Anxiety Disorder and Panic Attacks

Welcome to the Self Help Anxiety Cure Website!

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If you have reached this website, it is probably because you are suffering from anxiety disorder and / or panic attacks and are looking for a way to overcome anxiety and panic disorders and get back to the worry free state that you used to enjoy.

Around ten percent of us will suffer from some form of anxiety disorder and panic attacks at some point in our lives.  Anecdotal evidence suggests that this figure is a conservative estimate and that the true number of sufferers is actually a lot higher than that.  Even today, people are still afraid to admit that they suffer from any type of anxiety disorder or panic attacks and soldier on painfully through life without seeking help. 

Think about that ten percent figure.  Next time you are out and about, take a look around you.  One in ten of the people you see will either have already experienced the symptoms or will be heading towards their first panic or anxiety attack.  That is a sobering thought and kind of helps to keep everything in perspective. You are not alone!

There are millions of people suffering from generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks, social anxiety disorders or phobias which are all types of anxiety disorder.

If you do suffer from any type of anxiety disorder then some or all of the signs and symptoms of an anxiety disorder will be familiar to you

• Worrying incessantly, always thinking the worst in any situation 
• Trouble breathing, a feeling of breathlessness or gasping for air 
• Lack of sleep or disturbed sleep, always feeling tired and less than 100% 
• Lethargy and a lack of interest in life generally 
• Feeling depressed or down a lot of the time 
• Disturbing, thoughts, feeling as though you are losing your mind 
• Feelings of panic that can last for up to an hour 
• Physical symptoms like pins and needles, an aching in your chest or upper arms, difficulty swallowing, tremors and shaking. 
• Constant worry about things that you used to take in your stride 
• Sickness, upset stomach and diarrhoea can also be caused by anxiety 
• A general irritability and lack of patience with others 

It’s not an exhaustive list and there are plenty of other symptoms of panic attack and anxiety but these generally cover the most well known.  Anxiety can cause eating disorders, loss of appetite or the complete opposite where people just comfort eat all the time and balloon in weight.  Some people use alcohol to try and cope, some turn to drugs, either legal or illegal.

But, if you’re here it is because you have realised that you need help to beat it and that realisation alone is worth its weight in gold.  One of the reasons I like to help others to overcome anxiety and panic disorders is that I suffered from both for close on fifteen years trying every possible remedy under the sun before someone actually showed me how to beat it through a self help anxiety programme.

So, where do you want to be in twelve months time?

• I want to get my old self back 
• I want my confidence back 
• I want to stop worrying 
• I just want to relax and be happy again 
• I’d like to sleep again 
• I want to wake up without worrying 
• I just want to be me!! 

Whatever your aim, whatever your destination for the next year, you need to know how to get there, because otherwise there is a good chance that you will just end up back where you started.  One of the biggest is actually knowing when you are better.  How do you know that you will never experience another attack?

Two years ago someone showed me how to recover.  First they taught me to understand my condition. Understanding panic attacks and anxiety disorder is a first big step in getting over them.  Once I understood exactly what I was suffering from and why, I could start the journey back to normality…..and it feels great.

No more panic, no more never ending anxiety.  I still worry.... after all, I’m human….but the worry never turns into that overwhelming, heart stopping dread that used to paralyze me with fear.  I am back to my old self, sometimes I even think that I am back to a new better self.

Having recovered, I decided to put this site together to help others to get better and start to enjoy life again and show them how they can help themselves to overcome their panic and anxiety.

 So, who am I? 

My name is Nick Whyte and I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks over a period of about fifteen years until two years ago.  I had been on and off of anti anxiety medication, I had tried counselling and cognitive behaviour therapy all without success.  I have over a period of time tried various coping strategies, breathing exercises, meditation, I even signed up to a yoga class,  I tried exercise to overcome anxiety, taking up running to try to burn off the adrenaline that was coursing through my system.

All of these things seemed to have a short term positive effect.  For a while, my symptoms would ease up but each time I gradually fell back into the anxiety cycle, even worrying that I wasn’t worrying.  Different events in my life would trigger anxiety and irrational thoughts and I was back to where I started.

My problem was that I was looking for short term fixes.  Everything that I tried dealt with the symptoms and never really got to grips with the underlying problem.  I now know that anxiety can’t be fixed with short term cures.  Sure, you might feel better for a while, medication would take the edge off of my panic but sooner or later I was faced with the choice of staying on medication indefinitely or finding another way of dealing with it.

It was then that I got help from a former sufferer.  It was only when I was given the right advice and support that I was finally able to break the cycle of anxiety and actually get better.  And I did it myself!

So what was the big difference? 

The easiest way to explain it is that I strongly believe that until you have experienced anxiety or panic it is extremely difficult to really understand it.  You can read text books and learn all the facts but until you have experienced a panic attack yourself, you really can’t know how completely overwhelming it can be.

It was the fact that this person had not only suffered from anxiety but had successfully overcome it that not only gave them the ability to tell me what to do but also helped me to believe in what they were saying and gave me the confidence to try something new despite my previous failures.

Anyone can recover once they get the right help, support and advice.  I spent un-necessary years going round and round in circles and began to wonder if anyone actually knew how to cure me permanently.

Anxiety breeds fear.  Your first attack is probably the result of years and years of stress that has gradually built up until your body flicks a switch and says enough.  You get that whole “stop the world I want to get off feeling”.  The problem is that you can’t stop the world and you can’t get off so things just get worse.  You start to get anxious about the anxiety itself and the whole process repeats itself.  You begin to worry about how you are feeling and suddenly you are into the full anxiety cycle.

The only way to overcome it is through knowledge.  Understanding your condition is the key to overcoming it.  The fear that I talked about is the main reason why the symptoms  persist.  Learn about anxiety, get all the facts that you can and the knowledge helps to take away the fear leaving you free to deal with the underlying reasons.

If, like me you sign up to and visit anxiety forums you will have seen the same questions coming up time and time again, why do I feel like this, will I ever get better, is it possible to overcome anxiety, how can I get better?

My aim with this website is to give people the information that they need to stop the fear and overcome their anxiety and panic disorders and show them how they can help themselves to become free from anxiety.  Think of this as self help for anxiety and panic disorders or self help for generalized anxiety.

I had help from someone who had recovered themselves and having recovered in turn myself ;I created this site to help others do the same.

No I didn’t write a book about anxiety or put together my own self help programme for panic attacks.  I have found a self help anxiety programme that worked for me and I strongly believe that self help programmes work because you are the best person to overcome your anxiety.  All you need is the knowledge.

This site talks about anxiety and panic attacks in detail.  It gives free information on lots of different aspects of the disorder.  It is the sum of all the research that I did whilst suffering from panic attacks and anxiety disorder and also everything that I have learnt about the subject since and will be added to on a regular basis.

Knowledge is the key to success in fighting anxiety and panic so if you do nothing else with this site, enjoy reading the articles and information and get to know your own anxiety disorder.

 I recommend the Panic Away Program as this was the anxiety treatment that finally enabled me to overcome fifteen years of anxiety and panic attacks