crisco

So today, I got an anxiety attack. I have five days sober and the humiliation of being of newcomer became a stressor. In addition, work was becoming too overwhelming for me.

I tried to say the serenity prayer and that did not work for me. The attack resulted in heavy breathing and started to make me real tired. I decided to go home and sleep off the anxiety attack.

I slept for about four hours off and on due to the attack. I was unable to do much today and it was tough for me to attend a meeting.

I feel better right now because I started to rely on my higher power to guide through the pain. I started to believe that a power greater than me is going to restore my sanity.

I was an agnostic, but with the disease, it is hard to be agnostic. Being agnostic failed me because I did not have spiritual tools to say "no" to drinking mouthwash.

I had worked a good program, but I learned that I need a spiritual solution. My old program gave me two years and two months without drinking, but I need something to handle anxiety better. And it seems a higher power goes a long way to handling anxiety better than what is working in the past.

someguy71

wow that's like 18,960 hours being sober.!! Congrats!!

I am sure you can do it again!!

Dee74

Are you under any medical supervision for the anxiety attacks, Crisco?

D

Kmber2010

I have had anxiety/panic attacks and think reaching out to your Dr. is a good thing. It can be health related so advisable to check in.

All the best.

Anna

Hi,

I haven't been able to sleep during an anxiety attack, but I have found that if I can lay still and close my eyes, and focus on my breathing, I can get through it. I am not as fearful of anxiety attacks as I used to be, though I still find it hard to manage at times. Good for you for moving forward as you are.

04Hdcp

Crisco, early on in my sobriety, like the first two weeks, I would get them. I got my first one while driving to an AA meeting. It was so bad I had to pull over for about 10 minutes until I was able to continue my trip. I made the meeting and was really relieved. If you are like me you will go thru several more, each of mine got less and less severe and after a few weeks I didn't have any more. If they last longer than a few minutes, you may want to check with your Dr.

Hope this helps.

Muzzwell

Hi, I used to get anxiety attacks a lot. Most of it was association related. So for example in a supermarket I would think oh no I my hands are going to shake when I am going to pay. The more self aware I would get the more intense the symptoms, Heavy breathing shaking, red face etc.. I then tried a natural extract called valerian (it is not a brand). It is an over the counter cheap mild relaxant that helps with stress and mild anxiety (well at least for me). It enabled me to break the fear of having anxiety very quickly. If you are interested but you are taking medication then you should consult your doctor or pharmacist. Anyway google it maybe it can help.

ISPYSOBRIETY

Congrats on five days sober.
There's no need to feel humilated over anything BUT drinking.

Giving up alcohol for one day requires a hell of a lot of self-control.
Giving up alcohol for five days doesn't require more self control, but the very same amount, consistently. This means you have the ability to consistently control a behavior issue that cripples other people emotionally. Time to start cashing in on that strength.

I see panic attacks as us turning against ourselves. We get overwhelmed with the illusion of no self control over our breathing, our ability to focus and our thought patterns. We jsut sort of surrender to a mini-breakdown. If we could only stop one long enough to logically insert fact of the self control we DO have, as proven by eliminating our addiction, the attack would likely never happen. It doesn't take physical control to give up addictions. It's all in the head. It's all in the mind.

Try applying that to your next attack and see if you can take control of it.

Good luck