I’ve always been nervous and high-strung, but lately I’ve become consumed with anxiety to the point where I can’t concentrate on anything or get anything done. I have panic attacks several times a week, and their frequency is increasing.
There doesn’t seem to be any reason for this increased anxiety - it’s true that my life is stressful, but no more so now than before.
I have tranquilizers, but they don’t seem to help, though they do help me fall asleep. I try not to take them every day, though, because I don’t want to get addicted.
Does anyone have any advice on how to calm down?
get to the root of the problem…
try and identify what the triggers are and when you feel one coming on do some deep breathing.
might want to find a counselor to help you out with this.
Maybe when you start feeling anxious try and think of one thing you are looking forward too… this should give you a good feeling and maybe stop the anxiety attack from coming on full-swing.
[quote=“bababa”]I’ve always been nervous and high-strung, but lately I’ve become consumed with anxiety to the point where I can’t concentrate on anything or get anything done. I have panic attacks several times a week, and their frequency is increasing.
There doesn’t seem to be any reason for this increased anxiety - it’s true that my life is stressful, but no more so now than before.
I have tranquilizers, but they don’t seem to help, though they do help me fall asleep. I try not to take them every day, though, because I don’t want to get addicted.
Does anyone have any advice on how to calm down?[/quote]
ait.org.tw/en/uscitizens/res … portGroups
Try the community center in Tienmu.
Cutting down of coffee and tea or switching to decaf might help.
Exercise. Vigorous exercise. I need at least a two hour fast uphill walk/hike every 3 days (every second is better) or I am moody, irritable, anxious. Some people are just wired this way. I am.
If you don’t have time, anti-depressants are better than tranqs. Tricylics. Low dose.
If you are having several panic attacks a week you need to get on medication. Otherwise your body is going to rememeber everywhere you have had an attack and everytime you go near that place you will feel anxious. Pretty soon you can’t go anywhere without feeling anxious and becoming anxious.
I used to suffer from anxiety attacks terribly until my late twenties. I have had one in taiwan in ten years and it was outside Sogo. I still feel it every time I go by.
What MM said.
It’s brave of you to come forward and talk about your attacks. That is a positive.
Having panic attacks is not uncommon. I had a rough time a year and a half back when my mom was terminal, and while I was going through a transitional period.
I learned how to keep that dog at bay without meds.
Check out this site…
…and follow the steps.
STEP 1: Check Out All the Physical Symptoms
STEP 2: Understand Your Body’s Emergency Response
Step 3: Change your Attitude!
STEP 4: Practice Your Breathing Skills
STEP 5: Practice Formal Relaxation Skills
STEP 6: Use Paradox
STEP 7: Approach Your Goals Through Small Steps
STEP 8: Handle Your Worries
It helped me a great deal. I wish the same for you.
Congrats on sharing.
I had them alot when living in Taiwan. I think the biggest factor in overcomming them was a mental thing for me. Focusing on stressful situations and past events were triggers. I had to learn to redefine boundries for myself and learn how to slow down. i did use Xanax to aid, but when off quickly when I found out the side effect of addiction. I’m commit to having one addiction in this life 
If you can go with out coffee, and drinking I would do so. Also,try to get into a few therapy sessions in Tianmu. If you’re in Taipei go over to NTU hospital. A bit pricey but very good docs. Try learning about breathing exerises from the internet. They really REALLY help. Also, visualization and some forms of meditation can help.
best of luck
What some of the others said, and also, don’t forget the diet and proper hydration. You may be eating more of something lately that disagrees with you, and you may be allergic to it in a way that doesn’t immediately manifest itself as an allergy.
For me, cutting out wheat, eggs, and almost all milk has helped a bunch. This is on advice of a doctor I have been seeing that deals primarily with food allergies. I’ve lost a little weight as well.
Of course, if you are really in a bind, strongly consider medication for the short term so that you can deal with the underlying problems that may be causing the stress.
I’m no doctor, just my opinion. Good luck!
[quote=“bababa”]I’ve always been nervous and high-strung, but lately I’ve become consumed with anxiety to the point where I can’t concentrate on anything or get anything done. I have panic attacks several times a week, and their frequency is increasing.
There doesn’t seem to be any reason for this increased anxiety - it’s true that my life is stressful, but no more so now than before.
I have tranquilizers, but they don’t seem to help, though they do help me fall asleep. I try not to take them every day, though, because I don’t want to get addicted.
Does anyone have any advice on how to calm down?[/quote]
If ur drinking a lot, cut down. I got into that drinking/sedative work cycle and developed panic issues due to the party lifestyle in Asia. Exercise, eat right, watch the sauce. And watch the pills. Talk to a shrink there and get some longer acting benzos like oxazepam and maybe an antidepressant.
[color=indigo]Although some people might think this is a joke, I suggest getting a pet. In my younger days I was a bit lonely and stressed out by living in a foreign country and being poor. One day a good friend brought over a tiny abondoned kitten covered in mud. She asked me to take of her. I gave her a bath and cleaned her up and took care of her for 14 years. I think some companionship would do you some good. As George Eliot said, “Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.” Find someone to take of, then you will feel better. [/color]
To deal with my anxiety (this is before coming to Taiwan), I starting taking st john’s wort, and have kept taking it to date. It’s effective for mild anxiety/depression, at least for me. Helps balance you out and you don’t get effected as much by the little things in your day that might tend to otherwise set you off/put you in a mood. I had trouble finding it here in Taiwan, but ordered some from bronson vitamins, and it shipped here a couple of weeks ago quickly, and with no problem. Not advertising the company but i was looking for a reliable shipper to taiwan and someone on this site dropped the name for me. I also take an amino acid called tyrosine, which I find has really helped me with focus in ‘stressful’ environments. Neither has had any negative side effects for me…Wort makes you more sensitive to the sun…it did for me for a few weeks initially but after that, no problems. To save you time in asking I take 600 mg of wort and 1000 of tyrosine before bed (2 capsules each of the products I use) and that’s enough for me…but everyone’s different.
Diet will help a lot too, cut down on sugars, salt, caffeine, and drink more water (i find before bed and after i wake up is a good way to keep hydrated. And don’t eat too late (I try not to eat big meals after 9 pm).
Excercise will also help knock out anxiety, as someone else noted. Take some long walks if you’re not in an area where the pollution will kill you.
I’ve been going through panic attacks for the last couple of months. It was very scary at first - I thought I was having a heart attack, and actually had V take me to emergency one night because I could barely stand I was so dizzy. Heart pounding madly, weak at the knees, a little confusion, irritability, inability to focus, fear of dying, cold sweats, strong urge to escape - it was nuts. I felt better after the doctors assured me that it wasn’t physical, though.
I’ve been managing it by spending more time with my family, by not juggling too many things in one day, setting realistic, achievable daily goals for myself, and most importantly exercising like mad. I’ve been biking everywhere, and hitting the beach at least twice a week. I wasn’t sure about posting this on Forumosa, but it seems that so many of my peers are going through or have gone through the same thing, I thought I could offer a little cyber-solidarity.
That’s me. 
It is indeed nuts. A passing phase, I tell myself.
Really sorry to hear that guys. I had horrible panic attacks from 14 to my late 20s. Then they just stopped. Had maybe 3 in the last 15 years.
Seems if you don’t get them as a teen you get them as an adult. Not fun. You are well advised to see a counselor/psych and possibly have medication to take when they start. Not sure what they use now as it’s been so many years but the main thing is you need to gain control over them before they start to mess with your mind. You can easily become fearful of places you’ve had them, or situations where you think you might have them. Having medication handy is part of your arsenal.
Exercise helps, as does biofeedback and a general meditative awareness when they happen that it is just your body messing with you. Think of it like high blood pressure and not a mental problem. Ride the wave as my old psychiatrist used to say. Let it take you up and down without resisting and you’ll pass through the trouble much quicker. Resist and you drown.
Good luck guys.
The wife had them for a while a few years back – she now can’t drive on the freeway as a result – and was given Xanax, which she never took, preferring meditation, relaxation techniques that have worked pretty well for her.
I’ve taken some of her Xanax in the past, but only with smoke and booze. They’re bloody nice in that respect, but there’s no fucking WAY I’m taking them for anything other than recreation.
Why?
Because I take drugs because I like 'em, not because I need 'em.
But you do need them. Or may need them. Better than developing permanent fears of certain places or activities.
Honestly, pride is the one thing that is going to make this condition last a whole lot longer than it needs to.
To that good combination, you might want to add some kind of guided relaxation tape. In the UK, doctors can supply such a tape - it’s often a combination of systematically tensing then relaxing various muscle groups, then a very mild self-hypnosis/visualization. You’re supposed to use the tape twice a day. It can be very effective. Not sure where you could find one for sale, though.
As for medication, a good doctor will supply better advice than people on an Internet forum. But I think tranquilizers are better avoided if possible. For severe anxiety, some anti-depressants may be helpful over a period of several months, while the sufferer also makes other changes in his/her life to fix the underlying causes. I think these things are handed out a bit too freely though.
My feelings exactly. I KNOW they’re prescribed far too freely. Mucha Man says I need, or might, need them. I say bollocks to that. Pride has nothing to do with it.