A tip to avoid and control panic attacks

[CA88]

I have been suffering anxiety and panic as anybody who sees me on here may know. Now I attribute a lot of my gradual improvement to taking medication and also changing my attitude.

However there is something I read about, and started doing which really seems to help...

Chew gum!

Simple.. Yes. effective? I think so! Apparently chewing gum causes the production of saliva, which in turn tells your brain you are not under threat and reduces the amount of cortisol in your blood thus relieving some anxiety.

I chew gum pretty much all the time at work which is where I find my anxiety worse.

Give it a go :)

It also stops me clenching my jaw which I had started doing through anxiety!

[Catherine S]

Hi CA88, yes there are numerous 'tricks of the trade' that helps us to calm panic, such as the old chestnut of breathing into a paper bag because this allows the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide to right itself and so calms the panic down. That's the theory anyway although I've never tested it...mainly because I don't carry paper bags around with me!

ISB x

[CA88]

Hi CA88, yes there are numerous 'tricks of the trade' that helps us to calm panic, such as the old chestnut of breathing into a paper bag because this allows the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide to right itself and so calms the panic down. That's the theory anyway although I've never tested it...mainly because I don't carry paper bags around with me!

ISB x

Indeed, but chewing chewing gum is a lot more subtle to the outside world :yesyes:

[Catherine S]

Haha, I agree but chewing gum is also not so subtle-looking on a 61 year old woman :D

ISB x

[Carnation]

What a great tip CA88. I think I have heard this somewhere before.
Thanks for sharing this with us. :)

[Ange1]

I used to suck polo mints...went through loads of them some days! They also helped the blood sugar dips I got from being over anxious x