How I got over a panic attack

[lior]

I had a panic attack today. First in ages.

Trigger was my mum's friend hugging me and saying something like 'you're welcome here any time' - just as I was desperately trying to leave because I was terrified my mum was going to turn up to their house. My mum's friend's mum just died, they're having visitors just turn up. Death - fear of seeing mum who I haven't seen in a year - someone actually being motherly to me - I got into a spin.

Symptoms: uncontrollable gasped breathing, racing anxiety, sobbing, for a while after I got out the door and was walking to the station.

What did I do to get it under control?
- 'This is a panic attack.'
- Figured out why I was panicking.
- 'This is not a current situation. Mum is not here. I have successfully avoided seeing her.'
- 'Don't think about people being motherly right now. You can talk about that in therapy tomorrow.'
- Ate a biscuit. Made my breathing better temporarily.
- When self harm thoughts came up, I thought 'thoughts are not actions - you can choose to not act on these thoughts'.
- Played a game on my phone to distract myself all the way home.
- Shushed myself when I started to get more anxious and not distracted by the game.
- Sang quietly to myself to soothe myself. (Maybe that's crazy to do it in public, but it works.)

Stopped having to soothe myself once I got home in bed with Ben & Jerry's and a film.

Do you do something similar to get your panic attacks under control?

[Carnation]

:yesyes: Well Done Lior.

I also had one today and did similar to you.

1. Reminded myself it was only the Anxiety.
2. Convinced myself that nothing terrible was going to happen.
3. Started singing a song.
4. concentrated on the things around me, rather than myself.
5. Did my breathing exercises.
6. Also had Ice-cream; my favourite Movenpick double chocolate.:)
6. Diagnosed why I was having the attack.

[lior]

That's so similar to me! Clearly our strategies work! Thank you so much for sharing.

[ana]

Well done, Lior! You did a brilliant job getting your anxiety under control! :)

What I usually do is similar to what you did. I remind myself that it's only a panic attack, that it's not going to kill me. Then, I try and regulate my breathing and release my resistance to the panic attack. Basically, I say to myself 'if I'm going to have a panic attack, I'll just let it flow through me'. This usually calms me down. Afterwards, I analyse the situation to identify my trigger.

Again, well done. I loved the 'ate a biscuit' bit ;)

[emily67]

i admit that when it comes to me, the 1 thing i ffiorget to do (all the time), is the self talk. you know.. it's only the anxiety, it will pass, i always forget it

for me it's usually a case of finding somewhere i feel safe, then trying to tel myself jokes. that, or speaking out loud really fast about random things.

music helps too, it has to be enya though. or something like that

[ray.olsen]

Hey

My methods is actually more systematic since I follow a treatment regimen. My initial approach is to try and beat it with my mind. I would settle down, relax, do some breathing exercises and meditate. I would think of calming thoughts and distract myself away from intrusive ones. I would remember all that I have learned from my CBT sessions on how I can shut off self-harm thoughts. Then if that don't suffice I would drink tea or ingest nutritional supplements to calm my nerves, this means that I'm suffering from a higher level of panic. Endoca hemp products would be my first choice since it had worked miraculously for me. Then listen to soothing music and have some aromatherapy. If all that still is not enough only then will I go to my final resort which is medications.

[lior]

Thanks so much for sharing, Ana, Emily and Ray.

I guess we all develop our own best ways for dealing with it, depending on our individual personalities.

Breathing exercises seem to be common - although that's one thing I didn't really do, I just ate something to control my breathing! Another thing that's common is finding a sense of safety.

In that situation I was in, I was very far away from home - I didn't have an option to sit down and feel safe for an hour and a half, so I had to find the safety in myself, and I did that through self soothing: singing to myself and shushing myself like a baby.