How to calm down during a panic attack?

[Hazer89]

So I'm currently in the middle of having a panic attack, was bad 5 minutes at been already seem to be calming down.

Just I have bad anxiety already (from my lasts posts I never discussed my panic attacks) I use to have them bad when I smoked weed and thought I was having a heart attack, but having had one in a good few weeks since giving them up and having my tablets from doctor (propolol and sertraline) just now I had a full blown one that made me feel like I was gunna faint.

I don't know if it had anything to do with my partner and her sister having to leave to go hospital (my partner was advised by 111 to go their as she's feeling unwell and 12 weeks pregnant, I could not go with her as looking after my little brother)

Panic attack literally happened as she left and felt so wierd as I haven't had one in ages.

What's the best way everyone deals with them?

[kendra2]

Hi Hazer. The best way to overcome panic attack (at least for me) is to accept it and let your body do whatever it needs to. I tried many techniques to calm my panic attacks (distracting, relaxation, breathing and many others), many of them help me when I needed it but the problem was that in a long term I couldn't see any progress. Then I came across one book which was saying that all these techniques are basically only safety behaviors that will keep your panic attacks alive and you should eliminate them. It looked little bit crazy and scary to me but I tried it anyway. And it worked. More than that. Now when I am in scary situation and I feel panicky, I simply remind myself that it is okay, it's just a fight-flight response out of context and nothing bad will happen to me and I don't try to stop my panic. I simply let my body to do its work. Sometimes when I need get over it quickly I try to make symptoms even worse, I yell at my panic (in my head of course) "is this all you can do? Come on, make me feel miserable!" It might sound that I am little bit crazy but it really works. The moment I truly accept that I am having panic attack and I am okay with it, is the moment when my panic attack starts going away. The trick is to learn that nothing bad will happen to you and all that scary symptoms are absolutely normal body responses but out of context. The more you will try to stop you panic attack, the longer it will stay. It might be helpful to learn what your body symptoms mean, why it is happening, because when you know what's going on you won't freak out so much. I hope this was helpful to you.

[ana]

I agree with Kendra. I've also heard of this method of allowing the panic to do its worse to you because, when you think about it, other than making you feel terrible, what is it that the panic can actually do to you? Make you sweat, make you ill, shake, your heart race, and your mind foggy. That's it. It can'even do that to you for longer than 20 minutes at a time!
Eliminating the fear of fear is the key in beating the anxiety, I think. Saying that, I'd love to practise what I preach, but I must admit that I'm very much afraid of my panic attacks, even after 15 years of this, I fear them, and so I'm still learning how to cope and prevent them from happening. However, I have tried not resisting them on a number of occasions, and have discovered that I was able to bounce back and recover more quickly from the anxiety on those occasions.

[Hazer89]

Thanks to the both of you for your advice. I did know to just keep telling myself it's a panic attack and will go but it's still a lot harder to just accept it.

Had my little brother with me as it's the school holidays and he's staying at mine and felt really faint when it was happening, last thing I wanted was for me to pass out from it.

Read that caffeine is a big suspect so gunna cut the coke out, hoping to not have another one, but will try and put ur advice into motion if I do.

[kendra2]

Yes, it's very hard to accept it. It is like going against yourself or trying to harm yourself. I still have problems with that, but seeing good results motivates me to keep practising it. Maybe regular exercise could help you reduce the risk of having panic attack? And don't worry, you can't pass out during panic attack cause your blood pressure is very high. It is just a very uncomfy feeling of dizziness.

[ana]

Exercise helps me a lot, too. I work out 5 times a week, doing both strength and cardio, and not only does it help release the nervous energy, but it also makes me feel more positive because of all the serotonin in the brain. :)

[gatsby12]

Kendra has good advice. Letting the panic slide is very effective at fighting it off. Trying to resist it sends you into a spiral.