JustJay
10-07-14, 14:56
Firstly, I am a panic attack sufferer, not a medical professional, this post is purely for information and is based on information passed onto me, take it or leave it.
As we all know as fellow anxiety sufferers who may be plagued with panic attacks at our highest points of anxiety. I just thought I'd share this with you all and I have to say it has helped me. Many, if not all, of the websites and information available gives us a series of exercises and coping mechanisms to help during an attack, one idea that is driven home is that slow breathing, ie slowly inhaling into our lungs and abdomen, pause and slowly exhaling, repeating whilst allowing the panic to flow through and out of our bodies.
Ok, here's the shocker, try this, when your relaxed, start breathing as you would on the onset of an attack, continue this for a minute or so. What do you notice, yeah, your heart rate is faster, you feel dizzy, perhaps nausea, sweaty hands, shaky, all of your panic symptoms. To alleviate these symptoms you breath normally and your body returns to relaxed. Basically, deep breathing increases oxygen in the blood, blood pressure increases, your mind picks up the wrong signals, dumps adrenaline and the panic symptoms increase, the real answer to the breathing quandary is to try breathing normally at panic onset, and use distraction to ride out the uncomfortableness. Try it, you've got nothing to lose.
As we all know as fellow anxiety sufferers who may be plagued with panic attacks at our highest points of anxiety. I just thought I'd share this with you all and I have to say it has helped me. Many, if not all, of the websites and information available gives us a series of exercises and coping mechanisms to help during an attack, one idea that is driven home is that slow breathing, ie slowly inhaling into our lungs and abdomen, pause and slowly exhaling, repeating whilst allowing the panic to flow through and out of our bodies.
Ok, here's the shocker, try this, when your relaxed, start breathing as you would on the onset of an attack, continue this for a minute or so. What do you notice, yeah, your heart rate is faster, you feel dizzy, perhaps nausea, sweaty hands, shaky, all of your panic symptoms. To alleviate these symptoms you breath normally and your body returns to relaxed. Basically, deep breathing increases oxygen in the blood, blood pressure increases, your mind picks up the wrong signals, dumps adrenaline and the panic symptoms increase, the real answer to the breathing quandary is to try breathing normally at panic onset, and use distraction to ride out the uncomfortableness. Try it, you've got nothing to lose.