About Charles Linden
A condensed version of my story
Charles Linden with his family
In the late 80's I worked for the US forces in Germany, the hours were long and the work tedious and difficult, the money wasn't great and I was about 20 years old. I was driving for three to five hours each day dependant on traffic conditions, the journey was about 60 miles each way, I arrived home after dark every day seven days per week, I ate late at night and didn't sleep long enough.
One morning in November I got out of bed feeling pretty dizzy and shaky but carried on regardless. I drove to the nearest gas station and opened the door to climb out. As I did so, my legs collapsed my heart raced, I felt short of breath, dizzy and scared, more scared than I had ever felt before.
I was convinced I was having a heart attack; the gas station staff called the emergency services and I was ambulanced away, scared and very alone. On reaching the hospital the doctors examined me extensively (as German doctors do), and declared that they thought that I was suffering from panik attacken!
None of my relatives lived in Germany, I had a handful of fairly new friends that I couldn't really rely on and I felt like my world was falling apart. The panic attacks came regularly, then more regularly, I stopped going out, I stopped smoking, I stopped drinking coffee, but to no avail, in fact I felt worse. I even modified my diet because I thought that what I ate made me feel worse.
I started experiencing a dream like state that I now know as Derealization, this, mixed with the constant churning in my stomach; the tingling feelings and dizziness, made me feel like I was slowly slipping into deep illness. I started experiencing a 'dream like' state where I didn't recognize who I was, this is called depersonalization, wow was it scary. The symptoms changed constantly and are too numerous to mention here but it was a living hell. It was at this point, after about four months, that I decided to return to England to see my own doctor, I had become scared of travelling so I decided to drive home which seemed less threatening, it was horrific!
On arriving in the UK, I visited my doctor who immediately prescribed Diazepam for his diagnosis of depression and marked my medical notes 'hypochondriac'; if I had known then what I know now, I would have never gone to his surgery on that day.
Fast forward 5 years, through Diazepam addiction, Stelazine, Prozac, Zispin and other anti-depressants. I found myself very overweight, with acute anxiety, multiple medication addictions, food intolerance, extreme Panic Attacks (up to 10 a day), Depersonalization, Derealization and Agoraphobic to the extreme. I had visited every kind of specialist, quack, herbalist, alternative therapist, psychiatrist, psychologist and dietician that exists and none had given me a spark of hope although they all took huge amounts of money from me.
I knew that there had to be an answer and I made it my quest to find it.
I found the answer eventually, after massive research and evaluation of other sufferers; and it is this method that I use today to help many people from all around the world.
Read on to find out how it can help you or email me to ask any questions that you might have.
Charles