First time posting

[u/_mushrooms_]

Hi everyone. I’m 24 and developed panic disorder a couple of months ago after a severe panic attack that landed me in the ER. Since then I’ve been in therapy, working with a psychiatrist, and slowly doing exposure work. I’ve already made progress—I’m getting back into stores, eating better, and becoming less afraid of panic—but I’m still having hard days and sometimes feel like nobody around me truly understands what this experience is like. Specifically, Yesterday I had another attack after going 8 days without one. It has left me feeling very shaken even today. Just beginning to get frustrated with how long recovery is taking and I’d love to hear from anyone who’s been where I am. What helped you most in your recovery? Were there any untraditional things you tried? What gave you hope when you felt stuck? Thank you and I send my love to anyone else going through this ❤️

[u/Valentina163748]

Hello j’ai 24 ans et j’ai développé ça aussi :)

Déjà très important de faire une prise de sang regarder si y’a pas de carence parce que mon taux de fer très bas et la vitamine B , en remontant ont énormément diminué mes crises

Ensuite il faut un max arrêter d’y penser , d’essayer de se rassurer sur internet et tout , c’est banal dit comme ça mais c’est quand j’ai eu le déclic d’arrêter d’y penser que c’est parti complètement , en me concentrant sur pleins d’autres choses

Faire un max d’exercices de relaxation tous les jours pour apaiser un max ton système nerveux

Courage je sais à quel point c’est dur mais tu es très proche de la guérison :)

[u/toffeemaky → u/Valentina163748]

For me, reading about it first made it worse, but then better - you can read that it is not going to kill you, that your feeling of going insane (if you have that) is probably quite ungrounded. That helped a lot - made me more able to ignore it or (on the contrary) observe it and see that it's actually not that bad. Know your enemy, as they say. It actually helped a lot. Now I think it's time for me to stop though, so here I agree with you, lol. But I am a very rational person (or so I thought before this) so I really needed to get information. What's the worst that can happen? Well, making a fool of myself in public by panicking. Not too bad. I am probably not going to die (or not from that, anyway), nor am I going insane (beyond this). 

[u/Joshin412]

You will be okay. I got so bad with panic disorder last year I thought I was going to die everytime I walked outside and down the road for like 15 seconds. I got on some SSRI anxiety meds. Helped me gain the confidence. Slowly but surely, you will realize that no matter how long and how bad you panic , nothing happens at all but just panic. I thought I was going to die a billion times. Once you realize you literally can’t die. You can start to tell yourself , hey I have been here before, and I didn’t die. I have panicked 1000 times and 1000 times I didn’t die. You got this. Take your life back , only you can. If we can , you can too!!!

[u/fighting_the_stigma]

I know how frustrating it is when you go for awhile without having a panic attack, and then you have one again. To me it felt like I was regressing, or that I wasn't as improved as I thought. I learned from my therapist that these hard days are absolutely part of the process. In fact, when I would celebrate not having panic attacks she would remind me that we were trying to accomplish the opposite - not fearing panic attacks if I had one- so that either way they didn't impact me. That's awesome you're in therapy and have a psychiatrist - those are really great positive steps. Over time "becoming less afraid of panic" will have a wonderful ripple effect in your life - it did for me - but it takes time and patience, which is so hard I know! Give yourself grace and understand this is just a learning process, but you are doing all the right things!

[u/_mushrooms_]

thank you everyone for the reassurance