# Anxiety/Panic attacks!



## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

As anyone who's truely had severe panic and/or anxiety attacks you are fully aware that your brain feels like the photo I posted below! I suffered them on and off for about 5 years back in the mid to late 90's, and it is a very scary and debilitating feeling that can go on for minutes or hours or days, and your thoughts are completely scrambled going 100mph making it hard to think or breathe!

Well fast forward to 2013 and I have not had one in about 12 years and I got help _without medication _ using simple brain exercises & meditation, and I would like to help anyone here who wants it and I am pretty confident I can talk you down from that ledge that I used to be on. 

(YOUR BRAIN DURING AN ATTACK!)


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

Hmmmm looks like so far.............nobody cares. :scratchhead:


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## debster (Dec 17, 2012)

My daughter has social anxiety and OCD. She has made some improvement recently with the help of cognitive behavioural therapy with a psychologist, but she has been housebound for about 6 years. She is 23 years old and not finished high school. I really hope and pray for her to get well enough to finish HS and get into university as I think she will flourish. She is very bright. The stress of her illness is tough on my husband and me on a day to day basis. I also worry about her future.

Is there anything you can private message to me that I can share with her?

Thanks in advance!


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## 2ntnuf (Jul 14, 2012)

I'd be willing to try any technique you have. My panic attacks tend to debilitate me. My mind will lock up and I can't think. Simple math becomes impossible. While I may have had some of this in the past, I never noticed this intensity or longevity of episodes. I would accept a pm as well, please. I am currently using no techniques and don't know where to start.


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

For me when my thoughts were going 100 miles an hour and my heart was racing, I actually took deeep breaths and prayed for God to take me by the hand and calm me down, and I found something to focus on that really calms me which is......rain. So I just kept picturing a nice hard rain and kept telling myself that everything was gonna be alright, and that no matter what I was experiencing at that moment that in the morning the sun still comes up, and the world doesn't stop moving forward just because I'm having a panic attack.


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## ChiGirl (Jan 20, 2013)

Thanks for the advice! I started having these lately and at first I thought I was having a heart attack.

I'm gonna try your technique 

Have you done anything else? I read that snapping a rubber band works, but didn't for me. And I had Xanax but hate that foggy feeling


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

ChiGirl said:


> Thanks for the advice! I started having these lately and at first I thought I was having a heart attack.
> 
> I'm gonna try your technique
> 
> Have you done anything else? I read that snapping a rubber band works, but didn't for me. And I had Xanax but hate that foggy feeling


You're welcome; and I basically try and lay down for a minute and calmy and slowly talk myself down from the ledge, and don't forget to keep taking nice deep breaths to restore oxygen to the brain to help clear your thoughts. I also picture my brain having this gigantic filing system, and so when all my thoughts are racing around during an attack I try and put all those thoughts back in my mental folders one by one.


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## CantSitStill (Feb 7, 2012)

I have had severe panic attacks all my life...didn't know..for a while kept driving to the ER thinking it was asthma attacks. Finally believed the doctors after a real bad one when it jolted me out of my sleep and went to the hosp ER. They thought I was o drugs untill they found the results that I was seriously in a major panic. The problem is..they come out of the blue. There could be nothing wrong and BAM I feel like my heart isn't beating..I'm gonna die! If I try to lay down and relax then I feel my heart is stopping..I pace. Anyway that night in the hospital they gave me an IV of 5mgs of valume. That was 5 yrs ago. I've been on xanax ever since. Half of a 1mg pill in the morning and same in the evening...I don't feel any high or anything but I have had less attacks since. When I do have one I don't wann be touched. A hot bath hearing the water run helps. Just have to talk myself out of it.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

CantSitStill said:


> I have had severe panic attacks all my life...didn't know..for a while kept driving to the ER thinking it was asthma attacks. Finally believed the doctors after a real bad one when it jolted me out of my sleep and went to the hosp ER. They thought I was o drugs untill they found the results that I was seriously in a major panic. The problem is..they come out of the blue. There could be nothing wrong and BAM I feel like my heart isn't beating..I'm gonna die! If I try to lay down and relax then I feel my heart is stopping..I pace. Anyway that night in the hospital they gave me an IV of 5mgs of valume. That was 5 yrs ago. I've been on xanax ever since. Half of a 1mg pill in the morning and same in the evening...I don't feel any high or anything but I have had less attacks since. When I do have one I don't wann be touched. A hot bath hearing the water run helps. *Just have to talk myself out of it.*_Posted via Mobile Device_


You hit it right on the head with what I just highlighted, and I know it works because it has for me at least 100 times and now I am panic free for about 12 years I guess. The key is finding that comfy spot in your mind that let's you know everything is gonna be just fine, and keep on going back there.

P.S. and you are right about no touching during one of these attacks, because most people don't wanna be even looked at or spoken to and need to be left alone for a few minutes to work through it all.


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## CantSitStill (Feb 7, 2012)

My husband has tried to talk me out of a panic attack and I tell him to go away...I can't hear what he's saying..I will pace then grab on to smething to hold me up..sometimes while driving I feel that odd out of body thing and I literally yell at myself out loud to stop it..sometimes have had to pull over. It's awful.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Homemaker_Numero_Uno (Jan 18, 2011)

I used to get these and they were tied to allergies.
Allergy attack can be a lot like a panic attack: shortness of breath, racing heart, sweating, stomach ache. For me once I got my allergies under control these attacks stopped. The panic system is tied into the same system as your allergic response. Controlling stress is one side of the solution, managing allergies is the other side.

Anyhow, it's been nearly a year since my last one hit. 

I think medication is useful in the short term, that is medication that you take daily, because it gives your system a break from the roller coaster of attacks. A chance to really calm itself down and stop it from being on the alert all the time.

There are meds like olanzapine (zyprexa) and quetiapine (seroquel) that low-dose work both as a sedative/antianxiety med as well as an antihistamine. 

I'm in the process of weaning off of these. Springtime will be the test for me, when the crosswinds of birch pollen and dust mites double up for a tempest :-o

I too have been tested for street drugs as as well as poisoning in the ER. Two weeks after I was treated with inhaled steroids for my lungs being filled up with fluid. The fact is, a lot of doctors will confuse allergies with anxiety or even psychotic anxiety or street drug use, so if you have anxiety attacks, it is worth your while to get tested for allergies, just to be sure, because the solution could be easier than you think.


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## YinPrincess (Jul 31, 2011)

Yup. Everyone thought I was "loca" until I was diagnosed with Anxiety and Panic Disorder. Counseling helped, but the meds really do the trick for the physical-escalating symptoms.

I've tried meditation for years... I am no good at it, probably because of ADHD.

I'm glad you were able to resolve these without meds. I hate my meds so I only really take them when absolutely needed. They do work, though. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

Homemaker_Numero_Uno said:


> I used to get these and they were tied to allergies.
> Allergy attack can be a lot like a panic attack: shortness of breath, racing heart, sweating, stomach ache. For me once I got my allergies under control these attacks stopped. The panic system is tied into the same system as your allergic response. Controlling stress is one side of the solution, managing allergies is the other side.
> 
> Anyhow, it's been nearly a year since my last one hit.
> ...


Mine were all brought on when something triggered my thoughts to go wild and jump around like popcorn being popped, and when I lost control of my thoughts and my focus it automatically made me panic and my heart to beat super fast and had shortness of breath.


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## CantSitStill (Feb 7, 2012)

Yeah I call it short circuting in my brain lol but it's scary as hell and it brings on my asthma and my asthma brings on the panic..but for me it's outa the blue..during a crisis I can be perfectly fine..makes no sense..
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

CantSitStill said:


> Yeah I call it short circuting in my brain lol but it's scary as hell and it brings on my asthma and my asthma brings on the panic..but for me it's outa the blue..during a crisis I can be perfectly fine..makes no sense..
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Mine used to happen when too much is coming at me all at once, but now I have learned to just take deep breaths and to quickly try and sort things out before I get to that point of panicking.


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

I must add that mine did start happening about a year after I totally kicked my addictions to weed and cocaine that lasted 10 years(1985 to 1995), so I have to think that may have had a lot to do with my attacks for sure and was part of the sobering process.


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

Zanne said:


> Yes, it's interesting to note that during the time when my husband thought I was crazy, he used weed heavily. I've never abused drugs and only recently (in the past five years) started drinking alcohol. Now my husband has serious issues. He has been prescribed depression and anxiety meds. (And btw, he has since apologized for the way he reacted to my dx back then. He now understands that it is very real.)


No matter what anyone wants to believe, there ARE going to be some complications both physically and mentally when you quit anything you were addicted to for a long time.


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## Homemaker_Numero_Uno (Jan 18, 2011)

There is a known condition related to cessation of smoking weed if you have been doing it for a while. Some people have had to be hospitalized because of this condition, in order to help them come off safely.


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## CantSitStill (Feb 7, 2012)

I never liked pot so that was never a problem, didn't do any drugs but anyway the problem with panic attacks is I'll tell myself it's just a panic attack but then sometimes that don't work so I think it really is my heart and then I'm getting worse because I'm gonna die and if I relax or try to lay down it feels like my heart is stopping so I act like a freakin crazy lady my gosh I hate it..I am so bad that zoloft didn't help at all so I have to take xanax every morning as a preventative and at night. Been on xanax for about 6 years now. I don't feel different or anything on it but it must work because I rarely have the attacks anymore.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Homemaker_Numero_Uno (Jan 18, 2011)

Zanne said:


> Really?? Because my daughter smokes A LOT. It is part of her routine before she sleeps. And come to think about it, the first thing she does when she wakes up. Hmmmm...
> 
> Also, her paternal grandpa was an alcoholic and heavy weed user. My husband remembers growing rooms in their basement.
> 
> I don't agree with my daughter's marijuana use, because I think she is using it to cope, instead of for recreational use. I'm not against pot. I don't care one way or another; it's just not for me. But I am VERY against her other drug use - ecstasy, etc. She lives near campus and it's very prevalent with her group - most of them, college students.


Yes, the one I heard about was intense vomiting, to the point of having to be hospitalized. This wasn't from smoking the marijuana, it is when the person tries to stop smoking it. Doesn't occur with everyone, but a select group, lucky them :-o
These people will need help stopping because it's so bad when they do try.

Marijuana | Brown University Health Education

Yes, I know, doesn't make sense because MJ is used for people who have nausea from chemo...but there it is.


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## CantSitStill (Feb 7, 2012)

Another new issue that came up with me is our psychologist diagnosed me with Adhd but I think it's just who I am as in panicky and never sit still..I am just a nervous person. This is how I came up with my TAM screenname lol
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## CantSitStill (Feb 7, 2012)

People have recommended to me to smoke pot but I swear anytime I tried it did nothing for me so why bother?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Homemaker_Numero_Uno (Jan 18, 2011)

Zanne said:


> The worse thing is when people are patronizing you. "You're fiiine...just calm down, or do this, or that."


Actually, if your heart is racing, you can lay on the floor, fold your arms like you're being defensive and jerk your entire body to the left side and back. Usually stops the rapid heart rate where your heart feels like it's going to jump through your chest and puts it back to normal. I've tried this and it worked like a charm. Basically if your heart is going like that you want to lie down anyhow in case you pass out, so might as well do the jerk to the left while you're down there. 

The other technique for halting rapid heart rate is valsalva maneuver. Basically take a big breath and bear down forcibly like you're constipated or pushing out a baby.


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## CantSitStill (Feb 7, 2012)

I was taught to do deep breathing where you feel your belly go in and out..the psychologist said when you do it right you cant have a panic attack or feel angry..not sure that's true...she prolly just trying to convince me of something lol....oh and you're right, you cannot talk anyone out of an attack. For me it makes it worse, like there is too much going on around me.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## CantSitStill (Feb 7, 2012)

Zanne said:


> Exactly. Me too. I always pass on grass. lol
> 
> I'm also in constant motion. If I'm sitting, then I am tapping my foot, etc. I have this nervous thing I do with my fingers where I touch all of them to my thumb, one after the other...it's kind of weird. But if I'm in a place, like church, where too much agitation is noticeable, it helps.
> 
> Wow. The more I talk about my issues, the more weird I seem. I'm really not! I'm a pretty down to earth person.


I'm so glad you brought up the church thing...I have a very hard time sitting there and alot of times have to get up, get some water..sometimes go outside for air..take a pill, ugg it sucks.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## ChiGirl (Jan 20, 2013)

Okay I tried it and it didn't work 

I've been having these attacks all day today. I may go somewhere tomorrow and try to get something short term. I have a lot of things I need to accomplish Monday, and I'm scared they will overtake me.


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## Homemaker_Numero_Uno (Jan 18, 2011)

ChiGirl said:


> Okay I tried it and it didn't work
> 
> I've been having these attacks all day today. I may go somewhere tomorrow and try to get something short term. I have a lot of things I need to accomplish Monday, and I'm scared they will overtake me.


Try Benadryl if you can't see a pro.


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

ChiGirl said:


> Okay I tried it and it didn't work
> 
> I've been having these attacks all day today. I may go somewhere tomorrow and try to get something short term. I have a lot of things I need to accomplish Monday, and I'm scared they will overtake me.


Like I mentioned before you have to picture a comfort zone in your mind wether it's a place or maybe like a good hard rain that I used to think about, and then stick with it until you gradually calmmmm down.


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## CantSitStill (Feb 7, 2012)

There is something about sounds..running water or hearing a train that can snap you out of it..I Don't know why
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

CantSitStill said:


> There is something about sounds..running water or hearing a train that can snap you out of it..I Don't know why
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Water is the one thing we have on this earth that can be both terrifying and comforting depending upon how you are exposed to it, but a good rain or sitting on a rock listening to waves crash is pure bliss for me personally.


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## northernlights (Sep 23, 2012)

I once had a panic attack while driving on the BQE (Brooklyn/Queens expressway). Really bad timing! Fortunately, mine have never lasted for very long, and at this point in my life, I'd gotten fairly good at talking myself through them. My daughter was with me (and 4 months old at the time), and more than anything else that helped me get control of it fast. But in that case, the thought of what could have happened if I didn't get on top of it quickly was as scary as the panic attack itself.


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## Emerald (Aug 2, 2012)

To all anxiety sufferers:

The only thing that works for me are benzos. Instant head clearing. They are addictive but allow you to live life anxiety free with a clear head & a "calming" feeling. You must visit a doctor (with a pad lol) to learn all about it.

At my worst, I was popping 5 .5 miligrams per day; now I'm down to 1 pill in the morning.

I know many people are anti-meds & I respect that.

My anxiety is due to a genetic chemical imbalance & a med is needed to balance me. I feel great.


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## CantSitStill (Feb 7, 2012)

Emerald said:


> To all anxiety sufferers:
> 
> The only thing that works for me are benzos. Instant head clearing. They are addictive but allow you to live life anxiety free with a clear head & a "calming" feeling. You must visit a doctor (with a pad lol) to learn all about it.
> 
> ...


For me the xanax is the only thing that will prevent my attacks, I'm embarrassed to admit it but in my case I have it so severe that I gotta do what can to function normally. I am on the 1mg tablets twice a day. I split them in half and that way if I have a panic coming I have the other half to take. It sucks.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

Cured myself _without_ any drugs and will continue to do so.......


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## Cee Paul (Apr 11, 2012)

Zanne said:


> Way back after I had my first panic attack, I cut out all my caffeine (I use to be a huge Mountain Dew drinker) and I started taking Kava and St. Johns Wort (for depression). It seemed to help. When I got pregnant with our fifth child, my doctor advised me to go off of it because there are no studies available about its effect to the unborn child. I never went back on it, although I've been thinking about taking it again because of my recent symptoms.


I keep hearing a lot about St. Johns Wort as an excellent _natural_ mood stablizer as well as working for other things, so I am seriously about to start taking it.


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