My Panic Attack Solution

I have a history of anxiety disorder. But lately this past month its been almost daily. Last night I had a major panic attack sucking in lots of air and hyperventalating. I tend to get erratic with my attacks i freak out. Well it passed and today Im feeling kind of light headed a bit dizzy. Is this typical anyone experience this? Thanks ahead for the help!

First of all let me start out by saying always try and stay calm during your "attacks." I myself have severe anxiety disorder. I can experience an attack just by merely tieing my daughter’s shoes. (NO JOKE) I have attacks sometime 10-15x a day. (Again, NO JOKE)

What helps me work through my attacks is to simply stay calm, because the more you freak out about the attack the worse off you will be. Try and walk around a bit allowing yourself to breath slowly. Try not to think about the attack at hand. Keep your mind on something else. Sometimes just thinking your going to have one can bring one on. It is something you have to except and allow to take its course.

I was perscribed medication for my attack (Paxil) which in the beginning did wonders, howerever, I am not a medication type of person and I wanted to be able to control this on my own so I came up with this method and now I seems to do just fine working through it on my own.

Anxiety and Panic attacks can be brought on by stress and/or past experiences in your life. You may want to speak with a therapist about you r anxiety and see if you can talk out some of your stressful issues. This is also very helpful in reducing the amount of attacks you have and the level of the attack itself.

Im sorry this was so long, but I hope it helps. Best wishes, and God bless!

Are nightmares involved?

The new issue I am dealing with is spontaneously awaking every night at the same hour — 2 am. I am having nightmares before awakening, usually of an evil nature. I awake to a full blown panic attack — demons on my chest, ghosts walking in my room! Oh how scary it is. But I won’t be afraid anymore. I am going to share my experiences with others and confront my fears head on.

Do you have any panic attacks in the middle of the night?

Sounds like your mind is working itself through a trauma it recently went through. Nightmare often mean that something is troubling your subconscious. Something needs healing in your waking life before you can have peace in dream world.

Every night for the past 4 nights, Ive been getting panic attacks after I ate dinner… I just don’t understand what could trigger it. My breathing is uncontrollably hard, and my heartbeat is beating just a little faster. Im not overweight or out of shape either… Im just slender/average… Help?

I had the exact same problem.

Something in that room- irgrophoebia- is triggering these panic attacks.

Once you get them, breathe in through the noise and exhale. Practice this for 20 min. every ngiht.

Should go away in 1-2 months.

For a year I would randomly wake up having I think a panic attack. Its not an everday occurrence. It randomly comes. I never have this happen during the daytime. I wake up feeling like Im gasping for air, like everything is caving in, my heart is beating faster, legs shaking. Everytime I have this I jump up out of my bed and I walk to the bathroom and have to pee. Then I sleep no more panic for the night.
Almost 2 yrs ago I has having heart palpitations but it endedup being an herbal med causing it. I already went to a cardiologist then and had an echo done and also was on a heart monitor. everything came out fine. I had a CBC-complete blood panel a year ago. said no thyroid issues. Maybe I should get a cbc again? A sleep study costs a lot of money. No health insurance
but im not really stressed out lately so I doubt its stress. im unemployed and lost my job months ago so im already on a vacation lol..until I find another one

I think all you have to do is go on a long relaxing vacation and forget about all the stress in your life.. stop worrying about what is wrong with you.. In a few years you will realise nothing was wrong and laugh.. Trust me

For a year I would randomly wake up having I think a panic attack. Its not an everday occurrence. It randomly comes. I never have this happen during the daytime. I wake up feeling like Im gasping for air, like everything is caving in, my heart is beating faster, legs shaking. Everytime I have this I jump up out of my bed and I walk to the bathroom and have to pee. Then I sleep no more panic for the night.
Almost 2 yrs ago I has having heart palpitations but it endedup being an herbal med causing it. I already went to a cardiologist then and had an echo done and also was on a heart monitor. everything came out fine. I had a CBC-complete blood panel a year ago. said no thyroid issues. Maybe I should get a cbc again? A sleep study costs a lot of money. No health insurance

It sounds like you’re having sleep panic attacks. It might help to get in the practice of relaxing before you go to bed. Perhaps try meditation, or just reading a relaxing novel for a bit before sleeping. It really helps.

Sleep panic attack symptoms closely resemble a heart attack and you’re more likely to injure themselves when you are in a comatose state. During sleep panic attacks, you are awoken right in the middle of a panic attack without the escalations of symptoms leading to that attack.

When you notice you’re having an attack, stop trying to resist it and welcome all the feelings full force. A lot of the suffering in a panic attack comes from simply resisting the symptoms in the first place. If you let them run their course, the episode will be done with faster and you’ll release all that anxiety.

A big-day could be… the first-day of work, the first-day of school, etc.

I am just curious to know… if possible, describe your symptoms to me? Thanks!
Yeah! Looks like we’re not alone.

I used to feel very anxious – my body feels hot; a feeling of impending doom or going crazy; etc.
Yeap, panic-attack you can say.

ha oh yeah.
especially the first day of school.
i was so anxious that something bad was going to happen. like i was going to pass out, i had uncontrolled breathing.
but usually it only happens the day before. im usually just fine when i actually have to do the thing.

HI. I agree with roydunce.. being alone without distractions can be hard. When we are alone the "only" person we have is ourselves.

One thing you may want to do is use the "alone time" in a way to help make you stronger. This moment without distraction is extremely valuable to you. Don’t fill it up with more distractions but let it be filled with tools that will help you be more comfortable with yourself. The time is YOUR time. Let it be the time where you will grow- what ever that means. Maybe it’s thinking about the things you value. It may be the best time to think about the therapy you may have learnt about anxiety and depression -and let it work for you.

I woke up the other night sitting up in bed crying and breathing heavily. Was this a panic/anxiety attack of some kind. I have had attacks during the day recently and am on meds. Could it be the meds?

Answer:
About 50% of all patients with panic disorder have nocturnal panic attacks, but most of the events will be happening during daytime activities. Research shows that only 10.2% of all panic attacks happen at night, but patients might be more severely concerned about these events.
A significant number of patients are afraid of the nighttime and do expect a loss of control or severe somatic consequences like a heart attack, stroke or other irrational cause of death. Of course this is most unlikely!

We know that most panic attacks are NOT caused by dreams. Records of sleep polysomnographia show a maximum of panic attacks during early sleep phase (phase II), not during the REM-phases associated with dreams. This is a major difference to nightmares! Nightmares happen during the second half of the night, so we are often able to remember the content of these dreams.

Pavor nocturnus is a very specific type of sleeping disorder, more common among children. It is defined by a sudden avakening with crying, strong anxiety symptoms and vegetative symptoms like heart palpitations, short breathening and sweating. This type of sleeping problems occur during deep phases of sleep (phase IV).

Arousals caused by sleep apnea syndromes are usually not characterized by extreme anxiety symptoms. But this sleep disorder might have an effect on the origin of panic attacks, because sleep apnea has an impact on heart frequency and blood pressure. Chronic arousal of anxiety during night could be a kind of dysfunctional protection against apnea during night.

The exact causes for panic attacks at night are not known. Other possible causes include an increase of CO2-concentration (False Suffocation alarm hypothesis) or changes of the parasympathotonic system due to autonomic dysfunction.

So panic attacks at night will be mainly influenced by the events of the last day, consumption of alcohol or drugs and a general higher arousal due to the anxiety disorder of the client.

okay so i have this terrible anxiety about going to sleep at night and not waking up. i’m scared i’m gonna die, i have no really serious health problems that could relate to this but i still have the fear. nor does anyone in the history of my family died in their sleep. i stay up until 3-4 in the morning just laying there and usually i try to go to sleep but the other nights when i don’t even try but just lay there and wait to get tired i get even more scared. i really need help with this, i know i need to talk to a doctor and set up an appointment fast but i need something to help me get through the night tonight. i’m just wondering is there any techniques or anything to help my fall asleep that you know of. please help!

thanks,
tasha

It sounds like you’re having panic attacks, I highly doubt that you are suffering from some kind of medical condition. I’d bet the problem is mostly in your head. You might want to see a doctor just in case though.

Before you go to bed, try to relax yourself. It can be helpful to try practicing meditation for a little bit before bed. This helps relax the mind and body. Drinking some warm caffeine-free tea can help you relax too. Even something simple like taking the time to read a relaxing novel or something can help you chill out and take the edge off your anxiety.

I hope this helps.

Initially, I’m not sure where to start as far as problems that I need advice on. There are a couple of things in my day to day life that I could be doing less of/eating less of that may help, hmm well I’ll start with what it feels like.

Like I said, it’s only at night, later in the night, or even earlier, mostly when everyone is in bed, but there have been rare occasions where someone has been right next to me and I was just really tired.

I for the longest time have had issues with death, the fear of me dying, the fear of the inevitable loss of my loved ones, if my mind isn’t occupied at night, and I catch even a hint of a thought like that, I just begin to spiral. My mind races, and it all happens within about a minute, it feels like a black hole, or a pit opens in my chest and starts to suck the life out of me, my brain literally feels like it completely freezes over, and then I just sort of burst, mostly yelling, just because I don’t know what else to do to make it go away.

Nights are terrible for me. Every terrible thought in the world, every unlikely horrible event that could happen to my family or the things that I care about possess my mind, and falling asleep is more or less an all out brawl between my body’s desire and will to sleep, and my brain’s ceaseless racing.

I said earlier that there are a few things that I can change that would help, it’s just a matter of addiction/bad habits vs what’s best for me.
I just feel like I’m the only person who’s had this problem, almost like I’m crazy because no one I’ve known has had this problem, no one in my family either. Feels as if I’m the only person in the world and that no one could truly understand what those attacks are like.

What’s strange is, the following day/morning, I feel like a complete ass. Like, "how could I be so weak?" And, "What’s my problem, just control myself and get over it?" Never do I have this problem in the day-time.

Negative emotions (like sadness, stress, anger, etc.) causes your Serotonin production to be low; when your Serotonin level is low, you are more prone to getting Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Depression, etc.

Medication like Antidepressants (SSRI – Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) helps to boost Serotonin level.
But there are natural ways to do it without medication. There’s this herb called "St John’s Wort" – it is said to be more effective than Prozac. No, it is not for mild depression only and ignore those sayings. In fact, it does help anxiety and panic-attacks as St John’s Wort works like prozac. Other natural ways will be exercise, diet, more exposure to light, etc.
If you’re unable to take St John’s Wort, you can substitute it with Siberian Ginseng or Licorice Herb.

The problem is that, even if your Serotonin is balanced… you have that "learned behavior" in your mind. You need to break that initial cycle to destroy that learned behavior – Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) does this. A technique that you can use without CBT will be Distraction… There are several other techniques to help cope them!
Ok, to use Distraction: Firstly, try to….

Extracted from Source.