If youve recovered from panic attacks. How?

[Rinkydinkypink]

I want rid of them for good. They just appear, rattle me for 20-40 minutes. Alter my rational thoughts. Make me feel horrific and then just bugger off!

How did you get rid of yours?

It's a brilliant time for me deal with this now. My life is stable. I'm paying for Counselling weekly.

I hate hate hate them.

For me it was knowing what they were and then dealing with them when they happened by telling myself it was a panic attack and it wouldn't last over and over again. I still get the odd twinge of an onset but it no longer manifests itself as a full blown attack. They were terrible in my early twenties, few and far between in my early thirties, and practically non-existent now. Maybe I grew out of them.

This book helped me a lot Feel the Fear and Do it Anway

Also CBT and repeating daily mantras.

Two things helped me. One was a book called The Compassionate Mind by Paul Gilbert. It's brilliant at explaining why we get panic attacks, which really helped me fear them less. Plus it has lots of useful mindfulness stuff.

The other was a piece of advice I read somewhere. It sounds a bit mad but it worked for me. Usually people's instinct is to mentally push away or escape from the panic, or freeze. Instead, you embrace the feeling, run towards the panic, maximise it, almost try and feel as panicky as you can. It makes it pass more quickly and also proves to you that even if you try and panic to the max, it can't actually hurt you. It's your fight or flight response to the panic that keeps you feeling awful, so don't fight it or flee it or freeze, hoping it will go away. Run at it!

This worked well for me because my panic attacks often happened while I was driving, so I couldn't just freeze or curl into a ball etc. So I would literally go "Aaaargh! Panic!" out loud and have a few seconds where I'd release it all, then feel better almost immediately. In fact it often made me laugh when I'd done it. I very rarely get panic attacks any more and I know I can deal with them if I do.

I'm loving all these tips. Thank you so much. Been feeling twinges at work all morning. Not many people in the office so it's very quiet. Almost too quiet. I cant hum a tune because of what I do work wise. I've tried background music but it's very restricted. Been trying to do the "my life is not in danger, it's just a feeling" mantra. Hit and miss but it's early days.

Noticing today how my head is running away with itself and it's this out of control, fast, random, dark thinking that's sparking off the sensations. I get so disappointed when I feel it coming on. It's like I say to myself "not again" and feel really upset. I think this is all part of it.

My head is very noisy today. Concentration is hard to master. A walk outside would be good but I can't.

I want my book so much!

Unusual strategy but moving away from Brighton helped massively.

Hi Rinky.... reading this thread with interest! How are you doing today?

I'm ok. Still getting twinges everyday. Just had a wobble. Seems to come when my head takes me to past things I've done that I feel guilty for. Cheating on a boyfriend when i was in my teens for goodness sake. Were talking 23 years ago btw that there is nothing I can do about it now. (Taking this to Counselling next week!). This seems to be the main trigger and that leads to all the other stuff I feel I could have done better then self doubt then anxiety incase I can't cope with the feelings etc. I'm becoming very aware of what's going on and how fast it all spirals.

Mindfulness. Mindful walking if too agitated and what I'm working on - the fact that the physical sensations are just sensations and will pass.

You sound like you are in a good place to deal with it all right now, and are recognising the thoughts that are starting the 'panic' spiral.

You've got a lot of people here who believe you can do it!!

Help! Have had a really bad morning so far. Cried out, walked alot, talked to people, journalling yet my head is whirling.

Won't stop thinking. Thought blocking not very effective. The fog has hit. This morning I'm struggling to get out of the cycle.

Ricky, the trick with any anxiety episode is to let it be. Observe the thoughts, feelings etc. Let them feel real and don't get involved. They die off and you reverse the fear cycle with practice.

Yep, fighting the thoughts or trying to block them makes it much much worse in my experience. Let them come, acknowledge them, let them drift away. For me, trying to block the thoughts was what turned it into a full-blown panic attack.

Ok. I'm trying to let them pass now but feel very on edge and upset. I'm just so fed up with it. It exhausts me. Outside helps. Seeing people and general chitchat can help. Keeping busy helps. Hate it too much. I've not got the hang of it not bothering me. It bothers me too much and yes that feeds it. My book is due tomorrow. I'm hopeful it will help.

You poor thing. Hope the book helps.

You need to give yourself time and not be hard on yourself. This won't just stop overnight. I speak from experience and it doesn't help xxx I'm still nowhere near where I want to be but every day it gets easier. Keep a diary then you can look back at how you are improving x

I saw an NLP therapist for something called IEMT ( similar to EMDR ) for my PTSD, my panic attacks stopped immediately after the first session and 5 months on haven't returned.

There has to be a reason for them appearing. Panic attacks just don't appear for no reason. So you need to find the root cause and desl with that, then work on the attacks themselves.

How severe are they for you to be getting them out of the blue and lasting for so long? Because there is the normal panicking about something and there is the horrendous can't breath, feel like you are going to die, chest hurting like hell type.

If it is the first type and medicine isn't the cause of them ( because there are all kinds of medicines which can cause them), they can your therapist teach you how to overcome them?

If it is the second type I wrote about. Those are debilitating. If you are getting them like that all the time, you couldn't work etc. You need to see a psychiatrist.

I get the second type. Very very very rarely now. Use to get more often. The physical pain in my chest from the attack itself wpuld cause my chest to hurt for days afterwards.

Mine were/are caused by anti-depressants and because I can't handle change very well. I am not depressed per se. I was taking them to try to calm my anxiety. And as a pain killer for nerve pain. I have been in therapy, cognitive therapy. Now I barely get them anymore and haven't had such a severe one in a long time. I keep to a pretty simple way of life. Try not to make huge changes which aren't forwarned etc.

I do colouring in. The more intricate the pattern the better. It's the only thing that makes me concentrate enough for the panic not to take control.

Thanks for the help. I'm having Counselling now and I'm becoming more aware of what's going on so yes I know there will be a route cause. Complex PTSD is thought to be at play. It's just pinpointing it for treatment that's causing the issue.

I still need to manage them. The intensity varies. The bit that's frightening is the fact I feel I'll do anything to make them go. I've been here before but it was much more severe (5-10 a day) and ended up suicidal as a result of them. This is why I'm trying to remain calm. Why I've sought Counselling now and why I'm trying to sort it out.

Part of the trigger is returning to the suicidal place. Part of the trigger is the panic attack itself. Part of the trigger is for therapy only but is past events and not being able to move on.

Claire Weekes was a genius. Honestly everything she's says is true. It's all me! Thank goodness for MN. Honest she's basically just said I'm like I am because I'm bloody emotionally exhausted. Yes I am. It also explains why physically I'm shattered and by this time of night I cant stand noise, movement and I want to just rest. She is so right I feel everything so strongly the good and the bad. The guilt-yep that's flipping well there. She's let me take 10 mins a day to rest.....thank you Claire Weekes

Glad you get Dr Weekes! DARE and other similar books work on the same principle. Keep reading and learning but more importantly don't fight it! If you need to find the root cause fine but the most important thing is acceptance. They are here so it's time to accept and learn not to feed the fear xxxx

I've by no means got rid of mine, but have found a way of making them more bearable. Understanding what the physical symptoms are and mean helps me. For example, the rush of feeling hot and then cold is simply the adrenaline kicking my blood flow up across my skin and then redirecting itself to my major organs rather than my skin to help me move faster if I decide to flee. Hyperventilation is another way your body prepares for fleeing to get more oxygen into you. Heart hammering, another way for your body to prepare itself to flee and move the adrenaline around your body faster. The finger tingling, dizziness is just side effects.

Knowing these things helps me. They feel uncomfortable and make me feel unwell, but I know the biological reason for them is because something is causing me to feel scared and panic. It isn't rational, but the may my body responds to fear is because it thinks it is under threat. Focusing on that helps the symptoms of a panic attack recede slightly quicker for me because I'm not focusing on the 'oh god i'm dying' feeling.