Panic Attack Tips

[Nino406]

Ok,
I'm just going to throw this out there and see who responds. I'm kinda hoping that writing about this helps me a little bit. About 3 months ago I experienced my first panic attack. Let me start by saying I'm a 36 year old male who works out 5 days a week and really watches my diet.

It was the middle of the night when I had my first attack. I woke up sweating shaking and my heart was racing faster than it ever has in my life. I jumped out of bed and immediatley thought I was having a heart attack. I yelled for my wife to wake up and advised her of what was going on. I felt like I was going to throw up. My wife started to panic and asked if I wanted her to call 911. (Now I should have let her but I have 3 young children and I did not want to scare themso I said no) I did get dressed and drove myself to the hospital which is about 5 blocks. By the time I arrived at the hospital I felt 100% normal and felt like an idiot for being there but decided I'm here let me get checked out. well they did blood work, and EKG, chest scan, and everything looked normal. The doc gave me a Xanax and advised it sounded like a panic attack. We had just moved into a new home but I'm a realtively calm person so I kinda just blew it off and thought maybe I was having a nightmare that I don't remember.

Exactly 2 weeks later again in the middle of the night I was woken to the same symptons. Racing heart, sweating, tingling feelings, and now I was having the symptons that the doc told me in the ER that were heart attack symtons. I'm not even going to mention them cause I don't want anyone to have them. I was just about to run to the ER again when my wife talked me into laying down and trying to calm myself down well in about 15 minutes of doing deep breathing I was calm.

So now I go to my personal doctor and tell him whats going on. Again he says sounds like a panic attack. and gives me a prescription for xanax, but says lets just rule out your heart. So again I get an EKG, blood work, and a stress test. Again Nothing All Normal. Now they have me wearing a heart monitor for 30 days which is a pain in the *** (excuse my language) cause I never have any symptons when the damn thing is on only when I take it off (go figure).

Now I work 3rd shift so on my days off I still stay up till 3:30- 4:30 am. I have found that I do not want to go to bed for fear of this happening. I spend my nights searching the internet for ideas to help me with this. I take a xanax every morning before I go to sleep to ensure I won't wake up with one of these. Now all the research I have found says I have nocturnal annixety attacks and up until Christmas morning I thougt I had it under control. Well at 5:30am Christmas morning I was at my computer at work and I wasn't doing anything stress related. All my work was done and I was looking forward to getting home and seeing my kids open gifts and out of nowhere I get smacked with the worst anxiety attack yet. Bad enough to make me actually think I'm going to die on Christmas and ruin it for my kids forever. It lasted about 40 minutes and I tried everything I could do to calm down and I had no xanax cause I keep them at home because I THOUGHT I only needed them before I went to sleep. Now I'm going crazy thinking what if this happens when I'm watching my children. No matter how hard I try I can't get it out of my head. It's seriously driving me crazy.

Ok so now you know my story and if your still reading this I appreciate it and I hope you are not going through the samething cause I wish this on nobody. Here is my question? I have read so many articles on tips and tricks to deal with this that they all kind of run together. So let me just ask you what are some of the things you do to help calm yourself. The one thing I have found is the 5 5 and 5 rule. Breath in through your nose for 5 sec hold your breath for 5 seconds and release for 5 seconds. This is a proven fact that when you do that it helps slow down your heart rate. Also no more caffeine I've cut it out totally and no energy drinks its tough on 3rd shift cause they use to help me.  Anything particular thing that you do that seems to help. I'll take all and any advice I can get. Thank you in advance.

[terryttp]

i had panic attacks for yrs.i would like them to stop.but they didn't.i get them at 1-7 am and sometimes they wake me up.every month.feels like I got flu but it isn't.my symptoms are shaking.heart race.hot and cold.dry heaves.diarrhea.probably stress.

[Paxiled]

This is a very old post, you might want to start a new one if you want more input.  Have you seen any0ne about your anxiety problem?

[Nino406]

I am SO sorry for your loss, I can't even imagine what you have gone through. I will pray for you.

[Nino406]

I can't thank everyone enough for their kind words and advice, it does seem to help knowing I'm not alone with this. I will pray for all of you and keep posting ideas and tips when I find them. I hope everyone has a great NEW YEAR with no panic attacks. Thats my resolution.

[Majikat]

My panic attacks started out of the blue in July... first time having one... terrible i really thought i was going to die but like you i have three young children and did not want to scare them with calling 911... i remember pacing helped the most during the first one but outside felt reaaly good... i tried cleaning but i needed the fresh air... the second time i got one i went to the ER but apparently the dr working was a door knob cause im telling him about the racing heart sweats nausea... tingles hot flashes etc and hes like im going to check you for pneumonia and gives me a lung xray and basically tells me to f off... i then made an appt with my dr cause it was really starting to affect my daily living all day long... and so i go to that appt and she prescribes me a book... i finally got a script for lorazapam which helps me pretty good i only take it on really bad days and since iv gotten them i have barley needed it... i think i am comforted by the thought of them being there if i need them....

i saw a therapist and she said to rub around my top lip cause there are a lot of soothing nerves there...

[DJ873]

i won't tell my long story, but as you can see many of us relate with you, i have adopted meditation and mindfulness practice that helps me a whole lot. a couple of good authors are Eckhart Tolle and Jon Kabbit-Zinn. I look at it as if i exercise my arm it will get stronger, i am trying to do the same with thought control and relaxation, it does help alot.

[xnymodel]

yes, I to suffer with Anxiety which began in 2007 however became much worse by different reasoning in 2009 and I literally had to find my own way of slowing my heart pace by breathing slow and attempting to move my mental thoughts to anything other than wherever it stood at the moment...I have had them  out of no where , just as on a day to day basis i deal with not falling into one which leaves me avoiding certain things. Since mine worsened after a horrible auto accident , to merely ride in an car with another or drive myself is not impossible yet it is not any fun either. Just as consistant fear sits regarding a loss, since my son was diagnosed in 2007....granted by God's amazing grace he is still here yes but the emotion that ran with the news and what to expect sent me down that spiral. I take the same medication as you mentioned and I have noticed it does work, yet to an extent so when dealing with anxiety in general since it differs one person to another in the height of severity...and symptoms ...seeking what brought it on and keeping note to mentally bring yourself back down when possible is unfortunately the only well rounded advice i can offer but  I pray you have relief because I do understand the fear "anxiety" that come with it ....God bless

[heartfluttersflyawayplz]

I to got panice attacks out of no where and the same tingling/heart racing/felt hot/weak/sick to stomack. felt like i was not in my body, thought i was going to die. but here i am 30 years later and am still here , have had many echo/stress test and my heart is perfect.  so even thought you feel great at that moment and you have been under NO STRESS your mind holds all of it and at any point it can throw you into a attack, it can happen days/weeks months later after you have calm down and forgot about what you went threw,   theres no ryme or reason for them other than they are a pain in our A--, i have been on anxiety meds and off meds. ive been panic free for 4 years now its been great. i to have learn how to live with them and go on with my life, and they seem to go away. but they will come back with a new system and it will scare you at first but once you learn its only them darn things again you will get better. i took klonopin the last time to get back on my feet its a long term med and if you take it right you can wing off of it after you are strong again.  hang in there your not by yourself. read all the post on here and you will see that. always someone on here going throught what you are and willing to talk and help you out. prayers are that they go away and when they come back you will be able to handle them and keep living life as normal as you can. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY

[mammo]

Hi.  We can all relate to what you're going through so know you're not alone. Panic attacks hit us right out of the blue no matter where we are or how we feel.  It's our "fight or flight" mode kicking in that allows us to protect ourselves when in danger......we aren't in danger so the body doesn't know what to do with all the extra adrenaline our body has been flooded with so it results in everything that makes up a panic attack.  The fear itself when we feel a panic attack coming on can make it worse so try to remain as calm as you can knowing they're very scary but won't hurt us.  Try to distract yourself mentally and try to do something physically to help burn up the extra adrenaline like pacing.  Often we have a "root cause" for our anxiety which can be determined via therapy...dealt with and easing our anxiety.  For many we just never know why we have anxiety/panic attacks and that's where medication plays an important role.  Xanax is a short acting medication which means it doesn't stay in your system very long, so you may want to talk to your doctor about one that controls your anxiety 24/7.  So far you're doing everything right in ruling out other causes first and eliminating caffeine.  What stopped my panic attacks was losing my son....could have handled the attacks with ease compared to losing him.  But when my first panic attack started I welcomed it, hoping it would take me with my son...as a result they stopped.  I think the fear of having one made it worse because when I no longer cared, they stopped.  I guess what I'm trying to say is fear and worry feeds our anxiety which keeps this cycle going and once we can break the cycle we can ease our anxiety.  Until I lost my son I dealt with them by distracting myself mentally and physically.  As scary as they are...they're harmless.  I hope this helps and talk to your doctor about therapy and maybe a longer acting anxiety medication for now.  I wish you all the best!