Ever feel such a strong feeling of fear that torture you somehow? Intense fear followed by plapitations, sweating, shaking, shortness of breath, and so on are the signs that can indicate a panic attacks. When suddenly something traumatic or something that a person’s very afraid or—you can say phobia, this attacks might just occurs. The suffocating symptoms and feeling might make the person feel uncomfortable and afraid of having panic attacks itself. But, just worrying and scared won’t give you a helping hand in this case.
This article will give you 25 ways to let go of the fear of having panic attacks effectively that you don’t have to feel insecure any longer. You might also curious what a panic attack actually is, what’s behind that, what are the symptoms, as well as how to stay positive and calm within your day.
What is panic attack?
Panic attacks are sudden period of intense fear. It might be followed by palpitations, sweating, shaking, shortness of breath, numbness, or a feeling of something bad that’s going to happen. The durations of this attack can reach to hours. Although not dangerous physically, this attack is clearly unpleasant. It doesn’t only occur when there’s something provoking, it might happen unexpectedly in a calm state.
This panic attack can be an indication of having psychological disorders such as panic disorders, but when someone gets a panic attack, that doesn’t abruptly mean that they are having mental disorders.
Why does this happen?
As what we might or might not have known, disorders can be one of the cause of panic attack. But beside that, there are few situations and causes that lead to panic attack. Some of them are :
- Biological causes. Having obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, hypoglycemia, Wilson’s disease, and so on might let you experience panic attack. You might also read Home Remedies for Post Traumatic Stress Disorders
- Phobia. When someone’s experiencing specific phobia towards something such as height, spider, etc. it might be hard for them to ‘survive’ while facing their biggest enemy. Exposure to a phobic object can lead to panic attack.
- Hyperventilation syndrome. When we are going through an overbreathing, we exhale too much carbon dioxide to our lungs. This syndrome might causes few symptoms, such as dizziness and rapid heartbeat, thus these might lead to panic attack.
- Short-term triggering causes. Going through a huge change in life is never easy. Going out of comfort zone, experiencing a loss, might give too much pressure on someone. Things such as emotional attachment to a romantic partner, life transitions, might be one of the things that can trigger panic attack.
- Agoraphobia. This is an anxiety disorder, it’s the fear of difficult or embarrassing situation that someone can’t escape. Not being able to flee from a bad situation is one of the sufferer biggest fear. Agoraphobia might results in difficulty of leaving their home, moving to new places, travelling outside. When a person with panic disorders reached their limits, not being able to step out of the house, they’re said to have agoraphobia. So, basically this agoraphobia might makes you get panic disorder, as well as the fear of having one.
- Stimulant consuming. For those who consume drugs such as amphetamines, caffeine, cocaine, you might get a panic attack as the result of the stimulant that you take.
- Medication withdrawal. Going through a withdrawal, such as alcohol withdrawal, might give you hard times that you have to Get a good Sleep during an Alcohol Withdrawal. The same thing goes with panic attack. It isn’t impossible that reduction in the dose of a substance that you usually take such as antidepressant, can lead to panic attack.
- Hyperthyroidism
- Hypoglycemia
What are the symptoms?
- Shortness of breath or hyperventilation
- Heart palpitations or accelerated heart rate
- Sweating
- Trembling or shaking
- Chest pain
- Choking feeling
- Nausea
- Numbness or tingling sensations
- Dizzy or faint
- Hot or cold sensations
- Feeling of unreality or being detached from surrounding
- Fear of losing control
- Fear of dying
- Flashing vision
- Difficulty moving
- Tunnel vision
How to Overcome Panic Attack?
Everything in life has their own path, their own way to deal with, and we have to believe that there are no doors that can’t be opened. When there’s a will, there’s a way. That might be a good encouragement for you who are overcoming a panic attack. Here are few ways that you should try to let yourself free from the fear of having panic attack.
1. Learning to accept
Accepting the fact that you have a problems is not easy, so does accepting panic attack. Most people find it hard to do, they don’t want to have a panic attack. They’re afraid of having one. But did you know? That’s not how it goes. It should be about accepting yourself, letting yourself drenched in the attack. Avoiding won’t change anything, because by doing that, you’re setting your mind up that a place, or situation, is dangerous, not good and might provoke panic attack.
When you have to go through that thing you’re avoiding, you’ll most likely end up having a panic attack, because your mind recognize it as something bad and dangerous. That’s how you build your own mind to give respond such as panic attack to several situation. Face your fears, that’s probably the suitable motto for you who really want to recover from panic attack. It has to come from yourself.
2. Learning about panic vs anxiety
3. Learn how to breathe
Most panic attack will let someone experiencing hyperventilation, a symptoms that will make you feel like you can’t breath and you need to force yourself to inhale as mush as possible. This symptoms explains well why should you learn breathing, a skill that’s naturally yours from the very beginning.
Deep breathing, is one of the technique that you should try to calm down. Instead of panicking, try taking slow, controlled breaths. Breathe in for 5 seconds, hold it in for 3 seconds, and breathe out not at once but in 7 to 9 seconds. By doing this, you’ll regain carbon dioxide. So that it should reduce the attack.
4. Practice yoga
Beside learning how to breathe, you might also take some activities that will help you to relax such as yoga. Doing yoga definitely need a persistent focus, relaxation, and calm down. You’re also practicing your muscles relaxation here. It teach you how to breathe as well, truly letting you feel the joy at the same time
5. Practice meditation
Meditation will bring the brainwave patterns into an relaxed alpha state, which relaxes the body and ming. In meditation, the mind is relaxing and entering a state of deep rest. This can results in decreasing anxiety, improving emotional stability, creativity, reducing tensions, and stress level.
6. Exercise regularly
Exercise can never hurt. Whether we realize it or not, exercising is one of the good way to push away diseases, physical problems, as well as mental problems. Doing some aerobic such as running, which is sometimes avoided by panic attack sufferers, turns out to be beneficial. This helps releasing endorphins and reducing cortisol.
Doing exercise about 30 minutes a day has a positive impact on the brain and on mood. Although there’s a chance of triggered panic attack due to increased respiration rate, it’s worth to give a try. Just remember not to force yourself too hard, know your own limit and stay active safely.
7. Sleep
Even when you’re on your busiest day, try to get a good sleep for your own sake. Sleeping can help you to reduce anxiety well by letting your body and mind to rest and refresh theirself for the next day. During sleep, our body temperature drops, muscle relax, and our heart beating slowly. You need to know how to get a good sleep when stressed.
8. Close Your Eyes
While you’re in the middle of having panic attack, especially in a place where there are a lot of stimuli from the environment, it can triggers your panic attack worse. Reduce them by closing your eyes, will help blocking any extra stimuli and let you focus on your breathing calmly.
9. Cut down smoking, alcohol
You need to take care of things that are increasing your level of stress, anxiety, and tension. They’re your cigarettes and alcohol that should be avoided or at least reduced. The chemistry compounds that contained in these stuffs are believed to triggers stress and anxiety more. You might want to read How to Get Rid of Panic Attacks after Drinking
10. Avoid stimulant
We know that stimulant such as caffeine, amphetamines, can provoke panic attack. Try to cut them down, going through a medication withdrawal isn’t easy. But still, you got to face it in order to recover from panic attack, as well as setting yourself free from addiction.
11.Therapy
At times, you might need to come to your physiatrist, trying to get a professional help. Exposure therapy is one of the method used in overcoming panic attacks. Sufferers are being confrontated to the feared situations repeatedly to weaken anxiety responses and reinforce ways of viewing panic attacks.
12. Medication
Talk to your doctor before taking a medication, this is very important because self-medicating might be a very dangerous options in overcoming panic attack. Without the right knowledge, you might just make everything worse. You might be advised to consume antidepressants such as Prozac, paroxetine, and so on.
13. Benzodiazepines
It’s a central nervous system dperessants that are used in recovering from anxiety insomniam and other problems. They act instantly, best used as soon as you feel an attack coming. It should only be used when a cases occurs urgent, not regularly. Taking this in long term with high doses might just end up resulting in habit-forming.
Other Ways ( 14-25)
Here are few other ways that you can try to overcome panic attack :
- Lavender : It has soothing and stress-relieving properties to help your body relax. Read also How to Treat Anxiety with Aromatherapy
- Picturing good place : When you’re about to oanic, try calming yourself, imagine a beautiful, calming place with your eyes closed.
- Change your response : Remind yourself that your symptoms is just temporary, think of yourself as fine, nothing much to worry about.
- Stay hydrated : Drink a lot of water to stay hydrated, as we know that panic attacks can cause a lot of sweating. Make sure you’re not dehydrated.
- Healthy diet : Cut down caffeine, eat healthy food. Reduce bloating and gas to reduce chest pain.
- Distractions : Cope your stress by doing activities and distractions to recover from anxiety. Try watching funny and happy shows on TV to replace your stress.
- Bond with others : Anxiety triggered when you feel isolated and detached. Build strong, healthy connections with others.
- Stay positive : Negative thinking will let your ming absorb you deep in something that wasn’t real. Tell yourself to stop thinking negatively.
- Be productive : Doing things you love with passion will helps you to release tension and gain happiness.
- Write down or talk about your stress : When you’re afraid of something, underlying a terrible situation, let them out of your mind. This will help you to ease your mind.
- Talk to yourself : Communicating with yourself isn’t that simple, but it will help you to control yourself more, making yourself realize that you’ll be fine, recognizing what situation are you coping with.
Panic attacks is not something that can goes away in a second, especially if it had occurred for a long time. You need to go through a long, slow process in order to overcome it completely. However, it’s not comfortable having one, no one should actually live under that big of a pressure lone. Try to pick your best way of dealing with it, and getting rid of it effectively. It might not be easy, but giving a try won’t hurt. Stop worrying too much about a thing. Worrying won’t get you on top, but courage does. Get up and embrace this joyful life happily.