My Daughter’s Anxiety Attacks

From the time she was little, my daughter, Samantha, has always had “issues” with transitions.

I think that I may have subconsciously recognized it and, until she went off to kindergarten, her days were highly structured (something that wasn’t terribly typical for free and easy laid back me but was something I instinctively felt was right for her). Until she went off to school, she had a nap every day after lunch lasting two to three hours. Meals were on a set schedule and even her bedtime story time consisted of a set number of books of the same genre.

It might sound rigid, but it worked well for her personality.

After she started kindergarten, Samantha’s “Issues with transitions” as I called it grew. If she had a doctor’s appointment that would necessitate my pulling her out of school early she would experience a great deal of anxiety for days leading up to the appointment (”Mommy will I have to get a shot?” would be the constant refrain.) As spring break or Christmas break or any break approached she would show signs of anxiety.

It didn’t concern me a lot because, as soon as the transition passed she would revert to her smiling, cheerful self.

For all the weeks leading up to the start of the new school year, Sam would be in high anxiety mode. When she would arrive home after starting a new school year, it was back to smiles.

The “transition” anxiety was something that I dealt with in a matter of fact way.

But as she grew older, Sam’s anxiety grew.

High school proved especially tough.

She hadn’t been in high school very long when Sam was hospitalized for a week at a state facility. Her panic attacks and anxiety level had reached a crescendo.

We left the hospital and began weekly therapy and an exhausting round of medications.

I quit my job to stay home with Samantha.

A medication would seem to owrk for aperiod of time and then would lose its effectiveness. Others had horrible side effects including hair loss and constant sleeping.

And I never was keen on drugging my teenage daughter. Who knows what will emerge about the dangers of a drug … twenty or thrity years down the road?

So, in addition to the therapy with a wonderful psychiatrist from the Children’s Hospital in Pennsylvania, I began studying nutrition and using cognitive resources like Lucinda Bassett’s program and Mike Dooley’s Infinite Possibilities (not technically an anti-anxiety program, but one that really seemed to soothe her).

After a few years – and a period of home schooling – Samantha stabilized but she still suffered from time to time with anxiety attacks.

She didn’t want to be on prescription medications. She didn’t like the way that they made her feel.

The cds and tapes that we’d listened to in the past seemed to lose their effectiveness.

We found, through trial and error, that Kava Kava helped her tremendously.

Still, whenever she experienced a transition, her anxiety would return.

We both wondered if she would spend the rest of her life just coping with her problem – and never really solving it.

As her girlfriends entered college and moved forward, it became harder and harder for Sam.

Then, after searching – again – on the web for some relief, I stumbled upon a program specifically for sufferers of panic attacks. I researched it quite a bit before I ordered, even emailing some of the testimonials (I’ve never been an impulsive shopper). It sounded too good to be true.

But I’d already spent a small fortune in meds and doctor’s visits and other programs.

There is always the tendency to go with what the “experts” say rather than trusting your inner instincts about what’s right. But these days the experts are skewed towards pharmaceutical remedies, which rarely turn out to be real “remedies.”

Many folks have probably never ordered an ebook or eproduct in their life, but I have had great success with quite a few. When someone else has actually experienced the issues you are trying to resolve, often they have new insights into what works. So I ordered the Panic Away program.

What can I say? It’s been almost a year now and Samantha finally seems to have resolved her “transition” issues and anxiety. She has not had a panic attack in all this time, despite several major transitions in her life!

I only wish that I’d found the Panic Away program years ago.