Yesterday I had what was almost a full blown panic attack while in the car on my way to my parents house. It seemed to come out of no where, and despite been aware that it can't hurt me I still continued to freak out, and had to pull over.
I can usually manage my anxiety but sometimes when something like this happens it really knocks me and I'm left feeling helpless. I was wondering if anyone had any tips for how to calm down in situations like the above?
I usually do breathing exercises when I'm worked up and they usually calm me down. Another I find that works is occupying myself such as singing along/listening to music.
I study medicine/science at university so logically I know it can't hurt me and physiologically I know what's happening, but some how anxiety always gets to me and I let it take over. I just wish I was stronger and I didn't let it bother me so much.
Something that really calms me down is listening to meditations on YouTube for anxiety or panic. I do these every night when lying down to sleep in sometimes during the day. They completely relax my mind, body and symptoms. I know you do breathing exercises and there’s one called mindfulness breathing guided meditation 10 minutes which is great because it tells you exactly what to do and how to take control in a calm way. Have you heard of the book called mindfulness? Many people on this site or reading it and it’s definitely worth picking up. I wish I was stronger to but I have never been my entire life so it’s always something I have to deal with. It’s like any other chronic condition that we have to manage. I stopped taking life so seriously because that brought on too much anxiety. I also learned to enjoy the simple things in life every day rather than worry about the future. I do hope you feel better 🌸🌸🌸
Can't say that I am great at coping with these situations myself. I tell my self it's not anxiety, its excitement. The feelings are similar for both but one is a negative emotion and one is a positive emotion. Being exited has the same physical effects like heart racing and so on. So I would say to my self I am excited to be driving to my parents' house because they have cooked a great meal for me. Telling yourself that you are happy can trick yourself into actually feeling happy and the adrenaline rush passes more quickly. Although you still feel it doese not feel as bad. I also try to enjoy the trip and not making it into "I have to get from point a to b and now the light is red." I try not to think about the distance I have to travel or the time. I look at the scenery and think, "hey a new restaurant, perhaps I should check it out." When it all goes to crap regardless I start doing math problems in my head to keep my logical brain active. I am odd that deep-breathing does not help me. I do anything to stay distracted from the feelings if they are unbearable. Soon the feelings become bearable then I tell myself "see that wasn't so bad was it."
Do you take any meds to help or can you manage this all with your own methods?
I am very sensitive to meds. I have not been able to get on an SSRI due to severe side effects. If I could find a med that worked I would take it though. I take a low dose of Klonopin that I have been on for years but it does absolutely nothing for me because I built up a tolerance to it and I refuse to up that medication. I am going to try taking magnesium to hopefully turn my anxiety down just a touch more. Getting treated for sleep apnea has also helped me somewhat. So has exposure therapy. I developed agoraphobia. I will force myself out with the goal of going a little further every day. Often when going into a store I will get an attack. What I will do is go in the store until I get uncomfortable. I will then go back to my car in the parking lot until I calm down and then I will go back into the store. I will keep repeating this until my reaction is minimal entering the store. I also use every trick I can think of to stay calm and just like driving I attempt to find interesting things in the store to look at. I try to make everything about wanting to do something rather than needing to do something. I have struggled with anxiety now for 10 years. I have bad times like now but I also have long breaks of years that I am "normal" and can travel across the country by myself if I wanted.
You are an inspiration. My body has basically rejected the different anti deps given out and ive ended up with just anxiety med which i use once at night for sleep and only 1mg in day to keep anxiety in check. I too am now in tolerance with it. I just feel i cannot do what i used to be able to. I expose myself to shops but only certain ones, family meals, sometimes a coffee with friend. But normal life as was is a million miles away. I would love to travel to see friends but cannot do it.
Here is what I've noticed with anxiety, I've had to slowly incorporate things back into my life. It's like your brain is afraid of everything so you need to experience them again and create a better image of the experience when you do. Start small, a lot of people want to do crazy things like take a trip or climb mountains but if you can't go to walmart without having a panic attack, that's going to be aweful difficult. Build yourself from the ground up, get comfortable with the norm again.
Thank you so much for your replies, I've taken them on board. My mother has told me that distraction is something she was taught, to describe everything in the room and distract herself from her own thoughts. That's something I am gonna start trying when I feel my anxiety building.
I have also downloaded a playlist of meditation music which I'm gonna play tonight and see if it helps me sleep better as I've been having trouble with my sleep recently.
When I was 19/20 my anxiety was at its peak and at that point I wouldn't leave the house and I was severely depressed that I rarely left my bed. I also had severe OCD in regards to germs, and illness.
I'm 28 now and I did get myself better by doing little at a time and working my way up to things. I enrolled in college, and I'm in second year university now studying. I have never really taken medication long enough to see its effect because I always stopped after a few days due to the nightmares.
The annoying thing is that I thought I was okay until May last year when I had my first ever panic attack and then my second two days later in an exam at University. It scared me so bad that it took me from May to September to build myself back up little at a time.
Thank you for the tips everyone, I am deffiently going to be taking them on board and I also have an appointment for the doctor next week where I am gonna discuss trying medication to help me cope better.
LOL we are in the same boat but I am fighting this. I worked for years in Baltimore and commuted 165 miles one way. I operated boats in the sea miles offshore without being able to see land by myself. I was reduced to somebody that could not even get out of bed without fear of dying. I trembled at letting my dog out. I got a long way ahead to recovery but I did it before in the past. I come here to learn more and to share what helps me. This sucks and not only do I want to get back to normal but I like seeing other people recover too. I don't have a perfect system, I suffered three panic attacks recently and I had to pause pushing myself but I was back out today. I miss my old life and when I am 100% I have a long list of places I want to see. I don't want to give you an impression that I am doing good or bad. Things could be better but they have also been so very bad in the past.
I use lots of tricks so I panic less. I noticed that the lightheaded anxiety feeling feels exactly like when you wear the wrong prescription glasses. So when I am in a better mood in a comfortable place I will put on a pair of glasses that don't belong to me. When you know why you are lightheaded because it was done intentionally it is no big deal. The idea is simply to experience these feeling without the panic. When I feel lightheaded in another situation I then tell myself "so what, ok, this does not necessarily mean that I will get a full-blown panic attack." We get so sensitive to the physical symptoms of panic attack that when we feel something off it spirals out of control. So when I find myself doing something gets my anxiety up I will try to mimic it when I am more comfortable. The other night I had a resting heart rate of 140 bpm. So I just stood up instead of sitting down for an hour and a half watching TV just to prove that I would not die. When you know it is anxiety I find it easier to handle. The problem is when I doubt and say "what if it is blank this time?"
I also noticed that when I start a project around the house anxiety kicks in. It feels exactly like anxiety I get when standing in line at the checkout at the store. So I performed more projects in the comfort of my home to experience that anxiety. At first, I could only work for 5 minutes at a time. What I linked this anxiety to is what everybody has to deal with and that is patience. From the dictionary "pa·tient adjective 1. able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious." From practice, I now look forward to doing home projects and don't get anxiety no matter how many times I look for the stupid screwdriver I just had that was in my back pocket the whole time. In fact, this is another situation that was anxiety filled but now I am excited to see a project completed. I no longer need to do that mind trick for this task of flipping anxiety into excitement, I am happy at these accomplishments. My hope is to remember this the next time I am standing in a line and starting to freak out. I feel anxious due to frustration and need to be patient, nothing more than that, no rush it's about enjoying the journey.
In the end, everybody is different. What helps somebody else may not work for you. Deep breathing exercises make me so much worst. I start to think was the breath deep enough, long enough, too deep??? yeah, whatever. I distract and try whatever thought process for that situation if I can and soon enough more times than not I find that I no longer feel like I am suffocating and somehow I was breathing all this time just fine without thinking about it.
Anyways I hope this helps. In a way what I am actually doing exposer therapy on my own terms and at the same time coming up with logical thoughts and explanations for later. Take care.