Hi I'm Rose, (not my real name!) - I live in England, and I've suffered panic attacks for over 20 years. At the moment I've been off work sick for nearly 2 years - I was made redundant in my mid 50s and no-one wants to give you a job at that age, at least not in this country. I have been diagnosed with depression, but I personally think that anxiety and panic disorder is my primary problem. Unfortunately, the medical profession over here seem to prefer depression, possbily because there are more acceptable medication treatment for depression than there is for anxiety!!!
My panic attacks can come whenever/wherever, tho usually at night when I'm on my own - I live alone - and, of course, when it's far too late to ring a friend for support. They can go on for literally hours - mental health professionals tell me panic attacks only last a few minutes - they might disagree if they had one.
At the moment, my anxiety/panic is mainly centred round finances, as I'm struggling to live on State benefits - you may not starve in England, but you sure don't have any quality of life on State handouts!!
Sorry, didn't mean to waffle on, but just to say hi and hope to get to know you all over the next few weeks? months? years? - whatever!!!
Cheers
Rose
:8o:
