My Panic Attack Solution

Comment from older
Time January 13, 2010 at 4:15 pm

don’t know how to stop them but if you have a rapid heart beat and breathing very fast you can breath in & out of a paper bag for a few minutes and it should help in that way and slow it down.
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Comment from SH2007
Time January 13, 2010 at 4:30 pm

Hi,

I haven’t ever smoked cannabis so I don’t know if this is a side effect which will just disappear when your body is used to not having the drug anymore.

I used to suffer from panick attacks for a year or so at one time. I usually found that even if I didn’t notice it, it was a thought that triggered it, something that would cause panick, then my heart would pounnd in my chest and I would feel like I couldn;t breathe and I wasn’t getting enough oxygen. Usually the symptoms of the panick make it get worse so I tried by working on them

It’s going to sound quite simple and almost cleche but when they happened I started to tell myself the truth which was – this was all in my mind and not something uncontrollable that my body was doing to me (like an asthma attck for example). I told myself that I could breathe, that even though i felt i couldnt, there was nothing wrong with my lungs, nothing was different from normal and that again it was in my head and there was no need to feel scared of not breathing.

Over time of telling myself these things they actually lessened and went away.

I hope yours go away and I think its really good you have stopped the cannabis as it can affect your mental health badly.

all the best
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Personal experience

Comment from Blanche
Time January 13, 2010 at 5:15 pm

Regular facial, head, and neck massages, to relax the ‘fight or flight’ muscles; and deep breathing exercises
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Sufferer of panic attacks for over 10 years

Comment from Morpheus
Time January 13, 2010 at 5:28 pm

Yes – this does happen to a certain number of people (including myself) who smoke weed. Whether it has anything to do with the weed is hard to know. Probably you have a proclivity for panic attack – and the weed shook your head loose. I know that’s the way it felt when it happened to me.

It’s as bad as it can get – I know too well. It can go on for years and completely ruin your life and your ability to earn a living or anything else. I got over these, but I don’t really know how. I went to a really good psychiatrist we just happen to have here at the time. But there’s hardly any help now – any psychiatrist just wants to give you dope – they don’t really seem to do talking therapy.

Anyway, by discussing this panic for a long time, I was able to revisit my whole life (like in the Christmas Carol) – and I could understand why I had the panic attacks.

As I say – I have no idea if it was marijuana which "caused" these to occure. Certainly there was enough trouble in my past to have caused them. But the marijuana probably didn’t help.

The good news is that for MOST people, this will clear up quite quickly – in a matter of a few weeks to a couple months. Just give yourself permission to be all panicky – and feel the panic – and as the panic floods through you, just try to stand off to one side and watch it. It’s a HUGE amount of energy running through your system – like being electrocuted. Don’t try to fight it – just go with it. In psychological terms, it’s telling you a story – so what story is it telling you about your past? Where was it that was so terrible that it caused this? Well…. the truth is that it’s not so terrible now – you’re all grown up now – but your mind doesn’t know that yet – it’s still replaying panic.

Always push against the panic a little – take a little walk even though it will cause panic. Stand in the dark outside even though it will cause panic. But don’t push too hard – just hard enough to make some panic so you can study it. It really is a HUGE and amazing physiological and psychological reaction – to something. At no time in your life will you EVER have anything this strong happen to you. So what do you suppose it means? Keep notes.

I know this crap is unpleasant as hell – and nobody has any idea what causes it for sure – and there aren’t any drugs for it much. About the only thing is to use your best head on this – look at it straight out. IF POSSIBLE find somebody you can talk to about this. It won’t make it magically go away, but it’s best when you can bounce ideas off somebody else. And I think you’ll find as you challenge it a little, in a while you’ll see that it’s getting less.

Anyway – let’s hope that’s the case. Good luck.
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Comment from Chrona
Time January 13, 2010 at 5:59 pm

Hey… Victoria here, maybe my personal story can give you some solace…

a lil about me- about a year after my husband left me and my daughter died about 5 years ago.. I was at a very difficult point in my life, and was ultimately diagnosed with depression, severe anxiety, and panic disorder. I would say that i’ve always for the most part been a little depressed and had some degree of anxiety, but this just completely tipped the scale. I remember there were days on end I would just lie in bed, and whenever I would be in a social environment my anxiety would go through the roof and I would often have panic attacks. Therapy never seemed to be effective for me, and my psych put me on damn near every med out there. I’ve been on everything from wellbutrin to paxil, zoloft, prozac, lexapro, celexa, buspar, valium, klonopin, xanax.. etc. Sometimes 2-3 different ones in combo at the same time. Nothing really seemed to work for me. With the exception of some of the benzos (klono./xanax) .. these worked well for a little while, but I grew tolerance quickly, and became highly addicted.

Then one day while researching online i came across this reputable looking website http://www.anxiety.pcti-system.com .. which talked about this program to eliminate your anxiety for good, all naturally. Long story short, I wound up signing up to try it and the program worked amazing.. Not only do I no longer have panic attacks and anxiety gone, but my depression has also seemed to dissipate a little. And I’m currently starting to slowly ween off the meds I’m on. >>>>

I would personally say that possibly the biggest driving factor in all this is OCD. I think obsessing and constantly having your thoughts focused on your own condition and constantly analyzing your own thoughts/actions plays a very significant role in the persistence of our ails. Almost like the condition is a small lit fire, and OCD is the fuel that keeps it consistently burning… Also, I’ve come to the conclusion that meds are generally a unhealthy short term cure that only semi-treats the symptoms, and never the cause. Hope I was of some help!
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