Experienced Panic Attacks? What do you do?

[quickfix]

Hello guys, I wanted to create a thread where you could share your experience of the worst ever panic attack in your life and how you managed to deal with it.


I know there not going to kill us, and we always remind our selves it's there to keep us alive from danger and it will pass. But when one suddenly comes on especially a very bad one sometimes you forget all those things. I've suffered from panic attacks all my life, if I look back from now they have become worse but I've been able to manage them better when I am having one.


However there was one a couple months ago where I thought I literally lost my mind, I only realized that it was panic attack a couple  hours after.
I was in the middle of cold turkey from diaz, and was going out for dinner with a friend. Now to anyone else this seems like a fabulous time. Not for me. As soon as he arrived I started to shake, and was acting very awkward then could not pronounce words properly and started to get emotional for no bloody reason. He said are you okay? I said I need to dash to the bathroom I'll be right back. Luckily I had propranolol on hand as my palpitations where obvious from me gasping for air, the room started to spin it almost felt like a bad trip it took about 30min for me to relax a little. I lied to my friend saying it was an allergic reaction as I didn't want him to know I was ct from a benzo or that I used to take them. He then said I think your having a panic attack, and relax. I could see he was trying to comfort me, but asking every 10min are you okay was not helping. 

I cut the dinner short, and took an uber back (that was another horrible experience nearly threw up) my friend insisted to comeback with me so I agreed.
Once we got to mine, I asked if he could give me an hour. So I could lay my head down for a bit as my heart rate was 
160bpm and blood pressure 170/100 this was two hours in. About 90min later my numbers settled and I felt a little better.
probably due to the beta blocker, the mental effects where still there. I think in total this was a 4 hour panic attack.

Has anyone else experienced anything like it, and how did you deal with it?
Thanks QF

[Wannabenormal18]

Unfortunately I can’t risk cold turkey benzo withdrawals anymore as last time I tried to stop, I suffered 3 seizures in a row and broke my scapula and tore everything In my left soldier. I wake up every morning with panic. It’s torture. If you are asking how to deal with it, my personal answer is that I cannot. Its at the point where just the fear of breaking more bones during a seizure, quickly reminds me I better take at least a small benzo dose. I tried to be brave last time and could of died from it. I think benzos are the worst drug to start on. I never would of ever taken one if I knew stopping them would be like this. I get a panic attack whenever the benzo leaves my system. My life is in shambles right now. It’s caused me more depression then I ever though was possible. I don’t even think this is living anymore.

[coffeedude22]

Breathe and Meditate. Sometimes it's best to Imagine colors when one is breathing out. Close one eyes, and imagine breathing out blue or yellow, the most calming colors. This is how I learned to go to sleep during insomnia, and also when I was anxious. Color-Guided Breathing has been such a gift for me

[Moonfairy0803]

My worse one was at disney on Christmas day. Got stuck in the mad dash to the exit after the parade. Got stuck in the crowd and became clostrphobic. Pushed my way through people till I found an area to calm down. I know try to avoid things like that. And if i do go around crowds i have my xanax with me

[quickfix]

@ Wannabenormal18

I'm sorry you had to go through that, someone should be held accountable for making you go through cold turkey and suffering seizures . It sounds like your panic is amplified by the horrific experience, on top of which I assume also is benzo tolerance.

Im seizure prone myself, and had a horrific one a couple years back that has still affects me. Since then I've had someone stay with me at my place to give me a little peace of mind since tapering and if one was to come up.
I totally can relate to waking up every morning feeling panic straight away, and just pain all over like someone just beaten you with a meat tenderizer and made you drink a hundred espressos. I guess it's part of withdrawal.

Do you live alone or with someone? If i were you i would ask someone to come stay with you, it sounds like you need support on hand and a support system around you. Is there anyone you could speak to about the way you feel in person?
Do you find pleasure in any hobbies you could distract yourself with? and remember this is a major yet a small blip in your life, that you will go on to tell once it's over. Leaving you a much stronger person than before.

I wish you all the best
-QF

[quickfix]

@Moonfairy0803 Oh God I hate that, since my taper I've become more agoraphobic. But one must not allow it to control you, I call it exposure therapy. Something I've taken away from my psychologist. I hate using the tube/metro at rush hour when your all squeezed like sardines, but my phobia stretches further where even using an uber and being stuck in a car with one person is just as horrible. Once when i was in ct withdrawal my anxiety was so high almost psychosis like that i thought the uber taking me home was by taking a different route was going to kidnap me so i texted my friend for some comfort. I've noticed that the more i expose myself to these uncomfortable situations for a long enough time at least 30min my anxiety diminishes.

It's important to expose yourself to these situations obviously have a benzo on hand if it really is extremely bad and as a last resort.
But try and find some comfort within yourself even when nothing around is comfortable.
Also asking someone to be with you in an uncomfortable situation can really help, you'll come to realize you was able to get through it without having to rely on a pill eventually.

My top tips is
Ask someone to be with you when you will be in an anxiety provoking situation
Try to take deep breaths
This is a weird one, but wear sunglasses it helps me significantly even after dark
and of course try and be in the situation for at least 30min and do it often at least 3-4 times a week for the phobias to diminish

[scorpiosunset]

My worse one was at disney on Christmas day. Got stuck in the mad dash to the exit after the parade. Got stuck in the crowd and became clostrphobic. Pushed my way through people till I found an area to calm down. I know try to avoid things like that. And if i do go around crowds i have my xanax with me


that honestly sounds like the worst experience in the world.  disney AND christmas?  my gods.  how did you find yourself in that situation?

ot, sort of: my best xmas ever, out, was in rome.  the best day to be there because it's EMPTY, everyone is inside with their families, hardly any other tourists, no claustrophobia, not he usual crush of people, the streets are yours... amazing.  it was this lovely, sunny day.  i remember it so clearly.  i was like 20, i think?  so young and thin and still believing in romance.... ah... damn, more than half my life ago now (i'm 42).  i met this other american, a guy, at a hostel in florence on christmas eve (after watching a christmas eve parade there, outside the duomo, which WAS super crowded  and claustrophobia-making, i do not have fond memories of that, everyone in this weird pageant parade dressed in fake uncomfortable looking "renaissance" italian clothing)... and we were both headed to rome so we decided to take the 6 am train from firenze to roma the next morning, on xmas day. 

he was going to yale and was also in europe on vacation for the holidays.  he had just taken this italian architecture class so he knew a ton about rome's history, the fountains, forum, coliseum, etc.  we had a lovely 3 day romance, walking around rome and eating amazing food and kissing in the streets the ways itaiians do

we, lol i just remembered this, were in vatican city on xmas night and went to a pharmacy there (to be clear, IN vatican city, across the street from the pope's freaking house, ON christmas) to buy condoms, like the totally oblivious, half-jewish-by-blood, non-religious, liberal american college students that we were.  i will never forget the look on the pharmacy woman's face when we asked if they had any (spoiler alert, they did not).  it was hilariously uncomfortable.  if she could have killed us with her eyes she would have, i think.

anyway, sorry to ramble there, but your story reminded me of the best ways to spend xmas out.  NOT at f'ing disneyland! i hate that place and its creepy characters and rides and people and princessy-propping-up-the-patriarchy bs  (btw, i do love frozen, i can't help it, despite its flaws, in large part because elsa is a QUEEN, not a princess, and and unmarried queen at that, and also because she's the first disney female character to have magical powers and NOT be evil)... and i'm so sorry you had that experience.  i hope you had xanax with you, that's what i do, when i have a panic attack, to answer the original question, with my chronic life-long anxiety.  medication makes life better for so many of us.  and i always make sure i do not run out of benzos, by having a few stashed in every purse or backpack that i use.  because the only thing worse than having a panic attack is having a panic attack while withdrawing from benzos.

and a thing i sometimes do when i'm experiencing feelings of panic is to remember experiences like the one i described above, and to remember how lucky i have been, and am, that i'm not living in a country where i'm always having to, say, run from bombs, for instance, or that i'm not a starving woman living in poverty somewhere in the world, with no education, half my kids dead, having to endure marital rape and/or a UTI without any medication.  some people feel guilty for their anxiety when they think about how much worse off many other people are, but for me, although it is painful to think about the suffering of other people, i am past feeling like my feelings are invalid because i am lucky.  what can actually center me is imagining ways i can help other people.  sometimes when you are feeling your worst, helping others, or planning on how to help people in your head, can get you OUT of that Bad Place in your head.

and it also gives me some relief to,  like coffeedude said, visualize the color blue (yellow doesn't work for me), either caribbean ocean blue or mediterranean sea blue, depending on what feels best to calm me at the time.  and the calming, life giving waves of mother ocean (to me, the ocean feels very connected to the divine feminine, but ymmv).

and also, for me it helps to connect to anything around me that feels nature-y.  the moon,  the sunshine, the wind, the trees, birds singing, the smell of jasmine in bloom or a lemon freshly picked from the tree in my front yard, the earth below my feet.  grounding exercises also help me, like imagining my feet are tree roots and visualizing them going deep into the earth, through all the layers, amd then wrapping around that core of liquid magma (you can imagine this in a dr. evil voice, because humor is super helpful too: liquid hot MAGma), pulling that warm earthy strength back up my roots into my body, rooting me to the earth,  it's a pagan-y exercise but you do not have to be pagan for it to work!  breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth the whole time.

also humor and laughing helps a lot.  if you can at the time.  bookmark something that makes you laugh on your phone so you always have it ready.  ultimately, the absurdity of human existence (imo) is pretty funny, if you can zoom out to see it.  and that helps me, too, a lot.

ok, i'm done

[happyvibe]

These tricks are so helpful. When I was going through the thick of panic attacks i used to have bnzo's w me at all times. now i keep only one in my wallet. i think having it there is reassurance and a safety net.

when im riding the bus or metro i tend to feel my anxiety level rise. it helps to smile at someone just to get that human connection. now ive started to watch shows like big bang or modern family to pass the time. def not anything too heavy!

[quickfix]

@happyvibe

I couldn't agree with you more, just knowing you have a b3nzo on hand can really help diminish anxiety also.
Also in public occupying yourself i.e reading or watching something on your phone distracts your focus

[scorpiosunset]

These tricks are so helpful.  When I was going through the thick of panic attacks i used to have bnzo's w me at all times. now i keep only one in my wallet. i think having it there is reassurance and a safety net.

when im riding the bus or metro i tend to feel my anxiety level rise.  it helps to smile at someone just to get that human connection.  now ive started to watch shows like big bang or modern family to pass the time.  def not anything too heavy!

i agree too!  i like 30 rock and the unbreakable kimmy schmidt for silly yet smart distracting tv shows.