Just a little unwell

I don’t spend a lot of my time worrying these days. Not really much to worry about anymore. When Joe was going through cancer, I developed some crazy anxiety. Lucky for me Joe could always recognize it before it got out of hand. He’d say “let’s go for a ride”. We’d drive around listening to music and all the panic would just wash away. I attributed those attacks to the “unknown” and not being able to turn my brain off. How bad were his treatments going to be? How sick was he going to get? How was I going to take care of everything else while he fought this beast again? And the big one: was he going to survive? I haven’t had any panic attacks since he passed away.

Until tonight.

I woke up this morning with a stuffy nose. No big deal. As the day went on, I never ran a fever or even felt bad. But of course, as soon as the evening hit the stuffy nose turned into not being able to breathe through my nose. Let the panic begin! My greatest fear is getting sick ALONE. Rob Thomas knows how I feel. Matchbox Twenty even sang about it.

Of course, I couldn’t get in my car and drive myself around. It’s freezing outside and the roads are crap from the snow we got earlier in the week. Besides, driving yourself around in the middle of a panic attack is probably not the best idea.

So, I turned to my friends on the Facebook, and they came back with some really good ideas for breathing, grounding and reducing my anxiety. And a few of them texted me with links and other ideas as well. Just talking/texting them got me out of my own head.

My heartbeat can no longer be heard in my brain and I am not hyperventilating. Thank you to everyone who reached out and offered up suggestions. I am so grateful for all of the wonderful support I have around me.

Do you suffer from anxiety or panic attacks? What works for you?