scooby
15-11-05, 16:50
Suffer from Panic Attacks? Fed up? Want to do something about it?
Follow this advice and it should help:-
A- Alcohol – reduce your alcohol intake, try stopping drinking alcohol in the week completely and only drink moderate amounts at weekends. Excess alcohol consumption may cause depression and vitamin deficiencies, which can worsen your panic symptoms.
B- Behavioural - Panic attacks are due to an inappropriate normal physiological response to stress known as the fight or flight response, if you are being chased by a large dog then this response will enable you to either fight it or run away and it is therefore necessary for your survival. In panic attacks, you suffer an inappropriate fight or flight response, i.e. it occurs at the wrong time for the wrong reasons, therefore you need to ‘unlearn’ this inappropriate behaviour pattern – this is fundamental to the success of you self-treating your panic attacks. One way of doing this is as follows:- Make sure you are in a quiet room, relaxed, by yourself and with no disturbances. Then close you eyes and think of a ‘positive’ memory, this can be something from your past that makes you feel happy, something that brings a smile to your face e.g. a time when you were on holiday, a great day out, the time when one of your children was born, the feeling you get after doing a bungee jump, it must be something positive that brings back good memories. Build up a picture of this image in your head and keep concentrating on it until you feel happy, keep concentrating on this image for a minute or so. Repeat this procedure several times on several occasions. Now, the next time you are in a situation where you feel a panic attack coming on (your heart will be racing, you may feel lightheaded etc.), you need to immediately think to yourself, ‘I’m Going To Stop This’ and quickly focus your mind and switch to thinking of the ‘positive’ memory. Keep concentrating on this ‘positive memory’ until your feelings of panic settle, Do Not concentrate on your panic symptoms, instead keep your mind focussed on the ‘positive’ memory. This is a difficult thing to do, but you need to do this every time you get your panic symptoms. The more you do it, the easier it will become until it becomes second nature. You will then be ‘unlearning’ your inappropriately activated fight/flight response and replacing it with a healthier more normal response. Eventually over time and with practice, when faced with a panic attack provoking situation, your body will no longer automatically have a fear response and you will instead have a calmer more relaxed response.
B- Bananas - These contain a source of serotonin, which may act as a sort of natural antidepressant, which can help with panic attacks as well as other conditions such as depression and generalised anxiety disorder. As well as making you feel good, bananas also release energy slowly over several hours, which will make it easier for you to reduce your caffeine intake, and they will also make it easier for you to stop smoking. Try eating 3 bananas per day – 1 for breakfast, 1 mid-morning and 1 mid afternoon – if you can’t eat the fruit, then try banana milkshakes. The positive effects of bananas should become evident within as little as a week.
C- Caffeine – Reduce your caffeine intake, try drinking tea/coffee/coke only when you get in from work, or each time you have normally have a full cup, try just having a half cup. Decaf is ok, but still contains small amounts of caffeine – so check the label. If you suffer side effects when you don’t have caffeine then it is because you are addicted to it – you didn’t have caffeine withdrawal headaches when you were a child before you started drinking caffeine did you? Caffeine gives an energy boost, but this is followed by a drop in energy levels which will make you want to drink more. A gradual reduction in your caffeine intake will mean there are less caffeine molecules circulating around your body – excess numbers of these molecules can contribute to and worsen your panic attacks.
C- Cigarettes -
Follow this advice and it should help:-
A- Alcohol – reduce your alcohol intake, try stopping drinking alcohol in the week completely and only drink moderate amounts at weekends. Excess alcohol consumption may cause depression and vitamin deficiencies, which can worsen your panic symptoms.
B- Behavioural - Panic attacks are due to an inappropriate normal physiological response to stress known as the fight or flight response, if you are being chased by a large dog then this response will enable you to either fight it or run away and it is therefore necessary for your survival. In panic attacks, you suffer an inappropriate fight or flight response, i.e. it occurs at the wrong time for the wrong reasons, therefore you need to ‘unlearn’ this inappropriate behaviour pattern – this is fundamental to the success of you self-treating your panic attacks. One way of doing this is as follows:- Make sure you are in a quiet room, relaxed, by yourself and with no disturbances. Then close you eyes and think of a ‘positive’ memory, this can be something from your past that makes you feel happy, something that brings a smile to your face e.g. a time when you were on holiday, a great day out, the time when one of your children was born, the feeling you get after doing a bungee jump, it must be something positive that brings back good memories. Build up a picture of this image in your head and keep concentrating on it until you feel happy, keep concentrating on this image for a minute or so. Repeat this procedure several times on several occasions. Now, the next time you are in a situation where you feel a panic attack coming on (your heart will be racing, you may feel lightheaded etc.), you need to immediately think to yourself, ‘I’m Going To Stop This’ and quickly focus your mind and switch to thinking of the ‘positive’ memory. Keep concentrating on this ‘positive memory’ until your feelings of panic settle, Do Not concentrate on your panic symptoms, instead keep your mind focussed on the ‘positive’ memory. This is a difficult thing to do, but you need to do this every time you get your panic symptoms. The more you do it, the easier it will become until it becomes second nature. You will then be ‘unlearning’ your inappropriately activated fight/flight response and replacing it with a healthier more normal response. Eventually over time and with practice, when faced with a panic attack provoking situation, your body will no longer automatically have a fear response and you will instead have a calmer more relaxed response.
B- Bananas - These contain a source of serotonin, which may act as a sort of natural antidepressant, which can help with panic attacks as well as other conditions such as depression and generalised anxiety disorder. As well as making you feel good, bananas also release energy slowly over several hours, which will make it easier for you to reduce your caffeine intake, and they will also make it easier for you to stop smoking. Try eating 3 bananas per day – 1 for breakfast, 1 mid-morning and 1 mid afternoon – if you can’t eat the fruit, then try banana milkshakes. The positive effects of bananas should become evident within as little as a week.
C- Caffeine – Reduce your caffeine intake, try drinking tea/coffee/coke only when you get in from work, or each time you have normally have a full cup, try just having a half cup. Decaf is ok, but still contains small amounts of caffeine – so check the label. If you suffer side effects when you don’t have caffeine then it is because you are addicted to it – you didn’t have caffeine withdrawal headaches when you were a child before you started drinking caffeine did you? Caffeine gives an energy boost, but this is followed by a drop in energy levels which will make you want to drink more. A gradual reduction in your caffeine intake will mean there are less caffeine molecules circulating around your body – excess numbers of these molecules can contribute to and worsen your panic attacks.
C- Cigarettes -