Anxiety to the point of self-induced panic attacks, please help?
ByI have suffered with anxiety for as long as I remember. When I was abou 14 I had a HUGE panic attacck in the car, then when I was 17 I had another huge one in the middle of Tesco. Of course the first one was induced on a journey to hospital, the second the fact that I was walking fast to catch up with my family and I suddenly became aware of my heartbeat. I had a small one since Dad took me through a car wash.
The thing is, I am constantly aware of my heartbeat, if I stop doing anything in a quiet room the first thing I notice is my heartbeat, is it too fast, too slow, too hard? I’m aware I’m doing this but it’s not a habit I can overcome. When I’m out walking I;m worse because my heart pumps faster. My fiance has noticed me putting my hand to my neck a few times to check my pulse and often tells me off for it. Of course, all the time I am aware of my pulse, it doesn’t decrease.
Well, today I have decided not to take anymore SSRIs- I jarred awake suddenly last night mid panic attack and I feel sick, dizzy and disocciated. My fiance is very good at combatting the heartbeat awareness problem which is what makes me such an anxious person.
How would I be best to deal with this, though? I don’t want to take pills because the side effects have been nasty! Thanks
Monitoring your heartbeat is actually something that is very common with panic attacks. I have had this same issue myself and have learned how to stop, you can too. This problem cannot be solved with medication. This requires some self help information and/or therapy to help you understand why you are doing this and how to stop. The most important thing to understand is that although panic attacks are very uncomfortable (to say the least) they cannot harm you. When you monitor your own heartbeat it is because you are feeling anxious and you are worrying about having a panic attack. When you worry about it you can bring one on. Accept that you may have one or you may not, but that if you do have one it will be okay. When you catch yourself monitoring your heartbeat use it as a cue that you are stressed and need to practice some breathing and relaxation instead. This will allow you to replace a bad habit that may bring on a panic attack with a good habit productive one. Changing any habit is difficult. Maybe you could ask your finance to remind you to practice relaxation and breathing when he sees you checking your pulse. It may even help him feel a little less frustrated to know that he can help you this way.
When you do have a panic attack try to relax (way harder than it sounds I know) don’t try to fight it off, stay calm and focus on relaxation and breathing properly. The breathing technique that works best for me is 7:11 breathing. Breath in to the count of 7 and out to the count of 11. Breathing out longer than you breath in helps your body release all the carbon dioxide, this will help with that light headed, dizzy feeling.
Best of luck, I hope this information helps you.
5 Comments
March 10th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
phsyc
References :
March 10th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
pills is the best ..you said the side effects are nasty but look what you are putting your boyfriend and your self through that’s nasty to…..so go on pills when your better you can come off them
References :
March 10th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Speak to your doctor, and explain that the pills aren’t working for you. Don’t stop them without consulting your GP, because you have to come off them gradually, otherwise you can make yourself worse.
Your GP may recommend different pills, which might not have side effects, so you could consider that. But also ask your GP about alternatives - therapy, self-help etc. They should be able to come up with a combination of things that will help and which you feel comfortable with.
References :
March 10th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
At the first sign of one, employ an ANTI PANIC ATTACK breathing technique. Advice from a clinical psychologist is to breathe in to the count of 3: (one thousand one; one thousand two; one thousand three) each takes around a second to say to yourself, in your mind, and out to the count of 3. Read: "Power Over Panic", by Bronwyn Fox, from your bookstore, or enter "panic attacks" in the searchbar at Amazon.com for more media.
View http://deeplyrelax.com & http://www.deepsloweasy.com/html/intro.htm Note: the controlled breathing only helps with the symptoms, as do medications/herbal remedies. Address the underlying cause, which requires some form of therapy; see your-mental-health.8m.com, below, re anxiety, on pages H, & I. Imagine that the cause of your panic; your anxieties, fears, your self doubts, self recriminations, all the agonizing "I’m-so-Stupids"; every painful "I-can’t-do-it" are huge raging, hurtful bulls snorting and charging at you. You see them coming at you and you hold out your red matador’s cape at arms length and simply let them charge right by. Every time they come at you, hold out your arm with the red cape and let them rage and snort and go right on past. Some people recommend nettle tea, with a little honey. Others use Lavender tea, Lemon Balm, Chamomile, but use no milk or cream with herbal teas, or Valerian (caution: use it for 3 weeks at most!). Know how these affect you before driving, or doing anything dangerous, and it is far better to use the treatments, rather than relying on herbal remedies. Free online PANIC COURSE - http://www.panic-attacks.co.uk also available by email. See the section on panic attacks at http://www.mind.org.uk also Ebooklet form. They recommend letting a panic attack run its course, without doing anything to treat it, so you KNOW you will survive it. The usual maximum is 30 minutes, until symptoms begin to subside.
Also see http://www.anxietypanic.com/signs.html
and http://www.onestepatatime.com (chatroom, and one free email is allowed to their resident expert on joining [free] - more if a paid up member) and http://www.medicinenet.com/panic_disorder/artic… and http://www.squidoo.com/controlpanicattack/modul… and http://www.anxietynetwork.com Practice a relaxation method, daily, and when needed, such as http://www.drcoxconsulting.com/managing-stress.html or http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/mindbody/a/Meditation.htm or http://www.wikihow.com/Meditate or Yoga Nidra, (a series of easy mental exercises only; no flexibility required) at http://your-mental-health.8m.com/blank_11.html 85% of people are suggestible, to some degree, so you could either seek professional hypnotherapy, or more alternatives along such lines are on page 1, at 8m.com, about panic.
References :
March 10th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Monitoring your heartbeat is actually something that is very common with panic attacks. I have had this same issue myself and have learned how to stop, you can too. This problem cannot be solved with medication. This requires some self help information and/or therapy to help you understand why you are doing this and how to stop. The most important thing to understand is that although panic attacks are very uncomfortable (to say the least) they cannot harm you. When you monitor your own heartbeat it is because you are feeling anxious and you are worrying about having a panic attack. When you worry about it you can bring one on. Accept that you may have one or you may not, but that if you do have one it will be okay. When you catch yourself monitoring your heartbeat use it as a cue that you are stressed and need to practice some breathing and relaxation instead. This will allow you to replace a bad habit that may bring on a panic attack with a good habit productive one. Changing any habit is difficult. Maybe you could ask your finance to remind you to practice relaxation and breathing when he sees you checking your pulse. It may even help him feel a little less frustrated to know that he can help you this way.
When you do have a panic attack try to relax (way harder than it sounds I know) don’t try to fight it off, stay calm and focus on relaxation and breathing properly. The breathing technique that works best for me is 7:11 breathing. Breath in to the count of 7 and out to the count of 11. Breathing out longer than you breath in helps your body release all the carbon dioxide, this will help with that light headed, dizzy feeling.
Best of luck, I hope this information helps you.
References :
self help & info for panic disorder:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anxiety-files/200905/turning-panic-disorder-its-head
http://www.anxietybc.com/resources/pdfs/hmpanic.pdf