Lisa: i find that drinking peppermint tea or ginger beer can help settle my stomach. but to calm down i do a few things. if i actually feel sick i squeeze that muscle in between my thumb and finger ( i hope you know where i mean) its a pressure point. also there is one on the top of your head near the crown, if you tap that gently it calms you down.. you can do it yourself but its best to ask someone else to do it.
if you dont actually feel sick youre just worried try and do something to take your mind off it . i play guitar but as i worry the most at night i tend to call someone and talk about something completely different or tidy my room until i fall asleep.

hope that helps...

dani x

Dani: Thanks for the advice, I've heard about peppermint tea before, I'll definately give that a go I've tried so many things to try relax myself and bring me 'back to earth' during a panic attack, but at the moment the attacks are becoming so frequent these methods are losing thier effectiveness I think the key is to keep my mind occupied I guess. But I had good news today, went to see the doctor couple of weeks ago to see about meeting with a psychologist and I got the letter today for a meeting with a lady next week I'm keeping my fingers crossed for results!
Loves,
Lisa
xxxx

Lisa, how did the meeting with the psychologist go?

I've been seeing a psychologist for over a year now and wondered what kind of things your one has taught you? xx

Hi,
My councelling was going great - had a lovely lady and I managed to face up to many of my 'avoidance behaviours' such as using alcohol gel when going out and becoming dependent on it to reduce my anxiety - which was then in turn reinforcing my fear of germs if that makes sense. Basically she gave me a hierarchy of feared situations and using exposure therapy worked my way up to facing the things that give me minor anxiety and beat them at my own pace. Also through Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) she showed me how it was my thoughts that need to be challenged to creak the cycle of negative bahaviour and the things I ws doing to avoid being in any possible threating situation werejust reinforcing thoughts. I even managed to do things such as prepare chicken and eat chicken and various thing out in a restaurant or prepared by anyone that wasn't my mum. I really felt a sense of achievement and when my friends commented on things that I wasn't doing - I had such a sense of pride that I could do it and beat this fear and despite still having niggling anxieties and still having regular anxiety attacks (mainly when stressed) I do feel as though I've come this far, I can get there and live a life with less anxiety.

However; Kate (my previous councellor) has recently left and not seing her every week saw the anxiety come creeping back in slowly. I am seeing another lady and she has a very different approach but unfortunately I do not feel as comfortable with her as I did with Kate and I'm slightly concerned that things could get back to the way they were. I am very lucky to have a very supportive family and exceptional boyfriend who wont let me go back to the way I was so I am hopeful I can beat this.

Sorry for such a long post, I just hope if others read this then they may see how much good it has done for me and may encourage them to get help - it has REALLY helped me and I'm sure it could help others too.

Lots of love
xxx xxx xxx

This problem also rules my life completely. I despise going to school, especially in the winter months. I find my life completely revolves around it. Being 16 it's around this time we're told to consider career options, and I know for a fact I could never become a teacher or doctor, or work with kids because of my fear of viruses.

Buses and the tube annoy me too, because your so confined with so many people who could have anything! This is a major problem because I'm in a long distance relationship, and if one of us has a lot on one weekend we tend to meet halfway for a day, halfway being London. I don't actually know how I manage to swallow my feelings and get myself on public transport.

I'm a very sociable person, I love meeting new people and hanging out with friends, going to parties and the like, but there's added pressure when I feel threatened by a stomach bug. I have already convinced myself that when I'm older I'm out of England to a warmer country. Australia seems very appealing (:

I know that my Aunt is also very funny about illness, and she takes dramatic precautions, which simply results in her weakening her immune system and putting all her family under more threat. She has turned heavily to religion and also moved to Ireland. I know that the immune system doesn't do much good against stomach bugs though.

I went to London the other day for a birthday treat to the theatre, and afterwards my boyfriend and I decided to eat out. I was extremely reluctant and anxious, and I literally picked my food to absolute pieces. Also when eating chips I tend to use the tips of my fingers and discard the bit I touched; as a habit.

People don't really understand. I don't mention it to people as such but my family know as does my boyfriend. My mum kind of understand as her brother suffers from an extremely irrational phobia, but there isn't really a lot she can do to help, other than give me typically blunt facts. I also feel my risk of catching something is increased as both of my parents work in schools and my sister is in school too.

I don't consume too much alcohol, luckily I know my limits and my parents deem this sensible, but being ill from excessive drinking and getting ill from viruses are 2 completely different things. I don't think the initial is very nice, but it's the latter that screws me over. It makes me feel out of control, because I like to think of myself as a very forward, dominant person, especially in my relationship, and when I explained my problem to him I felt so weak and ashamed.

I want it to go away so much, but is there actually any way that works? I don't have the money to burn but is there anything freely available?

LolaRose x

I would definately recommend going to youtr doctor, mine was really supportive and referred me straight away. It really helped me - I mean I still have moments where I do get very anxious and a bit scared of cathcing a virus - but they really really helped me, my life is so much better now - it takes time but it is well worth the try. Let me know how you get on

Thanks (:
When did you first go to your doctor? And what methods have they used to help you?

LolaRose x

I went about 9 moths ago and it took about 3-4 weeks before I could see a therapist - or whatever they're called. In these sessions I talked about what my problems were and my therapist person at the time helped me to work out a list of things I was scared of, starting with the little things up to the big. We also discussed my behaviours as I was doing (as I suspect you are) 'avoidance behaviours' and she encouraged em to stop doing these things, starting really small by not taking my hand sanitiser gel with me to the shops, then not avoiding people who had been sick, working my way up to things like eating meat cooked by someone other than my mum etc - things that felt really big but once I'd done 1 I got the confidence to do another and my proudest moment was when one of my friends said to me when we went out to a meal'wow lisa you're eating meat'. They were really supportive. I'm not seeing my therapist anymore as she thought I was doing so well I could go it alone - but my boyfriend has been AMAZING - he really helps and supports me, I couldn't do it withut him.

Sorry it's such a long post.
xxx

Ohhrite awesome. Yeah I've got one of those supportive types too . I'm quite reluctant to go to my gp and tell them that I have a problem and want help because I find it really embarrassing. Like admitting to someone your deepest fears it makes me cringe slightly.

LolaRose x

Yeah I agree, but that is most definately the hardest part. Once you can do that, the rest just comes naturally cos the therapist will have seen similar cases before and it's a lot more comfortable talking to them. I got my boyfriend to come with me for a bit of support - no need to go into specififcs, just say something along the lines of:

'I'm having a bit of trouble controlling my anxiety and I think I might benefit from seeing somebody to help me through it'.

Something like that, they don't need to know the total specifics, just a general thing about anxiety. Failing that, maybe try and get in touch with a local councelling service and do it straight through them. They see this sort of thing every day.