On Dealing with Panic Attacks
If you or someone you know has ever dealt with a panic attack, you know what it feels like to be sure the sky is going to fall on your head while still knowing it never will. Your heart races, you just have to throw up, even if you can’t, and your mind feels like it has a mind of its own. When I went through several months of panic attacks myself, I kept thinking to find ways to overcome an attack. Let me try to share with you some of my special methods, the best ones that worked for me.
Even if everyone does have their own unique form of the panic attack, there is a common thread that runs through most of them. Most people feel dizziness, nausea and a racing heart rate. People often complain of feeling like everything is closing in on them and they feel a kind of hopelessness that makes dealing with panic attacks very difficult. They say that a panic attack is about the worst thing a person can feel.
Bringing a doctor in to consult with for your problem is the very first thing you should do.A doctor usually starts out by first telling you to breathe into a paper bad when you feel an attack coming on. Why do they ask you to do that? It’s because when you breathe fast when you really aren’t exerting yourself physically and there is no demand for extra oxygen, you send oxygen levels up in your blood far above what they should be. This condition is known as hyperventilation. Breathing into a paper bag deprives you of a chance to take in more oxygen than the excess you already have and lets you balance out the oxygen and carbon dioxide in your system.
A panic attack always left me feeling vulnerable, kind of like there was impending doom right around the corner. The place you’re in when you have a panic attack becomes associated in the mind with the fear felt, and can often bring on another panic attack or make it difficult for you to come out of one. The best thing to do then dealing with panic attacks would be to get out of the place you’re in when the attack sets in and go somewhere neutral in the outdoors. You can no longer feel trapped in the great outdoors.
The craziest thing about a panic attack is that you feel what you feel in spite of knowing fully well deep inside, that everything is going to be okay. You start to doubt your sanity. This isn’t anything about going crazy though. It’s just that your brain is triggering a fight or flight response for no reason. With the adrenaline pumping and the defense mechanisms on high alert, there’s little you can do but feel the tension. Listend to some slow music that has a bit of rhythm (my favorite usually was That’s the Way Love Goes by Janet Jackson). I call a friend and have him talk me down as long as it doesn’t happen too often. As you can see, dealing with panic attacks is something that you are indeed capable of. If only you can really convince yourself that there’s nothng really wrong with you.
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Author: aubu400
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