Annsie.
You are painting with a very broad brush here without knowing all the facts.  We did have a lengthy discourse on what had caused me to become so anxious at that point in my life.  There were mitigating factors and the situation had to be controlled at that moment, because *I* was starting to lose control, time was a factor.  The anxiety was not caused by the PTSD (source of flashbacks),, but rather the reverse.

I've had PTSD for over 30 years now and I deal with it quite well unless something triggers it and even then, 99% of the time I am well able to control it and the flashbacks.  Never received meds for it, nor do I want them.

Explain to me why this was happening?  Uhm, I know how these symptoms come about and why they occur.  Years of being a counselor taught me that.  I might add, that this doctor has known/treated me for over 10 years, so he knew enough of my background to realize that I was describing an *acute* occurance that I couldn't handle at that point in time, therapy takes time, I didn't have *time* to get my control back, I had to get it right then, not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, but right then.

Let me give an example here.  Normally, outside stressors really dont' bother me very much, I can handle them without much effort.  However, when life starts throwing too many curve balls at once, the balance is gone. 

A visual representation of this would be a person standing in a group of people.  These people have bean bags that they are throwing at the person in the center, starting out with one person throwing the bag.  Okay, easily deflected when the first one is thrown.  Second person joins in, still not too difficult to deflect the bags.  A third person joins in and deflecting the bean bags get more difficult.  All of a sudden the whole group starts throwing bean bags.  No way to deflect them all.  Most people will either try to get out of the circle (flight) or become aggressive by throwing the bean bags back (fight).

When I went to the doc, that was me in the circle and flight would have been my reaction.  I was under extreme stress, most of which I had no control over and could not just *get rid of it*.  I was in an acute phase of anxiety.  Given that, meds were the answser at that point.

You are making judgements without knowing the whole story.

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How about this?  And I did NOT say that this was the first time in my life that I had experienced anxiety issues.

Well, then you just have to pretend all those asshats in your meeting are 3-year-olds. If you do, they'll understand what you say more clearly, and you'll be as calm as can be.

One thing I tell people, when they're explaining something to me and they're either talking over my head or going a hundred miles an hour, is to explain it to me like I were a 3rd-grader. Works every time.

I know this isn't a cure to real anxiety, but sometimes playing games with yourself helps.

Hey Kev,

As I said before in my previous post, relaxation techniques helped the child I know who was Dxed with a panic disorder.  I hope whatever route you chose to take in dealing with your anxiety, you are feeling better soon.

Hugs,
Jeannie