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Anxiety/panic attack tips.

H

Hard Trance

Bluelighter
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Jan 16, 2003
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Anxiety / panic attack tips.

I thought I'd start a thread to find out your tips for stopping or preventing anxiety or panic attacks.

Mine apart from the obvious (eating healthy, stop taking drugs/cut back on drinking, exercise etc) mine are:

Avoid caffeine (even in chocolate).

Try to keep your mind active (reading etc instead of just watching so much TV).

Also motorway driving seems to bring mine on, so maybe take the back roads to somewhere or do it in stages.

and

Meditation (try this when you are most relaxed (just before bed) and not when you are stressed) - Try closing your eyes and then try tensing individual parts of your body (feet, thighs, hands, shoulders, neck, top of head (frowning) and then clenching jaw). Do each clench each of these for 30 secs (telling yourself you are in control and feeling the tension spread to other parts of the body (inc your breathing)) and then relax taking deep breaths after each one feeling how relaxed you are now and that you are still in control for 20/30 secs. I think the main thing this does is lets you know you can control your own body to weather you are stressed or relaxed.

If you are still feeling tense in certain parts of the body try repeating the process - if there is a part of the body that you can't manage to get relaxed just concerntrate on another part of your body (say your hands) and just feel how relaxed that part is and then the tense part of the body should now be relaxed.

After you are totally relaxed carry on the slow deep breathing (imagining every breath you breath in is goodness coming into your body and every breath out is badness/stress going out) and imagine you are somewhere very relaxed (say a beach) and stay there for 5 mins just thinking how relaxed you are and that you did this/you have control of your body.

Whilst you are actually doing the meditation you can actually feel the tightness in your chest/back/arms going away.

I thought the meditation/relaxation was going to be a load of crap, but tried it as I was desperate and after a few days it seems to be working wonders!

Once you have the technique 100% you don't even have to do the tensing thing - you can just feel where the tension is in your body and relax it.

It can take a few weeks to get it right, but it's worth it as you can use it for the rest of your life once perfected.

Are there any other things that might help?

Cheers.
 
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westHEAD said:
But if you get one and decide that its not going to do any harm, and you can handle it, you should be Ok. The more times you do this the less likely you are to have them often. But saying that is easy, its doing it thats hard, believe me I know! [/B]
Click to expand...

Agreed. "Panic attacks can't hurt you" is the best thing to remember.
Which of course is easier typed then done, but I've always had the best sucess trying to "out think" my panic attacks.

The worst ones come when I'am on the train/bus/subway and it's rush hour, being stoned usually compounds these feelings.

My heart starts pumping and I get so tense that my vision starts to jiggle.

I usually think of one of three things:

1. "Remember all the clubs/concerts/raves/funtions you've been to. I wasn't nervous at anything like that. There's no reason to be scared of a busload of working stiffs."

2. "Think of those poor motherfuckers on the slave ships, they didn't have the luxury of emergency exits. They were stuck, if they lived through that, you'll live through this.

3. "Christ, I ride public transpo everyday. Nothing bad has ever happened, if worse comes to worse just get out at the next stop."

Still I feel you man. Sometimes you just CAN'T rationalize or meditate the panic away, but I think everyone could benefit from making thier own mental devices to reassure themselves.

What I want is one those secret agent suicide pills to hold under my tongue, but instead of cyanide I'd fill it with a benzo of some kind.
 
That anchoring sounds good - I think I might have to have a look into it - the place on the Net that I found says you just have to get to associate something (say touching index finger and thumb together) with some place nice/relaxed? And then it sound like once you have got that thing associated, all you have to do is do it (such as touch your index finger and thumb together)?

Is that the same thing you meant?
 
^^^ Yeah I just read that same thing as you from a search. Sounds good the "thumb and finger" technique. Like the Pavlov's dog thing, as it says.
 
Also check the "srambling" thing on that site for breaking habits. I reckon I might try that for my worrying habbits.
 
Cheers.

I've started taking St Johns Wort capsules yesterday (I feel better today, but I'm going to see how it goes). Some guy at work said his wife used to take them for panic attacks. I got them (on offer at the moment) from Holland and Barrett.

I found the following info on the net about St Johns Wort (hope they will be better them the Kalms I've been taking):

The flowering tops of Hypericum, also known as St John's Wort, have been used extensively in Europe for the relief of mild neuralgia and to help reduce the effects of mild anxiety and nervous tension. It is approved in Germany for the treatment of mild depression.

Also this on magnesium:

Magnesium which the body uses in large quantities during times of stress. It is essential to help regulate nervous system transmission and muscle response.
 
Yeah St John's Wort has mild MAO effects I believe. Some people seem to get a lot of relief from it.
 
Even if my anxiety is high in the night I can't go back to sleep until I've got it under control, let alone a panic attack!
 
Use GHB. This will kill any panic you have faster than you can say 'anti-depressant'.
 
i've found that being on Wellbutrin (which works great for me, but not so great for others) helps me.

When I used to get really bad ones I found meditiation using controlled breathing would really help. Also, since I've been on my sober "break", I haven't really had any at all lately.
 
the main thing with these attacks is you have to remember ITS ALL IN YOUR HEAD!! i know its extremly hard to control but it can be done, trust me thats the way i overcame them
 
I've found it strange - sometimes I can prevent a panic attack (when I feel it coming on) by just trying to relax and other times if that does not work I literally tell it to "fuck off - your all in my head - do your best" and eventually it will go!

The doctor has not prescribed me any drugs to help me and I seem to be getting on ok (after nearly 3 months of them) - hopefully I'll be able to get over it without them as I'm very careful what chemicals I put into my body (not)!
 
I don't know if this is classed as meditation, but my friend gave my the invalueable advice of imagining a leaf. It works really well and you can do it anywhere. Basically, you just imagine a leaf (or any rather simple inanimate object, a tree, flower, sports car). Close your eyes and at first, you just have this crude image of a leaf in your head and still panicking, but as you start exploring your leaf, imagine the textures, the colours, all the little ripples and capilaries, smell, zoom in close and imagine if its got a smooth or hairy surface. As you concentrate more on your leaf, you begin to forget the panic attack and shift your focus away from it.

One of the few things that works for me, i hope it helps some of you guys.
 
OlympiaMan said:
Use GHB. This will kill any panic you have faster than you can say 'anti-depressant'.
Click to expand...

this is so true...one of the best feelings I've have ever had was having a panic attack instantly replaced by the GHB-induced euphoria...to move so drastically from hell to heaven was soooooooooo comforting...

I don't suffer from panic attacks anymore, but I'd sure as fuck use G if I still had them.
 
^^^ How long does GHB take to kick in thought? Because by the time I feel a panic attack coming on I would have thought it would all be over before I ever came up on the GHB. Then again my panic attacks only last about 5-10 minutes max, I guess if you get really long ones its a different story.
 
well, GBL takes 5-10 minutes to come on...GHB at least 15 minutes...anyway my panic attacks lasted for at least 1 hour, so...
 
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