I used to suffer from anxiety attacks. They were intense and they were frequent. And, in a number of ways, they nearly ruined my life.

My anxiety disorder grew steadily worse over the 16 years I suffered it. It seemed to gather strength over time…  while my ability to cope with it gradually weakened.

There honestly were times where I wondered where it would all eventually end.

Things are different now.

I don’t suffer anxiety attacks like that any more. I haven’t for nearly two years and my mental health is pretty much fully restored.

It took some time for me to finally get better.

Although, to be truthful, time was something I had plenty of.

Because 16 years of anxiety attacks – and everything that entails – wasn’t going to mind an extra few weeks of the same.

But by the time it had came to its end my anxiety had shrunk to a shadow of its former self.

I don’t miss it!

And why would I?

Any type of anxiety disorder is just plain cruel

Anxiety kicked me around emotionally, mentally and physically.

Anxiety episodes themselves were often dreadful.

Frantic, panicky, scared… Worrying about all sorts of small details, ruminating to the point of panic…

Mentally I’d go round in circles and just think myself into distress and powerlessness.

Anxiety disturbed my sleep to the point I could sometimes wake up more tired than I was when I had gone to bed. 

And, inevitably, the misery of it all slipped me into occasional depression.

Mild depression is so common for people who suffer from any kind of anxiety disorder. I simply couldn’t recall the last time I felt relaxed or at ease.

Anxiety Disorder had me retreating from life

I tried so hard to avoid anxiety attacks that I retreated from situations and people that might trigger them.

The problem was that for me there were so many possible triggers that I was in danger at times of becoming a recluse.

My anxiety disorder made it difficult for me to make – and sustain – friendships.

Career aspirations took a back-burner too. I had to choose work where my bosses were completely understanding.

And where me being an emotional mess all of a sudden wasn’t going to get me fired! Which does restrict your options somewhat.

Not the future I wanted

I often feared that the effect anxiety was having on my relationships might leave me lonely and without friends. I didn’t want to be lonely…

I especially worried that my ability to work and support myself would deteriorate as the condition made my mental health slowly worsen.

And the physical cost – in terms of conditions that come from ongoing, chronic stress – didn’t bear thinking about.

Because the ongoing stress of my disorder is known conclusively to lead to chronic inflammation in the body.

And with too much inflammation an anxiety sufferer becomes a prime candidate for inflammatory disease. Which includes diabetes, fatty liver, kidney disease, arthritis, heart disease and some cancers.

So as well as a deteriorating mental health outlook…physical disability was an ever-present fear.

Anxiety Disorder had me doubting myself

All this made me wonder about me…

What was wrong with me? Why am I like this? What must I look like to other people? What would they be thinking about me?

I really did think sometimes that I was just a ridiculous person.

I tried the usual remedies…

I did everything I could to deal with my anxiety.

Medications made some difference. They often – although not always – took the edge off the worst anxiety attacks.

I took anxiety drugs for a while during my early years of the disease. Eventually on my doctor’s advice I stopped taking them. I was glad to stop – for two reasons.

First, the side-effects of the meds were similar to my actual anxiety! Agitation, sleep problems, loss of memory, poor concentration – even some confusion at times.

Second was that meds don’t address the actual causes of the anxiety.

They only work on symptoms – so you remain ill even when you’re drugged up.

The underlying causes of anxiety remain firmly in place… forever chipping away at your chances of ever having a truly happy life.

I didn’t like putting all those drugs into my body.

And I certainly didn’t like the fact that those meds can become habit forming – which is one of the reasons doctors try to get you off them as quickly as they can.

So what next?

So, like many anxiety sufferers, that left me having to use a variety of techniques to handle my condition.

Some approaches worked from time to time. Nothing was truly reliable though.

I truly thought then that reversing the condition was impossible.

I was wrong… but that was my thinking back then when I was ill.

In the meantime I was pretty stuck. I had better days and I had really difficult days. I rarely had two better days together. After years of suffering like this my anxiety disorder was making me grow tired and despondent.

Bad news… and good news

Even though I wasn’t sure that an anxiety disorder could be successfully treated it didn’t stop me from searching for some sort of miracle cure.

The bad news is that such a thing does not exist.

There are, of course, people out there who say otherwise.

They promise they’ll get rid of all types of anxieties using a secret potion made of some secret tree root they discovered in the forests of somewhere like Panama.

Other ‘gurus’ offer remedies based on all sorts of exotic rituals and exercises. A kind of faith healing, if you like.

I tried enough of them to know that none of these approaches offer single shred of improvement to an anxiety disorder.

There’s good reason why these quirky, untested approaches didn’t work. The people offering these ‘remedies’ simply didn’t understand what anxiety actually is.

They just didn’t understand that all anxiety disorders are intricate conditions with multiple layers of complexity.

There’s not a single pill or an exercise a person can do that’s going to make it go away just like that.

To make a change to an anxiety disorder requires a deep understanding of all the strands that have tied themselves together to create that disorder in the first place.

Thinking you can cure everything with a potion or a yoga exercise is just plain wrong.

Still, the promises are made. And people like me, desperate for some relief, fell for a few of them.

But now there’s some good news. Really, really good news.

If you’re patient, gentle with yourself and willing to slowly work through science-based, research-backed activities… then your world can change.

My world definitely did change.

It changed forever. I didn’t expect it to be this good. I sometimes can hardly believe that it is!

Discover The Pathway Out Of Anxiety