My parents and my husband are my "safe" people though I really try to be my own safe person first and foremost. Thats a lot of pressure to put on someone, ya know? I think the fact that you survived nearly a month with your safe person gone, managed your anxiety, and didn't have any panic attacks is a hugely positive sign! Yay you!
My mum and fiance are my safe people. Mainly my mum- I think shes the only one who can fully calm me down from a panic attack!xx
I think most people who are honest with themselves and others have a "safe person" or "trusted person" they confide their true anxiety and feelings with... Good on you ... !!!! and keep up the good work. There are some other website like this and also programs/support groups etc at some community centers or local hospitals etc... I'm rather clinging with my mother since i have been sick.... there has been times she has had to help hold me up in hospital or we walk and I had to lean on her i was so ill.... and I had a panic attack one day on the bus after going through a subway tunnel and we went to the emergency at the nearby hospital which worked out really well in the end the doctor gave me a small amount of Valium 2,5mg... (-I was so grateful for that indian/arab doctor i cant remember his name at the mater Brisbane but it started with a H... - he said to me ""you can be proud of yourself for taking this and it will make you feel better its not a vice its a medical condition, and another psychiatrist said to me alprazalam- its supposed to be the top street drug but i don't know why it does little for me- it just helps calm me a little) in small dozes is not a big deal being used longer then usual - the addictive levels are not a big deal really in low doses and its still better then alcohol or other things) and the nurse Stephanie was so good and got me a doctor quickly- I am so scared of hospitals) and it got me through into the city to see my psychiatrist i was so stressed and i was able to tell my mum she was angry at me but it worked out for the better in the end.
and a lady at the hospital told me there used to be a research panic and anxiety group at one of the hospitals... check out what is in your area - when you safe person is not around you must set up a strategy in place for when they are away i did with with my mum a few times but i find it hard lately since i have been sick.
also "safe place" is a factor for me... since my illness I think of things that i never used to before like "what if i collapse and i need an ambulance to get in there, or if I collapse and lose memory and get lost etc" ....??? getting an ambulance in a area if i was collapsed or ill having a seizure or heart issue or brain issue ... is my greatest worry or getting lost and memory loss ... so "safe place and safe person" tend to go hand in hand for me...
i often follow my mother around like a shaddow since my illness last year i did this also after the car accident in 1990 ... when i was getting chest pain and always thinking I was going to die and emotional and depressed and i was having anxiety and panic attacks then ... but i was having them in childhood as well with guys shooting guns out windows when were coming home from school we could not go out and play that caused panic in me to go outside or other things like the house fire... when i was 4, 1976.
i spent most of spring sleeping on the sofa... cuz it was further away from the flowering vines that were making me sicker ... with my head and ears and sinuses etc ... I thought i was going to die and the paramedics came regularly each time i thought "well this is it..."". I has weird dreams of being down under the sea and octopuses on my ceiling and grim reapers chains and sounds like i was underground in a coal mine... hearing strange noises often and a mans voice who said "silly girl" how i got sick by accident... but maybe it was my imagination... i was in bad way... thinking weird things were going on in the neighborhood that spooked me. songs and voices of spirits saying things in my sub-conscious... like they were sending the animals or other things to tell me stories about things from the past i needed to know or something... it was strange... a delirium of fear and doom and death.
i even made up songs and sang them and put hand movements to them the song was called The Kookaburra Queen... something like... "look at me .... look at me ... look at me I am the kookaburra queen...."for children and its really about a boat but a mix of things... i was so crappy and sick i just thought death was going to happen ... i got sicker and sicker... very very sick that i needed the GPS help every day for 4 weeks... to get better...
i am dead scared of canulars and needles and i even put up with them often...
a safe pill... at the end of the day i worry that i am blissfully ignorant of what is really wrong with me and just taking pills that are masking a serious infection or virus etc...
safe food ... and fluids... i was that way drinking 23 or more glasses of water and nothing else at one stage and very sick... with sodium level problems and heaps of other things...
i cried a lot in October i was in a lot of pain and i was having crying fits over my cat Sabi who had died a year or two beforehand..... i still miss her terribly but feel she is with me always....because I felt her spirit with me often... very very often... i could hear her spirit song... i heard her so much... keeping me going... and i feel that spirits of loved ones pasted are around me often... some more holding then others...
i keep praying to god for god is the safest being of all... being in gods hands and like a friend said you got to to say "god does not want me yet... and I 'm gonna fight this... I have a baby to look after... I have 4 cats who need me and my mum" ... I want to live. i want to get better...
i am still afraid that i have some disease of the brain stem or middle ear or brain and because my back has been worse lately and i had extremely bad period pain again the worst in absolute ages... i have been ill lately and don't feel great ... i just keep praying to the lord he will save my life.
safe activities... i got that way i would not go too far without my mum even to hospital in the end and i was afraid all the time... if i did certain things certain ways and i did a lot of glazing meditations and that is where some ocd set in more as well... writing down everything in a diary for months when i took meds and how i felt, sleep, how much i drank for the day what i ate and how i was coping etc...
My partner, I guess. He seems to get most of my crap vented at him.
Used to attend a support group for that was designed for people my age suffering from mental illness, but I managed to get kicked out when I got into a relationship with said person, who had also been in the support group.
Apparently I was "breaking confidentiality". Fuckers. Everyone in that group was aware and okay with me dating said person.
I'M GONNA FIGHT 'EM ALL
A SEVEN NATION ARMY COULDN'T HOLD ME BACK.......
i wouldn't say its breaking confidentiality. unless it was the coordinator if he/she was the counsellor/psychologist which would be a breach of professional relationships. sounds a bit pathetic to me, if anything it could cause issues if it would prevent either of you progressing/getting better but you could confide in each other and relate so it may not be a bad thingOtherside
i do wonder though as much of a help that having a safe person is, while it lets you explore your thoughts and feelings as well as push yourself knowing theres someone there to tell you how well you're doing or as has happened in the past with me given you a shoulder to hide in and talk you down. it also means that you become dependant on them to push yourself only when they're there and it can limit your social circle
Nah, it wasn't the co-ordinator, it was just another member.
I'M GONNA FIGHT 'EM ALL
A SEVEN NATION ARMY COULDN'T HOLD ME BACK.......
Then unless it is specificly covered I wouldn't see what the problem would be. I get that alcoholics or people recoving from drugs need to avoid relationships because of the risk of relapse but they're told that
The goal is to also be a safe person for other people. Trust is big and is a two-way street.
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