Hi, this is Richard. I am here to talk about my history of panic attacks and recent experience with an online panic cure program called Panic Away.
It happened for the first time when I was nineteen. I remember growing up as a shy, socially awkward teenager with only a few friends. I was in the local mall with a couple of friends. Being a weekend, it was very crowded and that made me a bit uncomfortable. Gradually, this sense of anxiety started building up rapidly, my throat closed up, my chest started paining and I could literally hear my heart beating loudly. It actually felt like having a heart attack. This terrifying experience lasted for all of ten minutes but it was enough to scare the hell out of me and my friends rushed me to my family doctor. The doctor assured me that it was just a “harmless” panic attack and it was probably a one-off that required no medication. With the passage of time, I had almost forgotten about the incident; till it happened again a few months later. It was at my friend’s birthday party. The setting was similar; a lot of people and loud music. I rushed to the doctor who took it more seriously this time. He discussed various panic attack treatments with me and asked me to consult with a psychologist who would get me started on Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).
I soon started attending CBT sessions under the guidance of the psychologist referred to me by my doctor. The therapy involved education about the disorder, relaxation techniques, desensitization to the situations that trigger attacks (crowds and loud noises in my case) and breath-control. To cut a long story short; I sincerely tried all the anxiety attack cures taught by the therapist but they simply didn’t work and the frequency of attacks kept increasing. Six months and dozens of panic attacks later; I was frantic, my grades were falling and I was turning into a complete social recluse. My friends were sympathetic at first but eventually started avoiding me. The psychologist diagnosed my condition as Panic Disorder; a potentially disabling condition characterized by recurring panic attacks and high anxiety. He told me that medication was unavoidable in my case and got me started on 1mg of Xanax three times a day.
Initially, the Xanax seemed to work as the frequency of panic attacks reduced gradually. But with Xanax came the lethargy, the nausea and the mood swings. It was like waking up with a hangover every single day. The fifteen months that I spent being “high” on Xanax was without doubt, the worst time of my life. I barely managed to graduate and got a low-key job much below my real potential. As a last resort, I went to another psychologist for a second opinion. He told me that Xanax was at best a stop-gap measure and not a real panic attack cure. He also told me that long-term use of Xanax would probably lead to an addiction and asked me to switch to the anti-depressant Prozac. To be certain of what I was getting into; I checked the net for information on Prozac. I found that Prozac belongs to a class of drugs (SSRIs) that lead to equally severe side-effects.
This is where I hit bottom. At 24, I had a crappy job and had never been in a meaningful relationship. I had spent the last five years of my life simply trying to survive the almost daily ordeal of anxiety attacks. I had also realized that all the existing panic disorder treatments either focus on helping you survive the experience (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) or simply drug you(Xanax, Prozac, Zoloft etc.). It also became clear that using medication to manage my condition was like replacing one problem with another which made no sense. I wasn’t interested in “managing” my condition; I wanted my life back and I wanted a complete panic cure.
I decided to quit my job and concentrate all my efforts on finding a proper panic attack cure. I trawled the net looking for any information available on panic attack treatments. I tried diets that supposedly help in controlling panic attacks, I also tried a number of “simple 30 step plans to eliminate anxiety attacks”; nothing worked. After being scammed many times over the internet, I was about to lose hope when I received a website link in my e-mail from a fellow anxiety attack patient who used to attend group therapy sessions with me. It led to a website named Panic Away. The website owner claimed to have developed a very simple all-natural way to stop panic attacks COMPLETELY. This anxiety attack cure was explained properly in an easy to download E-book. At first, I simply thought of it as just another instance of someone trying to make money of my misery; but then I read something on the website which forced me to stop thinking of it as a scam and prompted me to take it seriously. The five years that I spent battling recurring panic attacks and anxiety, made me realize that the thing that scared me more than the experience of a panic attack was the dreadful fear of the next one. According to me, this led to a drastic increase in anxiety and contributed greatly to my overall condition. On the Panic Away website, I found this very fact mentioned in bold letters. The website also mentioned that till this repetitive cycle of anxiety is not broken; a complete panic cure is simply impossible. Since this made a lot of sense, I decided to go ahead and subscribe to the E-book.
The book described a very simple yet practical One Move Technique which helps destroy the circle of anxiety and eradicates the fear of the next panic attack. What can I say; IT ACTUALLY WORKS! After following the method described in the book, the frequency of my panic attacks has reduced drastically. It’s too good to be true. I can actually go to crowded places like malls and theatres without the fear of getting anxiety attacks. I can work and socialize like a normal human being. The fact that I took so long to find this panic attack cure makes me feel sorry for myself. Nevertheless, for the thousands of people that suffer from this depressing and disabling condition; I hope my story illustrates the fact that hope is a good thing and that an effective panic disorder treatment actually exists. I also want to thank Joe from the bottom of my heart for giving me my life back and for giving me a real panic cure.