Panic attacks

[Someone here]

I take INVEGA and prozac Rivotril and Zyprexa ...my therapist prescribed them to me .and I'm taking them consistency since a month ago. 

However I still from time to time get anxious and experience panic attacks.  

How to deal with this ? Like what should I do at the moment when I get the panic?  I tried breathing slowly but It doesn't work..

If anyone has experience with healing panic attacks then please share .

Thanks. 

[Cathal]

can you describe a situation that would likely evoke a panic attack? in what kind of setting/what kind of people?

[Someone here]

@catcat69123 I'm usually isolated most of the time. It happens when I'm alone at home .

[Roy]

I used to have panic attacks but I've managed to cure them. Haven't had any for many years. What worked for me was realizing the experience simply isn't rational more or less, it's your body and mind running away with it's own conclusion (and that you must panic about it), and you are just along for the ride. However that doesn't have to be the case, and there are ways to get back in the drivers seat.

There are things you can think and remind yourself to ease or stop the symptoms. Of course it will be hard in the moment but you must still give them a shot.

- I am safe where I am. I am NOT in danger.

- What do I really have to be worried about?

- I am healthy.

Alternatively you can get out of your head if you find it's not helping. Start to do something where you are getting into your body and relaxing. Go take a shower, go for a walk, relax with a pet. It doesn't matter what it is, just don't waste time and start doing something where you are actively using your body and not just thinking. It's part of the dwelling and the anxiety you feel about panic attacks that feed the cycle and make it worse.

Breathing exercises are good but they also didn't work for me much either, don't be afraid to move on from one thing if you find it's not working and don't get angry if something doesn't help.

My getting over them basically came with hindsight. I realized that the panic attacks weren't really "true" and didn't reflect anything that resonated with me. Now whenever I feel one coming on I just remind myself of that and they evaporate.

Of course there may be a deeper reason why they manifest, and it may be obvious or not very clear what that is. You'll have to find that out but I suggest doing it from a calm place.

Hope any of this helps.

 

[Someone here]

15 minutes ago, Medhansh said:

What do you do? I mean what work?

Sorry I don't understand what you mean by that .

14 minutes ago, Roy said:

I used to have panic attacks but I've managed to cure them. Haven't had any for many years. What worked for me was realizing the experience simply isn't rational more or less, it's your body and mind running away with it's own conclusion (and that you must panic about it), and you are just along for the ride. However that doesn't have to be the case, and there are ways to get back in the drivers seat.

There are things you can think and remind yourself to ease or stop the symptoms. Of course it will be hard in the moment but you must still give them a shot.

- I am safe where I am. I am NOT in danger.

- What do I really have to be worried about?

- I am healthy.

Alternatively you can get out of your head if you find it's not helping. Start to do something where you are getting into your body and relaxing. Go take a shower, go for a walk, relax with a pet. It doesn't matter what it is, just don't waste time and start doing something where you are actively using your body and not just thinking. It's part of the dwelling and the anxiety you feel about panic attacks that feed the cycle and make it worse.

Breathing exercises are good but they also didn't work for me much either, don't be afraid to move on from one thing if you find it's not working and don't get angry if something doesn't help.

My getting over them basically came with hindsight. I realized that the panic attacks weren't really "true" and didn't reflect anything that resonated with me. Now whenever I feel one coming on I just remind myself of that and they evaporate.

Of course there may be a deeper reason why they manifest, and it may be obvious or not very clear what that is. You'll have to find that out but I suggest doing it from a calm place.

Hope any of this helps.

 

Thanks for sharing.  So should I simply use affirmations to ground myself 

[Preety_India]

I can only tell you this much. Don't take rivotril. 

 

[Michael569]

53 minutes ago, Someone here said:

INVEGA

Palpitations, anxiety & racing heart are potential side effects of this. Do you suffer from schisophrenia btw? because that is what this drug is mostly used for. Same for Zyprexa. 

Btw I know this is a super basic question but have you been regularly exercising, like 7 days a week? The effects that can have on your neurotransmitters (which is what they try to modulate with these drugs) can be as powerful as a cocktail of meds.

Also, and I don't remember how this works exactly but during cardio exercise, your brain learns to disassociate the feeling of heart-pounding with anxiety & panic attack. Like it literally stops making that connection and it accepts that heart-pounding is just product of exercise and that it is actually good for you. There is also something going on with amygdala (the main fear & emotion centre) that starts utilising a different communication pathway when we exercise and it leads to reduction of anxieties and panic attacks as well as fear....don't remember the mechanism of how that works but it may be worth adding 30 minutes of something every day as another level of prescription. 

Ofcourse the breathing & meditative exercises that others have suggested also need to be included. 

[Someone here]

1 hour ago, Preety_India said:

I can only tell you this much. Don't take rivotril. 

 

Why ?does it have bad side effects? 

1 hour ago, Michael569 said:

Palpitations, anxiety & racing heart are potential side effects of this. Do you suffer from schisophrenia btw? because that is what this drug is mostly used for. Same for Zyprexa. 

Btw I know this is a super basic question but have you been regularly exercising, like 7 days a week? The effects that can have on your neurotransmitters (which is what they try to modulate with these drugs) can be as powerful as a cocktail of meds.

Also, and I don't remember how this works exactly but during cardio exercise, your brain learns to disassociate the feeling of heart-pounding with anxiety & panic attack. Like it literally stops making that connection and it accepts that heart-pounding is just product of exercise and that it is actually good for you. There is also something going on with amygdala (the main fear & emotion centre) that starts utilising a different communication pathway when we exercise and it leads to reduction of anxieties and panic attacks as well as fear....don't remember the mechanism of how that works but it may be worth adding 30 minutes of something every day as another level of prescription. 

Ofcourse the breathknow ing & meditative exercises hat others have suggested also n tko? askbe included. 

Thanks for the information. May I ask what medications you suggest for panic attacks?

34 minutes ago, Medhansh said:

@Someone here What ob/business/study are you currently doing?

I'm a uni student.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Someone here

[Preety_India]

@Someone here yea

[Someone here]

@Preety_India like what ?

[Preety_India]

@Someone here I'm not a doctor so it would be wrong for me to make any claims. 

I can only say that it's not good. You can look up online to know more about it. 

 

[Michael569]

30 minutes ago, Someone here said:

Thanks for the information. May I ask what medications you suggest for panic attacks?

I'm not a medical doctor, can't answer that question. @undeather might have some ideas. 

[Inliytened1]

@Someone here just feel through them, experience them fully.  Eventually you will have had enough of them.  What else can you do?  Its obviously something causing you tremendous anxiety and fear that you've suppressed.  But if you fully expose yourself to it and go THROUGH it, you will realize there was nothing really to fear and it was all your imagination.

[Someone here]

51 minutes ago, Inliytened1 said:

@Someone here just feel through them, experience them fully.  Eventually you will have had enough of them.  What else can you do?  Its obviously something causing you tremendous anxiety and fear that you've suppressed.  But if you fully expose yourself to it and go THROUGH it, you will realize there was nothing really to fear and it was all your imagination.

Thanks for the advice though easier said than done .

[Preety_India]

All of the drugs you're taking have a lot of side effects. 

You need to suffer panic attacks to get used to them. 

[PurpleTree]

so you're taking two anti psychotics, one ssri, and one benzo

that's a lot of meds my dude

how long does your doctor want you to stay on them

[Someone here]

@PurpleTree for a year at least or until I show improvement. 

[Preety_India]

@Someone here don't take it for a year. Your doctor is really crazy. 

You can take it for a month. Or just 2 weeks. 

This recommendation, if I had shown to my doctor, he would have never allowed this combination of meds. 

You can even ask in pharmacy. 

That's a lot that you are putting together, it's not legal. 

Consult some other doctor. 

 

[PurpleTree]

50 minutes ago, Someone here said:

@PurpleTree for a year at least or until I show improvement. 

So did you have a psychotic break of sorts or is your doc giving you those meds for anxiety and panic attacks?

[Loba]

When I have a panic attack, if I am home alone - what I do is feel through it and don't think about anything - just feel it all the way through from start to finish.  The first few times might be hard, but over time as you practice this it should get easier.  What this does it let go of the anxiety stored in your body.  View it as, your bottle is too full, and now it is overflowing - you can think and worry and add to the overflowing, or you can not think at all and just feel into it until it goes away on its own.  Usually 15 mins - 2 hours it takes for a panic attack to die down.  When you do this, the panic can be released, and the attacks will lessen over time.

Some things that can help are to get a "sensory packet" together while you do this - things that have calming smells, textures to them.  Get a weighted blanket and see if this helps, or a fidget spinner to negate some of that anxious energy while it is happening. 

It's all about feeling through, and redirecting the energy.  I still get panic attacks, but now it is just a body sensation and I don't feel fear anymore, that's the difference.  No fear.  Often is just feels like I had too much coffee or something.