Hi HU community.
We afibbers all know that afib and anxiety/panic attacks go hand in hand. They seem to be joined at the hip. The following link gives some great advice about how to deal with a panic attack. I know it's from the Daily Snail but the 5 bullet points are very good and you may find them helpful. When you get to the end of point number 5 don't bother to scroll down further - it's just adverts. I like the manta "this too shall pass". This applies equally to those of you in PAF.
Paul
Thank you!
I think they missed "pop the flecainide" 
But seriously, a good list to keep at the ready. Thanks. Also, a few good thoughts intermixed with the adverts if you scroll a bit.
Jim
Very good advice.
Thank you Paul. Re the 'this too shall pass' I've learned that realistic future pacing helps. Something like - I'm going to have a cup of tea and 2 squares of my favourite chocolate once I'm feeling a bit better. Or - I'm going to sit in the garden and watch the chickens once this feeling lessens. Does seem to help.
Noticing the feel of anxiety and going with it also helps me. If that means sometimes curling up in a ball on the sofa and crying and shaking,I'll do it, not fight it. Doesn't seem to last as long.
Hi Sing.
Nice relpy. The mantra 'this to shall pass' is a good one to remember.
Save me a square of chocolate please 
Paul
I take a 2mg Diazepam along with Flecanide when an episode happens. Cardiologist is fine with it; chemist says there’s no interaction; and I use it only for a fib attacks. Really helps!
And I forgot to mention in my previous reply, the PIP mg diazepam also helps to get me off to sleep. And if you can do that, it sure shortens the a fib experience. More often than not, when I wake up, I am in NSR.
Hi Racquet.
I'm a fan of people with afib having an emergency supply of diazepam. Certainly when they have PAF. Try getting a doctor to prescribe some in the UK though. It's not the easiest of tasks.
Paul
Love my ‘brain drugs’ for anxiety … or as I like to call them: my “who gives a sh*t” drugs. Touch wood, so far free of arrhythmias!
Hi DKBX.
The subtle art of not giving a @@@t is a hard one to master - worth doing if you can though. Read Mark Manson - The Subtle Art Of Not Giving a @@@k. I picked a copy up at the airport bookshop when I was flying somewhere or another. Read most of it by the time I landed.
Paul
Panic attacks are a strange thing for those who have never had one, Paul, that's for sure. I can only think that many can have no idea what they are. Sadly, they are still seen by some as a sign of weakness, in the old sense of people being "strong" or "weak". An otherwise excellent friend of mine whose wife can get panicky, after years of my telling him not to do so, stills says things like, "I never let myself get into such a state", as if he were in control of his emotions. There are many people like that, I believe, and, indeed, some doctors who think similarly.
Steve
Hi Steve.
I suffered from them for years. I didn't tell a soul as I felt a sense of shame that I was so weak. They were disabilating, to say the least.
Now I can deal with them and have no shame in admitting I have suffered from them. If someone thinks I'm weak because of that it's their problem - not mine. I apply the principles in my post above from the book I mention. I can't write the name of it on the forum - I would be booted off
Paul
That’s the way - the bulldog spirit! 😉
But that binary sense of some being strong (and proud of it) and others being weak is something we’ll never fully get rid of in our society, I reckon. And I suppose that’s because society’s ideas are formed by the, erm… strong. 🙃
Steve
Trying to hide my panic attacks always made me worse as a teenager. Now they have raised their ugly head again after many years with afib diagnosis .I can deal with them better after the initial few. Strangely enough my panic attacks 30 odd years ago were always about thinking something was wrong with my heart. I go to Andy's Man's Club. I was shocked by the amount of guys that also suffer from them.
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