I've experienced the hell that can be panic attacks/high anxiety episodes, and I lived through the other side. I know what people go through and I also know that it's something we can beat if we persevere. It wasn't until I started seeking out more information that I realised just how commonplace panic attacks are-they affect more people than you can imagine, and they can have a devastating impact on your life.
My attacks caused me to lose a job which I adored and almost lose my home through no longer being able to cover the mortgage-I just couldn't face leaving the home. Not too many employers are going to be happy with that, so they fired me and I it was a long dark time before I found another job. I think you'll agree that a situation like that is not good if you are trying to lower the stress levels in your life!
I knew that if I didn't fight back I was going to let these things ruin my life. What good is it to be alive if you are scared to leave your home? I fought back by learning as much as I could about the condition, and applying persistent techniques to help me combat my panic attacks by constant action against them.
It's now been over two years since I had my last attack, and I honestly don't believe I will ever have another. I decided to start this blog to help people who are in a position like I was to help themselves. I hope you find something of worth here.
Panic attacks are something which affect a huge number of people all over the world and have a huge affect on those people’s lives. Most sufferers are unaware however that there are a few techniques and strategies they can employ to lessen their suffering, and even banish the attacks for good.
What is a panic attack?
Panic attacks are a combination of physical and mental symptoms- physical symptoms can include hyperventilating, sweating, vertigo and shaking, and the mental symptoms can include feelings of helplessness, fear of failure, confusion, lightheadedness among others, and are quite often coupled with fear of death or heart attack.
Through searching various resources I found that these six tips were the most effective in combatting my episodes:
Tip 1- Breathe deeply, and breathe slowly- The aim is to breathe into the diaphragm instead of the chest-tricky to begin with but easy enough with practice. Techniques taught in the various forms of Yoga and also singing are perfect for this. You want to breathe in through your nose, concentrating on pushing the oxygen down into your abdominal area, and then slowly pushing it back out through your mouth. The concentration on the breathing will also aid in dispersing the mental symptoms by a simple form of Distraction (See later tip).
Tip 2- Positive Thinking/Subtle Changes to your internal attitudes- These techniques can be very easy to overlook or scoff at but in my own experiences they have proved invaluable. Gentle, insistent repeated phrases internally can do wonders for the psychological impact of a panic attack, and as you get more familiar with using the techniques you may be able to defuse the attacks altogether. Say them to yourself-either in your head or under your breath, whichever makes you feel more comfortable-as you feel the onset of an attack starting. Phrases such as “It’s okay, I’m alright, I know these feelings are not rational or correct, they will be gone soon,” and “These feelings I’m experiencing a not healthy, rational feelings, so I’m going to think about something healthy and more pleasant instead.” Autosuggestion techniques like these proved wondrous for me.
Tip 3- Give the attack a measure of degree as it happens, for example: “Okay I was feeling great but I’m getting stressed out, I’m going up from 1 to 2,” and continue with it as things progress. It’s a good idea to keep these measures between 1 and 10, because then you are saying to your subconscious: “No panic attack can be higher than a 10.” Categorizing and setting parameters in this fashion is a subconscious way of limiting the effect that an attack can have, and it also helps by making us use the part of the brain which is not concerned with emotion-this area is unfazed by these attacks and will help us feel the same way.
Tip 4- Distract yourself- This is something that worked wonders for me and hopefully can do the same for you. You can learn to defuse an approaching attack by distracting your brain into other activities instead. For example my favourite thing to do is to sing, I just love to sing when I’m around the house on my own, so when I felt an attack coming I would put my favourite songs on the stereo and sing along with them, quite often stopping the attack in its tracks. This is not practical for every situation obviously, but distraction can come from any number of sources. I’ve heard that lots of people make up little counting games to distract themselves if they are out in the world and feel an attack coming, for example counting the makes of car they see or keeping count of how many people they see of each hair color and things like that, and there are even people that run through their multiplication tables to distract themselves. The trick is to plan for it before it happens and then always have your distraction technique ready.
Tip 5- Preventative measures-They say attack is the best form of defence, and that’s kind of what I mean here. There are various ways to improve your mindset and hopefully avoid the danger of an anxiety or panic attack altogether. The most obvious and effective of these for the average person are-
- Regular exercise-This increases endorphins (feel good chemical) in the brain, and also burns up excess adrenaline (excess adrenalin can lead to stress/anxiety/panic attacks due to stimulating the brain into overactivity),
- The removal of excess sugars and caffeine from your diet-again, these kinds of stimulants can induce overactivity in the brain and
- SLEEP. Your body needs a good amount of restful unbroken sleep to maintain itself. Don’t deny your body what it needs-everyone feels stressed out if they aren't getting enough rest so don't let that snowball into an attack.
Tip 6- Relax! The best way to avoid/reduce instances of such attacks is to allow yourself to fully relax. I don’t mean veg out on the couch watching the tube, I mean to actually consciously get yourself into a relaxative state. This can easily be done if you know how:
Lie or sit in a comfortable fashion, and close your eyes-don’t squeeze them closed just let them shut naturally.
Picture your body part by part, starting at your toes and working upwards, and for each part imagine the stress/anxiety is washing out of it as you go. This is a good place to try the autosuggestion techniques mentioned earlier, just tell yourself how relaxed you are beginning to feel as things progress.
As you move from body part to body part, tighten the muscles in each area for a second or two before slowly relaxing them-this should really help you notice the tension draining.
As you begin to feel more relaxed, imagine that you are in your favourite place or somewhere you have always wanted to be (lying on a Caribbean beach is popular!). After ten minutes in this state, work through the process backward to bring yourself back gradually from the hyper relaxed state.
A combination of these tips and other techniques helped me make the difference I needed in my life and get rid of the panic attacks for good. I hope they can do the same for you!
I will be posting more of my discoveries and experiences over the coming weeks, leave a comment if there is anything specific you would like me to cover.
Gill
Click here if you would like to know more about techniques which allowed me to beat my panic attacks
