How To Soothe Panic Attacks And Severe Anxiety

Use Your Smartphone For Distraction

My Words With Friends addiction is a tad out of control, but it sure comes in handy when Im feeling eclipsed by panic.

Games like crossword puzzles and word searches , says Dr. Masand. The idea is it can act as a distraction to the fear or the body symptoms of anxiety. Our smartphones offer a plethora of great coping tools and this is something the majority of us already carry with us. Download some games that will distract you and get your mind off of the unpleasant symptoms you are feeling. You can also download relaxing music and guided relaxation sessions.

When To Get Help

See a GP if you’ve been experiencing symptoms of panic disorder.

They’ll ask you to describe your symptoms, how often you get them, and how long you have had them.

They may also carry out a physical examination to rule out other conditions that could be causing your symptoms.

It can sometimes be difficult to talk about your feelings, emotions and personal life, but try not to feel anxious or embarrassed.

You may be diagnosed with panic disorder if you have regular and unexpected panic attacks followed by at least a month of continuous worry or concern about having further attacks.

How Are Panic Attacks Diagnosed

Serious health problems, such as heart disease, thyroid disease and respiratory problems, cause symptoms similar to panic attacks. Your healthcare provider may run tests to rule out a physical problem. If theres no physical cause, your provider may make a diagnosis based on your symptoms and risk factors.

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Visualize A Positive Outcome

If you dread being in public, you may have already made up your mind that the experience can only be negative. However, the way you feel in public may be influenced by your negative perceptions and predictions.

Visualization is a technique you can use to overcome these limiting beliefs and increase your self-reliance while being in public.

Visualization involves closing your eyes and envisioning yourself in different circumstances. Through visualization, you can imagine what it would be like to successfully manage your anxiety while in public. Similar to daydreaming, this exercise allows you to tap into your senses and imagination to see yourself achieving positive outcomes.

For example, you may visualize yourself utilizing your coping techniques to face public situations with more relaxed confidence. By visualizing success, you may feel more ready to deal with your symptoms in public.

Keep Lavender On Hand

Lavender is a traditional remedy that many people use to reduce stress and help them relax.

Research suggests it has a calming effect but doesnt lead to dependence or cause withdrawal symptoms. Using products that contain diluted lavender oil may help reduce or manage symptoms of anxiety.

However, the Food and Drug Administration does not regulate essential oils, and strengths and ingredients vary widely.

If you use lavender essential oil, make sure you:

• get your oil from a reputable source, such as a pharmacy
• follow the instructions for use
• avoid applying concentrated oil directly to the skin
• avoid using lavender with benzodiazepines because the combination can cause intense drowsiness

Which essential oil is right for you?

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Panic Attacks Quiz: Do I Have Panic Disorder

In order to manage threatening situations, humans have evolved to experience a “fight or flight” response. As part of this response, when humans are confronted with a dangerous situation, their body mobilizes by sending blood away from their extremities and into the major muscles, producing adrenaline, and increasing heart rate so that we are better equipped to fight off danger.

Comorbidities With Panic Disorder

Until recently, the panic disorder was not distinguished from agoraphobia . As it stands in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – 5 agoraphobia is one of the most common disorders to co-occur with panic disorder. Current estimates contend that just under 2% of teens and adults have agoraphobia . Often, people associate panic attacks or their panic disorder with certain places, people, or events and the fear of another attack occurring can lead to comorbid fears of the location or idea that there is no escape, which leads to extreme avoidance. Panic disorder can also occur simultaneously with other anxiety disorders, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder and/or Social Anxiety Disorder , for example.

Depression also commonly co-occurs with panic disorder, with reports estimating comorbidity between 10-65% over one’s life. This comorbidity is more likely to develop at the same time that panic disorder is recognized and diagnosed, although roughly 30% of people have major depression before meeting criteria for panic disorder as well .

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What Are The Symptoms Of Anxiety And Panic Attacks

Symptoms of an anxiety attack tend to come on gradually. People who have anxiety attacks often have a low level of anxiety as a baseline.

Symptoms of an anxiety attack include:

• Excessive worry

• Caffeine
• Side effects from medications
• Low oxygen levels from being at high altitudes, having lung diseases such as COPD, or a pulmonary embolism

Offer A Coping Statement

While someone is having a panic attack, we do want to be empathic, but we dont want to reinforce the idea that panic is dangerous, harmful, or needing to be reduced, minimized, or escaped.

So, rather than giving your loved one lots of reassurance and fussing over them, it can help to remind them that they can cope with whats happening on their own. This gives them back their power to deal with the situation.

You can do this by offering supportive statements like:

• You can handle these symptoms.
• This will pass.
• The feelings arent comfortable, but you can accept them.
• This will roll over you, like a wave.

Remind them that, although panic attacks can feel never-ending, they typically peak in about 10 minutes. Its not possible for the body to stay ramped up for much longer than that.

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Types Of Anxiety Disorders:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder is characterized by chronic and exaggerated worry and tension, much more than the typical anxiety that most people experience in their daily lives. People may have trembling, twitching, muscle tension, nausea, irritability, poor concentration, depression, fatigue, headaches, light-headedness, breathlessness or hot flashes.

Panic Disorder: People with panic disorder have panic attacks with feelings of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning. During the attacks, individuals may feel like they can’t breathe, have lost control, are having a heart attack or even that they are dying. Physical symptoms may include chest pain, dizziness, nausea, sweating, tingling or numbness, and a racing heartbeat. Some people will have one isolated attack, while others will develop a long term panic disorder either way, there is often high anxiety between attacks because there is no way of knowing when the next one will occur. Panic disorders often begin early in adulthood. Many people with panic disorder also suffer from agoraphobia . See more on Panic Attacks.

Phobias are irrational fears. Individuals with phobias realize their fears are irrational, but thinking about or facing the feared object or situation can bring on a panic attck or severe anxiety.

What To Do To Cope With A Panic Attack

When I had my first panic attack at the age of 19, I believed with absolute certainty that I was in mortal danger. I lie in my dorm room bed for what felt like hours, clutching my pounding heart and gasping for air. Fifteen interminable minutes later, it was as if it had never happened, and I felt relatively normal but that wouldn’t be the last incident. I went on to have many more panic attacks, and have since been diagnosed with a panic disorder . I’m among two to three percent of Americans with PD while 18.1 percent of Americans have anxiety disorders in general the most common mental illness. Since that day, Ive treated my condition both with therapy and medication.

Despite managing my PD, I do still suffer the occasional panic attack, but with professional guidance , Ive learned that there are simple things I can do to stop a panic attack in its tracks. I talked with mental health professionals to discuss why my own techniques work and what more those of us living with panic attacks can do.

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How To End An Anxiety Or Panic Attack

An anxiety attack can be terrifying, but it wont kill you. If you want to overcome it, take a deep breath and know it will end soon.

“Anxiety” is a general term that describes a variety of experiences, including nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worry, that are common in several mental health disorders. While most of us have anxiety at some time, this is completely different from an anxiety attack or anxiety disorder. Normal feelings of nervousness, worry, and fear often have a known trigger . But when you’re having a full blown panic attack or anxiety attack, the symptoms chest pain, flushing skin, racing heart, and difficulty breathing can make you feel as though you’re going to faint, lose your mind, or die. The reality is, you wont. The key to surviving is to learn all you can about anxiety attacks and practice the skills you need to get through them.

According to the Mayo Clinic, signs of an anxiety attack include:

• Abdominal cramping
• Fear of loss of control or death
• Feeling of unreality or detachment
• Headache
• Shortness of breath or tightness in your throat
• Sweating
• Trembling or shaking

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America offers practical strategies in how to deal with stress and anxiety attacks, including:

• Accept that you cannot control everything.
• Do your best.
• Maintain a positive attitude.
• Learn what triggers your anxiety.

Here’s how to stop an anxiety attack and recover.

The Link Between Anxiety Symptoms And Depression

Many people with anxiety disorders also suffer from depression at some point. Anxiety and depression are believed to stem from the same biological vulnerability, which may explain why they so often go hand-in-hand. Since depression makes anxiety worse , its important to seek treatment for both conditions.

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Could You Be Suffering From Panic Disorder

Take our 2-minute panic disorder test to see if you may benefit from further diagnosis and treatment.

During the day if she was out, the attack felt like my head suddenly weighed a thousand pounds and my chest would get really heavy. It literally felt like something was pulling me down. I would usually have to head home immediately. I would then experience foggy vision where itactually looked like there was fog in the air. I also experienced double vision and parts of my bodylike my neck or one arm or one entire side of my facewould go totally numb.

In addition to the emotional turmoil and the physical manifestations that Caroline and Kirstie describe panic attacks can cause palpitations, pounding heart or accelerated heart rate sweating trembling or shaking sensations of shortness of breath or smothering feelings of choking chest pain or discomfort nausea or abdominal distress feeling dizzy, unsteady, light-headed or faint chills or overheating numbness or tingling feelings of unreality or being detached from oneself fear of losing control or going crazy and fear of dying.

Isolated attacks are bad enough. But when the attacks recur in a short period of time or when the fear of another attack is so strong that you begin to avoid situations, places, and people that may trigger an attack, you may be diagnosed with panic disorder.

Etiology / Causes And Risk Factors Of Panic Disorder

Panic disorder is thought to have a psychobiological conceptualization . This does not mean that panic attacks are due to a biological disease. What this does mean is that there are certain biological factors that may be inherited or passed on through genes, and thus may lead some people to be more likely than others to experience panic disorder symptoms. This is likely why panic disorder seems to run in families. In other words, if one family member has panic disorder, the other family members are more likely to experience panic symptoms or panic disorder compared to people without a family history of panic disorder. It is very important to note that just inheriting these vulnerabilities to panic does not make the onset of panic attacks inevitable or unalterable. In fact, it is possible to think and act in ways that prevent panic attacks.

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Treatment Options For Patients With Anxiety

There are two primary treatments for individuals with anxiety:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy , which involves learning how to lower anxiety and face distressing situations.
• Medication management with antidepressants, which works well on its own but even better when coupled with CBT.

During therapy, continue to show your support by:

• Asking your loved one what you can do to help them.
• Asking if you can attend a therapy session to learn some skills to better support them.
• Making time for your own life and interests to sustain your energy.
• Encouraging your loved one to try another therapist if the first one isnt a good fit.

Remember That It Will Pass

During a panic attack, it can help to remember that these feelings will pass and cause no physical harm, however scary it feels at the time.

Try acknowledging that this is a brief period of concentrated anxiety, and that it will be over soon.

Panic attacks tend to reach their most intense point within 10 minutes of their onset, and then the symptoms will begin to subside.

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Relax Your Body To Ease An Anxiety Attack

It’s easy to say, “Just relax,” right? But once you start to observe your body during an anxiety attack, you might find that certain parts of your body clench up during an attack. Make a deliberate effort to tighten and then relax those parts of your body.

Or, if those parts feel like they wont obey during an anxiety attack, pick a body part that will respond, such as your toes or your shoulders. The more you can breathe deeply and relax, the easier it will be to cope.

Write Out The Facts And Mantras On An Index Card And Keep It On You

One of the tools that has helped me is knowing that even the most vicious panic attack cant kill me. Dr. Rodriguez recommends writing this fact down on an index card or in your phone to read when you feel one coming on. Panic attacks are not life-threatening, she says. Write this down. And maybe add the note to yourself, You have survived panic attacks before. You will survive this one.

Dr. Prakash Masand, founder of the Center for Psychiatric Excellence, recommends writing down some positive mantras to get you out of a catastrophic thought pattern. Or better yet, prepare your own. When you have the negative thoughts of gloom and doom, write down some positive and more realistic rebuttals.

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When Should I Call The Doctor

Some panic attacks have signs that can be confused with a physical problem like a heart attack. If you have chest pain or trouble breathing or lose consciousness, seek emergency medical care.

You should call your healthcare provider if you have panic attacks and experience:

• Chronic anxiety that interferes with daily life.
• Difficulty concentrating.

Support Them To Seek Help

If you think your friend or family member’s anxiety is becoming a problem for them, you could encourage them to seek treatment by talking to a GP or therapist. You could:

• Offer to help them arrange a doctor’s appointment. If they are scared of leaving the house, you could suggest they ring their GP to find out if they will do home visits and telephone appointments.
• Offer support when they attend appointments. You could offer to go with them to their appointments and wait in the waiting room. You can also help them plan what they’d like to talk about with the doctor. See our page on talking to your GP for more information.
• Help them seek help from a therapist. See our page on how to find a therapist for more information.
• Help them research different options for support, such as community services or peer support groups such as those run by Anxiety UK and No Panic. See our useful contacts page for more information. You could also call Mind’s Infoline to find out more about local services.

See our page on helping someone else seek help for more information.

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What Is It Like To Have Panic Disorder

One day, without any warning or reason, a feeling of terrible anxiety came crashing down on me. I felt like I couldnt get enough air, no matter how hard I breathed. My heart was pounding out of my chest, and I thought I might die. I was sweating and felt dizzy. I felt like I had no control over these feelings and like I was drowning and couldnt think straight.

After what seemed like an eternity, my breathing slowed and I eventually let go of the fear and my racing thoughts, but I was totally drained and exhausted. These attacks started to occur every couple of weeks, and I thought I was losing my mind. My friend saw how I was struggling and told me to call my doctor for help.

When Someone Is Having A Panic Attack

Below are some tips for you or your loved one to consider during a panic attack:

• Anxiety cannot increase forever and you cannot experience peak levels of anxiety forever. Physiologically there is a point at which our anxiety cannot become any higher and our bodies will not maintain that peak level of anxiety indefinitely. At that point, there is nowhere for anxiety to go but down. It is uncomfortable to reach that peak but it is important to remember this anxiety will even out and then go down with time.
• Emotions are like a wave, they will come and they will go.
• You have experienced this before, you know what to expect, and you will be able to handle it.
• Avoidance is anxiety’s best friend. Avoidance now will mean sustained anxiety in the future.

The following websites and brochures provide useful information for helping and supporting loved ones with panic disorder:

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