My name is Mike Mahaffey, and I am no stranger to generalized anxiety and panic attacks. ReliefbyDesign.com contains my personal ideas and opinions, primarily based on my own personal experience of dealing with anxiety.
ANY AND ALL information presented on this website is intended as only and solely an educational resource and is not intended in any way as a substitute for proper medical advice. Please consult your physician AND DO NOT RELY ON THIS WEBSITE FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
About My Own Life With Abnormal Anxiety
Anxiety seemed to come on me suddenly at about 30 years old. When it came, I thought it was extreme agitation brought on by my employer, my wife, and my children. I mean, it had to be something, right?
I became convinced that jobs, people, places, family, situations, traffic, and maybe even the weather were causing the extreme apprehension in my life.
All I Needed Was Peace
It seemed to me that if I could just get everyone in my family to be completely still and not interfere with my peace, my anxiety would simply disappear.
But no matter where I was or what I was doing, my symptoms grew and grew, until not only was I a miserable human being, but my family was even more miserable.
They thought I was just mean. Most other people thought I was nuts. What I needed was anxiety relief.
Panic Is Real
At first panic attacks would wake me in the middle of the night. Sometimes I couldn’t catch my breath and would be fighting for life. Every time was terror.
Panic attacks during the day came in the form of making me think I was in the process of dying.
Initially I would be terrified as I mentally searched my body for what was wrong? Was I having a heart attack – I had no pain.
I thought to myself “I must be having a stroke?” time after time.
But then it would be over and besides being shook up, I would be back to my normal self?
What was wrong with me?
Doctors would almost flippantly respond that it was just anxiety. I had no clue what anxiety was, and if they did – they didn’t mention it to me?
I dealt with so many panic attacks that I became unafraid of them. I didn’t know what they were, and had made peace to die so many times, that I would just wonder if this was the one.
When I finally wound up in a clinic for depression, I at last had a real name and identity to give to the problem that had been plaguing me for so many years. At last I found someone who knew what anxiety was, but all she really did was write me prescriptions for mind-altering drugs.
While I was there for weeks, my wife filed for divorce. My wife and family never had a clue. How could they?
I had never known what was wrong with me either.
I took mind-numbing prescription anti anxiety drugs, off and on, for years before learning that panic attacks and anxiety could be cured.
Anxiety Is Survival Instincts Gone Awry
The problem had always been that my brain was trying to protect me from fears left over from childhood and my early adult years: fears that were deeply ingrained and were triggered without my ever knowing it.
I no longer deal with panic attacks at all, and if I feel any anxiety symptoms, I have learned how to dismiss them and put my mind and body at ease immediately.
It doesn’t matter if your anxiety is mild or severe; there is never a reason to deal with it in your life. There is never a reason for the people around you to have to deal with it.
All it really takes is learning to recognize it for what it is, take a stand against it, and dismiss it from the moment and from your life. You just have to learn how.
No One Should Deal With ANY Chronic Anxiety
The first step is to name the problem. Once you have a name for it, you can begin to look for methods and techniques that others have used successfully to put an end to anxiety and panic attacks in every form they have taken.
So, that’s why Relief by Design is here. I’ve been around the block with anxiety, compulsive obsessive behavior, PTSD, and panic attacks. I wouldn’t wish any of it on my worst enemies.
I have taken most all of the prescription drugs, been through therapy, blamed the world, kicked the dog, begged God, and seen just about every piece of junk product on the internet.
In fact I once had a woman waving glass sticks over my head. I think they were supposed to suck up the bad energy, or something?…I was up for just about anything that had any hope of relief in it
In the end, there are plenty of ways to get relief and deal with anxiety in it’s many forms.
We talk about anxiety remedies here. And it’s all our personal experiences and opinions. We are not Doctors, just experienced. We know where we found relief, and we know where we found the end of it.
Check back with us from time to time and you may find something that helps you. We certainly hope so!
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Anxiety itself may not kill you, but it will kill any semblance to a life worth living.