When you've had a panic attack,how do you carry on?

[clio51]

hi
So today I had a couple of panic attacks(not had one for while) was in the hairdressers so couldn't escape(so to say) and I just wanted to get out with a urge of tears building up inside of me!

I came home and had a diazepam 2mg which settled me(wether me or diazepam who knows)

Anyway I felt as if I can't sit down and relax because then the thoughts start!
The whys! Well anything really that happened in the panic incident, re running it!
It's like if I start they flood back thoughts thoughts

How do you personally get over yours when you have a bad episode????

[Davit]

Acceptance mostly. Had to think on this since I don't have them any more and the last one
I just ignored.

[Carnation]

Keep reassuring yourself that you are ok and it is just the Anxiety.
Breathing slowly in and out helps to calm you down and stop you from hyperventilating and as Davit says, try to ignore them; I know easier said than done, but it works. If you are really panicky, you can count 1-10 and back until you feel more relaxed. Singing is also good, because that helps with the breathing, even if it is in your head silently and it takes your mind away from the panic.
Another tip. You could make a phone call or text someone, that helps too. :)

[ricardo]

hi
So today I had a couple of panic attacks(not had one for while) was in the hairdressers so couldn't escape(so to say) and I just wanted to get out with a urge of tears building up inside of me!

I came home and had a diazepam 2mg which settled me(wether me or diazepam who knows)

Anyway I felt as if I can't sit down and relax because then the thoughts start!
The whys! Well anything really that happened in the panic incident, re running it!
It's like if I start they flood back thoughts thoughts

How do you personally get over yours when you have a bad episode????

I have highlighted the above as the diazam wouldn't help after a panic attack IMO.

I try and just go with it however horrible and frightening it feels, which isn't easy but never fight it because eventually it stops.

[Davit]

But it would stop the cycling and prevent another one.

[ricardo]

But it would stop the cycling and prevent another one.



It has never in my case,Davit.

The problem with panic attacks (at least in my case) is that they literally come out of the blue with next to no warning.

[Rennie1989]

I tried to carry on as normal. I had a nasty attack after a long spell without them but I still got myself to work that afternoon, because I knew sitting at home wallowing in my self-pity would not do anything.

If it was a quick attack I could get over it pretty easily, but the very worst I've had I needed to sleep for a few hours to recover and ensured that I kept my head distracted. I lost some of my ability to lift my arms up because of the cramps I had mid-attack so I ended up watching TV and sitting about. But, otherwise, I'd keep active, physically and mentally.

[ricardo]

I tried to carry on as normal. I had a nasty attack after a long spell without them but I still got myself to work that afternoon, because I knew sitting at home wallowing in my self-pity would not do anything.

If it was a quick attack I could get over it pretty easily, but the very worst I've had I needed to sleep for a few hours to recover and ensured that I kept my head distracted. I lost some of my ability to lift my arms up because of the cramps I had mid-attack so I ended up watching TV and sitting about. But, otherwise, I'd keep active, physically and mentally.

It is interesting that panic attacks vary in duration and recovery time.

I have literally had attacks when on the toilet and also 10 yards from my front door and that has been so severe I literally crawled very very slowly back to my house, but every time I have always had a pretty long recovery period.
Having said that in the last 15 years I have only remember ever having less than a handful of these attacks but at this present time with everything that has happened recently I am extremely anxious 24/7 and find it hard to concentrate.
I have been writing on NMP quite a lot these past few weeks (anyway,by my standards) mainly to distract myself and genuinely advise others, as I don't want others to make all the same mistakes I have made, if that makes sense to you.

[Soulcatcher71]

I find distraction helps - even though it may not seem like it, the panic attack actually needs your minds concentration to sustain itself.
If you can find some way of engaging your mind in a task where you required your complete attention, the panic attack should disappear.
I remember when I went through a really bad patch years ago and we called out a doctor in the middle of the night - as soon as the doctor came and started asking me questions my panic attack went completely.
It was so embarrassing.

[Davit]

Ricardo, one of my problems with having a mind that works like mine is seeing the whole picture so not explaining.

Over a number of years of study, others and myself I discovered something about benzo's.
If you think panic attacks don't belong and you just want to stop thinking about them benzo's work. This takes taking the benzo and sitting in the chair and relaxing. Letting the focus go elsewhere. There is one line in that post, "whether me or the diazepam". Positive thought. It says she just wants to settle so she can handle it. Her not the pill.

In hospital at my worst I was so negative with so much focus on everything that could cause panic that I did. The benzo didn't work because I kept questioning if it was working, keeping the focus on panic. It took 20 times as much to barely work as it did if I just wanted to calm and handle it on my own, If I just used it to take the focus elsewhere.

So this is why I said it will prevent the next panic when I should have said it will allow her to prevent the next panic.

I have had panic attacks last five hours, and I have has them last two minutes or less. I've had them in the shower. In the library doing what I want to do. When someone I don't know drives into my yard. But mostly at night during transfer from short term memory to long term. None of this happens anymore and I sleep. If I don't it is my fault. Mostly I sleep sound except that If I go to bed at two in the morning I'm still up at eight. What you focus on definitely has an affect on whether you panic and how long it lasts.

[GingerFish]

I tell myself that I have survived and moved on from every other panic attack and that no matter how much I feel like this one wont end, I know it will and I have to focus on that.

Distraction helps and it is useful but accepting that its only anxiety, no matter how scared and terrified you feel is the only really thing that can bring you back down and hopefully prevent more attacks in the future. Its hard though. Its only natural to feel like you should fight against it but thats the one thing that doesn't help.

[ricardo]

Thanks for the explanation Davit.

You are obviously a very deep thinking person.

Are you 100% cured of all your mental health problems. (5 hours for a panic attack, if full blown, seems horrendous)

[Davit]

I would say very close to 100% The last attack I had was very short, I could tell it to go away. Last night I had all the triggers but nothing happened. This was due to strawberries and whip cream very late. But they were so good.

Five hours is exceptionally long and very fatiguing. Most were shorter none under fifteen minutes even at the end, most an hour even with a Benzo. And for a year they happened every night at between two and three in the morning during deep REM sleep. I was afraid to sleep. I started thinking when they happened,"oh shit what did I do to cause this (me)" well it was me doing it. You can not believe how many stupid thoughts were going through my mind last night. Impossibilities, inaccuracies and things that were not right at all. Almost funny. In the bad old days they would have causes extreme terror and today I would be a mess.

As I have said and Rennie said, it is how you see the trigger, not the trigger.

[ricardo]

Strawberries and whipped cream can nearly bring on a panic attack lol .:ohmy: