"Using her own lifetime experiences, Kay Hammond has written a useful book for others with the same problem-panic attacks. In short chapters about situations a panicked person might find themselves in (such as losing keys), Hammond has provided flurries of questions a person might ask themselves, questions that are geared toward helping the person realize that another person has been there and found ways to find a calming solution. She ends each small chapter with a litany of hope and actions to take, plus reassurance that reflects her own strong belief in a God who shows his care for panicked people. The Poems contains several of her positive and uplifting poems." -Lianne Mercer, R.N., M.S.N., C.P.T.

Panic Attacks and Me

By Kay Hammond

BALBOA PRESS

Copyright © 2012 Kay Hammond
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-5398-6

Contents

Chapter 1. Panic Attacks................................1Chapter 2. Learning Disability..........................5Chapter 3. Money Stresses...............................9Chapter 4. Losing Support by a Move.....................11Chapter 5. Surviving a Disaster.........................15Chapter 6. When People Split............................19Chapter 7. Needing Surgery..............................23Chapter 8. Keeping Your Health..........................27Chapter 9. Car Care.....................................31Chapter 10. Giving to Others............................35Chapter 11. Finding My Way..............................39Chapter 12. Emergencies.................................41Chapter 13. Trips.......................................45Chapter 14. Losing Things...............................49Chapter 15. Organization................................53Chapter 16. Losing a Pet................................59Poems...................................................65

Chapter One

Panic Attacks

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, "panic attacks are a type of anxiety disorder in which you have repeated attacks of intense fear that something bad will occur when unexpected. It most often peaks with in 10 to 20 minutes. Although the symptoms may last longer".

According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, "Panic attacks are periods of intense fear or apprehension that are of sudden onset and relatively brief duration. Often, those afflicted with experience significant-anticipatory anxiety and limited symptoms attacks in between attacks, in situations where attacks have previously occurred."

For me, I do not want to feel like I will loose my life, when I suffer a panic attack. I do not know what to do. How can I find comfort from the pain? Do I need to go to the Emergency Room? Can a doctor help with this problem? Can I just calm down? Will all be ok?

I have to remember that God is in charge. Sometimes you may need to look for a doctor who you can trust to help or who can lead you to one who can. Sometimes doctors can give you the answer that you need and sometimes they can't. But most of the time they can point us to the next right step. All God asks is for us to do the footwork.

Please tell me what needs to be done for me. Not all pains are serious or need medical help. They can be helped by exercise and a proper diet. Find out what is right for you.

When I have panic attacks, how can I get help? How bad are my attacks? I need to know what is normal and what can be a problem. Who do I trust? When I can get the focus away from the fear and count my blessings and be grateful for the things that I do have. One of my causes is financial, but I have lots to be grateful for. When I can turn my finances over to God then I can relax, then these problems will be solved. It takes away the fear with God in charge. We know that fear is one of the main reasons for panic attacks. Turn it over to your Higher Power so you can stay away from the fear.

Take your vitamins and any other necessary pills on a regular basis to stay healthy. Take care of yourself, eat healthy, exercise, and trust in a power greater than you.

We need a Higher Power who can be of help? God can help all of us.

We need to ask God to help. We can choose our Higher Power. It does not need to be the God of our upbringing. The God of my upbringing was shameful and vindictive. I was grateful when I found a loving God!

When I got into Recovery 22 years ago, in 1990, I had a shameful, vindictive God. I was told that I had to find a God who I was comfortable with trusting with my life. I was grateful that others were doing the same process. We talked about all kind of God figures: a feminine figure, the group, nature, the door knob. The process was rewarding and we were not judged by the figure that would help us.

If we still struggled, we were told that we could lean on some one else's God until we could find one of our own. My God figure has changed over the years. My current church believes that God is every where and in every thing. That works for me now.

Chapter Two

Learning Disability

I always have had troubles learning. I have trouble with a learning disability called an auditory processing problem. That is according to Wikipedia – the online free encyclopedia, "people with this disorder cannot process the information they hear in the same way as others do, which leads to difficulties in recognizing and interpreting sounds, especially the sounds composing speech."

Do you have trouble learning? Do you need a test to see what your problem is? You might. That is how my disability got discovered. I had an IQ test. I was able to get the test by a wonderful lady with the school system in Houston.

I grew up before learning disabilities were understood This caused me trouble though out my life. I had lots of trouble learning to read. I had trouble understanding what some people say. My brain does not think fast. Often people were not patient with me. For example, I know that my mother was not patient with me. I felt hopeless and alone. Where could I go for help? It was important to find someone who I could trust to help me. For me, growing up, I would escape to friendly neighbors.

After my diagnosis was discovered in 1990 and after my divorce, my parents thought that the Texas Rehabilitation Commission could help. They are a government agency, in Texas, which helps people to get where they can succeed in the job market.

Learning disabilities are being diagnosis earlier now for the most part. It took me 8 years to find a way to get help through the Texas Rehabilitation Commission. It was well worth it. I had to take Defensive Driving for a speeding ticket. The teacher had a book of business cards. I found a speech therapist in the book and called her. She said that she knew someone who could help me.

It is always in God's time and way not ours. It does not have to be the end of the world. I am very grateful for the woman who said that she could help me and was able to convince the Texas Rehabilitation Commission to pay for the therapy. I also told the Rehab that this lady could help me and to please pay for it as I could not afford to pay for it and I really needed the help. She gave me help to deal with my disability.

Points to remember:

* Stay in the present.

* Look for your choices.

* Write them down.

* Who do you trust?

* Where can you find them?

* Will telling someone help?

I am grateful for the help. It was well worth the wait. I have felt better since the therapy, and I am better able to cope with life and I know that you can feel better too.

God, or the power you trust with your life, will lead you if you ask. Remember it is in God's time not yours. There will be help available if you trust and believe. You can check the Internet. You can check the library for books on the topic. Ask your counselor.

Growing up I was never given choices, so now I really value my choices. I hope that you can have choices also. We always need choices and we frequently need more than one choice. Look for all of your choices. The first choice may not really be the best!

Turn it over to your God! We need a Higher Power who can be of help. God will help all of us. We need to ask our Higher Power to help. We must realize it is in God's time not our, as difficult as that may be to understand. We deserve to feel good about...