Lil, I can get overwhelmingly anxious at times, but I never had a panic attack. What a scary thing to go through. This dropping the rope stuff is a lot harder than it seems; your brain is comfortable with the old " fixing" defense mechanisms. Keep in mind that the old ways were getting you increasingly cornered and stuck, and be kind to yourself as you adjust to unchartered territory. And try not to pick up the map...for people like us, that's what we try to do, control, direct and steer things, when we should take some time to survey the land, so to speak, and keep things in balance.
Last year while my father was going in and out of the hospital for those rounds of pneumonia, I was suffering terribly from anxiety. I guess I couldn't accept that I really had no control, and it was driving me crazy. I got to a better place, but it was not without a lot of back and forths. At that time, my insight proved far less an ally than the effexor!
These things take time, that is why we are all here for so long. Fear truly is the enemy.
