It isn't the panic attacks that are the problem. It's the fear of having a panic attack that has become the overwhelming problem.
Panic attacks themselves aren't pleasant but they can't kill you, can't make you disabled and certainly can't send you crazy. For reasons known only to yourself, your nervous system has become over sensitised by stress, worry, loss, disappointment, grief, shame, whatever. Your nervous system has reached anxiety overload and it's decided to complain. Hence the panic attacks.
Your panic attacks (PAs) are fuelled by your fear of them. Fear hormones are keeping your nerves over sensitised which is what produces the panic attacks.
If only you could lose your fear of them you would starve your nervous system of the fear hormones that are keeping it sensitised and are producing the panic attacks.
So how do you stop your fear of them? I hear you asking. We've established that a PA's bark is worse than its bite. It makes you feel awful but you know it will shortly pass and you will be unscathed.
First, stop fighting your PAs. Fighting causes more stress and tension: the exact opposite of what your nerves need right now to recover. You win not by the punches that you give but by the punches that you take.
Second, you agree to accept the PAs for the time being. Let them come, you're a good enough actor to not let on if you're in a public place. Just agree to co-exist with them for the moment, like some sort of unwelcome guest. They are not life threatening, they don't last long and by accepting them you cease to fear them so your nervous system gets a chance to recover. Which it is waiting to do if only you would stop bombarding it with fear.
So I repeat again, it's not your PAs that are the problem, it's your fear anticipating them that's causing you these episodes.
I also respectfully suggest that once you've had an ECG and a scan you accept the united diagnosis of the medical profession that your heart is fine and God does not want you back any time soon thankyou. Any chest discomfort is another well known anxiety symptom namely muscular tension in the chest, not a latent heart attack. So do remind yourself: your heart is fine and you can't cure yourself of an illness you don't have no matter how hard you try.
So that's the exit plan: accept your panic attacks, let every muscle go limp and offer no resistance, surrender to them completely, let them wash past you, you now have the measure of these irritating episodes.
Just keep accepting, but it must be true acceptance, not just 'putting up with'.
Learn to live with your panic attacks and you'll be able to live without them.
Written by
Jeff1943
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I don’t have the pressure in my chest, when mine comes I get the feeling of impending doom in my stomach and then I just think I’m going to drop dead or my brain will just cut off
You won't drop dead. Once again this is over sensitized nerves magnifying tenfold the normal minor concern not to die before our time. When your anxiety yields so will the feeling of doom and death. Just accept the feeling for the time being, accept it without fear, and you will stop resensitising your nervous system and the bad feelings will pass.
A good response. I had them years ago. They went away when I discovered I was hypothyroid and got on medication for that. So it's a good idea to get a check-up and have that tested. I knew of another person with the same condition.
You are right to remind us of this, Junella. The symptoms of anxiety can be caused by an under performing thyroid gland which can be simply corrected by medication. Always worth checking with your doctor.
Very well said. Thank you for that reminder. So true...!
I only ever had one P.A/ but it was very scary, I was having a coffee in a cafe with my daughter. All of a sudden I had to leave the cafe, it did not last long thank goodness. That was at least 20 years ago, I think now I am older I am calmer.
Omg that’s exactly how I’m feeling lately. I’m not having panic attacks but I feel like they are coming. I’ll be driving and I’ll get really hot and have the heebegeebees. Don’t know how on earth to spell that lol. But I don’t understand why they’re so intense. Maybe it’s the holidays? Work? Maybe I should just accept them too. I’m just glad I came across your post because the past week it’s been happening. And I’ve been freaking out about them!!
No need to freak out about panic attacks, LiveandLetLive42. They are unpleasant to say the least but they are just blips in your nervous system caused by anxiety of some kind.
Don't stress or obsess about them, just accept them without reservations for the moment. Do not fight them, accept them completely for the time being and let time pass.
Omg I love the nickname! Yay! Thanks! And I just feel better tonight. I have been doing pretty well. I did a post about it the other day, on how I’m managing and accomplishing things. How have you been?
I have only had one panic attack in my life, it was in the waiting room of Vauxhall Station in January 1974. Long before most people here were born.
I was given an endless supply of Valium which allowed me to overcome the anxiety disorder that followed. I took 2 or 3 a day for a year, they were a life saver.
When I decided to come off them I had the sense to wean myself off them slowly, it was no problem.
In 1976 I discovered Claire Weekes' first book 'Self help for your nerves' on a shelf in my mother's house. My recovery had begun.
These days I feel normal 95% of the time and know how to deal with anxiety through Claire Weekes' six word mantra: Face, Accept, Float, Let time pass.
Claire Weekes' had a definition of recovery which was that if you have fully recovered once through her teachings then if it recurs at a later date you know how to see it off because you have done so before.
In my case there is an hereditary element to my anxiety so I will never be entirely free of it but consider myself recovered because I know how to deal with it successfully thanks to Weekes' method.
Awesome. Thanks for sharing. Been suffering with terrible anxiety lately and yes, it has got far worse since I started having panic attacks. I feel the tightness first in my stomach, then in my chest. Then comes the pounding heart, pins and needles and light headedness.
Since my first panic attack, I have struggled with the anxiety around having them again but I am learning to feel the start of them coming on and I can usually make them tail off again.
It is so true what you say. It is all fear. Fear about things that haven't happened yet. Acceptance is key. Living in the moment. Understanding what is happening to you gives you the power to control it.
My first attack was out in the countryside. No one around as we were driving to pick up my daughter at a rural college for animal science. I had not been feeling well and I had pressure in my stomach from a gastric infection and also unbeknown to me, I had a lung infection too.
I remember just thinking that my chest felt tight and then all hell broke loose and I was looking for somewhere to pull over while talking to a paramedic on the phone.
I had no idea it was a panic attack as I didn't feel I was panicking. I just knew I didn't feel well. My mind filled in the rest and I spent 3 hours up at A&E. I actually had 2 panic attacks as about 10 minutes before the ambulance arrived, I remember thinking that I hope it doesn't happen again before the ambulance gets here. Lo and behold, off I went again, gripped like a vice in my chest.
Really appreciate the words of wisdom and comfort. Anxiety is the worst because it isn't rational. Fear is not rational, but it is learned and you have to break that connection if you want to be free.
Saltwater, the person who developed the Acceptance method for respite and recovery from anxiety disorder in all its forms was Doctor Claire Weeks in her first book 'Self help for your nerves ' u.k. edition and 'Hope and help for your nerves' u.s. edition. Available new or used from Amazon or Ebay.
Everything I know I learnt from Claire Weekes' books which enabled me and so many others to recover.
The book was written more than 50 years ago but this does not mean it is old fashioned, it continues to sell well and has helped 'millions' to recover.
I commend this book to you as I believe it will offer you understanding, reassurance and a road plan for recovery.
I know this very well- anticipatory anxiety. This caused me to be very agoraphobic for awhile. Can’t ever advise anyone else but for me Paxil really was a lifesaver.
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