How To Control Your Panic Attacks W/out Meds

[ArabiaNytes]

From personal experience; I even had one a few days ago so my technique is up-to-date on it's effectiveness. 

Acknowledge that it's about  to happen.

DO NOT TRY to stop it --- it will get worse if you do. Just go along for the ride WILLINGLY.

Remember that you will survive, especially if  it's happened before. 

Focus on your breathing. Help it slow down by letting your mind be free, open your mouth, and feel yourself breathe. Relax your body sitting down, not laying down.

Breathe in 1 2 3 4 5 *hold 1 sec*

Breathe out 5 4 3 2 1 *hold 1 sec*

Repeat until you're free from its relentless grasp.

Time will feel like forever but you'll find only that only a few minutes have passed. 

Drink some water and get some fresh air. Maybe a light stroll.

I hope this helps anyone who falls mercy to the psuedo-heart attack, a.k.a. panic attack.

 

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[Allinthemind]

Breathing is such an important part of anxiety management. The key is to stretch the diaphragm when inhaling by using an abdominal breath. Consider that the diaphragm is one of the key muscles to tense up when feeling anxious. Breathing then becomes more thoracic, rapid and shallow (hyperventilation).

http://www.clinicalhypnotherapy-cardiff.co.uk/breathing-techniques/

[LateBloomer]

My advice is to let them come. Actually, go to a places/situations during your free time and try to get them. Whatever places/situations. After you get a few you end up inflating them and actually it can be very difficult to get any if you actually try to do it. I think awareness prevents that since Panic Attacks are very very low-consciousness habit. (Without any blaming of course.)

It's actually very similar to  "Paradoxal Intention" which is a method introduced by Viktor Frankl I believe. There you go to a situations and try to do whatever is your problem intentionally for instance different phobias. It can be very hard to "succeed" if you try to create fear intentionally. This method can be used in many different areas like in difficulty at falling asleep and maybe anxiety and even depression. Leo did a video titled "Awareness alone is curative" and I think the method introduced was this or close to it.

So my advice is to let them come at first. Then bring some awareness/paradoxal intention into play and see what happens.

 

[Gabriel Antonio]

I practice belly breathing lying down for 15 minutes. It calms me down. Thich Nhat Hanh has a beautiful explanation for why belly breathing works. A panic attack is like a storm. Our mind is like the treetop, and our abdomen is like the trunk of the tree. The worst place to take refuge is at the top of a tree (our mind), and the safest is by the trunk (our abdomen).
It gives me a deep sense of solidity.

I also like to count my breath to help concentrate. In, Out 1; In, Out 2; In, Out 3... up to 10. I don't deepen my breath; I only direct it to my belly. 

[Peace and Love]

I used to get panic attacks all the time in my mid 20's and they were correlated with my diet....especially when I ate a ton of salt or white processed sugar. When I changed my diet and ate cleaner they were gone. 

Ice water usually shocks my system and calms me down, as well as putting ice on my wrists and neck and ankles (pressure points).  It's always worked great with my panic attacks.

I love the slow breathing because it slows down your heart rate, especially when I try to breath as slowly as I can....it works pretty quickly for me. 

[ArabiaNytes]

Idk how inducing them would be even possible, unless one is very used to having them and cant bring them on command. Half of mine came during an EXTREME rush of emotion while the others came from prolonged buildup and hit at a moment when I felt relatively calm. I have been working on the former from ever gettin so dramatic bout things and the latter comes from not denying the stress and to find a healthy release before it blows up.

[Peace and Love]

@ArabiaNytes

On 1/24/2017 at 0:57 PM, ArabiaNytes said:

Idk how inducing them would be even possible, unless one is very used to having them and cant bring them on command. Half of mine came during an EXTREME rush of emotion while the others came from prolonged buildup and hit at a moment when I felt relatively calm. I have been working on the former from ever gettin so dramatic bout things and the latter comes from not denying the stress and to find a healthy release before it blows up.

When I ate a poor diet it was harder for me to mentally focus and I was more reactive and quick to anger, with crying jags.  When I ate better I noticed a rise in my consciousness.   I had more emotional control.  I was able to stay calm in most situations unless it was something super extreme of course...(like last August when I found my mother slumped over on the couch after she had a seizure and had to call 911.  I was having such a bad panic/anxiety attack I was ready for them to take me to the hospital).

I may be a special case though.  I've seen a counselor and I was diagnosed with ADD that was dietary induced by what I was eating.  I also have a very SEVERE wheat gluten allergy where my thyroid stops producing hormones and my emotions are completely out of control.

I also found something you might like....I've learned on my journey that we need three things to be healthy and balanced....physical, mental and spiritual.  People forget to realize how physically sick we can become by the types of thoughts that we have.  Like when we become overly sad and depressed we can become so sluggish, and have no energy, create ulcers, deplete our adrenal glands which in turn causes thyroid problems, etc. 

I have this book that talks about these kinds of things.  "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay.  They have found that certain types of thoughts causes certain types of physical problems in the body.  This is what it says about anxiety/panic attacks

Anxiety/Panic Attacks
probable cause: Not trusting in the flow or process of life.
Affirmations (something you should meditate on): I love and approve of myself and I trust in the process of life. I am safe.

Ask yourself....Do you trust in the flow and process of life? How can I change the way I feel about this, and get better?  You only deserve the best in life.

I hope that helps!

[Loreena]

Stay away from toxic people.

[ArabiaNytes]

@Peace and Love

You're most definitely right about the eating right habit. I notice just how irritable and stressed out I become when I am not nourished by adequate food intake. I eat rather healthy most of the time, but I go a long time without eating sometimes and my resolution has come to be in finding a routine in grocery shopping. This is definitely one of the ways to help maintain a physical health that promotes mental health. Great point!

(Note, in my quote about inducing panic attack, it says the word "can't" I meant to say "can".)

[ArabiaNytes]

For people suffering from panic attacks, this is a technique to help establish control in the midst of the attack.

Those who suffer from Panic Disorder, there are much more involved issues of which panic attacks is one of them. This area requires therapy and possibly regulated and temporary medication (so as to avoid dependency).

@Wormon Blatburm

Edited February 22, 2017 by ArabiaNytes
Geezus, my grammar was off af today

[h inandout]

I have found panic attacks to be an odd blessing in disguise.  I feel so much hurt and trauma and disconnection that I actually feel the separation of selves: the eternal source of self and the one in pain.  I had noticed this before, but didn't really know how to describe it until I listened to Eckhart Tolle's Power of Now (on Youtube).  The intensity of the panic usually allows me to disassociate completely from my enmeshment, and finally I allow myself whatever I need to find the serenity and wisdom and relief I've been needing so deeply.  

In a metaphor I learned from Yogi Ramacharaka: your blood is just like a pulsation of the ocean waves that you brought onto land with you long ago.  You are like a little inlet from the ocean, and sometimes that inlet gets clogged with sticks and debris.  One potential way to clear this disconnect is to do rhythmic breathing: breathe in for 9 heartbeats, breath out for 9 heartbeats.  If 9 doesn't work for you pick a number that seems more comfortable and soothing.  This will rock you naturally into the awareness that you have a capacity for higher awareness.