No you don't have to leave.

One of the things that made me feel better was to let warthog have it. Just a couple of sentences in a text but she has left us alone for months since then.

You do not have to put up with her being a total ass and just sit and take it. Call her out on it. It will relieve some of that stress.

I too have anxiety from situations with BM. When it gets really bad, I've taken medication, like xanax.

But I think mostly you have to look at things from a psychological view with BM, I know I do.

Your BM is probably extremely jealous that your Dh moved on and now see's her xh and daughter in a "new family" with you. You have something she no longer has. Her daughter may be coming home and talking with her mom about what she did with her dad and sm. So you are the target.

I look at my BM as pathetic. She is working hard on alienating her children from my Dh, she is narcisistic, insecure, a gold digger and whore.

My Dh is happier with me and this causes her to lash out.

If the stress gets bad, journal your feelings, read stepmonster, get out and walk, exercise.

Also, document everything she does. I did and it came back to bite her in the ass in court.

Don't let her know that she's getting to you and don't change who you are, because that is your best revenge to BM.

Hang in there!

Firstly Panic Attacks are horrible. I have them mildy, but my best friend and my sister in law have to take medication for them and I have been on the other end of the phone as well as have to get out of my bed in the middle of the night to go to my girlfriends house when she was having one, so I know how awful they are and I am very sorry for you. On the positive side I think it helps to know millions of others suffer them as well, so you are not going insane

The doctor is right if you have even mild anxiety and you are put under stress, it can turn into a full blown panic attack.

If medication is the answer for you, then by all means use it, but if you can manage the panic attacks without medication that of course would be better, but that all depends on you and how you feel you are coping with them.

May I suggest when you begin to feel a little anxious, try just deep slow breathing, assure yourself that this will pass, because it will, just as your full blown panic attack passed the beginnings of them can pass also without too much incident if you catch yourself falling into one, get outside and get some cold air, breath into a paper bag if you have to, just slow deep breaths, but the important thing is to catch it early. However, if they continue and you cannot cope with just the thought of having another one, then maybe medication is the answer.

In short, they are pretty normal these days, most of us are under pressure. When you think of it back in Grandma and Great Grandma's day these things were around but not as common. I think the slower pace of life helped out there, we push a button and the machine does the washing while we mull over our problems in our head, Granny may have mulled over her problems, but she was physically doing the washing and relieving her stress at the same time, and by the end of the day Granny was physically exhausted, beating that carpet with a stick was hard yakka, so Granny fell asleep at night easily, while we lie awake and worry.

So, try and get a good brisk walk for yourself everyday, just getting some good physical exercise, even half an hour of getting your hear rate up there can be very beneficial for stress relief, if you can release some of the stress, you can lessen the frequency and intensity of the panic attacks.

MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF PANIC ATTACKS - Do not worry about when the next one will come, just know the first one past and if you have any more, they will pass too They always do.

Double Post - Removed