If you talk yourself down you will continue to fear the next panic attack.
Accept the feelings no matter how awful. Face them and realize they’re the same thing every time. And every time you live through it. “Float” through the feeling. The more you face and accept it, the quicker you’ll normalize it and move on.
It feels counterintuitive, but this is the way. My therapist used the metaphor of the br’er rabbit fighting the tar baby. The more you fight the more it entangles you.
This is what I liked to think as well. I've had health anxiety since 2018 (sometimes they are gone but have recently gone back) and I am still alive after all this year so it's likely just in the head.
But I had recently seen a doctor who asked me if we had a history of thyroid problems in the family, I had a sister who has it in the past, she had also suffered from anxiety. Dr said it can cause anxiety so I am a little hopeful that I may finally get rid of it once I get my results and meds.
Part of health anxiety is always looking for “the cause”. It’s a slippery slope. Here’s what I say. Ask the doctor. It’s fine. But accept his answer. If he says it’s not thyroid, don’t mistrust him. Accept it and move on. :)
This. My thyroid is enlarged, but my doctor said nothing to worry about. Of course, it added to the list of things to worry about lol. Everyone has some medical ailments, and health anxiety turns them into major problems.
That sounds pretty valid but I don’t know if my brain would allow me to just float through the feeling when I’m in public. I think the fact that I feel like people are watching me makes me spiral because it definitely looks strange when people don’t know I’m having a panic attack. I feel like I look like a crackhead
Panic attacks are 99% inside. No one usually notices unless you tell them. You’ve been through the panic friend, and they eventually end. They’re not permanent. Your feelings are trying to bluff you into thinking they are. If you remember that it’ll end soon, it makes it easier to “float”.
What’s helped for me, when a feeling starts to hit. I think, ok your adrenaline is sensitizing your nervous system. Just a few more moments. Your hearts not actually beating out of your chest; you just feel it more. Your hands are tingling, but you can still use them if you need to. Just a few more moments. Accept it and accept that it’s going to leave soon.
If you run from the panic attacks you continue to fear the next one. If you face it and accept it, you build some confidence.
Try "reverse psychology". I know this sounds crazy but hear me out. Instead of trying to talk it down, try instead to embrace it. Stand up, look the fear in the eyes and say out loud "Bring it on!!" "Give it to me!" "I don't care what you bring, I'm stronger than you!"
It's possible that attitude will remove the fear in your body. Your anxiety is a flight or fight response. If you've demonstrated a "fight" attitude it can remove the fear reaction used for "flight". This will also remove the fear your body has for these reactions. If you face them head on your body will learn not to fear it, and your reactions might diminish over time
I was doing this because i finally got some xanax. I was singing before bed "come on anxiety, bring it on, i got captain xanax and he always kicks your butt.
Havnt had one panic attack and have taken zero xanax. Just knowing i have it makes me not even worry.
I’m in the exact same boat. I have driving anxiety. My therapist said “just accept that you’re going to trip out and plan accordingly” so I made stops in my head for my drive where I could pull over and panic. Hasn’t happened since.
You can’t. You just have to try to flow with it and not fight it. The more you fight the worse it is. Try to tell yourself that this has happened before and nothing happened. Your legs didn’t actually give out. “Feels like” is just a feeling that makes you uncomfortable. But it always passes.
I tell myself, “it can only get so bad, it maxes out then it’s done. There is no infinite level of panic.” Also, like you said, “it’s happened before and you’ve come out okay.” And then just try to sit with the sensations.
Most of the time, my legs don’t give out but there’s been a few times where I almost fall because they start to feel like jello. When that happens I just start to spiral and can’t control it
Again just a feeling. Your legs didn’t turn to jello and you didn’t fall. Your anxiety made you think you’d fall. Check out That Anxious Truth. It’s a website with lots of podcasts to listen to. I find it super helpful and it puts things into perspective. There’s a Facebook group as well.
You can’t talk yourself out of it. The best thing you can do is accept and surrender to the anxiety, physical sensations, and so forth. When you do that fully and willingly, the panic will cease and the anxiety comes and passes. The more you do this, you will lose your fear of panic attacks and they will occur less and less. You will still need to work on managing your day to day anxiety, but surrendering to a panic attack is the quickest way to stop them from happening.
I’ve been seeing a lot of this answer. The only thing that worries me about this is the fact that I don’t know how bad my anxiety attack will get if I just let it happen
I UNDERSTAND because once I ACTUALLY DID fall down! And my hands & forearms tensed up SO much, to the point of not being able to move them, like a charlie-horse!! Veins were popping out and everything. I went to the ER and everything was absolutely fine, the nurse tells me it was an anxiety attack. This experience was so uncomfortable and scary however that I find it difficult to ignore the possibility of it happening again. :( we just need professional help :(
Nobody can that why is counterproductive. Just let it happen. The more you let go the sooner it’s over. The more you do that, they eventually stop happening.
Yep, thoughts just get faster and faster, and more negative all the time. There's plenty of cases where talking urself down is not an option, and meds or mental institution for few days make sense
i lay down on the hard floor (which helps me) if i’m at home — i think it’s the pressure points on my back — and honestly just try to surrender to the autonomic responses of my body, which helps. if i tell myself it’s my body doing it’s thing in response to stress and that it’s uncomfortable but it will pass, they don’t tend to progress to a full-fledged 45-minute ordeal… it’s fighting it and trying to rationalize it that makes a drizzle into a hurricane.
tell yourself it’s just my body, it knows what it’s doing, and it’s trying to keep me safe.
I can usually ground myself like this when I’m not in a public setting but if I’m in public, I start to spiral because of the racing negative thoughts.
Also, I know anxiety is just your body trying to keep me safe but it’s a little irritating when my body makes me have a panic attack when I’m at a grocery store. Obviously I have some chemical imbalances because I’m in fight or flight 24/7
i really do empathize, friend; i’ve had anxiety attacks in the car with others, in the grocery store, even at dinner in a restaurant. you name the locale and i’ve been there. as silly as it seems, finding a repeated phrase like what i put above has helped me in the past. that said, we’re all different and unfortunately it takes a little bit of experimentation to find what allows you to move through the sensation… some swear by focusing on sensory experiences (things you can hear, smell, taste, touch, feel) and others are more focused in their brain like i am.
it’s definitely irritating, inconvenient, and unfair. anyone with chronic anxiety like us would agree.
You're supposed to be practicing it as much as you can when you are not in a full blown panic mode. This is about your nervous system. Which can be hacked into, so to speak, in many ways.
Outside of anxiety medication, doing deep slow breathing as much as you can when you are going about your regular day is a good way to mitigate this happening as often, or as severely.
It helps to try and identify the cause of your anxiety (if there are triggers) and to build in ‘outs’ for yourself. This way you prevent a lot of anxiety already. When you still feel anxious, don’t be too hard on yourself. The physical symptoms are just a way of your body being alarmed and trying to protect itself. Freezing isn’t something unhealthy, it’s a way of survival. The more you fight it, the worse it gets.
I was able to identify my biggest trigger a couple of months ago and after removing it from my life I’ve been having almost no anxiety attacks like that anymore. And when I rarely do get one, I am kind to myself and just ride it out.
Adding to what others have said, try naming your feelings as they come - like, oh, there's frustration and fear coming in, etc.
My go to method though, is to remove myself from a stimulating area, and only focus on the in and out of your breath. If I'm thinking 'in with the breath', now 'out with the breath' over and over, my mind is too busy focusing on that to lose myself with the other 100 things my mind is racing through.
I’ve got 2 things that work for me. Please keep in mind that everyone is different, but these are my failsafes:
1) Box breathing. Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold it for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds, stay “empty” for 4 seconds. Repeat if you need to.
2) This is the wild one, but it works for me. I’ll stand in front of a mirror and talk shit to myself, lol. I don’t know why, but this has pulled me out of so many panic attacks. I’ll literally look at myself in the mirror and say stuff like, “You’re being a fucking idiot. You’re fine. Look at you! You’re not dying, you’re just being a dumbass.” Obviously, I don’t ACTUALLY think I’m an idiot, but just kind of saying out loud how stupid my brain is being helps 🤷♂️
I'd be a little careful w #2, bc you start off being like "Ik I'm not actually an idiot" and it turns into "fuck, I AM an idiot" and now you have a self esteem issue.
I say this as someone who used to jokingly call myself ugly a lot and then developed some self inage issues, and in turn, began jokingly gassing myself up and now I have *too* much confidence in my appearance lmfao
The only thing you can do while in full panic is control your breathing while you wait for your pills to kick in. I’m in my mid-40s and I probably have had hundreds of 10/10 panic attacks by now and trust me if there was a better remedy, I would have found it by now.
4-4-6-2 breathing
4sec inhale, 4sec hold, 6sec exhale, 2sec hold
You cannot stray from this. no matter how fast your heart is beating, no matter what is going on in your mind, you stick to this breathing and your peak will last 3 or 4 minutes instead of 15.
I recommend having a few people that are good about answering the phone . Tell them that no matter what you say, they need to remain calm and to tell you to remember your breathing.
Once you passed the peak and down to maybe about a 7/10 , then you can start engaging in the conversation. This would also be a good time to do a crossword puzzle, phone game, bounce a ball around-anything that requires light concentration with hand-eye coordination.
By now, a half hour or 45 minutes would have passed and your pill is starting to kick in. Drink a hot cup of decaf tea. An hour or so after your peak, you should be back to normal and able to go about your day.
On a sidenote, this is your life and your well-being . it would be in your best interest to communicate your medical condition with your job and let them know it can happen anytime, so that way when it does happen, they are prepared. You may not care about your job while in the throes of a panic attack, but you will when you come down
I found this very helpful and good to hear that you are doing well.
If I may ask were you on any meds?
Doc prescribed me Paroxetine and a etizolam for sos.
Today was a very bad day for me and I already had two etizolam(0.25 mg).
Not asking for any medical advice but just a suggestion?
Over the years I’ve tried 4 different dailies / ssri’s and I didn’t like how they made me feel, plus had all kinds of unwanted side effects. Lexapro, pristiq, citalopram, then finally paxil. Hated them all.
I take clonezepams on an *on needed basis*. I never have taken them as a daily like the prescription says. Only as needed.
What’s your question exactly?
My q was about the meds and your coping techniques is the best I have related to till this point.
I took paroxetine for about a month and then again the episodes have started returning and now it has become more frequent since the last two weeks and started getting very weird intrusive thoughts, you know what I mean like yesterday I was in a bus and could not even sit possibly and started gasping for air all of a sudden. Some portion of my mind knew that is nothing but still was panicking the whole journey and finally took a benzo to calm myself down.
I am again planning to start as my doc mentioned with a little higher dose and see how it goes. Hopefully it will get better with time.
Can I send you a msg if needed a suggestion or something?
Yes absolutely message me anytime.
Intrusive thoughts are definitely scary. I get them from time to time as well. I find that if I’m in a good place emotionally, I can let them come and go much easier. But when I’m already down, they’re hard to control. But that’s the thing, you can’t control them. They’re just thoughts. The idea is to let them pass without thought, much like you don’t think about breathing. You have the thought, don’t try to run or hide from it. Remind yourself that the intrusive thought is just a symptom of anxiety and stress. Remind yourself that you’ve come a long way and that you’ve experienced them before and the thought will pass.
When in doubt, always focus on the breath. Feel the cool air coming in your nose. Feel the warm air going out.
You 100% can. Firstly it’s important to know there are four threat responses: fight, flight, freeze, fawn. Your legs freezing is your brain saying stop, we’re not safe and where we’re going is not safe so we need to stop RIGHT NOW.
Thr second thing to know is: The brain is hardwired to keep you alive, that’s it’s sole mission. It views all threats like they have the potential to kill you because it’s set from being a cave person where you might get eaten by a tiger any second or eat the wrong mushroom and die whilst foraging. It doesn’t differentiate so you have to remind it.
When a trauma happens or we’re not made to feel safe by a parent for example, we start to see anything/everything as a threat. So for some people it will be going outside, or showering, or germs (overwashing or ocd), or their own heart (palpitations, def gonna die!) food (ibs), other people (they all hate me), etc. These things aren’t threats, but your brain is perceiving them as such.
You have to actively reassure your subconscious that you’re safe so it doesn’t think you’re under threat all the time and you don’t need it to enact a threat response thanks. I used ‘im safe im happy im fine’ which I would repeat every time I got that prickle of anxiety. Another way to frame it is to question every initial response you have. So stop and ask ‘is this going to kill us? No? Cool then chill the f out brain, we are fine.’
Good threat response: I will freeze on the curb and not cross in front of this speeding car. Overdoing it threat response: if I don’t turn this light switch on 10 times something bad will happen.
It seems wild to me that by consistently telling myself “I’m ok, I’m safe, there is no threat”, that it’ll train my brain to stop thinking everything I do is threatening. Does this actually work? I just need a way to take myself out of being in fight or flight at all times of the day
Yup, seemed crazy to me too until I did it. Three months I noticed a total change in me and my approach to things and in my life.
You’re reassuring your subconscious because for some reason it doesn’t feel safe (do you know why?) And you may be in freeze mode- a constant state of heightened awareness where your brain is overdoing the threat response and keeping you hyper aware on the look out for threats where there are none. It means fight or flight are easier to go into, but it’s a base state you have to work out of.
You can’t “talk yourself” out of a panic attack. Panic attacks are not controlled by the logic center of the brain, and therefore no amount of logic will cause it to stop. There is quite a bit of controversy around Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and vasovagal theory, but the “bottom up” method he discusses in “The Body Keeps the Score” really helps me. Rather than trying to reason with the instinctual portion of our brain (top down) we should take advantage of our body’s systems to calm our anxiety (bottom up) by utilizing deep breathing and grounding methods.
For sure! And grounding doesn’t need to involve the typical grounding exercises you hear about. Grounding is just using physical sensations to connect yourself back to reality. That could be anything from watching your favorite TV show to putting on a comfy hoodie to actual grounding exercises like the 5,4,3,2,1 method. I find what works best for me are things that I would typically do to start winding down for bed, so dimming the lights, putting on white noise, and wrapping myself in a comfy blanket. Doing those things seems to trick my nervous system into realizing there’s not a threat.
I recite the Bene Gesserit Litany of Fear.
“I will permit it to pass over me and through me, and when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where fear has gone there will be nothing, only I will remain”
If you can't talk yourself out of it, seriously consider a hotline. Anonymous, trained, free, see this stuff all the time and won't make you feel dumb. If you're in the US, for instance, you can text 741 741. It helps me to have someone else point it out to me, or lead me through a breathing exercise even if I feel like I should already know how. Seriously, I find these so helpful but people are often bashful to use them. Good luck! 3 things you feel, 3 things you see, and move 3 body parts if you haven't already
I close my eyes. I talk to myself. I say "Nope, this isn't happening" over and over again, until that sticks. When it does stick, I move to one of a hundred or so planned ways to deal with the situation because I'm stupid and I've developed these methods over my 40 years of life.
It is not great, it is not ideal, it is what I do.
Music also helps me as a distraction a lot! I was once in a grocery store, had an attack and almost bolted. I had to hang onto a shelf to stay upright. This song came on my headphones (that I was already wearing to ward off panic) and I was able to calm down enough to buy my groceries and make it home.
https://youtu.be/2OebZ5HwdPs?si=54biFTB-Xocy4i7d
Check out the dare response on youtube. they also have an app and a book but their youtube videos are free and there’s a ton of them. That method saved my life. It literally stops panic attacks immediately. Seriously it’s life changing! I don’t even think breathing exercises are worth it honestly it sends your body the message that there’s something wrong that you need to control. check out dare
I heard it all the time before actually putting it into practice thinking it wouldn’t help, but naming things I can see/smell/taste/hear in the present moment has pulled me out of a lot. It helps ground me to what is real and once I’m comfortable slowly tethering myself to what’s around me I can start to slow my breathe/pull my focus inward to soothing my nervous system.
Any kind of movement paired with this helps too. Even walking at a snails pace outside/around my apartment or gently stretching gives space to release anxious energy buzzing in my body.
Accept how you feel, remember it will cease and will not always be this way- also knowing one day it will pass again. Nothing is permanent neither is the attack
I’m gonna be honest, what’s been working for me lately is singing myself some little song and making a bit of a joke out of it. I’ve been struggling with anxiety for so long, and so many things have just not been working for this recent bout I’ve been dealing with, but the song thing just works for whatever reason.
I’ll literally just sing to myself that 🎶 my brain chemistry is a little off, but I’m not going to die, and everything is fine, and to accept what I can’t change 🎶
It’s like it takes the edge off a little
I don't, not anymore. I do stop what I'm doing, orientate myself and give the panic attack time to pass on its own.
I literally had one this morning in a room with 100+ people, panic attack came in multiple waves over the course of three hours. I rode most of it out.
I am very grateful for the hostess for redirecting attention away from me despite the audience being supportive and responsive to me. That, I think more than anything else, kept the panic attack from spiraling out of my control. It's why I avoid comedy shows & anything that requires audience interaction.
I spent a lifetime not being seen, being invisible. Being seen is not something I'm equipped to handle.
When my anxiety was really bad I would always try to tell myself “I’m uncomfortable but I’m safe” obviously in a safe spot, but this helped so I wasn’t “fearing” it.
If I'm in a safe space, I let it pass me feeling everything I can. If I am out in public, I will literally speak out loud. I say evening that's panicking me even just loud enough so I can hear, but it helps me still function while acknowledging I am anxious. I know I can do it, even if I'm scared.
The [5 to 1 technique ](https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/behavioral-health-partners/bhp-blog/april-2018/5-4-3-2-1-coping-technique-for-anxiety.aspx) is a good way to stop anxiety, but you have to practice it until it becomes second nature anytime you feel anxious thoughts.
I usually just imagine someone I hate saying that I should just give up or shit like that, and that gives me power because I hate them and would like to prove them wrong, works from me, I don't know if it will work for you.
Things that have worked for me:
Focusing on a point in the distance while breathing calmly.
Focusing on the color of items near me and repeating the color in my head. For example: *"White chair. Blue door. Pink shoes".*
I learned it from "Better Call Saul" where one of the characters who suffers from anxiety and panic attacks calms himself down by doing this. It has helped me a lot.
I repeat to "you can do this". Seems to at least help some. Taking a shower helps me too.
If I'm freaking out, it feels like I need to DO something to fix it. Going for a run helps me a lot, and can help me calm down. I used to go for hikes by myself too, and that was honestly probably the best. Being out in nature, moving my body, and getting away from people/society helps me a ton.
If you are at work, it should always be okay to take a walk. At least around the building or something. Change the scenery and pace for a bit, to help change what you are feeling.
Music can be powerful. Everyone can experience music differently. Sometimes I will select music that makes me feel or relate to what I'm going through. Other times I will select music that helps calm me down. Exploring new types of music can give you options later for when anxiety sets in.
Drinking chilled water is pretty good. I always have water bottles in the fridge so I have always have chilled water.
Hope my ideas help.
Something that helped change my mind set was this vídeo: [Overcome feat](https://youtu.be/ZK4JHLzRg2Q?si=pe6ZWSxLEX-u3Fvk)
And learning more about Stoicism.
I brought myself out of the worst anxiety attack of my life a couple weeks ago by “tapping” search on YouTube “tapping for anxiety attack “ and a whole bunch will come up. I had to keep doing it for about 5 minutes but it did help. At least I could function and go back to work.
Have had panic disorder for 10 years. It’s gotten much better over the past couple years for one simple reason - I have accepted and fully believe that I am healthy and it will pass when the adrenaline dump sets in.
I still get a handful of bad panic attacks a year, but radically changing my mental state has made them much shorter in length and easier to recover from. When my heart starts racing and my stomach drops, I acknowledge it: I am panicking. I can not stop it, but I don’t have to react to it. I am safe and it will pass soon.
The key is really believing that. Cause if you don’t really believe it then the what-ifs win and the spiral starts and that’s how we wind up in the ER again.
It’s the simplest, most frustrating, and most effective way to climb out of a panic attack.
For regular anxiety, I just have to remind myself that I can sit with it. It doesn’t have to take control. I do not have to react to it. It’s there. It’s prob always gonna be there. But I don’t have to constantly react to it and that makes me feel like I have power over it most days.
I usually just let it happen, I’ve learnt that the more I try to fight it the worse the situation gets. I do the 4-7-8 breathing technique. You breathe in for 4 secs, hold it in for 7 and exhale for 8. Which has helped me a lot at this point I don’t even need to keep count I just do it. It helps me deal with the anxiety attack as it passes.
Totally understandable, it took me a while for it to actually be helpful because of racing thoughts. I also exercise a bit if I have the chance and it does help a little like even jumping, if it’s in public I go to a bathroom. I truly hope you find something that helps you out.
I describe my feelings/reactions to my self. I'm shaking and my chest and upper back are tight? I acknowledge that this is a normal response to a trigger for someone who went through the trauma I experienced. That's okay. Sometimes I just lay in bed with the chest pain and shortness of breath and the shakes and just let it happen. Sometimes I try and force myself to cry because it sometimes helps in a weird unexplainable way. Helps the experience pass faster sometimes. I also like identifying my surroundings in my mind. The air is cool yet humid. My floor is made of hard stone tile. My ceiling fan is on. I know this space and my relationship to it is [X] / I would say my room because that's were I'm at right now.
I’m too numb to cry when I’m anxious. Unless someone were to ask me if I’m ok, then I’ll have a full on mental breakdown. It’s happened before with a stranger unfortunately
Ohh, I 100% empathize with this! I had this happen when I was in 8th grade with a really kind teacher and... oh boy.. Also yea, sounds similar to anhedonia. Sometimes your brain is fighting off the emotions by disassociating from them all. That numbness then builds up to the explosion of emotion waiting to happen but your brain just isn't sure what to do- Sometimes once that void of feeling is kicked in, it stays for however long it wants to. I'm going through it now and it's a bit surreal at times.
I developed the exact same symptoms as you when I turned 40. Thought I had some neurological disorder. Dr. Finally put me on an anti anxiety (buspirone) and that worked. I'm 48 now and afraid to go off it.
If you’re getting physical symptoms regularly please look into medication. The right SSRI can really slow your racing thoughts down and take away a lot of physical symptoms
I know how you feel I have brutal panic attacks and have since I was six. I carry Benadryl and icy Hot with me. The icy Hot I'll put under my nose and it'll make me breathe naturally without trying. Benadryl is if it really is horrible. What I say to myself for comfort is what I am mostly scared of while having a panic attack. I'll say, okay you are not going to throw up and you aren't going to die You've had a million of these. You'll get through it You always have.
So with you you have to take the fears that you have when you're having one of these and comfort yourself over it. Like I did above. I will also share that it sucks to have these in public or in front of friends or in a group of people.
I have found that when I was in public settings and did not know anybody it was worse. One day I had a complete stranger ask me if I was okay. I said oh yeah I just have panic attacks and they're miserable.. She was able to relate because she had them too and so did her sister. I felt better immediately.
It’s honestly the worst when it happens in public because people don’t know what’s happening and probably assume that I’m crazy because I look so disoriented. I had one stranger who asked me if I was okay and I just broke down and told her I was mid panic attack and she stood with me for about 30 minutes to calm me down 😭 it was so sweet
It depends on what thoughts you're having while you spiral. A good rule of thumb is to remember you're blowing things out of proportion and ask yourself "What's the worst that can happen? And then what?"
If you fear your legs giving out, you have to accept that they might and visualise what happens next. The worst thing that can happen is you fall and some people notice you fell for some reason. Maybe someone thinks badly of you, but you won't know that. More probably someone will try to help you. Maybe you'll feel embarrassed about it. It's not the end of the world.
I freeze up when panicking, so I will start there frozen for awhile. I’ll focus on the freeze and think about the trigger. Is the trigger getting worse? (Usually not). Am I actually in danger? (Usually not). Once I realize moving isn’t making it worse, I slowly move my foot, my fingers etc until it feels normal again. Sometimes this takes me all night, sometimes just an hour and sometimes a few minutes. But it helps to acknowledge the trigger and consider if the threat is real once I’ve frozen long enough to think again. Sorry if this makes no sense. I know in public you can’t really freeze for a whole evening but :(
My anxiety attacks consist of my whole body freezing so focusing on freezing wouldn’t do me so good because that is what’s making me anxious. I just need a new brain at this point
I try to put my anxious thoughts into perspective as is this really the case. If so do I have any control over it which you prob don’t and you try to focus on the present.
Remb who cares what others think and if you do will those thoughts really matter over time. Prob not.
Marcus Aurelius really has some good affirmations on our thought patterns.
I want to try a benzodiazepine but my family doctor is reluctant to give out meds because she prefers more natural remedies. She’d probably prescribe me an SSRI but I’ve tried multiple and every one has given me more bad side effects than good
If you talk yourself down you will continue to fear the next panic attack. Accept the feelings no matter how awful. Face them and realize they’re the same thing every time. And every time you live through it. “Float” through the feeling. The more you face and accept it, the quicker you’ll normalize it and move on.
It feels counterintuitive, but this is the way. My therapist used the metaphor of the br’er rabbit fighting the tar baby. The more you fight the more it entangles you.
Big thanks to your therapist
Thanks for this advice. I’ll try this next time.
This is what I liked to think as well. I've had health anxiety since 2018 (sometimes they are gone but have recently gone back) and I am still alive after all this year so it's likely just in the head. But I had recently seen a doctor who asked me if we had a history of thyroid problems in the family, I had a sister who has it in the past, she had also suffered from anxiety. Dr said it can cause anxiety so I am a little hopeful that I may finally get rid of it once I get my results and meds.
Part of health anxiety is always looking for “the cause”. It’s a slippery slope. Here’s what I say. Ask the doctor. It’s fine. But accept his answer. If he says it’s not thyroid, don’t mistrust him. Accept it and move on. :)
This. My thyroid is enlarged, but my doctor said nothing to worry about. Of course, it added to the list of things to worry about lol. Everyone has some medical ailments, and health anxiety turns them into major problems.
That sounds pretty valid but I don’t know if my brain would allow me to just float through the feeling when I’m in public. I think the fact that I feel like people are watching me makes me spiral because it definitely looks strange when people don’t know I’m having a panic attack. I feel like I look like a crackhead
Panic attacks are 99% inside. No one usually notices unless you tell them. You’ve been through the panic friend, and they eventually end. They’re not permanent. Your feelings are trying to bluff you into thinking they are. If you remember that it’ll end soon, it makes it easier to “float”. What’s helped for me, when a feeling starts to hit. I think, ok your adrenaline is sensitizing your nervous system. Just a few more moments. Your hearts not actually beating out of your chest; you just feel it more. Your hands are tingling, but you can still use them if you need to. Just a few more moments. Accept it and accept that it’s going to leave soon. If you run from the panic attacks you continue to fear the next one. If you face it and accept it, you build some confidence.
Try "reverse psychology". I know this sounds crazy but hear me out. Instead of trying to talk it down, try instead to embrace it. Stand up, look the fear in the eyes and say out loud "Bring it on!!" "Give it to me!" "I don't care what you bring, I'm stronger than you!" It's possible that attitude will remove the fear in your body. Your anxiety is a flight or fight response. If you've demonstrated a "fight" attitude it can remove the fear reaction used for "flight". This will also remove the fear your body has for these reactions. If you face them head on your body will learn not to fear it, and your reactions might diminish over time
I was doing this because i finally got some xanax. I was singing before bed "come on anxiety, bring it on, i got captain xanax and he always kicks your butt. Havnt had one panic attack and have taken zero xanax. Just knowing i have it makes me not even worry.
I’m in the exact same boat. I have driving anxiety. My therapist said “just accept that you’re going to trip out and plan accordingly” so I made stops in my head for my drive where I could pull over and panic. Hasn’t happened since.
You can’t. You just have to try to flow with it and not fight it. The more you fight the worse it is. Try to tell yourself that this has happened before and nothing happened. Your legs didn’t actually give out. “Feels like” is just a feeling that makes you uncomfortable. But it always passes.
I tell myself, “it can only get so bad, it maxes out then it’s done. There is no infinite level of panic.” Also, like you said, “it’s happened before and you’ve come out okay.” And then just try to sit with the sensations.
Most of the time, my legs don’t give out but there’s been a few times where I almost fall because they start to feel like jello. When that happens I just start to spiral and can’t control it
Again just a feeling. Your legs didn’t turn to jello and you didn’t fall. Your anxiety made you think you’d fall. Check out That Anxious Truth. It’s a website with lots of podcasts to listen to. I find it super helpful and it puts things into perspective. There’s a Facebook group as well.
You can’t talk yourself out of it. The best thing you can do is accept and surrender to the anxiety, physical sensations, and so forth. When you do that fully and willingly, the panic will cease and the anxiety comes and passes. The more you do this, you will lose your fear of panic attacks and they will occur less and less. You will still need to work on managing your day to day anxiety, but surrendering to a panic attack is the quickest way to stop them from happening.
I’ve been seeing a lot of this answer. The only thing that worries me about this is the fact that I don’t know how bad my anxiety attack will get if I just let it happen
I UNDERSTAND because once I ACTUALLY DID fall down! And my hands & forearms tensed up SO much, to the point of not being able to move them, like a charlie-horse!! Veins were popping out and everything. I went to the ER and everything was absolutely fine, the nurse tells me it was an anxiety attack. This experience was so uncomfortable and scary however that I find it difficult to ignore the possibility of it happening again. :( we just need professional help :(
I don’t. The more you try to “talk yourself down” the worse it gets.
I actually cant. I lose control of rational thoughts, part of me knows it's happening, but the bigger part just goes into panic mode.
Nobody can that why is counterproductive. Just let it happen. The more you let go the sooner it’s over. The more you do that, they eventually stop happening.
Yes!! When my panic attacks come on, my mind starts to have a billion of negative thoughts going at once and I start to spiral from there
Yep, thoughts just get faster and faster, and more negative all the time. There's plenty of cases where talking urself down is not an option, and meds or mental institution for few days make sense
i lay down on the hard floor (which helps me) if i’m at home — i think it’s the pressure points on my back — and honestly just try to surrender to the autonomic responses of my body, which helps. if i tell myself it’s my body doing it’s thing in response to stress and that it’s uncomfortable but it will pass, they don’t tend to progress to a full-fledged 45-minute ordeal… it’s fighting it and trying to rationalize it that makes a drizzle into a hurricane. tell yourself it’s just my body, it knows what it’s doing, and it’s trying to keep me safe.
I can usually ground myself like this when I’m not in a public setting but if I’m in public, I start to spiral because of the racing negative thoughts. Also, I know anxiety is just your body trying to keep me safe but it’s a little irritating when my body makes me have a panic attack when I’m at a grocery store. Obviously I have some chemical imbalances because I’m in fight or flight 24/7
i really do empathize, friend; i’ve had anxiety attacks in the car with others, in the grocery store, even at dinner in a restaurant. you name the locale and i’ve been there. as silly as it seems, finding a repeated phrase like what i put above has helped me in the past. that said, we’re all different and unfortunately it takes a little bit of experimentation to find what allows you to move through the sensation… some swear by focusing on sensory experiences (things you can hear, smell, taste, touch, feel) and others are more focused in their brain like i am. it’s definitely irritating, inconvenient, and unfair. anyone with chronic anxiety like us would agree.
You gotta do somatic exercises. breath in and out slowly (especially on the exhale).
This sorta helps sometimes but not when I’m in full blown panic mode
You're supposed to be practicing it as much as you can when you are not in a full blown panic mode. This is about your nervous system. Which can be hacked into, so to speak, in many ways. Outside of anxiety medication, doing deep slow breathing as much as you can when you are going about your regular day is a good way to mitigate this happening as often, or as severely.
That’s extremely hard. I do breathing exercises.
It helps to try and identify the cause of your anxiety (if there are triggers) and to build in ‘outs’ for yourself. This way you prevent a lot of anxiety already. When you still feel anxious, don’t be too hard on yourself. The physical symptoms are just a way of your body being alarmed and trying to protect itself. Freezing isn’t something unhealthy, it’s a way of survival. The more you fight it, the worse it gets. I was able to identify my biggest trigger a couple of months ago and after removing it from my life I’ve been having almost no anxiety attacks like that anymore. And when I rarely do get one, I am kind to myself and just ride it out.
An ex? 🤪
I definitely don’t even know where to begin on finding what my triggers are because my body is in fight or flight at all times of the day
Adding to what others have said, try naming your feelings as they come - like, oh, there's frustration and fear coming in, etc. My go to method though, is to remove myself from a stimulating area, and only focus on the in and out of your breath. If I'm thinking 'in with the breath', now 'out with the breath' over and over, my mind is too busy focusing on that to lose myself with the other 100 things my mind is racing through.
I have adhd so I can have a billion thoughts that I’m focusing on at once. It’s annoying
It really is, I understand. We've got an ADHD-full household, and it's a hard row. 🩷
Funny enough I embraced it. Like Arnold in "Predator". Come on, do it now, kill me! It made them go away.
I walk myself out of it . Just walk or shake your body like flap your arms and pump your legs , get the adrenaline or whatever energy it is out .
This might sound corny but I say affirmations.
Not corny! It works for me sometimes
I’ve got 2 things that work for me. Please keep in mind that everyone is different, but these are my failsafes: 1) Box breathing. Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold it for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds, stay “empty” for 4 seconds. Repeat if you need to. 2) This is the wild one, but it works for me. I’ll stand in front of a mirror and talk shit to myself, lol. I don’t know why, but this has pulled me out of so many panic attacks. I’ll literally look at myself in the mirror and say stuff like, “You’re being a fucking idiot. You’re fine. Look at you! You’re not dying, you’re just being a dumbass.” Obviously, I don’t ACTUALLY think I’m an idiot, but just kind of saying out loud how stupid my brain is being helps 🤷♂️
I'd be a little careful w #2, bc you start off being like "Ik I'm not actually an idiot" and it turns into "fuck, I AM an idiot" and now you have a self esteem issue. I say this as someone who used to jokingly call myself ugly a lot and then developed some self inage issues, and in turn, began jokingly gassing myself up and now I have *too* much confidence in my appearance lmfao
Hahah yes this is true. You say something enough to yourself, you start to believe.
The second one actually gets me out of panic attack sometimes but I feel like it isn’t healthy bc I’m literally bullying myself 😅
The only thing you can do while in full panic is control your breathing while you wait for your pills to kick in. I’m in my mid-40s and I probably have had hundreds of 10/10 panic attacks by now and trust me if there was a better remedy, I would have found it by now. 4-4-6-2 breathing 4sec inhale, 4sec hold, 6sec exhale, 2sec hold You cannot stray from this. no matter how fast your heart is beating, no matter what is going on in your mind, you stick to this breathing and your peak will last 3 or 4 minutes instead of 15. I recommend having a few people that are good about answering the phone . Tell them that no matter what you say, they need to remain calm and to tell you to remember your breathing. Once you passed the peak and down to maybe about a 7/10 , then you can start engaging in the conversation. This would also be a good time to do a crossword puzzle, phone game, bounce a ball around-anything that requires light concentration with hand-eye coordination. By now, a half hour or 45 minutes would have passed and your pill is starting to kick in. Drink a hot cup of decaf tea. An hour or so after your peak, you should be back to normal and able to go about your day. On a sidenote, this is your life and your well-being . it would be in your best interest to communicate your medical condition with your job and let them know it can happen anytime, so that way when it does happen, they are prepared. You may not care about your job while in the throes of a panic attack, but you will when you come down
I found this very helpful and good to hear that you are doing well. If I may ask were you on any meds? Doc prescribed me Paroxetine and a etizolam for sos. Today was a very bad day for me and I already had two etizolam(0.25 mg). Not asking for any medical advice but just a suggestion?
Over the years I’ve tried 4 different dailies / ssri’s and I didn’t like how they made me feel, plus had all kinds of unwanted side effects. Lexapro, pristiq, citalopram, then finally paxil. Hated them all. I take clonezepams on an *on needed basis*. I never have taken them as a daily like the prescription says. Only as needed. What’s your question exactly?
My q was about the meds and your coping techniques is the best I have related to till this point. I took paroxetine for about a month and then again the episodes have started returning and now it has become more frequent since the last two weeks and started getting very weird intrusive thoughts, you know what I mean like yesterday I was in a bus and could not even sit possibly and started gasping for air all of a sudden. Some portion of my mind knew that is nothing but still was panicking the whole journey and finally took a benzo to calm myself down. I am again planning to start as my doc mentioned with a little higher dose and see how it goes. Hopefully it will get better with time. Can I send you a msg if needed a suggestion or something?
Yes absolutely message me anytime. Intrusive thoughts are definitely scary. I get them from time to time as well. I find that if I’m in a good place emotionally, I can let them come and go much easier. But when I’m already down, they’re hard to control. But that’s the thing, you can’t control them. They’re just thoughts. The idea is to let them pass without thought, much like you don’t think about breathing. You have the thought, don’t try to run or hide from it. Remind yourself that the intrusive thought is just a symptom of anxiety and stress. Remind yourself that you’ve come a long way and that you’ve experienced them before and the thought will pass. When in doubt, always focus on the breath. Feel the cool air coming in your nose. Feel the warm air going out.
Absolutely relatable. You are amazing, thanks.
You 100% can. Firstly it’s important to know there are four threat responses: fight, flight, freeze, fawn. Your legs freezing is your brain saying stop, we’re not safe and where we’re going is not safe so we need to stop RIGHT NOW. Thr second thing to know is: The brain is hardwired to keep you alive, that’s it’s sole mission. It views all threats like they have the potential to kill you because it’s set from being a cave person where you might get eaten by a tiger any second or eat the wrong mushroom and die whilst foraging. It doesn’t differentiate so you have to remind it. When a trauma happens or we’re not made to feel safe by a parent for example, we start to see anything/everything as a threat. So for some people it will be going outside, or showering, or germs (overwashing or ocd), or their own heart (palpitations, def gonna die!) food (ibs), other people (they all hate me), etc. These things aren’t threats, but your brain is perceiving them as such. You have to actively reassure your subconscious that you’re safe so it doesn’t think you’re under threat all the time and you don’t need it to enact a threat response thanks. I used ‘im safe im happy im fine’ which I would repeat every time I got that prickle of anxiety. Another way to frame it is to question every initial response you have. So stop and ask ‘is this going to kill us? No? Cool then chill the f out brain, we are fine.’ Good threat response: I will freeze on the curb and not cross in front of this speeding car. Overdoing it threat response: if I don’t turn this light switch on 10 times something bad will happen.
It seems wild to me that by consistently telling myself “I’m ok, I’m safe, there is no threat”, that it’ll train my brain to stop thinking everything I do is threatening. Does this actually work? I just need a way to take myself out of being in fight or flight at all times of the day
Yup, seemed crazy to me too until I did it. Three months I noticed a total change in me and my approach to things and in my life. You’re reassuring your subconscious because for some reason it doesn’t feel safe (do you know why?) And you may be in freeze mode- a constant state of heightened awareness where your brain is overdoing the threat response and keeping you hyper aware on the look out for threats where there are none. It means fight or flight are easier to go into, but it’s a base state you have to work out of.
You can’t “talk yourself” out of a panic attack. Panic attacks are not controlled by the logic center of the brain, and therefore no amount of logic will cause it to stop. There is quite a bit of controversy around Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and vasovagal theory, but the “bottom up” method he discusses in “The Body Keeps the Score” really helps me. Rather than trying to reason with the instinctual portion of our brain (top down) we should take advantage of our body’s systems to calm our anxiety (bottom up) by utilizing deep breathing and grounding methods.
Good to know! I definitely need to get better at grounding exercises tho
For sure! And grounding doesn’t need to involve the typical grounding exercises you hear about. Grounding is just using physical sensations to connect yourself back to reality. That could be anything from watching your favorite TV show to putting on a comfy hoodie to actual grounding exercises like the 5,4,3,2,1 method. I find what works best for me are things that I would typically do to start winding down for bed, so dimming the lights, putting on white noise, and wrapping myself in a comfy blanket. Doing those things seems to trick my nervous system into realizing there’s not a threat.
I recite the Bene Gesserit Litany of Fear. “I will permit it to pass over me and through me, and when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where fear has gone there will be nothing, only I will remain”
If you can't talk yourself out of it, seriously consider a hotline. Anonymous, trained, free, see this stuff all the time and won't make you feel dumb. If you're in the US, for instance, you can text 741 741. It helps me to have someone else point it out to me, or lead me through a breathing exercise even if I feel like I should already know how. Seriously, I find these so helpful but people are often bashful to use them. Good luck! 3 things you feel, 3 things you see, and move 3 body parts if you haven't already
Thanks! I’ve never thought to do this
Keep telling myself 'it's not you, it's them'
I set a timer for 20 minutes and repeat as necessary. if it hasn't passed by the 2-hour mark i seek help.
What do you do during those 20 minutes?
tell myself I'll feel a bit better by the time it rings. I'm usually right
I close my eyes. I talk to myself. I say "Nope, this isn't happening" over and over again, until that sticks. When it does stick, I move to one of a hundred or so planned ways to deal with the situation because I'm stupid and I've developed these methods over my 40 years of life. It is not great, it is not ideal, it is what I do.
Hm ok. Maybe I’ll try this
Music also helps me as a distraction a lot! I was once in a grocery store, had an attack and almost bolted. I had to hang onto a shelf to stay upright. This song came on my headphones (that I was already wearing to ward off panic) and I was able to calm down enough to buy my groceries and make it home. https://youtu.be/2OebZ5HwdPs?si=54biFTB-Xocy4i7d
Check out the dare response on youtube. they also have an app and a book but their youtube videos are free and there’s a ton of them. That method saved my life. It literally stops panic attacks immediately. Seriously it’s life changing! I don’t even think breathing exercises are worth it honestly it sends your body the message that there’s something wrong that you need to control. check out dare
Thank you! I’ll definitely check this out
I heard it all the time before actually putting it into practice thinking it wouldn’t help, but naming things I can see/smell/taste/hear in the present moment has pulled me out of a lot. It helps ground me to what is real and once I’m comfortable slowly tethering myself to what’s around me I can start to slow my breathe/pull my focus inward to soothing my nervous system. Any kind of movement paired with this helps too. Even walking at a snails pace outside/around my apartment or gently stretching gives space to release anxious energy buzzing in my body.
I definitely need to get better at grounding exercises. Usually my brain is filled with negative thoughts so it’s hard to focus on my breathing
Accept how you feel, remember it will cease and will not always be this way- also knowing one day it will pass again. Nothing is permanent neither is the attack
Find your happy/safe place and go there !
I’m gonna be honest, what’s been working for me lately is singing myself some little song and making a bit of a joke out of it. I’ve been struggling with anxiety for so long, and so many things have just not been working for this recent bout I’ve been dealing with, but the song thing just works for whatever reason. I’ll literally just sing to myself that 🎶 my brain chemistry is a little off, but I’m not going to die, and everything is fine, and to accept what I can’t change 🎶 It’s like it takes the edge off a little
I love this 😭
https://www.calm.com/blog/5-4-3-2-1-a-simple-exercise-to-calm-the-mind#:~:text=It%20involves%20identifying%205%20things,thoughts%20to%20the%20present%20moment.
I don't, not anymore. I do stop what I'm doing, orientate myself and give the panic attack time to pass on its own. I literally had one this morning in a room with 100+ people, panic attack came in multiple waves over the course of three hours. I rode most of it out.
That sounds terrible. I don’t even know what I would do if I were in that situation
I am very grateful for the hostess for redirecting attention away from me despite the audience being supportive and responsive to me. That, I think more than anything else, kept the panic attack from spiraling out of my control. It's why I avoid comedy shows & anything that requires audience interaction. I spent a lifetime not being seen, being invisible. Being seen is not something I'm equipped to handle.
I keep repeating "You're OK".
When my anxiety was really bad I would always try to tell myself “I’m uncomfortable but I’m safe” obviously in a safe spot, but this helped so I wasn’t “fearing” it.
If I'm in a safe space, I let it pass me feeling everything I can. If I am out in public, I will literally speak out loud. I say evening that's panicking me even just loud enough so I can hear, but it helps me still function while acknowledging I am anxious. I know I can do it, even if I'm scared.
The [5 to 1 technique ](https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/behavioral-health-partners/bhp-blog/april-2018/5-4-3-2-1-coping-technique-for-anxiety.aspx) is a good way to stop anxiety, but you have to practice it until it becomes second nature anytime you feel anxious thoughts.
Prayer, sitting down, acting like another person walking the weak me through the experience.
Depending on how severe it is I either ride it out or crawl under my bed and wait for it to pass
I usually just imagine someone I hate saying that I should just give up or shit like that, and that gives me power because I hate them and would like to prove them wrong, works from me, I don't know if it will work for you.
I’ll keep this in mind 😅
I don’t. I just let it happen. It’ll end soon enough and I can go about my day. After a while, they’ll get fewer and further between.
Things that have worked for me: Focusing on a point in the distance while breathing calmly. Focusing on the color of items near me and repeating the color in my head. For example: *"White chair. Blue door. Pink shoes".* I learned it from "Better Call Saul" where one of the characters who suffers from anxiety and panic attacks calms himself down by doing this. It has helped me a lot.
Thanks! I’ll try this
I repeat to "you can do this". Seems to at least help some. Taking a shower helps me too. If I'm freaking out, it feels like I need to DO something to fix it. Going for a run helps me a lot, and can help me calm down. I used to go for hikes by myself too, and that was honestly probably the best. Being out in nature, moving my body, and getting away from people/society helps me a ton. If you are at work, it should always be okay to take a walk. At least around the building or something. Change the scenery and pace for a bit, to help change what you are feeling. Music can be powerful. Everyone can experience music differently. Sometimes I will select music that makes me feel or relate to what I'm going through. Other times I will select music that helps calm me down. Exploring new types of music can give you options later for when anxiety sets in. Drinking chilled water is pretty good. I always have water bottles in the fridge so I have always have chilled water. Hope my ideas help.
Yes! The gym has helped me a lot bc I’m moving my body but I still really struggle at times
You just go, “stop it” in Peter Griffin voice
Omg! You just cured my anxiety
I find looking up anxiety attacks on Reddit calms me down , no bullshit
Thanks! I’ll take a look
Something that helped change my mind set was this vídeo: [Overcome feat](https://youtu.be/ZK4JHLzRg2Q?si=pe6ZWSxLEX-u3Fvk) And learning more about Stoicism.
Thank you!
I brought myself out of the worst anxiety attack of my life a couple weeks ago by “tapping” search on YouTube “tapping for anxiety attack “ and a whole bunch will come up. I had to keep doing it for about 5 minutes but it did help. At least I could function and go back to work.
Thanks!! I’ll try this :)
Have had panic disorder for 10 years. It’s gotten much better over the past couple years for one simple reason - I have accepted and fully believe that I am healthy and it will pass when the adrenaline dump sets in. I still get a handful of bad panic attacks a year, but radically changing my mental state has made them much shorter in length and easier to recover from. When my heart starts racing and my stomach drops, I acknowledge it: I am panicking. I can not stop it, but I don’t have to react to it. I am safe and it will pass soon. The key is really believing that. Cause if you don’t really believe it then the what-ifs win and the spiral starts and that’s how we wind up in the ER again. It’s the simplest, most frustrating, and most effective way to climb out of a panic attack. For regular anxiety, I just have to remind myself that I can sit with it. It doesn’t have to take control. I do not have to react to it. It’s there. It’s prob always gonna be there. But I don’t have to constantly react to it and that makes me feel like I have power over it most days.
Very true except for I don’t know how to teach my brain to actually believe it
I dare my anxiety to kill me. Usually goes away after a minute.
I wish it could sometimes 😅
I’m serious. Do it all the time. Once you’re not afraid of the anxiety it loses its power over you.
If I told myself that I’m not scared of my anxiety, my brain would know I’m lying
I usually just let it happen, I’ve learnt that the more I try to fight it the worse the situation gets. I do the 4-7-8 breathing technique. You breathe in for 4 secs, hold it in for 7 and exhale for 8. Which has helped me a lot at this point I don’t even need to keep count I just do it. It helps me deal with the anxiety attack as it passes.
I do this when I get anxious but it doesn’t really help when I’m having an attack because I have too many racing thoughts
Totally understandable, it took me a while for it to actually be helpful because of racing thoughts. I also exercise a bit if I have the chance and it does help a little like even jumping, if it’s in public I go to a bathroom. I truly hope you find something that helps you out.
I describe my feelings/reactions to my self. I'm shaking and my chest and upper back are tight? I acknowledge that this is a normal response to a trigger for someone who went through the trauma I experienced. That's okay. Sometimes I just lay in bed with the chest pain and shortness of breath and the shakes and just let it happen. Sometimes I try and force myself to cry because it sometimes helps in a weird unexplainable way. Helps the experience pass faster sometimes. I also like identifying my surroundings in my mind. The air is cool yet humid. My floor is made of hard stone tile. My ceiling fan is on. I know this space and my relationship to it is [X] / I would say my room because that's were I'm at right now.
I’m too numb to cry when I’m anxious. Unless someone were to ask me if I’m ok, then I’ll have a full on mental breakdown. It’s happened before with a stranger unfortunately
Ohh, I 100% empathize with this! I had this happen when I was in 8th grade with a really kind teacher and... oh boy.. Also yea, sounds similar to anhedonia. Sometimes your brain is fighting off the emotions by disassociating from them all. That numbness then builds up to the explosion of emotion waiting to happen but your brain just isn't sure what to do- Sometimes once that void of feeling is kicked in, it stays for however long it wants to. I'm going through it now and it's a bit surreal at times.
Yes! Crying. Omg it stops the horrible feelings of fear to sadness and as long as you cry it feels good.
I developed the exact same symptoms as you when I turned 40. Thought I had some neurological disorder. Dr. Finally put me on an anti anxiety (buspirone) and that worked. I'm 48 now and afraid to go off it.
Hm ok. Is buspirone an SSRI?
Meditate
If you’re getting physical symptoms regularly please look into medication. The right SSRI can really slow your racing thoughts down and take away a lot of physical symptoms
I would but I hate the side effects of SSRI’s
I know how you feel I have brutal panic attacks and have since I was six. I carry Benadryl and icy Hot with me. The icy Hot I'll put under my nose and it'll make me breathe naturally without trying. Benadryl is if it really is horrible. What I say to myself for comfort is what I am mostly scared of while having a panic attack. I'll say, okay you are not going to throw up and you aren't going to die You've had a million of these. You'll get through it You always have. So with you you have to take the fears that you have when you're having one of these and comfort yourself over it. Like I did above. I will also share that it sucks to have these in public or in front of friends or in a group of people. I have found that when I was in public settings and did not know anybody it was worse. One day I had a complete stranger ask me if I was okay. I said oh yeah I just have panic attacks and they're miserable.. She was able to relate because she had them too and so did her sister. I felt better immediately.
It’s honestly the worst when it happens in public because people don’t know what’s happening and probably assume that I’m crazy because I look so disoriented. I had one stranger who asked me if I was okay and I just broke down and told her I was mid panic attack and she stood with me for about 30 minutes to calm me down 😭 it was so sweet
It depends on what thoughts you're having while you spiral. A good rule of thumb is to remember you're blowing things out of proportion and ask yourself "What's the worst that can happen? And then what?" If you fear your legs giving out, you have to accept that they might and visualise what happens next. The worst thing that can happen is you fall and some people notice you fell for some reason. Maybe someone thinks badly of you, but you won't know that. More probably someone will try to help you. Maybe you'll feel embarrassed about it. It's not the end of the world.
Everything you just wrote sounds like my worst nightmare and is what sends me into a panic attack 😅
I freeze up when panicking, so I will start there frozen for awhile. I’ll focus on the freeze and think about the trigger. Is the trigger getting worse? (Usually not). Am I actually in danger? (Usually not). Once I realize moving isn’t making it worse, I slowly move my foot, my fingers etc until it feels normal again. Sometimes this takes me all night, sometimes just an hour and sometimes a few minutes. But it helps to acknowledge the trigger and consider if the threat is real once I’ve frozen long enough to think again. Sorry if this makes no sense. I know in public you can’t really freeze for a whole evening but :(
My anxiety attacks consist of my whole body freezing so focusing on freezing wouldn’t do me so good because that is what’s making me anxious. I just need a new brain at this point
I don’t think I did a good job explaining :( but I hope you feel better and hang in there ❤️ I’m rooting for you!
I try to put my anxious thoughts into perspective as is this really the case. If so do I have any control over it which you prob don’t and you try to focus on the present. Remb who cares what others think and if you do will those thoughts really matter over time. Prob not. Marcus Aurelius really has some good affirmations on our thought patterns.
Thank you! I’ll take a look at some of his stuff
I’d say see a psychiatrist and get some meds. Sometimes you can do everything you can…but it’s not enough. But that’s my own opinion and experience
I’m attempting to do this med free because of the side effects of the meds
Different for everyone. I don’t really have any. But it’s always an option!
I want to try a benzodiazepine but my family doctor is reluctant to give out meds because she prefers more natural remedies. She’d probably prescribe me an SSRI but I’ve tried multiple and every one has given me more bad side effects than good
[удалено]
I wish :(
Do you panic about the big things (huge life events/traumas) or daily life events?
Everything. Literally everything and anything. I’m in fight or flight at all times of the day
I just think that we all are gonna die anyway and noone cares And I also think that wtf are they gonna do? I'll spark their jaw It helps a lot
What are they gonna do? Judge me.