I've had quite a day! I felt on edge last night and eventually got it to fade. When I woke up today I was back to feeling anxious and began to have something of a panic attack just as my therapist called me for our weekly chat. I did not take the time to stop and consider what was going on, rather I kept catastrophizing and feeding the fear I felt.
Usually, when I begin to have a panic attack I take a step back from whatever I'm doing. I begin to use square breathing and I tell myself some simple statements, things like:
"This is just anxiety, it's exciting energy and it cannot hurt you. It will pass, it always does. The worst panic attacks you've had did nothing more than leave you feeling exhausted or jittery. Relax your muscles, your breathing, and your mind. You have some control here, you can rationalize your fears and diminish the negative symptoms"
This tends to work for me but I was so focused on trying to have a conversation with my therapist I didn't give myself the appropriate reaction I needed to shake off my anxiety. After about twenty minutes my therapist asked if it would be okay to call emergency services, just to make sure I'm okay. I said that was fine but I knew it would make me feel on edge, in the past I've had a paramedic take my blood pressure and heart rate to look at me very seriously and tell me "You need to calm down or you're going to have a stroke". For some reason that insidious thought crept up from the dark recesses of my mind, or where ever fear lives.
I live in a tiny village so the response time was super quick, about four minutes. I had to laugh, I guess it's just a slow day so the police chief and fire chief were the ones who showed up (later another EMT came up with a kit). They both referred to me as 'boss' in a kind, offhand way, it was funny to me that the police chief and fire chief were at my house addressing me as boss.
In a few minutes, I had slowed my breathing and with a blood pressure of 146/120 (?) the fire chief was fine with me staying home and riding this out, he knows I am agoraphobic (again, small community).
I was exhausted and shaky, I ended up laying down and listening to an audiobook for about an hour then getting up and having something to eat. I feel like my confidence has been shaken a bit and I'm over-analyzing things. While having a panic attack I was able to recognize negative, catastrophizing behavior and correct myself so I need to give myself credit for that. I had an awful night last night with nightmares and panic attacks (PTSD-related stuff) so maybe I just wasn't at my best today.
I am trying to look for what lessons I can take away from this and one thing that keeps coming to me is that a panicked mind does not work on logic. Oh and that I need to take time to address my anxiety for what it is so I can move on with my life.
End of rant