Starting Back From Anxiety Attacks

Training
121

Good afternoon,
Just returned from a great workout at the gym. Figured I better get my lifting in today because tomorrow figures to be a busy day at work and I didn’t want to take 3 days off in a row. I also bought my portable heavy bag today and will begin using that this week.

Here are the stats from today’s workout:
Sets: 4
Reps: 5
Rest: 60

Sumo Deadlift: 245 (felt strong on these and will increase weight next week)

Pullups (palms facing each other): BW + 15 lbs.

Incline DB Bench Press: 75

Front Squat: 175

Seated Calf Raises: 155

Preacher Curl: 75

Did some rotator cuff and wrist extensor exercises afterwards.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!
-Dan

122

I developed anxiety attacks over a period of 15 years or so. They suck. I vowed if I ever got over them, I would help anyone else I knew who had them.

I am in my third year of law school; I see anxiety everywhere. Most of us have at least one job (I have three), plus the pressure to have a permanent job lined up when you get out, plus the pressure to be published, plus… you get the idea. Our student body V.P. wound up in the ER a few months back. His first anxiety attack.

I was a bit psychosomatic as a kid, so I developed any symptom I could think of for anxiety: shortness of breath, chest pains, whatever. To make stuff worse, I had a bad concussion in college which made me a bit hypersensitive to any perceived vertigo or dizziness.

Long story short, things got real bad the second semester of L.S. So bad, they kept me out of the gym. Well, you can guess, that’s when I got fed up, mad, and decided to do something about it. I can’t say it’s completely gone, but I haven’t had an attack in nearly a year. Best of all, I am back in the gym and hoping to lift competitively soon. The anxiety still comes on sometimes, but I have learned how to assuage the arousal that comes with it and simply deal with anxiety before it becomes an attack.

I tried about a million things. I finally took to medication for a brief period to break the cycle and relearn how to react to the feelings associated with anxiety. The biggest difference came when I relearned how to breathe. Sounds weird, but it worked.

Glad to read about your progress. It is also good to hear people addressing this openly. Tough subject for some. I will try to check back on this thread if I have time, but as said, I am usually a bit busy.

Best of luck
Brian

123

I think the “breaking the cycle” concept is so important. When i was first given anti-anxiety meds i did not want to take them so i did so only sporadically. Then my doctor explained the key is to string together a series of days where you feel no anxiety, this allows you to analyze what is really going on without freaking out.

I know for me i took klonipin for 30 days .5mg 2x daily and it probably saved my life. I went down to .5mg 1x daily and in the last couple of weeks i really have not needed it at all except for a couple of bad days involving a car accident once and a rally bad kid day teh other, but the key is i don’t feel like i have to take it i just have it on hand if i get really bad.

For most situations i am able to just take a few moments and breathe deep, i also find that for some reason if i smile or just laugh at myself while doing this it puts it into perpective. Life is so much bigger than any one person, but our brain can trick us into thinking we are supporting the worlds problems on our shoulders, turn away from the panic and laugh at it, tell it that it sucks and you are not going to be consumed by it. Hang tough my friends.

124

[quote]Flower217 wrote:
I just found this thread - I’m literally shocked that so many people have shared this experience. Like so many, the first experience was nothing short of harrowing. AND what was really weird was I did not in any way any how feel any anxiety, not depressed, no signs, no warning, it just happened.

That was several years ago. I’ve had a few since then and I feel extremely proud and powerful that when it has happened I’ve been able to “work” through it with breathing. I know it sounds lame but it really has worked; I feel it coming on, am aware of it and 90% of the time I can actually get it to stop - for that I am happy. I’m not on any medication but I will say this “anxiety” thing with me is so fucking weird. It seems to materialize over days or something. I think I have a problem internalizing my anxiety somehow so it comes out in sleep patterns as well.

Here’s the latest and its a doozey - HIVES!!! Yes fucking hives!!! I don’t know whats worse because the attacks don’t last too too long but the hives have been endless and very uncomfortable. The sleeping too - check out the time, its 3AM, I’ve been up an hour; I get 5 hours sleep max. Doesn’t happen all the time and its not due to dreams but I’ve woken up after 15 minutes of sleep gasping, not a panic attack, nothing going on, it just happens. Some times worse than others, to the point of it happening over and over then afraid to go to sleep. While I’m glad the attacks are gone for the most part I believe my anxiety/stress is coming out in different ways.

I think we’re all different in the many ways we internalize stress and anxiety, I try to just look at it with “what a pain in the ass” type of attitude. Panic attacks are something that many don’t discuss - I have yet to meet a person suffering from them where I’ve actually thought theirs were worse than mine - it just seems like that, you just don’t know unless you’ve experienced it. There’s just no way of exactly describing this experience, it is truly awful. And yes, I’ve gone to the hospital. One particularly bad time it actually got worse upon arrival because I thought I was going to die right in the parking lot. What a joke, healthy female arrives at hospital too late and succumbs to anxiety attack and dies in hospital parking lot.

Thank you so very much for sharing all this, there is some comfort in knowing that you’re not alone and ordinary everyday people do experience the same.

And BTW, my first reaction upon reading was to get back in the gym and fight your way through it (and hope like hell you don’t get hives LOL).[/quote]

Flower,

Your situation sounds very similar to my own, right down to the hives. It wasn’t until I went to a competent naturopath that I discovered the root cause of my panic attacks:

http://www.drlam.com/A3R_brief_in_doc_format/adrenal_fatigue.cfm#2

125

[quote]aondotri wrote:

I developed anxiety attacks over a period of 15 years or so. They suck. I vowed if I ever got over them, I would help anyone else I knew who had them.

I am in my third year of law school; I see anxiety everywhere. Most of us have at least one job (I have three), plus the pressure to have a permanent job lined up when you get out, plus the pressure to be published, plus… you get the idea. Our student body V.P. wound up in the ER a few months back. His first anxiety attack.

I was a bit psychosomatic as a kid, so I developed any symptom I could think of for anxiety: shortness of breath, chest pains, whatever. To make stuff worse, I had a bad concussion in college which made me a bit hypersensitive to any perceived vertigo or dizziness.

Long story short, things got real bad the second semester of L.S. So bad, they kept me out of the gym. Well, you can guess, that’s when I got fed up, mad, and decided to do something about it.

I can’t say it’s completely gone, but I haven’t had an attack in nearly a year. Best of all, I am back in the gym and hoping to lift competitively soon. The anxiety still comes on sometimes, but I have learned how to assuage the arousal that comes with it and simply deal with anxiety before it becomes an attack.

I tried about a million things. I finally took to medication for a brief period to break the cycle and relearn how to react to the feelings associated with anxiety. The biggest difference came when I relearned how to breathe. Sounds weird, but it worked.

Glad to read about your progress. It is also good to hear people addressing this openly. Tough subject for some. I will try to check back on this thread if I have time, but as said, I am usually a bit busy.

Best of luck
Brian
[/quote]

Brian,
Thanks for sharing your story and thanks for the compliment. I’m glad to hear you are doing better. I can’t imagine going through law school and working 3 jobs at the same time. That’s a lot of things to juggle. I had a hard enough time earning my B.A. while working 1-2 part-time jobs.

Best of luck to you and stop back here anytime,
Dan

126

What up?
Today was my first workout with my portable heavy bag. I’ve got it about halfway filled with water, so hopefully by Wed. I’ll have it at full capacity.

I definitely needed to de-stress after a hectic day at work. Not only did I have to put together my regular sports section, but I had to finish up our spring preview, which was an additional 8 pages of work. Not fun. I’m glad it’s over now, though.

Here’s what I did today:
3 rounds of 30:
Jumping Jacks
Sit-ups
Push-ups

3 rounds of 15:
Jabs
Jab-Cross
Hooks
Jab-Hook

2 rounds of 100 punches

3 rounds of 10:
Jumping Jacks
Push-Ups
Sit-Ups
Burpees

Ended with 2 sets of planks.

Workout lasted about 40 minutes and definitely kicked my ass. The bag is nice, although I don’t know if the neighbor below me will appreciate the noise. It’s not too loud but when you hit the bag hard it rocks up and then slams back down to the ground. I tried to move it to our porch outside but it seemed like it was louder there.

I might have to buy a mat or some rubber padding to place underneath the bag to drown out the noise.

Tomorrow should be an easy day at work so I plan on hitting the gym with tons of energy.

My wife said I was looking pretty massive yesterday after my workout. She hasn’t said that to me in a long time, so it was very nice to hear.

I’m definitely in better shape today than I was 4 months ago. I’m more vascular and have regained most of my size (in fact with lower BF I think I look a bit bigger overall).

I hope everyone is doing well. I’m off to do some deep breathing and then will spend the rest of the night doing a whole lot of nothing.

Take care,
Dan

127

Quick question to the pros in this thread. Anyway to combat Paxil’s side effects? Mainly the dizzyness, drowzyness, and not being able to focus. I can still lift at 100% strength but it’s hard to get amped up.

Thanks.

128

I have heard it suggested that some panic attacks cannot physically continue if you are breathing correctly.

It makes sense. Most people describing anxiety attacks are describing a variety of symptoms associated with either hypoxia or hyperventilation.

I found, if you breath in (use your belly not your chest) for a count of three, then hold for ten, then release for ten, you force yourself to get the right amount of oxygen and simply chill out. Once you have the physical stuff under control, it’s a matter of breaking the mental cycle, just like Morepain was talking about.

I agree with you Flower217, breathing right might sound a little lame, but if you think about it, how well would you squat if you breathed out on the way down and in on the way up, or breathed in as you threw a punch?

If you figure how important breathing is for just one squat or one punch, then figure how important it must be if your entire body just decided to kick into fight or flight mode and flooded your body with chemicals precipitating an anxiety attack.

Hope that helps,
Brian

129

[quote]Jason32 wrote:
Flower,

Your situation sounds very similar to my own, right down to the hives. It wasn’t until I went to a competent naturopath that I discovered the root cause of my panic attacks:

http://www.drlam.com/A3R_brief_in_doc_format/adrenal_fatigue.cfm#2

[/quote]

Jason - thanks for the info. Read it all; interesting. I’d say I’ve had at least half the symptoms for quite some time. Sleeping for 11 hours made my eyes roll as I’d have to have been on quite a bender to master that feat.

130

Hey everyone,
Just got back from another grueling workout at the gym. I should have some pics up by the end of the week. I tried to take some on my own but I wasn’t very good so I’ll ask my wife to take some when she gets home from work.

Anyway, here’s the stats from today’s workout.

Sets: 4
Reps: 8
Rest: 90

Squats: 185 (that number is low but my quads were still tight from playing football so I used less weight and made sure I used good form)

Seated Cable Rows: 180

Standing Hamstring Curl: 60

Military Press: 115, 120, 120, 120

DB Curls: 40

Decline DB Triceps Ext.: 30, 32.5, 32.5, 32.5

Finished up with a couple of sets of Farmer’s Walks with 50 lb. dumbbells. I made it further this workout than the last time I did them so I’ll bump the weight up next time.

Tomorrow it’s back to boxing.

Take care everyone and again, if you need to chat, feel free to send me a PM.
-Dan

132

Hey everyone,
Just finished a nice boxing workout from home. Man, it’s so nice having a bag here at the house; I can now workout whenever I want, no more having to wait until 5:15 to go to class.

Here’s what I did today:

3 rounds
10 Jumping Jacks
10 Situps
10 Pushups

4 rounds
10 Jabs
10 Jab-Cross
10 Hooks
10 Jab-Cross-Hook-Uppercut
(inbetween each punch I alternated 10 pushups and situps)

3 rounds
100 punches (any variety)

2 rounds
10 pushups
10 burpees
10 jumping jacks

This workout clocked in at 35 minutes and definitely kicked my ass.

Tomorrow I’m hitting the gym for my final day of Week 3 of TBT and will also do my weekly weigh-in.

Hope everyone is doing well. I’m much more relaxed now after blasting the bag today. Definitely relieved a lot of my stress that I’ve had from work lately.

Take care,
Dan

133

What’s up everybody?
Man, I’m in a great mood today, despite the fact that we’ve had a 30-degree change in weather and that there’s snow on the ground. Why am I in a good mood? Well, first I had a kick-ass workout and second, Syracuse just upset UConn in the Big East tournament quarterfinals, thus solidifying their spot in the Big Dance. Thirdly, I gained another pound; now just 7 more to go to 200 and 12 to my goal of 205.

Here’s the workout from today:
Sets: 3
Reps: 15
Rest: 90-120

DB Lunges: 30

DB Bench Press: 50, 60, 60

Good Mornings: 65

BB Biceps Curl: 45

Dips: BW

Standing Calf Raises: 180

Did 2 sets of planks and 2 sets of wrist flexion/extensor work afterwards.

Weight: 193 (up from 192 last week).

Taking a well-deserved day off tomorrow and then will do some light cardio on Saturday.

Take care everyone,
Dan

134

506×607 50 KB

Here’s a recent pic of me…

135

[quote]Djwlfpack wrote:
Here’s a recent pic of me…[/quote]

Well thats about the happiest anxiety attacked guy I ever did see.

As to your thread title; your face says you’re definately back.

136

[quote]Flower217 wrote:
Djwlfpack wrote:
Here’s a recent pic of me…

Well thats about the happiest anxiety attacked guy I ever did see.

As to your thread title; your face says you’re definately back.[/quote]

Thanks, I appreciate that. It’s been hard work to get back to this point, but I’m very happy with the progress I’ve made. Now the next step is to stay this way without the use of meds.

137

Hello,
Boy, I’m still riding high from Syracuse’s run in the Big East Tournament. I’m so glad they won it all and Gerry McNamara is the man. He put the 'Cuse on his back and wouldn’t allow them to lose. One of the gutsiest performances by one player I’ve ever seen and it couldn’t happen to a better kid. He’s going to be missed when the season is over.

Today I ventured out into the snowy Colorado weather and hit the gym for a solid workout. Here are the stats:

Sets: 4
Reps: 5
Rest: 60

1A)Sumo Deadlift: 255 (up 10 lbs. from last week)
1B)Pull-ups w/ palms facing each other: BW + 20 lbs.

2A)Incline DB Bench Press: 75
2B)Preacher Curl: 75

3A)Front Squat: 185
3B)Seated Calf Raises: 155

Did some rotator cuff and wrist flexion/extensor work afterwards.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Syracuse winning the Big East title definitely turned my weekend from good to great.

Take care,
Dan

138

glad you are doing well, i am pretty much off the anxiety meds myself, although i do take an anti-depressant daily and probably will for the foreseeable future. One of the things that i find challenging is every time i have a bad day for whatever reason i have to resist the urge to go backward. What i mean is every little bump scares you a little into thinking you are regressing, its like you have to relearn that you can have a bad day without it being a big deal. one day at a time…

[quote]Djwlfpack wrote:
Flower217 wrote:
Djwlfpack wrote:
Here’s a recent pic of me…

Well thats about the happiest anxiety attacked guy I ever did see.

As to your thread title; your face says you’re definately back.

Thanks, I appreciate that. It’s been hard work to get back to this point, but I’m very happy with the progress I’ve made. Now the next step is to stay this way without the use of meds.[/quote]

139

Forgot to mention that yesterday was the second day I’ve gone without any medication. I felt great all day, got a good workout in and seemed fine. Unlike the last time, I wasn’t stressed and made sure I gave myself plenty of time to fall asleep but for some reason, as soon as I turned off the lights, I couldn’t fall asleep.

After an hour of tossing and turning I got up, popped a Xanax and fell asleep shortly after. So, while I didn’t get a full night’s sleep, I got a good 6-7 hours and feel fine this morning; unlike the last time when I didn’t sleep at all.

I guess my body’s just not used to going that long without a pill, as the last time I had taken one was 8 a.m. Saturday morning, so that was well over 24 hours.

Ragoo, thanks again for that tip, it really came in handy last night. I’m meeting with my doc this week and I’m going to ask him about this and see if he wants me to do something to what you’re doing, and that’s not take anything during the day and then take a pill if I need to at night when I’m struggling to fall asleep.

140

Hey everyone,
Hope you all are doing okay. I’m feeling good today, even though as I said earlier I didn’t get a full night’s sleep, I got enough to where I don’t feel groggy today.

I just finished a home boxing workout. Here’s what I did:

3 rounds of:
30 Jumping Jacks
10 Sit-ups
10 Burpees

3 rounds of:
10 Jabs
10 Jab-Cross
10 Hooks
10 Jab-Cross-Hook-Uppercut

(followed each round with 10-20 pushups)

3 rounds of:
100 punches (any form)

3 rounds of:
10 pushups
10 burpees
10 jumping jacks

This workout, with stretching, lasted 40 minutes. I’m wiped after that. I’ve taken some progress pics and just going over them to see which ones are best. As soon as I decide, I’ll slap 'em up on here.

Take care,
Dan

141

Well, I slept much better last night; got in a full 9 hours and woke up feeling energized.

Just finished another great workout. Here’s the stats from today:

Sets: 4
Reps: 8
Rest: 90

1A)Squats: 195
1B)Seated Cable Rows: 185

2A)Standing Hamstring Curl: 60
2B)Military Press: 120, 125, 125, 125

3A)DB Curls: 42.5
3B)Lying DB Triceps Extension: 32.5

Finished up with 3 sets of Farmer’s Walks with a 50 lb. dumbbell and for the first time, I completed a full lap 1/12 of a mile on my first set. Second and third sets I went 3/4 of the way around.

Tomorrow is another home boxing workout.

Take care,
Dan