Panic Attacks

[Lisa Guliani]

Could the dream and smell also be translated as warning me of danger?

It seems (to me) like a recurring warning of danger, but I don't get where the acrid smell comes in, unless that is just a way to make me remember and pay attention.
I find it to be very unusual, a smell manifesting in a dream.
Anybody else experience something like this?

 

[anart]

I actually have experienced strong scents in dreams as well - so it's difficult for me to say that it is rare. It may be, but since it happens in my dreams, I can't give decent feedback on it.

Considering the type of smell in your dream - acrid - it would make sense that it's a warning - you're probably the best judge on that one, though.

 

[moonwalker]

Could the dream and smell also be translated as warning me of danger?

It could be, but I'm more inclined to believe that it's representative of your acute awareness of the danger in your waking life.

Like Anart said you're probably the best judge of that, I persoanlly find it difficult to interprete another s dreams because they're so individual. As for the smell this might be helpful: To smell something in your dream, indicates your past experiences and feelings with that particular smell. Your dream is trying to convey a feeling by associating it with a familiar smell or scent. Alternatively, the scent may be part of your real environment which you have incorporated into your dream.

 

[Alana]

But the panic attack subject is something that interests me, since I know what they feel like.
I'm sorry that other people have to know what they feel like.
Panic attacks are awful.

Yes, they are pretty awful and many people unfortunately get to experience them. It can be really disabling for some. Both for anxiety and panic attacks (and fear of planes, earthquakes etc), i personally found a remedy: Rescue remedy. And i know of MANY people who swear on it. Having a bottle of rescue remedy with you on itself makes it that panic attacks don't even visit.

Rescue Remedy is a recipe by Dr Edward Bach, a mixture of 5 flower remedies: Cherry Plum, Clematis, Impatiens, Rock Rose and Star of Bethlehem. Remedies can be used by plants and animals also.

For info on all Flower remedies:

http://www(dot)bachcentre.com/centre/remedies.htm

For info on Dr Bach:

http://en(dot)wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bach

http://www(dot)homeoint.org/articles/bach/index.htm

and here

http://www(dot)bachcentre.com/

where it also provides a link on how the remedies are prepared:

http://www(dot)bachcentre.com/centre/tincture.htm

No, no one pays me to advertize the remedy :) it's just that i experienced how helpful it was for me and people in my life and want to share. YET, like with everything else, do your own research and decide whether it's something for you.

 

[Nell-Li]

Lisa, your experience is very similar to what I experienced. I was asleep, but my mind was awake and I remember thinking about reality and how it could all be a trick, as if the conciousness was a program that was running and I noticed it. My mind was like being sucked into a black hole and I would not come back if I didn't wake up. The second I noticed it was when I woke myslef up in a numbing and paralyze state, with intense fear. The symtoms sound like depersonalization and derealization from a panick attack.( But i tend to have doubts about diagnosis to do with the pysche) I dont get these panic attacks when I m concious. I read what you experience and I m just guessing that we could be having the same thing but a play on two different fears. That could be a wrong conclusion, and also the fear or whatever I felt was so intense at the moment and a few minutes after waking that dying seemed like a better option. I would like to believe that it was just a panic attack, but something about it was soo surreal. (FYI, I had three similar experiences while on weed, but I never conciously let it get to the point that I got this time. I dont smoke anymore or drink because I fear falling for another one of these experiences. It seems having a weaken mind lets my thoughts wander into such traps.) I feel like I m going in circles with trying to expain this beacuse I don't know what it is.

 

[seek10]

Does anyone know if having a panic attack is possible during sleep? Surely it had the usual symptoms of a panic attack, but it felt sooo horribly wrong. Anyone with info or comments or similar situation, please shed some light on this.

I don't know where to write of my chronic ( exist for a while) panic attacks from sleep. I will start here, since symptoms are panic attacks. I had intense sense of psychic attack in sleep when I wake up. some days I sleep while lying to my self that 'I need some sleep'. the result is intense blockage on the back of the head with Intense anxiety and panic attacks, disassociation, depression, confusion. when I look at emotions they are narcissistic self defeating negative introject screaming for allowing this to happen. before this happens I observe nice pleasant sensation and some routine mechanical dreams and suddenly I wake up with panic attack- As if some body leaching energies. These attacks are more intense when I have to finish some important WORK.

It mostly happens at 2 AM to later . so I try to sleep early ( at least by 9PM) hoping to catch up good sleep for atleast 5 to 6 hours. I try to stay awake, If I wake up at 2 AM, but that is a big battle , some times I am so tired and intense drowsy sleepiness make me to lie to my self thinking 'every thing is alright'. There are days I slept ignoring all this, paid the heavy prices of losing motivation to do any things.

some days I wake up do the entire pipe breathing to POTS ( except round breathing). There is INTENSE demand with in to DO some thing to these attacks. I read wave ( up to 4 I think) for sure , I know I need to build WILL to observe my self and mentally block them. Truth is, these sleep attacks failing me to accumulate any thing. I can squarely blame my self for lack of will to fight back . I started feeling I don't know what to do with this attacks. Unfortunately I am still recovering from last years family issues and visiting a therapist for depression and reading the CBT book and soon I will start visiting the chiropractor. I started to realize that I am failing at looking at the layers of emotions and thoughts that arise when I am talking to some body or I was watching others, which I was able to decently until recently.

My Waking day goes in surviving in the predatory office world with disinterest, Job insecurities, certain amount of involuntary feeding in human interactions . My predator had a good time and intensely resists self observations. It is a struggle.

I am not able break the chain. I do pipe breathings multiple times in day and POTS one time or other. focusing and controlling the wandering mind is a challenge. I read wave series and other reference, but I continue lose the info. I am taking vitamins, melatonin before the sleep, do sauna once or twice , physical exercise once or twice a week, pretty much on gluten free diet, anti inflammatory diet, sugar fee, dairy fee except eggs. I indulge in cigarettes some times once in a while. cigarettes calms me down too much and i blindly go about as if nothing is going on and ignores the issues on hand. this proved costly to me. so i try to reserve it for special times.

There is intense resistance for writing this post. I feel ashamed for asking. Are there any thing I can do ?.

 

[Tomek]

Hi seek10, I read your post and I understand what you're feeling right now. I suffer from chronic panic attacks for two years now, and even if there's no secret recipe to avoid them, I learned a few tricks from the forum and my personal experience.

First, you talked about this intense resistance to writing your story, and you beat it. This is probably the best thing to do when you have the feeling that "they" are coming back. Writing is a powerful catharsis tool, and this forum is the best way to acquire the certitude that you're not alone in this case. I usually feel extremely lonely when an attack occurs, and a simple thought about the forum, the mutual help group that we're building here, allows me to calm myself down. Again: you're not alone in this case, and you can count on us here to provide you the help you need.

Second thing, about your diet. If you're already following a detox diet, there's not much you can do about it, except one thing: adding fresh garlic. There's maybe a link between parasitic infestation a panic attacks, and garlic is very effective against this. Garlic makes your sweat smells funny, but anyway, it's better than feeling that you're about to loosing your mind -which is, by the way, just a feeling.

You're not responsible of these attacks, so you don't have to feel guilty or ashamed to ask for help. I know how it feels, and it's certainly the EE program who is doing its job: you may have some old emotions who are trying to getting out, and it's a good news. You're maybe feeling guilty about some things you've done in the past, or things that people have done to you. No matter what you did, you don't deserve panic attacks, and you have to let those emotions making their way out of your heart: write them, say them out loud. Works for me.

You will get rid of these attacks, it's just a matter of time now that you've asked for help here. Let us know how it works for you.

Regards

 

[theos]

Hi Seek10,

It seems from your post that you are doing the breathing and POTS several times during the day. I'm curious if you've noticed any decrease in the attacks when you do them right before you go to bed?

 

[seek10]

Hi seek10, I read your post and I understand what you're feeling right now. I suffer from chronic panic attacks for two years now, and even if there's no secret recipe to avoid them, I learned a few tricks from the forum and my personal experience.

First, you talked about this intense resistance to writing your story, and you beat it. This is probably the best thing to do when you have the feeling that "they" are coming back. Writing is a powerful catharsis tool, and this forum is the best way to acquire the certitude that you're not alone in this case. I usually feel extremely lonely when an attack occurs, and a simple thought about the forum, the mutual help group that we're building here, allows me to calm myself down. Again: you're not alone in this case, and you can count on us here to provide you the help you need.

Interestingly, one thought keeps popping up is "I am alone" because not many people are talking about it. this has its own effect to the situation.

Second thing, about your diet. If you're already following a detox diet, there's not much you can do about it, except one thing: adding fresh garlic. There's maybe a link between parasitic infestation a panic attacks, and garlic is very effective against this. Garlic makes your sweat smells funny, but anyway, it's better than feeling that you're about to loosing your mind -which is, by the way, just a feeling.

good link, i can try. it could be another ritual.

You're not responsible of these attacks, so you don't have to feel guilty or ashamed to ask for help.

yesterday when I felt that these thoughts are not mine, it went away, promptly came back. it felt like tic toeing.

I know how it feels, and it's certainly the EE program who is doing its job:

you may have some old emotions who are trying to getting out, and it's a good news. You're maybe feeling guilty about some things you've done in the past, or things that people have done to you. No matter what you did, you don't deserve panic attacks, and you have to let those emotions making their way out of your heart: write them, say them out loud. Works for me.

that is what I do I write it down. This is much better than nothing. but I sense some thing bigger has to be done permanently, I keep fumbling. when I wrote this yesterday to the forum, after long time I cried. I really don't know the meaning of the cries. Is it relief or release of block or some thing more.? I don't know.

You will get rid of these attacks, it's just a matter of time now that you've asked for help here. Let us know how it works for you.

thank you for your comment.

 

[seek10]

Hi Seek10,

It seems from your post that you are doing the breathing and POTS several times during the day. I'm curious if you've noticed any decrease in the attacks when you do them right before you go to bed?

when I started the program many months back, I clearly saw the decrease in attacks. Later, I started to observe that effect fading away. when this happens, most of the times, I wake up and do the POTS or some times entire program( except round breathing) . There is some relief , there is no doubt in that. Probably I am too impatient or I am not learning my lessons. It is a way of saying that my mechanical ness is dominating too much.

 

[Nienna]

you may have some old emotions who are trying to getting out, and it's a good news. You're maybe feeling guilty about some things you've done in the past, or things that people have done to you. No matter what you did, you don't deserve panic attacks, and you have to let those emotions making their way out of your heart: write them, say them out loud. Works for me.

that is what I do I write it down. This is much better than nothing. but I sense some thing bigger has to be done permanently, I keep fumbling. when I wrote this yesterday to the forum, after long time I cried. I really don't know the meaning of the cries. Is it relief or release of block or some thing more.? I don't know.

seek 10, as far as the crying, it usually is a release of repressed emotions. These repressed emotions could be from this life or from previous lives where there has been repression of grief. The crying is good for cleansing of emotions, but only if you are not doing this all of the time.

If you are having problems with negative emotions continually, then it may be a good idea to back off of the whole program and only do the pipe breathing in the morning and the POTS at night. If you are really bad, just doing the POTS for a time may be what is needed and not doing any of the breathing at all. This will give yourself some time off to let things heal and recuperate a little bit. When you are feeling more positive and in control of yourself, you can then go back to the breathing.

Hope this helps.

 

[Keit]

Interestingly, one thought keeps popping up is "I am alone" because not many people are talking about it. this has its own effect to the situation.

Then I can also assure you that you are not alone. Panic attacks are a recurring thing in my life. Today they are not as debilitating as in the past, and it is all thanks to the diet and EE. Though it wasn't easy at the beginning of EE, when all the emotions started to come out. In my case panic morphed into depression, with a tendency to procrastinate because of lack of motivation. Which in its turn fed further panic attacks. What I noticed that at least in my case the core reason for panic attacks was a feeling that I have no control over some situation in my life, or that the mistakes I made will come to haunt me and that I need to go over everything I did and see if I can fix it somehow. Usually the urge to fix means "now!".

You mentioned that it usually happens to you at night and especially when you need to finish an important work. Well, 2am is a very quiet moment, and if you have some heavy thoughts weighting on you, it is a perfect time for all your fears to become activated. Those might be fears of failure, or fear of punishment or condemnation, again lack of control and urge to fix the situation and end the self-torture. In my case, it was part of a vicious circle where my procrastination led me to do everything in the last minute, or not do at all, and then spending sleepless nights being afraid of circumstances.

Also, in this opportunity I wanted to thank you mentioning "Change Your Thinking" (Cognitive Therapy) book by Sarah Edelman. I am reading it now, and it is very helpful and practical. Do you find it helpful for you too? What is good about this book is that it helps to identify the true reasons for emotional reactions or thought loops. And when you know the true reason, it is easier to find the proper solution.

Also, I would advice you to ask Psyche, or search the forum for the information on supplements that might help you to calm yourself and have better sleep.

 

[Alana]

Interestingly, one thought keeps popping up is "I am alone" because not many people are talking about it. this has its own effect to the situation.

Then I can also assure you that you are not alone. Panic attacks are a recurring thing in my life.

I'll add my voice here to say that you are not alone, i had anxiety attacks in the past that turned me into an agoraphobic for a while, could not go anywhere outside my house and could not do anything, out of fear that the attack will commence again any minute now and i'll be again at the verge of death or insanity (that's how they felt to me anyway). But i didn't have them during sleep, i could barely sleep at all during that time.

You mentioned that it usually happens to you at night and especially when you need to finish an important work. Well, 2am is a very quiet moment, and if you have some heavy thoughts weighting on you, it is a perfect time for all your fears to become activated.

Keit has a point here, and i'll share with you something that helped a lot in my battle to make them go away: every night before going to sleep, i would spend 20 minutes writing in my journal. I would write about my fears, things that crammed in my head about things needed to be done, my guilt of missing classes at the university, stuff that made me angry or irritated me during the day, etc. This way, you unloading some stuff before going to sleep.

I also started reading everything i could find on anxiety and panic attacks, the causes of them and the remedies, anything that was not medication. I even saw a psychiatrist at one point, out of desperation, who labeled me with depression and prescribed paxil. I knew better than to take it. I instead changed my diet according to my blood type (i found D'Adamo's books too) and tried to enrich my diet with magnesium-laden foods, as i read somewhere that they help.

If you read few posts above in this thread http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=3789.msg25449#msg25449

you will read my encomium and links on rescue remedy, a Bach's flower remedy that helped me a LOT at the time.

I think that all this reading and searching i did, was helping me also feel that i was the one in control of this, and not "it", which helped me lift out of helplessness mode.

I hope these suggestions help you, i know how horrible panic attacks can be. But they are just additions to all the other great suggestions given you so far.

I should also share that i am currently reading Rachel Reiland's Get me out of here, and it is bringing up so much emotions, i am kinda feeling depressed today, so i might start with all these suggestions myself too

 

[seek10]

you may have some old emotions who are trying to getting out, and it's a good news. You're maybe feeling guilty about some things you've done in the past, or things that people have done to you. No matter what you did, you don't deserve panic attacks, and you have to let those emotions making their way out of your heart: write them, say them out loud. Works for me.

that is what I do I write it down. This is much better than nothing. but I sense some thing bigger has to be done permanently, I keep fumbling. when I wrote this yesterday to the forum, after long time I cried. I really don't know the meaning of the cries. Is it relief or release of block or some thing more.? I don't know.

seek 10, as far as the crying, it usually is a release of repressed emotions. These repressed emotions could be from this life or from previous lives where there has been repression of grief. The crying is good for cleansing of emotions, but only if you are not doing this all of the time.

Many times I cried in meditation during EE program or during many other programs i did before. But this time it has some sort of different flavor. I sense of Losing some thing by posting here and hesitation . I don't know what it is.

If you are having problems with negative emotions continually, then it may be a good to back off of the whole program and only do the pipe breathing in the morning and the POTS at night. If you are really bad, just doing the POTS for a time may be what is needed and not doing any of the breathing at all. This will give yourself some time off to let things heal and recuperate a little bit. When you are feeling more positive and in control of yourself, you can then go back to the breathing.

Hope this helps.

I was not doing round breathing. and I stopped doing round breathing 3 months to get some hang over the negative emotions. Pipe breathing is pretty good , I do that lot of times and it helps me a LOT to release the stress. I want to do POTS before the sleep, some times I do it and some times I feel so tired, I slip into sleep with out doing POTS.

 

[seek10]

Interestingly, one thought keeps popping up is "I am alone" because not many people are talking about it. this has its own effect to the situation.

Then I can also assure you that you are not alone. Panic attacks are a recurring thing in my life.

I'll add my voice here to say that you are not alone, i had anxiety attacks in the past that turned me into an agoraphobic for a while, could not go anywhere outside my house and could not do anything, out of fear that the attack will commence again any minute now and i'll be again at the verge of death or insanity (that's how they felt to me anyway). But i didn't have them during sleep, i could barely sleep at all during that time.

Thank you Keit, Alana for sharing your experience. It helps a LOT to know that I am not alone.

You mentioned that it usually happens to you at night and especially when you need to finish an important work. Well, 2am is a very quiet moment, and if you have some heavy thoughts weighting on you, it is a perfect time for all your fears to become activated.

Keit has a point here, and i'll share with you something that helped a lot in my battle to make them go away: every night before going to sleep, i would spend 20 minutes writing in my journal. I would write about my fears, things that crammed in my head about things needed to be done, my guilt of missing classes at the university, stuff that made me angry or irritated me during the day, etc. This way, you unloading some stuff before going to sleep.

No doubt, there is lot of things going on at my office and in my mind which contribute to anxiety, uncertainty of future, general dissatisfaction of " things to be done with intense resistance to do" and general stress in facing the predator. I used to write them down previously, but stopped due to time constraints. If I sit down for writing, I lose 1 to 2 hours easily, some times, I slip into sleep while doing this. so, I lie to my self saying "I will do it later" to forget it for ever. I was realizing the importance of journal and my therapist reminded me of that importance. I am finding layers of issues , self destructive thoughts, self destructive emotions racing through the time. I need to make this a habit. Every day I think of writing them down, when things happen, but time constraints and deflecting predatory priorities makes it easy to forget.

. I even saw a psychiatrist at one point, out of desperation, who labeled me with depression and prescribed paxil.

My therapist keep reminding me of medication, which I politely declined all along. During the last session, I virtually gave a lecture to her on the evil aspects of the medication. At end, she assured me that she will not ask me of medication again.

I knew better than to take it. I instead changed my diet according to my blood type (i found D'Adamo's books too) and tried to enrich my diet with magnesium-laden foods, as i read somewhere that they help.

If you read few posts above in this thread http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=3789.msg25449#msg25449

you will read my encomium and links on rescue remedy, a Bach's flower remedy that helped me a LOT at the time.

I think that all this reading and searching i did, was helping me also feel that i was the one in control of this, and not "it", which helped me lift out of helplessness mode.

I hope these suggestions help you, i know how horrible panic attacks can be. But they are just additions to all the other great suggestions given you so far.

I should also share that i am currently reading Rachel Reiland's Get me out of here, and it is bringing up so much emotions, i am kinda feeling depressed today, so i might start with all these suggestions myself too

I read your post about the bach's system , but didn't go further on this. I will check it out. some 'SMELL' sense is some what active. Thank you keit, Alana and Nienna Eluch for the info.