View Full Version : just managed to come out of a panic attack
Hi folks, just wanted to share my experience with you to see if it gives fellow sufferers any help.
I have been suffering recently with anxiety attacks, three quite bad ones two of which resulted in me visiting the A&E dept of the local hospital. Both times i was sent home after tests being told it was an 'anxiety thing'
Today after feeling tired and a wee bit short of breath i went into another one..short of breath, pounding heart, heavy feeling in stomach and chest, pins and needles and sickly feeling. I got up and walked around trying to convince myself i was ok. I breathed into a brown paper bag for around 20 minutes. I also called nhs24 (helpline) and spoke through my symptoms with the nurse. After around 20 minutes or so of sheer hell and panic, it has now gone and i feel much calmer.
This is a big step for me in recovering because physcologically i feel i can ride it out without rushing out thinking that i am seriously ill.
I have some diazepam which i can take (have tried to avoid taking them) but dont now feel the need to.
I dont feel embarresed about the trips to A&E because i needed to know that physically there is nothing wrong. I am now going to visit my gp and ask for some more councelling to get to the cause of the anxiety.
I highly recommend having a brown paper bag! (20 mins use at least)
I hope that this might help anyone going through the same sort of thing.
Robert:yahoo:
Robert well done, thats great. You faced the fear and got through the panic, and the feelings we go through in the middle of a panic are awful so what an acheivment. keep going, small steps!
Mirror image of mine I have had all above and a few little episodes I have not conquered one like you have well done I will be getting some brown paper bags and going to my doctors tommorow to ask for counselling
Cheers Cathy and St George..
The brown paper bag was strange, didnt see how it could work but gave it a try (had picked one up recently in a grocery store). Whilst breathing into it i felt like i wasnt getting a good breath but stuck with it. When i eventually took the bag away it was like i was breathing pure fresh air and lots of it and it seemed to have got me back to normal. Still feeling calm :)
(Ps the nurse from NHS24 advised me to throw away my home bp monitor which i told her i constantly use!)
Robert
Robert i agree with the nurse! i developed high bp last year and the doc advised me to buy one to keep a check on it and at first it was a bit obsessional, but now i do it only very occasionally and its gathering dust on a shelf so i think ill give it back! Its all part of the constant looking inside of ourselves..we become very insular and forget that theres a whole world out there going on around us. Life doesnt have to revolve around how we are feeling every second of every day.
And when we can get to grips with that we'll be on the right road...:D
...Oh and yes, the paper bag thing really does work. I was told this many years ago and have tried it in the past successfully. Its because anxious ppl dont breath so deeply...we hyperventilate and this causes many probs with breathing and heart-rate etc. The paper bag redresess the balance.
Hi Robert, it's great to share your success here. I also find a paper bag really useful for hyperventilating. Well Done!
Hiya Robert,
Thanks for writing the post, again another mirror image, like yourself i have the diazepam but really dont want to thake them, i was just wondering if they do help you in an attack??? could you let mee know ... Thanks
POLLY
Hi Polly, just in case robert doesnt come back online for a while i thought id try and answer your question if thats ok. Yes diazepam does calm you down in a panic, and usually the docs give it to people to take as and when needed. They act quite quickly and are also usually pescribed for things like fliying. Alot of people have them on 'standby' but try to see if they can get through a panic without them.
Hope this helps
Cathy xxx
Hiya
Thanks for your reply cathy, i do have a few diazepam in a box some 2mg and some 5mg, ive only needed to take 2 tablets in the last 6 months but it was for sever back pain not my panic and anxiety. I will make sure i take them with me when i go on my hols next week (feeling very aprehensive about it).
Thanks again for your help
POLLY
Hey Polly,
As Cath suggested, i have the diazepam on standby and have taken one in the past. They definately do help to calm you down. My delight last night was being able to cope with the attack without the need to take one and im still feeling good. I feel that its a step towards a 'phsycological victory'
I hope this helps :)
Robert
Hi Robert,
Im so pleased you managed to ride through the attack, reading your posts i now dont feel so scared of them, before when i had them i really thought i was dying i cant describe the feelings though im sure you know exactly what im on about. I also intend to carry a paper bag with me, ive never tried it in an attack. Many thanks again for your advice robert, Heres hoping we can all beat this awful thing.
POLLY
soothiechins
23-07-08, 14:04
Hello Robert and everybody.
just joined the forum and obvioulsy, many mirror images of my own symptoms are discussed here which made me sign up and post my own experiences and anxiety attacks.
i'm male, 41 and i've been having bouts of panic attacks almost every week for the past month or so and randomly in the past year, etc. i must point out that i have IBS and react quite badly to gut attacks (bloating makes me breathless, pushes and presses against the rib cage and fire up the heart beats). at that moment i'm panicking, starting to feel dizzy, un-balanced, sweating and afraid that i'll faint or worse. about every year i get to the A&E after such attack when i cannot cath my breath back and my heart beats are rushing through for several minutes.
last episode was in June when (funnily) i drove 20miles to the nearest A&E as i was sure i had a heart attack. they've monitored me, ECG, blood tests, etc and after 2 hrs they said i'm ok, heart ok, test ok, just to chill out and relax.
I wore a 34hrs heart monitor, resulted in some skipped beats and arythmia and strangely enough increased heart beats at random moments of the day: when i sit on the couch, watching TV, driving, sitting on the train, reading, moving from one side or the other of the bed, going up a flight of stairs, etc. the GP sent me to a cardio, had exercise test and the spec told me i'm fine and the problem is in my head!
The cardio and the GP couldnt say why my heart is flaring up for no reason (So, how would i find out???)
Therefore, my GP put me on Bisoprolol 1.25mg/day but i still have the almost daily panic flare.
last one was this morning, in the restroom. i hadnt had a brown bag but i cupped my hands over my face breathing in and out my own air for about 5min. i took also on the spot a bisoprolol and after 5-7min. i could breath better - heart still pounding, though - but able enough to go back to work. still, i feel weak and dizzy and almost ready for another attack...
I would really like to learn to be really able to go through these situations and cope with anxiety as i feel frightened and embarassed especially when in public.
many thanks.
Soothiechins
I know how you feel - I now breathe in and out of my cupped hands when I feel like this - I hate the breathing thing and also feel trapped and hot and dizzy and faint- hang on in there - the thingis we are all told to face the fear and never run from it coz it narrows your life down to nothing.Wenjoy x
Well done! It seems like you handled it text book style, so you won't fear them anymore hopefully!
Hi reading your posts is like reading about myself ....ive had panic attacks on and off for yeears but last few months got worse and worse till i was in such a state last Fri I had 2 call a doctor as I felt i was cracking up .I have also got agorapobic as I go faint and dizzy whenever i go out and get Jelly legs as if my legs will collapse beneath me ...fast heartbeat ,sweating feeling like i need the loo,shaking ,inside trembling tingling all over .Im seeing a councellor and understand that they are false feelings and will eventually pass but find it very hard 2 remember that when im going through it and as I have many each day i am physically drained ..im on citalopram and now have Diazepam incase I have a bad episode again .
Any advice on howi can get myself out of this xxxxxxxxx
Hope everyone is doing well xxxx
Hi folks, so glad to hear that my post seems to have helped :)
Since the night that i rode out the panic attack ive not had another one. I'm confident that if/when i do i can do so again. It took me a while to be convinced that the paper bag would work because as you will know you are so terrified during one and convinced somethings wrong you just want so run for help. But with the advice of the nurse on the NHS helpline (telephone) who had access to my medical file (see first post re A&E visits) and so was able to REASSURE me that it was anxiety i gave it a whirl and it worked. She was a very calming influence. She told me that You need to do it for a good 20 minutes. When i put the bag down it was honestly like breathing pure air again and back to normal. This has given me a physclological boost and lets face it thats what most of us need as it all seems to be phsycological.
The other thing i should mention is that i seem to get the attacks a couple of days after a night out drinking. Lesson there to be learned for me i think! Im gonna calm that side of things down for a few months!
titchjd...I think that meds can help some folk in the short term but the most important thing is to understand and convince yourself that actually your ok and get to the bottom of the cause of the anxiety. Riding out an attack has helped me to do this.
Best of luck to everyone.
Robert
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