's all about belief. Tony Robbins compared beliefs to a table top with legs:

"The table top is the belief, and the legs are the facts used to support the belief. However, often the legs we used to support a limiting belief are not factual, we just believe they are. "

he said something like "why does someone think they're good looking" you can't choose to believe you are good looking you need frames of references in your life such as people telling you to make you believe it.

in short, you can't simply tell yourself "i believe im not ill" you need frames of reference such as a doctor giving you a medical example, learning that anxiety causes the same symptoms etc to change your belief. and the biggest one will be time passing and you haven't died!

youre absolutely right especially about the last point. that has gotten me to the level of calmness that im at now. i was at a much worse state that i am now and the constant fact that ive not been right about it being the end has made me realized that its just the anxiety talking. although some things still hit me hard.