Panic Attacks?

[Inkedkitten]

If anyone suffers from them or has suffered from them is anyone able to tell me how to deal with them?

Thanks alot

[linni]

I am a sufferer too. I try to just stay calm and sit down if I can (or I fall down!). I like to be left alone and not anyone panicking around me. I can't breath so I try to breath slowly and control it as much as possible. Awful thing to have and I feel for you. Hope it improves. Has your Doctor given you anything for it?

[red]

try meditation - doing it regularly helps keep you centred. also, try to work out what the triggers are...then you are more likely to approach situations with a little more preparation.

hope it works out for you xx

[LADY_A]

hi, may i first suggest going to your gp if you haven't done so already.
second, a paper bag does wonders, it helps regualte your breathing/oxogen levels, so breathing in and out of one helped me.
third, are you getting any support? do you know the 'trigger' of your attacks?
it could be a colour/smell/sight. its hard to reconise at the time, but think back to every attack..is there anything consistant in any of them? ie.. i was in a crowded supermarket/shopping center or it could be a pressure thing ie had to speak in a meeting/give a speach type of thing (pressure)
i tried cbt therpy for mine, but can only say that medication worked best for me. everyone is different.

[suep]

Im another sufferer, it's usualy crowds that set me off, I try to take some slow deep breaths but Ive heard of the brown paper bag thing and would like to try this although I would probably feel even more anxious about having to do it in the middle of a crowded supermarket. I dont want to use more medication than Im already on .

[tamsin1982]

you wouldnt believe how many people suffer with these, people that have never had one really dont understand how awful they can be :(

like the others have said is you need to find what triggers it for you, so you can start to deal with it.

ive always managed to talk myself back to normal cos i know there is no reason for me to be panicking.
when facing a new challenge that makes me anxiuos i find being with someone i trust a great help

[Purchaseruk]

I started with a panic attack on a sunday night that stressed me out so much that it just continued with ongoing anxiety till it reached the stage I couldn't sleep as I couldn't breathe properly & so the vicious cycle continued. I finally went to my GP who ran blood tests to rule out anything else & also had an ecg. I knew work was stressing me out amongst other things, so I managed to get a week off for a break & see if that helped. The doctor thought it could be depression, but I really didn't think it was that.
For me a combination of S.A.D setting in, stress, alcohol at night, caffiene (incl decaf!) & lack of sleep all seem to trigger me into ongoing anxiety. I've had to cut out all caffiene (even including any pain pills that contains it!), not drink much alcohol (at night time anyway!), listen to a bunch of relaxation music in the evenings to create a calm environment, get into a night-time routine of logging off the internet by 10pm, getting ready for bed & going to sleep around the same time each night. I also take st johns wort for the S.A.D, which I think helps me out during the winter months...
I've also taken steps to try to minimalise as many stressful factors at work as possible........and so far I've been rewarded by feeling 'normal' again :j

I was speaking to an ex who also went through similar symptoms & his doctor just gave him a bunch of pills to take for a month or so that seemed to take care of his anxiety.....however my doctor never once mentioned any such pills.

[KittyBoo]

I suffer from these too.
The brown paper bag technique works and also just slowing your breathing down (I know it's easier said than done when you think you are going to choke)
I unroll my polo neck and cover my nose with it just to try and gain some control.
I rang the local mental health team and the sent me some booklets about panic attack, stress and anxiety.
I have tablets from my Dr for an emergency and I think I feel less anxious cos I know I have got them.
Try and distract yourself if you feel one coming on - do a crossword or anything to take your mind off it.
Good luck in learning to cope with them.

[belfastgirl23]

I found that exercise helped a lot, even just regular walking. Seemed to get me into a good cycle of eating well, sleeping well etc which was overall good for my general health and therefore for my 'mental' health if you want to call it that. But also hypnosis really helped with one specific situation where i used to get panic attacks (flying). I have to say though that I would never put myself in a situation of being part of a big and boisterous crowd even yet :) because this was also one of my triggers - I can cope with busy but not eg football crowd type thing.

It also helped me when I could see that they weren't really something to be ashamed of, a lot of people have them and they aren't just about me being rubbish, they're a part of life unfortunately.

Believe me they can disappear from your life (touching wood as I say this, I need to fly in a few weeks time and am hoping the calm holds :))

[hardpressed]

I've heard that you trying counting to 40 without stopping, if you stop you have to back and start again, I think the idea is to make you concentrate on something else.

[rb1]

The best thing to do is to concentrate on your breathing-take deep breaths in through your nose and exhale through your mouth slowly. (Sounds obvious I know but during a panic attack the tendency is to hold your breath or take rapid shallow breaths, which just makes things worse. ) Concentrating on your breathing in this way though calms the body down and the mind. You may be quite a tense person and just taking time out to practise this sort of breathing during the day or when you go to bed can help too.

[beachbeth]

I used to have these quite badly. They would come on when I was in town, usually in the middle of a shop. I had them at work too though.

I read a book about panic attacks (I do wish I could remember what it was called) and it stopped my panic attacks! I have never had a book help me in this way before.

The main things it said was to remember that a panic attack is just a feeling and nothing more. You may feel as though you are about to faint or have a heart attack, but you won't. It also said not to fight the panic attack as this makes it worse. After reading this book I would think "Ok, Im having a panic attack. I'll try to breathe slowly and carry on with what Im doing until it passes".

The book explained it much better than this and it made a lot of sense. Perhaps you could go to your local library and look at the books on the subject there? If you look up Panic Attacks in the book section of Amazon they have reviews on different books too.

Ive looked on Amazon myself and it may have been this book:

Panic Attacks, What They are, Why They Happen and What You Can Do About Them - Christine Ingham.

[timestar]

I can understand what you are going through. Unless you have suffered a panic attack it is hard to explain to someone else exactly what it is like and how traumatic the experience can be. Personally I often find that a simple breathing exercise (in for 5 secs, hold 5 secs, our for 5) can help a lot, although it can take a while sometimes. I also find it useful to concentrate on a simple, repetitive task for a while to divert my brain until my body has calmed down. Trip to your GP might help, although they might try and fob you off with a prescription for anti-depressants. Exercise also helps me as if nothing else it means I am tired! There is a lot of work currently on using cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and your GP may be able to refer you to someone.

[anniewoo]

I also suffer from panic attacks,I am a very anxious person anyway and am always worrying about something.

This is quite a good sitehttp://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/NMPcms.php?nmppage=default

[alared]

http://www.livinglifetothefull.com/index.php

Excellant site,sign up for free and get on with it NOW

[Inkedkitten]

Thank you all so much for replying, I have been to my GP and he has given me a prescription for a drug called paroxetine, although I am not sure I want to take this and am trying to arrange some counseling.

I only seem to have them in my place of work, a hospital, which I never had before only since I started my midwifery course, so I have tried to avoid the area in which I get my attacks. I am going to go back tomorrow though and try and just get on with it and see what happens. I can't put this off forever and I know if I don't go tomorrow I won't go all week. So once again thanks for all the advice and support, I hope that tomorrows cloud has a silver lining.

[shaven-monkey]

If the panic attacks are set off by a phobia (of crowds for example) then you may gain some benefit from finding an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) practitioner.
A good one can pretty much cure phobias Even a fairly bad one can reduce the severity of a phobia.

Best to eliminate any organic causes for the panic attacks first by visiting your GP.

[beachbeth]

Paroxetine (might be better known as its brand name of Seroxat) is a similar drug to Prozak. If your doctor has given it to you I would definitely try it (especially as you are trying to cope with your attacks at work). I am on paroxetine too and it has certainly helped me and isn't addictive. I used to have very bad pms and I no longer get this now Im on paroxetine. Don't worry about taking an anti-D. They are much better nowadays than they used to be years ago and won't make you fuzzy headed or anything.

[Sausagecat]

I was off work for six weeks once in an awful state with panic attacks and a constant feeling of anxiety. I found help with the www.livinglifetothefull.com (http://www.livinglifetothefull.com) website too. Its CBT from the Scottish NHS if I remember correctly. Once I realised that there wasn't a magic wand that would take it away, I focused myself and put a lot of thought into my problems and the thought cycles that caused it. Going back to the cause of the panic (work) was hard but I got through it with a little help from my GP too. I have since had counselling from the NHS (its a long waiting list) and I have to say that I think the literature and courses on the livinglifetothefull website were better than the reallife counselling.

[MsChazzer]

I've had anxiety and panic attacks for years but Prozac controls them brilliantly, that's obviously a personal thing though. One thing that really helped me was a book called The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anxiety-Phobia-Workbook/dp/1572244135/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232027438&sr=8-1). It's got a chapter all about what happens to your body when you have a panic attack and how you won't die/go crazy/all the other things you think will happen. Now I know those things it helps me to calm down quicker.

Sometimes you have to try a few different things before you find something that works for you, but keep trying!

[o2brich]

Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth as a previous person said definitely also used to help me during a panic attack but what I found to be the most helpful was reading a book by Dr Claire Weeks called 'Self Help for Your Nerves'. I know everyone copes with panic attacks differently but something just clicked for me when I was reading the book and it was the beginning of me learning how to cope with them in a different way so I did not make them worse. I still now years later sometimes pick the book up and have a little read of it when I'm feeling a bit panicky.

[beachbeth]

I found the Claire Weeks book helpful too. I would recommend that one.