About Us

Self Help Anxiety Cures.com

Hello.  My name is Nick Whyte and I am the person behind the self help anxiety cures website.  I have been anxiety free for two years now, having previously suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for nearly fifteen years. 

I am now in my early fifties,  I am happily married with two young children.  My wife and I run our own business and in my spare time I now research and write on the subjects of anxiety disorders and panic attacks.  My aim is to educate people about these conditions and to help others to overcome them in the same way that I have.

Life has not always been as simple and easy going as it is now.

I experienced my first panic attack in my mid thirties. I had just gone through a marriage break up.  The break up had been reasonably amicable.  My then wife and I worked for the same company.  I was in sales, out on the road and she worked as a manager at their head office which involved a daily commute to work.  The long hours and time apart had taken their toll.  One day in June my wife sat me down and said that she felt that we had drifted apart, that she wanted a trial separation.  I was upset but things had been difficult for some time so I agreed to the separation.  My wife went to live with her sister.  Things progressed, she asked for a divorce and as there were no kids involved, we moved ahead, sold the house and went our separate ways.

At this point I was feeling fairly low.  Divorce was not something that was on my life plan and it hit me quite hard, especially as so many of our friends were mutual friends through work.

I remember clearly the day and event that triggered my first anxiety attack.  I was at the Christmas get together for the local office.  By then, our marriage break up was common knowledge, everyone knew.  The wife of a colleague was chatting to me and she innocently asked if my ex was still seeing a chap called Mike from Head Office.  The puzzled look on my face must have given the game away, because she apologised profusely, saying that she thought that I had known all about it.

It turned out that my wife had been having an affair with someone from work for about two years.  Everyone in my local office knew about it and just assumed that we had split up because I had found out.  The amicable divorce and growing apart speech had all been a complete sham.

I remember getting home from the party in a complete daze, the same thoughts going round and round in my head, had everybody known, how long had this been going on, why, all the questions that anyone in my situation would ask. 

By morning, I had barely slept, I called in sick, too embarrassed and afraid to go into the office.  I did the same the next day and the following.  By the fourth day I decided that I needed to face this.  Fortunately I had some sales appointments to go out on, so I could work and still have a genuine reason for avoiding the office.  I functioned at a basic level for the next couple of weeks and then the Christmas and New Year break came along.  I had booked holiday so had no work until the first day of the New Year.

Everyone was called into the office for the New Year sales meeting.  I was a bit apprehensive but turned up, determined to get on and put things behind me......and that was when I had my first full blown panic attack.

I sat in the meeting and found that my hands were shaking, I felt sick, I couldn't concentrate, I was totally wrapped up in my own situation and thoughts, I couldn't concentrate on anything being said to me, it was like I was in a daze....

My heart started pounding and then started to beat erratically, I broke out in a cold sweat and thought that I was going to pass out.

I excused myself from the meeting.  Afterwards, I spoke to my manager about it and booked a doctor's appointment to get myself checked out.

That was my first panic attack and the start of my anxiety disorder.

The panic attacks faded but the anxiety continued.  It was as if I had set my anxiety levels at a new high and spent my life feeling anxious.  The result was that only a small amount of extra anxiety would push me over the edge into a full blown panic.

I spent the next six or seven years on and off of medication, mainly on it.  I tried counselling, I took up yoga to help me relax.  I functioned reasonably well.  I had changed my job and moved away for a fresh start and that seemed to help.  I met my wife Aimee through work and things started to improve.

And then about eight years ago, just after our first child was born, I lost my job.  Parenthood and a job loss just sent me spiralling back into the anxiety cycle.  Again, I was back on medication and having more counselling.  I started a new job and things started to settle down again.  We decided to start our own business which was reasonably successful.  We were able to work the hours that fitted in with the family, which by now included our youngest as well.  Everything started to settle down again, I came off medication.

And then the worldwide recession started to bite.  We had to lay off our staff and go back to it being just the two of us in the business.  Money was tight.  Hours were long and the panic and anxiety returned.

It was at the start of the recession that I realised that I was never actually curing my anxiety disorder.  All I had been doing up until then was treating the symptoms and every time that things became difficult in my life, my anxiety disorder would flare up and put me back into the vicious circle of anxiety and panic.

So I started looking around for alternatives and discovered a number of self help programmes on the internet.  All of them had been written by people who had experienced anxiety and panic attacks and recovered.  Instead of focusing on the symptoms they worked on overcoming the underlying anxiety.

Suddenly, I felt as if someone actually understood how I was feeling.  I read up more and more on the subject in an effort to truly understand my own anxiety disorder and start to get to grips with it.  The more I found out about anxiety and panic the more I understood.

As I understood more it took the fear our of the situation.  I wasn't going mad, there was nothing wrong with me, I had simply programmed myself to react badly to anxiety......and with that realisation came immense power.

I knew that I could beat this.  I now knew how I was going to do it and someone was showing me the way. 

Nearly two years on I can now say that I have mastered my anxiety disorder.  It has been a challenging couple of years.  The business is still in recession although things are improving.  We have had to work long hours and miss holidays but despite the added pressure, I have coped and finally feel that I am really living my life instead of just functioning.

So.....read the information on the site........understand your anxiety and start to beat it.

Knowledge is the key......and you really are  the best person to beat your own anxiety disorder. 

I Recommend the Panic Away Program as this was the anxiety treatment that finally enabled me to overcome fifteen years of anxiety and panic attacks.