Is there any way to deal with Panic Anxiety attacks?

Question

I've really been suffering bad recently and my doctor has not been of any help It's really getting me down is there any advice kind words you can give? I don't want to burden my wife with any things hence me writing up this question in the hope that you can help me.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Learning how to relax may help you head off a panic attack. You can learn to relax through a variety of techniques, such as meditation, muscle relaxation, relaxed breathing and guided imagery (visualization).

Relaxation is more than getting away from the work-a-day grind, and it's more than the absence of stress. It's a specific, intentional action that's positive and satisfying — a feeling in which you experience peace of mind. True relaxation requires becoming sensitive to your basic needs for peace, self-awareness and thoughtful reflection and having the willingness to meet these needs.

Relaxation techniques can help lessen the discomfort and duration of the signs and symptoms of stress, such as headaches, anxiety, high blood pressure, trouble falling asleep, hyperventilation, and clenching or grinding your teeth. One simple method is to remove yourself from a stressful situation, block the world out and concentrate on your body. These steps can help you relax:

Sit or lie in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Allow your jaw to drop and your eyelids to be relaxed and heavy, but not tightly closed.

Mentally scan your body. Start with your toes and work slowly up through your legs, buttocks, torso, arms, hands, fingers, neck and head. Focus on each part individually. Where you feel tension, imagine it melting away.

Tighten the muscles in one area of your body. Hold the muscles for a count of five or more before relaxing and moving on to the next area. This is a good method for releasing tension. Tighten the muscles of your face, shoulders, arms, legs and buttocks.

Allow thoughts to flow through your mind, but don't focus on any of them. Many people find using autosuggestion to be a great help. Suggest to yourself that you're relaxed and calm, that your hands are heavy and warm (or cool if you're hot), that your heart is beating calmly, and that you feel perfectly at peace.

Breathe slowly, regularly and deeply during the procedure. Once you're relaxed, imagine you're in a favorite place or in a spot of great beauty and stillness. After five or 10 minutes, rouse yourself from the state gradually.

To maximize the benefits of these stress-reduction techniques, be sure to also get adequate sleep, eliminate caffeine and other stimulants from your diet, and engage in regular exercise. About 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity most days of the week can improve your psychological well-being.

Answer 2

Try the Buteyko breathing technique. It's helped many people overcome panic attacks. Don't be put off by the many references to asthma. Initially you will learn a technique that will give you tools to stop an attack in its tracks. That may be all you require, and as you'll relax more when you know you have a way of stopping them, you will probably have fewer of them anyway. However if you practise the technique often enough when you're not having an attack, you can in time stop it happening at all. They become less frequent and then stop altogether. Here's a link to a useful site with lots of information and a support group.

http://members.westnet.com.au/pkolb/buteyko.htm

For a testimonial on how someone used the technique to combat anxiety, see the following.

http://members.westnet.com.au/pkolb/eliz1.htm

Here's a brief extract from it.

During our brief session I told her that since the previous April (when I started Buteyko) I had:

bought and moved into a house
taken reflexology exams
got married (i.e. organised a wedding for 150 guests pretty much single handed)
trained up and started a totally new career teaching autistic children as soon as I got back from my honeymoon
and supported my mother-in-law through her 4th round of chemotherapy (incidentally, she is now doing Buteyko, feels very well, and her blood count of nasty cells has gone down from 3500 or so to under 30)
...all without any feelings of anxiety, panic attacks, etc. Obviously I felt stressed at times, but controlled it with the breathing. I told the psychologist all about Buteyko and she promised to look it up on the Internet. She said that I'd coped very well with multiple events, when just one could have wiped out a 'normal' person! I would love to know whether or not she has found out anything about Buteyko at all, or just put my dramatic recovery down to chance and good luck.
I guess all this rambling is just trying to say that there IS hope, hyperventilation CAN make you feel horribly anxious and unsettled, and Buteyko CAN help you recover.

best wishes and happy breathing,

Elizabeth

The above is an extract from a testimonial by someone called Elizabeth. You can read the whole thing on the link I've given you. The site owner is very helpful and he gives his email address if you want to ask any questions. Good luck. I think this is well worth looking into.

Answer 3

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I had them really badly for nearly two years and they pretty much took over my life, so I can empathise.

One of the best things you can do is find out everything you can about panic attacks. A good book I read was called How to Deal With Anxiety: The Human Givens approach. I got it cheaply on Amazon.
If you can understand everything that's happening to your brain while you're having an attack, it's much easier to rationalise it then just think "Oh God, I'm going nuts!"

For example, the reason you feel like you're going crazy is because fear makes you stupid. When your fight or flight mode kicks in, it instantly shuts down the more intelligent parts of your brain so you don't put yourself in more danger by over-analysing the situation.

Hyperventilating is a big part of things too. You might not even notice you're doing it, but it messes up your body's carbon monoxide levels which causes the dizziness, unreal feelings, claustrophobia etc.
One way to deal with this is the 7/11 breathing technique -

Breathe in deeply for the count of 7

Breathe out for the count of 11.

If you can't manage that, then in for 3 and out for 5. The important thing is to exhale for longer than you inhale.

Trust me, it works!

I don't think meds are a great idea for panic attacks because they come with more problems than they're worth, and you CAN fix this yourself - as hard as that may be to believe right now.
I really believe that with panic attacks, knowledge is power.

Best of luck xxx

Answer 4

I suffer from Anxiety attacks, not panic attacks, but I think the reason they don't turn into full blown panic attacks is because I KNOW there really isn't anything wrong. I try to get to a quiet place, ususally ends up being a restroom stall, and then I talk to myself, (in my head, not out loud). I tell myself that it's just my body going haywire, my flight or fight instinct triggering for no reason, and that I'm really okay. Usually, quiet and solitude and self talk are enough to derail the panic attack and get me calmed down. Breathing helps too. I use some of the Lamaze techniques I learned before having my kids.

Answer 5

Paranoia and anxious fears are programed into our genes.
If we didn't feel occasionally compelled to glance over our shoulder, or feel concerned that "something bad might happen," when everything seems okay on the surface, then our ancestors would have been Tiger-Chow(tm).

I find that when people become anxious, they often become anxious about their anxiety, their breathing becomes shallow (which also signals the brain that "bad things are afoot,") and it can become a self perpetuating cycle...

Practicing deep breathing can help, but I think one of the things that often gets overlooked is that because modern humans live in such controlled environments, the element of danger (REAL danger, not social awkwardness or discomfort,) is almost never faced and conquered. Now, I'm not saying you should go play tag with some large predatory animals, but any activity that is physically demanding, and challenges your fears will help relieve some of the stress that builds up day by day, and your instinct and very real need to ready yourself for dangers that your mind and body "just know" will eventually have to be dealt with will be satisfied because you will feel more assured of your physical/psychological ability to deal with them... Even something like jogging or Frisbee golf or swimming could work off some of your anxiety...

Hope this helps.

I noticed that many of the answerers are advocating drug use to help with your problem... Unless NOTHING else works I strongly caution against that. Going for a walk can help, but if your anxiety is great, that may not be enough. Competitive games or sports or facing conflicts that you may be avoioding in your day to day life will go far in helping you feel more confident in yourself, and confidence is the opposite of anxiety, not pharmaceuticals, which will only make you feel weaker and less able to deal with problems over time...

Answer 6

I know exactly what you mean about the doctor. I had the same experience! I had one breakdown and a year later the panic attacks came...
I liked Dr. Bobs answer! I used to walk for a whole day sometimes and just come home when it was getting dark. It saved me really.

You need to read as much as you can about what is happening physically to you and why you are experiencing panic.

Mine came out of the blue and I read a lot about it on the net. I went on a hypoglycemic diet to get rid of excess adrenaline (google hypogylcemia). Then I had to tackle my fears...which I did eventually by no longer being afraid of the panic.

A good forum to go on is uncommon knowledge I used to go there to speak to other people in the same situation. There is a panic section just for us!

I've heard that Mind is a good organisation to join. I never went because it was too far away, and I imagined it to be full of people finger painting....but I've heard there are all sorts of people there from all sorts of backgrounds so it may be worth talking to your local group...
http://www.mind.org.uk/

Please don't take any medication, it is a final option not your first.

And finally there is a programme on tonight about a woman who has spent her adult life on pills for anxiety - might be worth a watch to see how she is treated for the anxiety, I'm gonna watch :-)...It's called Britains deadliest addictions.

Lastly lastly, take care and remember these things come to us to make us change....

Answer 7

I get horrible attacks where I think I'm going to die and throw up and shake a lot. I've recently started journaling/blogging and that seems to be helping a bit. I don't want to force religion on you, but I do pray about them a lot and that helps, too. If that's not your thing, then that's cool, too. I also take deep breaths through my nose and out my mouth and count backwards from 200. That can calm me down some. Listening to some good tunes can help a bit, too. I hope you feel better. It's a tough thing to go through. Perhaps, you would want to see a psychiatrist who could help you out with some anxiety medicine? I don't particularly like to take medicine, but maybe you would.

Goodl uck.

Answer 8

when you have a panic attack one of the first symptoms is your breathing changes, because of this your body does not have enough carbon dioxide in it, you then get other symptoms including sweating, feeling faint, fast heart beat, feeling sick and a nervous stomach. A good way to prevent this is when you feel a change in your breathing you should breath into a paper bag, this traps the carbon dioxide you breathe out so eventually your body then has an even balance. Cutting out caffeine also can help but the best way to heal this is to find out what triggers the attack in the first place.

Answer 9

I have read some litterature about panic attacks. But they allways seem to have a more scientific approach and that is nothing I need in my struggle to survive those horrible panic attacks. This is a "hand on" and very practical book. I felt it was written to me. I am sure that you are going to feel the same.

Joe Barry writes exactly how I think. The examples are perfectly described. And the method is genius. I recommend this book and thanks Joe Barry for writing it. It changes your life

Answer 10

First of all I'm sorry that you are going through this. I would change doctors right away. Your doctor is an idiot. I would also talk to your wife about what you are going through, that is what being married is all about, we support each other in good times and in bad times. Get on some anti-anxiety medications, exercise, meditate, and do some deep belly breathing. First things first get on the right medication, so you can do all of the other things.