Whats the best thing to do for an anxiety attack?

Question

Does anyone know what the best thing to do for an anxiety attack is besides taking xanix or valium?

Answer 1

The National Institute of Mental Health states, "Clinical experience suggests that for many patients with panic disorder, a combination of CBT and medication may be the best treatment." Quite simply, cognitive-behavioral therapy or CBT is a combination of two kinds of therapy: cognitive and behavioral.

In behavioral therapy, people learn how to change behavior. You may have already heard of the most common behavioral techniques used in the treatment of anxiety disorders: desensitization, relaxation and breathing exercises.

Cognitive therapy focuses on thoughts, assumptions and beliefs. With cognitive therapy, people may learn to recognize and change faulty or maladaptive thinking patterns. Cognitive therapy is not about "positive thinking" in the sense that you must always think happy thoughts. It's a way to gain control over racing, repetitive thoughts which often feed or trigger anxiety.

The two therapies often are used together because they are beneficial to each other. For example, in the midst of extreme anxiety, it may feel impossible to gain control over your thoughts and apply cognitive therapy techniques. Therefore, a behavioral technique such as deep breathing may help you calm down and focus on your thinking.

Although the NIMH suggests CBT as a treatment for anxiety disorders, it is not necessarily the best and only treatment for everyone. The NIMH makes these important points about CBT:

You should be a motivated person. CBT involves hard work. You will feel uncomfortable at times. You will have to do a lot of work outside of therapy. The harder you work, the better chance you have of recovering.

You should find a specially trained therapist. Be absolutely sure you are going to get what you're paying for! You will be sorely disappointed and quite frustrated if you don't.

With these cautions in mind, it's important to note that many psychotherapists use a combination of CBT and other techniques. You may have a real need for "talk" therapy as well as a need for delving into your past. That's why it's so important to ask a therapist up front what your treatment plan will be (and the therapist will probably need to evaluate you first).

In addition, as the NIMH points out, it may be difficult to find a cognitive-behavioral therapist where you live. If that is the case for you, find the best therapist you can, and work on cognitive-behavioral techniques on your own. Two excellent self-help books which apply these techniques are:

Edmund J. Bourne's The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook
David D. Burns' The Feeling Good Handbook

Be well.

Rick the Pharmacist
(and former panic attack sufferer)

Answer 2

My friend has anxiety attacks, and she takes medication from her doctor every day. It really helps her, and I think that if you go to your doctor, you can get a better medication. Tell him/her that you don't want to use xanix and valium, and you where wondering if there was anything better. He'll probably find something that will make you better.

Answer 3

Build up your peace reserves. Ever noticed how incredibly well kids sleep and survive abusive situations, where they should be having serious anxiety attacks? That is because the have huge peace reserves from thinking like kids. You can build up large peace reserves that will enable your anxiety attacks to go away. You build these reserves up by lightening up like a kid. Watch funny movies like Shrek or Over the Hedge or other kid movies you find funny many times until you memorize the funny scenes; then reply them in your mind. Kids watch these movies again and again because they enjoy jokes--humore, far more than adults. You need to begin thinking like a kid. Collect funny jokes, at least one a week. Some good sources are Jay Leno, Readers Digest jokes and Lawyer jokes off the internet. Spend time with dogs--kids love them. Do these things a lot and think in a funnier way until it becomes a habit. Then you will find the anxiety attacks go away in time. Takes some months but you will get totally better.

Answer 4

I am a patient living with anxiety for 5 years. It is such a scary feeling, especially when nobody understands what you are going through. I found that the only thing that has helped me were this pill call "Paxil". It really helps me to cope with my fears. I can now do what I could never do before. I could not be in crowded places, it felt like I was moving all the time, and going to fall down. My heart would always pound for no reason, and I would panic. I could never drive far places. Today, I have positively improved, I now do much more than I could imagine. I have learned how to control my anxiety,instead of anxiety controlling me. Sometimes, you just need to remove yourself from things that make you uncomfortable. A wet cloth helps to bring down the hot flushes. Good luck, and I wish you all the best.

Answer 5

I used to get them all the time. I found the best thing that worked for me was to treat it like a migraine. I put myself in a dark room, closed my eyes, took slow, deep breaths, and focused on staying calm. Just like a migraine, the more you get upset, or panic, the worse the pain is, with an anxiety attack, the more upset you get, the worse the feelings get. If you can try to stay calm, slow your heart rate down, think positive thoughts, it shoud start to subside. I always found it to be mind over matter. I always found that an anxiety attack hit me about 24 hours after I got really upset about something. Once I made the connection to what set it off, and trained myself to stay calm, I never needed medication. Good Luck

Answer 6

1.Firstly, establish if you are actually having panic attacks-very often people who have Thyroid disorder - Hyperthyroidism (this is more common than you may think) will experience the symptoms of panic attacks ...in that case, being on thyroid medication stops the attacks....I suggest you have a Blood test.
Ask them to test your TSH levels AND FT3 and FT4.

I was told I was suffering from "anxiety attacks" and the doctors did not bother to do this simple blood test.
Once my Hyperthyroidism was treated, the "panic Attacks" went away.

2.Being dehydrated causes feelings that mimic "anxiousness" - so be sure to drink plenty of water.

3. Find out about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and learn more about "NLP" (Neuro linguistic Programming). These methods help you change what you are repetitively saying to yourself to cause you to believe that you are "in danger" - which is why your body then initiated the "fight or flight" response (which is what gives you all those scary symptoms.

4. During a panic attack, just keep reminding yourself that "I'm OK" this is just a symptom of panic" -it will be over in a few minutes- I am quite safe.
Focus on your breathing- from your diaphraghm- and picture yourself in a safe place-- learn about "Anchoring" - a technique which will allow you to instantly create a feeling of calm (which you have rehearsed beforehand" with (quite literally)" the snap of your fingers"

Answer 7

No medicines. Relax your mind. Read books; see your best programme; see a movie; call your best friend and speak to him/her; go out and have a hotdog; all the time keeping your mind off the subject that is creating this anxiety in you. You know how to do that? When the subject matter comes up again, shake your head twice as if saying NO to the thought, and the thought causing you anxiety will just vanish.

Answer 8

I have been dealing with this for years, yes there are a few alternatives to addicting drugs. One is the simple breath into the brown bag trick, this works because having an anxiety attack or a panick attack causes you to breath rapidly which causes you to exhale too much carbon dioxide and increasing too much oxygen (breathing into the bag, decreases oxygen and increasing carbon dioxide).......Number two is a drug called "Buspar", my Dr just tried it on me and after two weeks of it building up in my system I actually notice it helping. Some other tricks that have stopped me in mid anxiety attack are "distractions".......this is simple, you either have a friend (companion) distract your mind (talking about anything under the sun to capture your full attention), in lieu of a friend or companion, I have done it myself, thinking intensely about some topic that captures your full attention, after a few moments you notice your breathing getting back to normal as well as your heart rate. Once this happens, simply knowing you have some degree of control assists you in controling it even more so. Good luck.

Answer 9

1) Stop using cocaine or smoking crack.
2) Re-breathe in paper bag
3) Have sex
4) Exercise ... play sports ("move a muscle change a thought")
5) Do a crossword puzzle or read a good book (take your mind off of bad thoughts)
6) Drink alcohol
7) Take a tranquilizer [not with 6) above]

If none of these work ... go get psychiatric help.

Answer 10

the best thing to do instead of taking medications at all. learn how to sit alone and just breath. i don't mean your normal breathing either......sit where you can be comfortable-sitting would be better but you can lay down...take a deep breath in trough your nose slowly as much as you can.....then breath out your mouth like you're whistling but really slow until to can't blow no more...... try that a few times and it should help you relax!!!
look for the problem of what's stressing you out, and try to change things to make it less stressful
it can be done but it will take some time, good luck!!!