"Panic Mode"

Hi guys... was wondering if anyone can relate...

I've been in bad downward slope and have been restricted to my parent's house again. For some reason I will get so scared even if my neighbor shows up just to say hi. It's like, as soon as I hear her truck pull in the driveway my body immediately goes into "panic mode" and then I am so nervous I can barely speak to her and it is completely awkward. I will tell myself that everything is fine and try to do grounding techniques/distract myself and whatnot, but it is literally a physical feeling that is all-encompassing on my entire body and it's not like a "light switch" I can't just turn the feelings off!
 

sahxox

Well-known member
Yes I can get this. My whole body tenses up and I get a headache, my jaw hurts and I feel dizzy/faint. Frozen like a robot, have difficulty conversing with others. It sucks.
 
Hi, I'm new here. New to posting on forums in general, actually. I came across this site and found that I can relate so I couldn't pass it up.

Anyway, yeah, I get this too. I feel like I have this idea of who I am inside and how other people should see me, but when I go outside the house I lock up. I feel like everyone's paying attention to me and I feel "like a robot." At work everyone must think I'm an uptight person. I wish I could let the world in on who I really am but I'm unable to.

And yes, when someone rings my doorbell (rarely) or when a phone number calls me that I don't recognize, I tense up, my breathing shallows, and I become 'not myself.' I even feel it a little now, just thinking about those situations. I sometimes feel like that uptight, reclusive person is who I really am becoming. I don't want to be reclusive but I can't help it. I think the problem is that I don't know how to act around people, so instead of acting wrongly, I just don't act. Which is wrong. A perfect example of a vicious cycle, I guess.

The worst situation for me is when I have to draw blood at work. I work in a medical lab and I rarely have to draw blood, but when I do I almost feel like I'm going to pass out. Not from blood or the act of sticking someone, but having to converse with them and try to make them feel like they can trust me. There's usually at least one other person in the room with the patient- sometimes 2 or 3 others- and I don't know how I get through it every time. I guess my old therapist would say to focus on the fact that I DO get through it every time. Maybe I'll try that next time.

Sorry this post is so long- I haven't been to a therapist to talk about this stuff in a long time! Hope I helped somehow...
 
Thanks for the replies.... it's like a state that I cannot shake off... I feel just like you with the "robot" like... when I am in this state, people must really think that I am a snob even though I'm not trying to be. And because I am so tensed up, my vision starts going and I become confused and extremely forgetful, sometimes I will ask the same question more than once and not realize it. And I am the same way, I don't act either...but it's like, once I act one way in front of a person, I can never "be myself" around that person ever again and I am stuck acting that certain timid way.
 

jaim38

Well-known member
Thanks for the replies.... it's like a state that I cannot shake off... I feel just like you with the "robot" like... when I am in this state, people must really think that I am a snob even though I'm not trying to be. And because I am so tensed up, my vision starts going and I become confused and extremely forgetful, sometimes I will ask the same question more than once and not realize it. And I am the same way, I don't act either...but it's like, once I act one way in front of a person, I can never "be myself" around that person ever again and I am stuck acting that certain timid way.

Same for me too. Once I act like a "robot" in front of someone and that person thinks I'm a "robot", I am stuck acting this way. For some reason, I am too afraid to change my style of acting and "be me" again. Especially when this person doesn't like me, I just tense up and refuse to show my real self. It's hard to act natural around hostile and threatening people.
 
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