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Send your questions to Suzanne@InnerworksPublishing.com
Question: My question relates to
dealing with anxiety attacks originating from a recent stroke I
had and dealing with the life changes. The effects of the stroke
now pose many problems, including paralysis on the left side of
my body, fear regarding my eventual recovery and return to some
normal life. I have completely lost my sense of well-being. I
have tried to find a local counselor, but most do not deal with
stroke patients. I have terrible anxiety attacks each day and
have not found a good way to deal with these feelings. What is
my best course of action?
Scott, Northboro, MA
Answer: There is no way for my short answer to do justice
to your issues; however, here are a few suggestions.
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1. Find support from others who
understand the specific issues dealing with being a stroke
survivor. Join a support group with others who have gone
before you. Start with these two organizations: The American
Stroke Foundation at www.americanstroke.org and the National
Stroke Foundation at www.stroke.org.
2. Subscribe and look up articles in back issues of
Stroke Connection Magazine at www.strokeassociation.org.
3. Find a counselor that can help you work through
your feelings of loss, anger, depression, and fear and that
will help you come to terms with how to live your life from
today forward. The two organizations mentioned above might
be able to refer you to a therapist in your area or someone
in a support group might be a good resource.
Anxiety attacks can be lessened by changing
how you breathe and by taking a look at your beliefs. When we
have fear thoughts, we usually do shallow breathing, which
contributes to holding tension in our bodies. Try breathing
slowly as if you are blowing up a balloon or into a paper bag,
using your whole lungs. Many times during the day it is
beneficial to deep breathe, even when you are not having an
anxiety attack. This slows us down and relaxes us physically,
lowering our stress rate.
Our belief systems affect how we feel. Fear thoughts like,
"I am not going to make it," or "My life is not
worth living now that I cannot do all things I love to do,"
or "Physical therapy is too hard so I will give up on
recovery," get us in a stressful state of mind. We have to
update our beliefs to help us creatively move on to the next
stage of our life. It moves us in a positive direction to change
these negative, unproductive thoughts to say things like,
"I love and respect myself no matter what my physical
challenges are. I am much, much more than my physical body. My
spiritual essence has many new lessons for me to learn about
life. I am curious how I will use these experiences to uplift my
awareness. How can I make a difference in the world because of
the challenges I am overcoming?"
Consider that the quality of life is based
more on our attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions that what
actually happens to us. Again, this does not minimize the need
for support, educating ourselves about our issues, or working
through our grief and unhappy state of mind.
If any of you readers have supportive suggestions please respond
below.
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