anxiety attacks?

Question

I am suffering from quite bad anxiety attacks at the minute and was wondering if anyone had any sensible tips on how to handle an attack when it happens, I am trying really hard to overcome them they are worse when I feel tired, I dont want to take medication I try to take deep breaths which does help, some days I feel great and feel I can do anything and other days when i feel low I have noticed these attacks are worse, my main fear is fainting when I have my young children with me or freaking out and making a fool of myself in public i know i'm feeling stressed as i have 5 children but these attacks started when one of my children had an accident last year he fell from my upstairs bedroom window luckily he was ok but this left my nerves in tatters! I feel like i have no confidence left as i used to be such a strong character, i'm going away soon for a weekend away with my friend but the thought of evem getting on a plane terrifies me and rather than looking forward im dreading it!

Answer 1

Learn and practice the breathing technique at http://deeplyrelax.com Go to http://www.selfhelpmagazine.com Meditation room; try it out; mantra meditation, practice for 20 mins, preferably morning, afternoon & evening. (choose to repeat: "easy") Planes are the safest way to travel. Use your breathing technique and repeat "easy". in your mind. You'll be fine! Enjoy.

Answer 2

try doing some deep breathing exercises when you start to fee anxious. you can do this anywhere. Just count to ten and take deep breaths in and out. put your full concentration on your breathing.
Sounds like you are feeling guilt and anxiety from the window fall. perhaps some counselling may help you attack these trigger points?
You may have been a strong character before but i would pledge a bet that you are probably deep down a lot stronger now with all that you have been through.
Why are you dreading going away? is it fear of flying or fear of leaving your children for a few days/ you need to ask your self what is really bothering you.
If it's the flying that is scaring you chat to the airline. You may be able to get flight fear classes.
i wish you luck as i know from personal experience that anxiety attacks are very scary BUT you will learn how to deal with them and work through them. i still do now on occasions.

Answer 3

I used to have quite bad panic/anxiety attacks, mostly when I was out. They got so bad at one point I stopped going out. I used to get hot, go very pale, sweaty palms and lights got brighter and I would go dizzy.

I used to get a friend to come out with me for a while so if I did go funny there was someone there with me. I used to panic even more if I thought I was going to pass out all alone (which I never did!!) and thought someone would rob me or something worse, which made the anxiety attack worse.

The deep breaths did work and I found mental conditioning helped. Whenever I felt an attack coming on, I would find somewhere to sit or rest, centre myself and concentrate on the fact that there was nothing to panic about, everything is OK and KNOW from a common sense point that I was being unreasonable. It takes time, but the bottom line is, you said you were once a strong character, and you still are. You have just got side tracked. You need to dip into that strength of yours, be really disciplined with yourself, and go for it. You will be fine, and there is no point worrying about things you cannot control. Sorry to be cheesy, but time is the healer here, and it will take a bit of time, but I used to have panic attacks nearly evertime I went out, and I have not had one is over 5 years now!!

Good luck, you can do it!!!

Answer 4

What you describe could be explained as delayed shock. When your son fell, your motherly instincts kicked in right away, you just made sure your son was OK and your cerebrum (Brain siege of thinking) Did the next best thing, blocked everything out to allow you to concentrate on the real emergency (Your son). You held back to shock reaction and now it's coming back to haunt you.

Anxiety arises from many factors and this could well have been, not only the first reason for those panic attacks but one more reason, you know the one that broke the camel's back?

I think you should try to pick up pen and paper and write down anything and everything that causes you stress, anything from relationship with yourself as in do you love yourself? Others, what you would regard as failures one way or another, for instance feeling guilty about his fall. Once you do that, you'll see that what happened to your son is only one thing as opposed to many more,

I understand your wish not to take medications but you should try stress management and relaxation, i think you should also see about self-assertiveness.

Deep breathing does help but there are many other ways in which you can help yourself, from visualisation, self hypnosis etc. Why not go to the library and check out books on health and find out about these? I can recommend them both, as a professional and someone who practice for my own benefit.

Best wishes

Answer 5

It seems that just taking deep breaths is not helping you out completely. You need to get some more help.

If you do not want to take any medication which is good, try hypnosis. It is a step further to what you have been trying that is taking deep breaths. Hypnotherapy will teach you the relaxing techniques. Learning relaxation techniques is one of the best methods of relieving stress and anxiety.

The second option you may consider is taking a harmless but effective herbal remedy. Prescription drug have side effects and may be addictive when used over a longer time.

For further reading visit the following source:

Answer 6

I too suffer from panic attacks and they got so bad that i was fainting with them to, so i do understand how nasty there are.

I found that cutting out caffeine helped, as this encourages the heart to pump faster and can help to reduce the palpitations. Also it is a cliche but yoga really did help - as the breathing exercises do help to calm you down.

Other than that i just thought, what is the worst that can happen? Yes it is embarrassing when you pass out in the office, post office, bank, etc - but it's not the end of the world and whilst my pride was always bashed i managed to come out the other side ok. I also found that telling people about it was good because they keep an eye on you then.

I wish the best of luck with trying to overcome this, it really is so very difficult to overcome and to be honest what works for one person wont for another. I just found that things got easier when i was ready to accept them and start changing things myself.

Good luck!!!

Answer 7

I feel you. I suffer from anxiety at the moment. Whilst I was pregnant, I was diagnosed with Generalise Anxiety Disorder and was asked to try Buspar. Check out a book called "Biological Unhappiness" by Dr Leland Heller. It was the best book I ever read and contains alot of pertinent info on all sorts of disorders. You can look it up on the net first and if you're interested, you should be able to reserve it at your local library. Good luck and if you ever want to chat, send me a message.

Answer 8

Everyday,preferably at the beginning of your day, give 5m of time to yourself, use this time to focus on yourself only, meditation is one way, choose a place in your home that usually no one goes, make that your sacred place(although not forbidden to others), and meditate for 5m, make it a ritual where you honor yourself.

Meditation technique:

Sit on a chair or on the floor so that you are comfortable, if you wish get a peacefull music, the music can by the timer marking the beginning and the end of the ritual.

Objective of meditation is to clear your mind, to do that you must focus your mind in one thing only, be it a flame from a candle, the birds singing, the trees moving, anything that you know that relaxes you.

Breathing is also important, while you focus on something, pay attention to your breathing, bread in deeply and fast, bread out very slowly.

I hope this will help you, the mais objective it to start your day in the right foot.

Good luck

Answer 9

HI, I HAVE BEEN HAVING ANXIETY ATTACKS FOR 10 YEARS. WHEN THEY STARTED I WOULD NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO SO I WOULD JUST STAY IN BED OUR IN THE HOUSE. WHEN I WENT INTO A STORE I WOULD GET NERVES BECAUSE THERE WAS A LOT OF PEOPLE THERE. I COULD NOT STAND THE LOADNEST. BUT I SOON REALIZED THAT WHEN YOU FEEL A ATTACKS COMING ON YOU NEED TO GET YOUR SELF OUT OF WEAR YOUR ARE AT. GO SOME WEAR THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY. THAT GOES WHEN YOU ARE AT HOME GO OUT SIDE PLANT A FLOWER OUR DO ANY THING BUT JUST DO NOT GO BACK TO THE PLACE YOUR ATTACK STARTED. FOR GO ON YOUR TRIP YOU NEED SOME THING TO RELAX YOU. I KNOW YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE A (DR) BUT HE CAN GIVE YOU SOME THING TO RELAX. I HOPE THAT I HELP. IF YOU WANT TO TALK CALL ME 1-661-251-7172 JUST CALL ME I CAN HELP YOU.

Answer 10

You said you don't want to try medication, but how about natural alternatives? Both my mum and I suffer from anxiety, and while I chose to take medication she opted for natural therapies and had equally effective results. My mum is a very nervous flyer and at one point couldn't leave the house without having a full on panic attack. She found deep breathing worked very well. She also came across a trick where you find a picture that really relaxes you (maybe the beach, a park, a forest, a sun setting...whatever you want) and you make copies of it, big and small. She put them in certain places (like the car taped to the sun visor, in her purse, on her mobile phone etc) and when she felt anxious or felt an anxiety attack coming on she would focus on the picture and visualise herself there then slowly count to 5 (or 10...depending on how bad the attack is) and the attack would slowly pass.

In terms of natural remedies, try St Johns Wart, Kava, Passionflower, or even a variety of essential oils. Essential oils in an atomizer (small spray bottle) can be kept in your hand bag and sprayed on your skin when you feel anxious.

Answer 11

I sufferd from really bad anxiety last year, i mean i got to the point of not leaving my house.. I started having help and they showed me ways of coping like.. When u feel like your having an attack.. smark your self on your hand and say no, or when you breath make a box.. so for eg: breath in for 4 then hold your breath for 4 etc.. That one worked well on me.. My other trick was listernin to music or talk to someone when you start feeling the attacks..