13 year old panic attacks.

[smellybeanpole]

So today my 13 year old ds started having a huge panic attack. Still not completely better but has calmed down a little. It's been at least three hours of this. Taking in deep huge breaths and saying he can't breath. He had this last year (twice)and took him to a&e doc said it's anxiety both times. But disappeared after quiet quick.
Not sure what's setting them off. Neither does he (so he says ). Nothing has changed in his routine so not sure why this is happening. I have booked an appointment for him with the gp but that's at the end of the month. Till then not really sure how to deal with this. Anxiety runs in my family. I had it terrible as a teen so did my brother and my dad and aunties. But now it's my own child I'm really worried I'm not able to handle this correctly. I keep re assuring him and telling him to relax and breath calmly. What could I do more for him ?
Thank you

I found something on pintrest that was how to explain panic attacks to a child. It was really helpful to me as i get them but didnt really know what was going on. No one explained it to me and this helped me a lot.

Oh great I'll check it out. Thank you.

Has he just started back at school?
Has he had lots of 'your exams are coming and you need to work hard' talks?
That's the first thing that comes to my mind.

He started yesterday and coincidentally that's when it started. could be onto something.

Have a chat with him. Explain that really all the teachers want is for him to do as well as he can, but it might have been a bit over-enthusiastic.
If that seems to ring a bell, DS is probably one of those sensitive souls who really takes everything to heart, and probably thinks it was directed at him, which of course, it wasn't.... My interpretation (of course I could be wrong), is that he is one of life's deep thinkers.
I hope you get it sorted.

Mine- spot on. Your advice is perfect thank you. I could cry actually. 😪

I'm very pleased I was able to help.

Oh, and P.S. Email his form tutor to let them know so they can keep an eye on him.

Will do that Monday. Thank you for all your help.

parentingchaos.com/anxiety-apps-kids/ might be of interest

See if you can borrow any books from the local library.
Not sure whether your GP can help or not- anxiety usually has to be well established and severe before you get a referral to CAMHS. ( eg my son was missing up to 3 days school per week before he got a referral).
Self help he can try- breathing techniques- they can physiologically help calm the body and mind. Ditto for relaxation techniques. ( we tried a bit of hypnotherapy and it helped as relaxation). Physical exercise/ activity- again it has a positive effect on disrupting the physiological aspects of anxiety. He could try to learn some distraction techniques- tho these didn't help us much to be honest.
Herbal supplements etc not generally recommended. Basics of good sleep and diet important too.
These all address the symptoms and not the cause... so see if you can isolate the cause ( pressure at school?) and deal with it.

I will try all of these with him. Thank you. He's such a sensitive child. Really hooks on to every word that's said and then thinks about it for days on end. He's very quiet and doesn't really talk about how he feels. So I think this is a lot of build up and also the school starting has set him off. It's so stressful to witness but even worse for him to go through it.

Stuff- than you for the link. Really useful.

In terms of dealing with the actual panic attack breathing in and out into a paper bag does the trick.