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Been having panic attacks lately

Old 08-04-2020, 10:52 PM
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Been having panic attacks lately

Sometimes lately when I'm outside I have panic attacks where I can't breathe and feel like I'm going to die. When I'm in the middle of one I start wishing I wasn't on Antabuse so I could drink and calm myself.

They were pretty scary the first few times but now that I've been through them and come out ok I know they pass with time. But still they're very uncomfortable.

I'm on two anti depressants which are supposed to help with anxiety so I'm not sure what else my doc can prescribe. I have a phone appt with my psychiatrist next week so I'll tell him about them.

Does anyone have any tips for managing panic attacks?
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Old 08-04-2020, 11:21 PM
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Originally Posted by freedomfries View Post
Sometimes lately when I'm outside I have panic attacks where I can't breathe and feel like I'm going to die. When I'm in the middle of one I start wishing I wasn't on Antabuse so I could drink and calm myself.

They were pretty scary the first few times but now that I've been through them and come out ok I know they pass with time. But still they're very uncomfortable.

I'm on two anti depressants which are supposed to help with anxiety so I'm not sure what else my doc can prescribe. I have a phone appt with my psychiatrist next week so I'll tell him about them.

Does anyone have any tips for managing panic attacks?
I’ve suffered from panic attacks for twenty years. I will share more tomorrow, but for now I will tell you that panic attacks are never fatal and suggest you look up grounding techniques. My daughter had a bad panic attack a couple of weeks ago and these exact grounding techniques really helped.

https://www.counselorkeri.com/2019/0...-manage-worry/
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Old 08-05-2020, 12:34 AM
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Hi freedomfries. I used to get them in my 20s {I'm in my 50s now) I used this and never had much bother since.
1. Remember, this is a normal human response to danger "fight or flight" response. It is just being triggered to go off at the wrong times, when there is no immediate danger. I remember thinking, if there was a lion in the room with me, this feeling would be perfectly normal!

2. The false triggering makes the body pump out adrenaline, which gives the feeling you describe. But the adrenaline glands can only produce a limited amount of adrenaline at any one time. The panic you feel is because you are pumped with adrenaline, in "fight or flight" response and can do neither. The adrenaline gland will pump out the adrenalin you will feel it build, plateau as they can only produce so much and then fall. This will always happen.

3. I learnt to focus less on the panic feelings and more on what was happening with my body, while still going about my business, "floating" through the motions until it passed
eg. I would be in a shop, felt one coming on, stepped back from the panic feeling think, yes that perfectly natural response has been triggered at the wrong time again.
Pick up my shopping basket, heart pumping, everything on high alert, think "yes that would help if I needed to fight a lion or run out of a burning building, pick an item from the supermarket shelf, yes I feel like running from the shop screaming, that would be normal if there was danger in the shop, but theres not, so stay here, get on with it.
Then I would just focus on getting my shopping while being aware or the adrenaline peaking, plateauing, then falling.
The more you practice this, the shorter the attacks last because you are not adding panic upon panic.
In the end I would be waiting for mine so I could "master" them. They came less and less the more unafraid of them I became. Then they stopped, just when I was getting good


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Old 08-05-2020, 01:33 AM
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I find breathing helps me a lot
While many believe anxiety and stress are the main contributors to the development of panic attacks, it is actually the way a person’s breathing pattern changes (during times of anxiety and stress) that brings about panic attacks. Most people with panic attacks suffer from hyperventilation. Hyperventilation is a type of fast breathing (although it may be deeper breaths, not necessarily faster breaths) where too much carbon dioxide is expelled. It also causes the sufferer to feel as though he or she is not getting enough air, which causes many to try to breathe in more oxygen and ultimately, hyperventilate further.

Hyperventilation causes a host of symptoms that tend to complicate panic attacks. These include:
  • Chest pains
  • Rapid heartbeat
  • Lightheadedness
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Tingling in the extremities.
While adrenaline released during an anxiety attack contributes to some of those as well, it is primarily hyperventilation that appears to have the strongest effect.

To begin to combat the intensity of panic attacks, learning to control one’s breathing patterns is a good place to start. Fight the urge to take faster deep breaths than your body allows or expand your chest (many people try to force a yawn, and panic more when they cannot - since breathing in more oxygen is not helpful).

Instead, take very slow, controlled breaths. Try to breathe in for 5 to 6 seconds, hold for 2 to 3 seconds, then breathe out for 7 to 9 seconds. This can help the body regain the necessary carbon dioxide. And while it may not stop the panic attack completely, it will likely decrease its severity.

https://www.calmclinic.com/panic/att...-panic-attacks
Of course the best thing to do, especially if the attacks are debilitating is see or speak to your Dr.

D
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Old 08-05-2020, 02:04 AM
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Interesting Dee. I found the hyperventilation started in me after the panic started. The feeling of panic would seemingly come out of nowhere, even when I was lying down relaxed. If you think my post is misleading, you can take it down
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Old 08-05-2020, 02:25 AM
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Thanks for your message.
I don't think your post is misleading - its your personal experience Philemon.

D
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Old 08-05-2020, 02:57 AM
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The thing is, I see two different things in the things here (which again is my personal experience). I did in my 20s have a host of problems with my PTSD. The hyperventilation you describe here was one thing. And I got all of those things you mention, and sometimes they would bring on a mild sense of panic.
But the actual "panic attacks" that came out of the blue were in another league. It was overwhelming feeling of panic overtaking for no reason, it put the physical symptoms in the shade as all you felt you were either going to go mad, run out of a shop screaming, just a desire to escape.
The difference between the two were striking and the times when I still hyperventilated much outlasted years the actual "panic attacks"
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Old 08-05-2020, 03:10 AM
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I think panic attacks mean different things to different people. Its more than hyperventilation sure but focusing on my breathing gives me a focal point to work from.

the 5 to one technique can also be useful for me sometimes.

5: Acknowledge FIVE things you see around you. It could be a pen, a spot on the ceiling, anything in your surroundings.

4: Acknowledge FOUR things you can touch around you. It could be your hair, a pillow, or the ground under your feet.

3: Acknowledge THREE things you hear. This could be any external sound. If you can hear your belly rumbling that counts! Focus on things you can hear outside of your body.

2: Acknowledge TWO things you can smell. Maybe you are in your office and smell pencil, or maybe you are in your bedroom and smell a pillow. If you need to take a brief walk to find a scent you could smell soap in your bathroom, or nature outside.

1: Acknowledge ONE thing you can taste. What does the inside of your mouth taste like—gum, coffee, or the sandwich from lunch?

Sara Smith BSW, https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/behav...r-anxiety.aspx
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Old 08-05-2020, 03:11 AM
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I had these in my 20s also. I am on beta blockers to stop the palpitations, been on them 6 years but I find they leave me calm and can lead a normal life. I could come off them but I can get quite anxious and don't like my heart beating too fast etc. SO yeah beta blockers solved my problem as they stop the fast heart rate from a panic attack which then stops my other symptoms manifesting

Also making sure I have little as possible stress in my life helps.

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Old 08-05-2020, 08:09 AM
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For our type of panic attacks, both my daughter and I find it more distressing to focus on our breathing. Which sucks because that is a pretty standard way to deal with panic attacks. We use grounding techniques now.
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Old 08-05-2020, 08:29 AM
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Sorry, I was wrong. It was panic disorder I had. Brought about by my PTSD. The type of panic I had was because I was left with an overly sensitive "fight or flight" response owing to past events. Those kind of panic attacks drop out of nowhere without warning going into full blown panic instantly. There's a massive difference between those and attacks brought on by hyperventilating. So my advice is probably useless to you freedomfries, just ignore it. And hope you find relief soon
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Old 08-05-2020, 08:37 AM
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BABM, I'm glad you and your daughter have found grounding techniques work for you. I'm able to use both breathing and grounding techniques to help calm myself.

Freedomfries, I also believe that knowing the panic attack will pass and that you can get through it, helps a lot. I hope you can find some relief.
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Old 08-05-2020, 08:04 PM
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I had one in rehab .
The nurse put me in a room and gave me a pill .

I did not know what it was .
Then they sent me back to bed . lol .
The deep breathing helps .
I learned some people get more nervous when they try to relax .
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Old 08-06-2020, 03:04 AM
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I spoke with the nurse and he's going to ask the psychiatrist to increase one of my meds. So hopefully that will help.
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Old 08-06-2020, 05:32 AM
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I experienced occasional panic attacks in my 20s and 30s. The ones in my 20s were definitely just baseline ones as drugs/alcohol didn't play a role back then, but later the alcoholism made them much worse and more frequent for a while. I didn't have any PTSD at the time and otherwise (sober) just have relatively mild generalized anxiety, but the combination of alcohol and ongoing, sub-optimal life conditions made these things much worse. Like many others, I have learned to recognize and manage my anxiety very well over the years, with practice and haven't had a single panic attack since I was ~37 (am 46 now). I think it demonstrates the power of the mind and cognitive control we can exercise over this that the panic attacks went away years before I even quit drinking. Of course other forms of intense anxiety lasted, and I needed to get and stay sober for that to improve.

I do think different tools work for different folks. I'd heard all the stuff about breathing exercises in the past, but those never made any difference for me. What did was simply the acknowledgement that the episodes were purely physiological fluctuations, knowing they could not really harm me if I didn't do anything stupid reacting to them, and just plain ignoring the mental states. I think what I was doing with it was very similar to the AVRT technique, basically a form of conscious, voluntary detachment/dissociation. I didn't even need to practice it very many times, the attacks just disappeared. I still manage my now usually quite mild anxiety (especially in the mornings) in similar ways - just get going, focus on doing productive things, and it goes away before I even notice. I have also been taking CBD in the past few months (~this year) which, I think, is very helpful for my kind of mild anxiety and motivational issues, but that was not what cured my panic attacks, for sure.

Dwelling on anxious/panicky states while they are occurring is really not helpful IMO. I know I am probably predisposed to anxiety disorders as they run in both lines of my family - that knowledge helps as well. Luckily, I seem to have a much milder version than some of my relatives, but surely anxiety can become disabling and if anyone experiences that level, I would definitely say seek professional help... but stay sober first and foremost!
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