I need someone to talk to

April, good luck! I am so glad you have made the calls and are on the way to healing. The 1st steps are often the most difficult ones. Having been to see therapists in the past, I know how difficult it is to actually talk about what is really the matter instead of things that are wrong on the surface.

I am here for you if you want to talk.

Stick around here We'll help you get through the wait. Looking at the photos of all the cats helps me. I am so glad you made the appointment!

Yeah they help me too i love pictures. I think animals are wonderful cause they dont judge you by what you think. And they love you no matter what.

I'm so glad you managed to make that call. I completely understand how tough it can be to do that (still something I'm working on myself, actually... ) so you should be so proud of yourself for taking those first steps to feeling better. If you can't get any appointments sooner, just remember that this week is practically over already, and then just a few more days before you get to go.

I know things will start to work out soon.

YOU MADE THE CALL! That's just wonderful! And I know it wasn't easy, so hey... look at you, huh? Superwoman!

Bonnie's right -- hang out with us as much as you can, PM us whenever you like... we'll keep you company. The 12th will be here in no time!

Something else that helps me when I'm feeling bad is going to the movies... sometimes two of 'em in a day. And if you can get out in the sun and walk a bit, that would be great, too.

You're on your way now! I'm so glad for you!

Something that helped me was... Dave Barry's columns I know, wierd humor but when I felt really down, I would read them and end up laughing. I purposely saved them for the darkest days and nights because I knew he would make me laugh. Seemed to help Now ya'll know my deep, dark secret. Don't tell anyone!

Hon, I'm very impressed you made the call. Honestly, that is the HARDEST part. Way to go!! PM anyone here when you need to talk. What are friends for anyway?

How are you doing today? I have been thinking of you and hoping that you start feeling better and stronger.

You know I could just cry when I think of how wonderfull you all have been. Never in my life have I felt like ive had so much support.

I am so glad I came to you all with this. Honestly I think it has helped hold me together.

I know this is a place for cats and my problem has nothing to do with animals although they are probly tierd of me holding them crying by now.

I know we dont really know each other but is nice to know that this is a place we can come to if needed. I keep waiting for the mods to come in and say this isnt the place for this.

Last night ws prob one of the roughest I dont know if i really got any sleep. but im gonna concentrate today on keeping busy with the kids.

My nieghbor asked us about going to the park today and I might take her up on the offer.

I miss my oldest daughter shes with my mom for a few more weeks but it prob is better that she isnt here since shes very intuned to people. The other 2 kids are joining her on the 14th.

I just want to say thank you to everyone. You all have been a huge help!

I don't think the mods will say not to post in the lounge. This is a place for cats, but it is also there as a support for cat owners. Healthy and happy owners help make for healthy and happy cats.

I am sorry you had such a rough night last night. Maybe when you are child free for a few day (when they are all with your mom) you will be able to let your guards down and just let go - maybe that is what you need to do. Hopefully the person you see on the 12th will be able to sart the process of helping you. Until then, I am here for you if you need an ear.

I think thats gonna help alot just to have a break from parenthood for a while.

I know my job is part of the reason im stressed out. I have the summer off but im already stressing about starting again.

This is the first full time job ive ever had. Before i started there full time I voleentered (sp) and did subbing for them. Now that im full time and in my own classroom its alot more stressfull.

I would like to go back to subbing but my husband tells me no we need the money. I am thinking for me i might have to anyway.

True I wouldnt get unemployment over the summer if i went back to subbing. But we have made it 9 years without me working so it wouldnt be a big change. I dont know.

Someone who has never experienced the level of anxiety you're going through can't possibly understand what it's like. Maybe when you get with a good counselor, you might want your husband to come with you to a session, so the counselor can educate him on what you're up against.

You should feel completely free to go back to subbing if that's what works for you. But it's possible, too, that you won't feel this way much longer -- with a good counselor and maybe some medication, you may soon be able to do any job you choose!

The thing is, you don't have to decide these things now. Right now, you can just relax and wait for the 12th to come. In fact, maybe you should circle a date on the calendar, a few weeks down the line, when you're allowed to start making decisions again -- and until then, no thinking! If you catch yourself trying to think, snuggle a cat until the urge passes.

I'm so glad you're here!

Just popped in to add some

Well yesterday went pretty good. We stayed busy at home. We set up the badmitten set and played that suring the afternoon.

overnight was a different story. I woke up after about a hour of getting to sleep and im not sure what happened.

I had this picture of someone comming into the house shooting all of us. I was scared. I couldnt go back to sleep.

I felt like I couldnt breathe and started having chest pains again. I took the metroprolol that my heart doctor gave me for fast heart rate but it didnt seem to help.

People were setting of fireworks all night and everytime one would go off id jump. Maybe ive watched too many horror movies as a child lol.

I have a serious issue with nightmares (really wacked out and messed up ones, I have them about 2-5 times a week) I also wake up many times threw the night feeling that I am not alone, and having night sweats... I know what you are feeling on that note. What you had was an anxiety attack (probably not your normal heart issue)... I also get anxiety attacks (and I have MVP) so I can usually tell the difference between my heart racing due to my heart issue and when it is racing due to fear. It is a scarey thing to have such frightening dreams.

When i am able to go back to therapy, I definitely want to get back into addressing my dreams... I even have to sleep with some form of a light on now it is so bad... It's never a good situation when fear is messing with you on an up close and personal front... They say we learn alot from our dreams, maybe you should bring up your dream scares when you go in on the 12th.

Badmitten rocks, Im glad to hear you had a few enjoyable moments yesterday... If you need to pm feel free... I am on all day during the week...

Sorry you had such a horrible night. The fireworks may have mad you dream about someone coming in to shoot you....it sure sounds like gun fire sometimes.

When I was ounger They thought I had panic attacks then they found out I had wpw and the heart doctor said it was prob that and not panic attacks.

Well the past year ive been having alot of chest pain with rappid heart rate again.
They did another ep study but didnt find anything this time so they put me on the meds to slow down the heart rate. I havent taken it real regularly cause it made me feel tired alot. Plus I would get dizzy when I stood up stuff like that.

Now I am wondering if it was stress this time that was causing it. They fixed the wpw.

What exactly is wpw or do you have the technical term so I could look into it? Panic attacks do cause chest pains, shortness of breath, faintness, dizziness, rapid heart rate, etc... Considering you woke from a disturbing dream I would catagorize that as an anxiety/panic attack and not just a normal outburst from your heart. Panic attacks can happen in anyone... Explain your episode to your therapist... They can analyze if you have panic issues... I have anxiety problems and I also have MVP (which causes fast heart rate, chest pains, shortness of breath, and palpitations)... Usually in a scenario of me in a fearful situation, I definitely know it isnt just the symptoms of my mvp... It is worth asking about or mentioning!

Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome

In a normal heart, electrical signals use only one path when they move through the heart. This is the atrio-ventricular or A-V node. As the electrical signal moves from the heart's upper chambers (the atria) to the lower chambers (the ventricles), it causes the heart to beat. For the heart to beat properly, the timing of the electrical signal is important.

What is the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome?

If there's an extra conduction pathway, the electrical signal may arrive at the ventricles too soon. This condition is called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW). It's in a category of electrical abnormalities called "pre-excitation syndromes."

It's recognized by certain changes on the electrocardiogram, which is a graphical record of the heart's electrical activity. The ECG will show that an extra pathway or shortcut exists from the atria to the ventricles.

Many people with this syndrome who have symptoms or episodes of tachycardia (rapid heart rhythm) may have dizziness, chest palpitations, fainting or, rarely, cardiac arrest. Other people with WPW never have tachycardia or other symptoms. About 80 percent of people with symptoms first have them between the ages of 11 and 50.

I had amblation done to correct mine. basically the extra pathway causes your heart to have times where it can beat really fast.

Also since they fixed it the heart doctor said that the wpw isnt causing the syptoms now.