hi everyone,
first of all,im 25 years old,in good shape,never got panic attack before!
two years ago,i was swimming in the sea,nothing special.
i was swim like 50m from the shore.
than when i want to go back to the shore i felt like im stucking in place and i start to swallow water,my heart rate was raising up,fely under control dont know what to do.
it was the scariest thing of my life! i never knew what is panic attack,never afraid of nothing.
since than i dont want to swim where i cant stand or i dont have handrail.
it starts to influence on other aspects,im afarid to dive even i have 2 stars of Scuba Diving,I am concerned that it will be damaged in other places.
Any suggestions would be welcome.
thanks
About 20 years ago my husband and I and our two children who were about 8 and 10 at the time were swimming off a beach in Mojacar in Spain. Everything was going well, we weren't very far out but we got a bit close to a sea wall that stuck out into the sea. I think it was there to make a more calm bit of sea between the wall and the beach. As we got closer to it we could feel ourselves being pulled towards it by the current and had the same feelings that you had. We couldn't swim away from it, my husband was in a panic because he wasn't a very good swimmer and the kids had arm bands on because they coldn't swim. We were trying to grab them and get ourselves back into water where we could put our feet down. Obviously I survived the ordeal, as did the rest of the family and although we were careful about how far we went out into the sea it never stopped us but did make us far more careful about how far we went out into the sea. You have to think that what happened to you was a lesson that you learnt because maybe you hadn't realised the power of the current. You said that you were never afraid of anything but maybe you should be just so it makes you think before you do something you might regret. You really shouldn't let it ruin your life but just look on it that it's taught you to just be more careful.
i know the power of the sea and in not belittiling it,but i was swimming alot in the pool and practice,i saw alot of people swim around me in the sea and not worried about nothing.
i know that i shouldnt worry,i can float whenever i got tired and if im relax on the sea nothing harm should happen.
the problem is that whenever i go again to swim in the open sea i only think about "how far am i from the shore","can i stand here?","there is someone to save me if i get panic attack?"
some really annoying thoughts that prevent me to get over it.
Hi Luckyc. Have you tried Cognitive Behavioural Therapy? This helps tackle negative thoughts and helps you to find postitive alternatives. There are lots of books about it, often with worksheets. It may just give you the information to turn this anxiety around.