How to cope with panic attacks?

[Ostryga]

I’ve just had an absolutely awful panic attack, came on out of nowhere and I feel hideous.

They started randomly at the beginning of October, never had panic disorder before, nothing triggered it, no idea what caused it.

I’ve got beta blockers and about to start fluoxetine, but is there anything else in the meantime I can do?

You sound similar to me - it's come from nowhere. I wonder if I have dysautonomia caused by covid.

I had an episode a couple of weeks ago and like you there was no warning.

I'd say I have low level anxiety and can usually manage without meds (I do have stock ready) but it's so destabilising when you get no heads up.

Sit on the coffee table or similar (I used the dining table but can't be responsible for teaching people that ) and count things. So five things you can smell, see, touch, hear or five blue things or five things beginning with a ... you get the idea.

Can you tell us what you've tried in terms of trying to calm down, so you don't end up with the usual barrage of information that you've already tried.

If they came out if no where, you need tests. This happened to me and I was subsequently diagnosed with hyperPARAthyroidism but thyroid issues can cause it too.

things that helped me were, a good diet, exercise, meditation, socialising and an amazing husband who would sit up with me and hold me when I couldn’t sleep.

I hope you get better soon, it’s awful isn’t it x

So I usually do the five things I can see, 4 touch, 3 hear, 2 smell and 1 taste and that does help. I end up pacing a lot and telling myself I’m not about to die which isn’t that effective surprisingly! And breathing exercises.

I find it really difficult to bring myself back round from them, today was 2 hours of feeling awful.

I’ve had tons of blood tests, CT scan and booked in for an ecg. Nothing is coming up, although I might request a copy of the results to have a look at.

They are awful and I’m keeping a diary to see if there’s any triggers but I can’t find any yet. I feel on edge all the time.

Did anyone find that when they started SSRIs the panic attacks got a lot worse? Dreading that part.

I used this, because knowing WHY I had the symptoms helped

https://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/articles/symptoms

Acknowledging the panic then carrying on so I would say to myself "oh it's just panic here again, anyway..." and carry on with whatever I was doing

Distraction- candy crush type games!

Telling myself it is just panic and nothing bad is going to happen and repeating a sort of mantra (I used "I am safe, I am calm, I am ok")

I had panic attaches regularly, sometimes several times a week, for forty years. Anti depressants made no difference and I wasn't obviously anxious at any other time. Then I started treatment for underactive thyroid and I have only had one since. A small increase in thyroxine put a stop to that.

An apparent psychological issue can have a physical cause.

I stopped having any coffee, only drink decaf tea, no coke, no chocolate, avoid any sort of stimulants at all, it really helps. X

Just in case it is of any relevance to your situation - I had horrible palpitations that felt like heart attacks every day for about 3 weeks in November - they were so bad I ended up in A&E, sweating and shivering and numb in my arms. They came absolutely out of nowhere.

The Dr I saw said this was a very common side effect of the current Covid booster (which I had the day before the first attack) and should resolve on its own. I still have some chest pain now but nothing like what it was. I hope this passes quickly for you.

I would always fight them, so terrified was I of having one. I didn’t feel like I was going to die, I felt like I’d lost my absolute mind and had gone crazy.

id tell my DH and he’s just say ‘just have one then. Just have it and get it over with’ and him allowing me to have the space to full on panic usually actually calmed me down.

Mine are better if I eat well, have noticed they're less severe if I'm eating healthily. Sleep, also. Meditation.