When a panic attack seizes you out of the blue, what should you do? The moment you experience palpitation, shaking or trembling, nausea, or excessive sweating you probably are having a panic attack. Instead of succumbing to the fear that invades your mind and body, relax and take a deep breath and regulate your breathing until the symptoms subside.
In some cases, people don’t accept that they’re having panic attacks right away. They may simply think of them as “nerves,” but if symptoms are severe enough, medication and counseling can help. Both have pluses and minuses. While medications can provide temporary relief from panic attacks that is certainly welcome, they can also have undesirable side effects. Counseling is certainly effective, but takes time.
The issue though is controlling the panic attack on the spot. Here are some useful tips to put your panic attack under control:
Take a deep breath and breathe slowly and deeply through your nose, not your mouth. This will help prevent you from hyperventilating, which can certainly happen if you simply start gulping air through your mouth. Remind yourself as calmly as you can that this is just a panic attack and that nothing truly bad is happening. Instead of fighting the attack, “relax” into it by visualizing a calming scene and letting the symptoms dissipate. Remember that the symptoms are not going to go away right away, so stay focused on what you’re visualizing and simply let the symptoms go away on their own.
Relax; sit down and continue your visualization within your mind, reminding yourself that panic attacks never last for long, and that things should be better in just a few seconds. After that, you can get up and go on with your day.Remind yourself as well that nothing is actually wrong and that instead, your body somehow has a disjointed reaction to “normal” situations.
Once you understand why panic attacks happen, you can better gain control of them and at least feel better about having them come even if they don’t go away right away. It may very well be, for example, that you’re undergoing an extended and stressful situation right now. Financial crisis, job loss, divorce, death of a close family member — all of these things can bring on panic attacks. Talk to family members and get their support, and read up on materials that help you understand why panic attacks happened and how you can help them stop. Letting family members and friends know you have panic attacks can lessen embarrassment, since once they understand why you are behaving the way you do during a panic attack, they’ll know that your behavior is not simply “strange.”
Understanding why you have panic attacks can help you understand what is happening. You might have been going through a stressful period for an extended time. Coping with a financial crisis, fearing losing your job, coping with the loss of a love one or a divorce can drive you to depression. Talk to family to get their support. Together read up materials on panic attacks to understand its nature, implications, and effects. If they understand what is wrong, they can understand your unusual behavior when you are having an attack.
If you are a hypochondriac, see a doctor and have a medical examination to allay your fears. Telling the doctor you are also having panic attacks can help him decide your medication or therapy.
Clean up your lifestyle and make it as healthy as possible. Eat regularly, exercise, avoid cigarettes, alcohol, and excess caffeine, and get enough sleep. All of these things will help control adrenaline rushes within your body, which cause panic attacks.
Again, it cannot be stressed enough that counseling can help you understand and gain control over your panic attacks in the long term. Once you understand why they happen come you can gain mastery over them, which goes a long way toward alleviating them altogether. Simply feeling in control once you know what’s causing your panic attacks and how to control them will help stop them from happening.