Coping With Panic Attacks (the checklist to relief)

I’ve had hundreds of panic attacks in my adult life. At first it was horrific because I didn’t know what was happening. Back then most doctors didn’t have any solutions. I was very young so the doctors didn’t consider stress and anxiety, or panic attacks for my diagnosis. Since those days I’ve learned a vast amount regarding anxiety and panic attacks. In this post I want to give you just a few tidbits on how to cope with your panic attacks.

Panic Attack Checklist

1. Tell yourself the truth – don’t think thoughts that support your feelings of fear. Don’t exaggerate the reality of your situation. Underneath your panic attack and extreme anxiety is a REAL concern that is causing you to overload. That REAL concern is always nothing to be terrified of, and you must identify what your very REAL fear is. Once you realize what your real fear is, you can begin telling yourself the truth about your situation. Below is an example of the process.

If a panic attack is on the verge or underway ask yourself what your REAL fear is – if you are in a panic attack your answer will likely be the fear of dying, the fear of your spouse leaving you, the fear of losing your income and being poor, the fear of your relatives or loved ones dying, the fear of hurting someone or yourself. ALL OF THESE VERY LIKELY NOT REAL. Disregard them. Stick to the true fear that set you on this road towards fear and panic. It’s almost always a smaller issue then what you are imagining. But for the sake of argument with your negative thoughts, lets go ahead and examine your fear.

I’ll choose a few fearful examples that sufferers of anxiety often have:

Fear of Dying: Having a panic attack can’t kill you. I’ve been under a full hospital monitoring system including heart rate, blood pressure, etc., while having a massive panic attack. I asked the nurse to monitor me while I was in a full blown big time panic attack. I had the cold sweats, shivering flesh, tingling arms and legs, cramped stomach, quick breathing, and the usual horrific feeling of dying. The nurse told me there was a slight increase in heart rate, and a slight increase of blood pressure, but not much. It felt like I was coming apart physically and mentally, but the reality was nothing much at all. So don’t worry about having a panic attack. If a panic attack comes – let it come – let it go – don’t fight it. It won’t hurt you and you need to remember this. You won’t die.

Fear of Losing Your Mind and Being Institutionalized: Millions of people suffer from anxiety and/or depression and don’t become institutionalized. This is just your negative imagination at work. You must remember that you are not alone, and what you are going through is very common in today’s world. There are people amongst you in the neighborhood, perhaps at work or school, who are experiencing very similar struggles. You will overcome it soon, and you feel better soon. This is the real truth. Your panic attack, foggy anxiety, and fear will pass on like the wind through a tree. Have faith in knowing this. You WILL NOT go crazy. You are not going crazy. You are not crazy. You are suffering from extreme anxiety that will pass. It always does.

Fear that your body can’t survive your physical anxiety symptoms: Your body is MUCH tougher than you give it credit for. Your body and mind are miracles at work, and it’s more than capable of dealing with your physical symptoms due to your severe anxiety. Below are some typical symptoms and we’ll go into more detail regarding the real dangers (or lack thereof) of these physical symptoms.

• IBS (irritable bowl syndrome) constant diarrhea
• loss of weight because you don’t have any appetite
• extreme headaches
• very little sleep

Your bowels can handle this discomfort a very very long time. Some people have IBS their whole life and they don’t die from IBS. Your appetite will return and your extreme anxiety will pass with a couple of days, weeks, or months depending on how quickly you take action towards seeking help. Your loss of appetite will be temporary and your body will actually enjoy the break from all of the food it has to deal with. The human body is capable of having very little food for a long period of time. You will survive the lack of food. Don’t worry. You can have as many headaches as you choose. I say this because your negative thoughts are the cause of your stress and headaches. Your headaches will not kill you either. Your sleep patterns may be completely ruined right now, but this is temporary as well. When your body is ready it will shut down even your most anxious filled mind. You will sleep even if it’s for only a few minutes here and there.

IMPORTANT: during these days of extreme stress and the above symptoms, you will likely look rough. When you look in the mirror you probably think you are a mess. The truth is you don’t look nearly as bad as you think you do, but you should have a bath every day or every second day. Shave yourself (legs or face). Put on some clean clothes. Don’t give up on yourself during these heavy bouts of anxiety and depression. Look after yourself. Love yourself. You are a beautiful and wonderful person. You are not perfect and you’re not expected to. You are a perfectly imperfect person like all humans. You are worthy of your own love, and the love of others.

2. Process your real fear(s) properly – Identify what concern(s) you were having before you began having some of your early symptoms of high stress like numbness and tingling in the head, feet, legs, hands, and arms. Like a feeling of fear and sorrow coming out of nowhere. The slow staging of insomnia, and on and on it goes.

Even under extreme stress and anxiety you will be able to identify what triggered your downward spiral into anxiety and/or depression. It could be something like a basic feeling of uncertainty or insecurity brought on by a death or illness in the family. A possible loss of money ore income due to a job loss or soon to be job loss. When you have identified your TRUE trigger of your stress you can then play a little game I call – SO WHAT. Here is how it goes. Don’t imagine the worst happening…..simply state out loud what will happen if the worst were to happen. For this example of my game called SO WHAT, I’ll use the example of losing a job and possibly becoming poor. Here is the flow chart.

√ I might lose my job and have no way to make money! : “So what. It’s just a job and you didn’t have a job before you got that one and you somehow managed to find the job you have now. You can do it again. Just go out and hunt down another job. Big deal.”

√ What if I can’t find a job! My family will be poor and my spouse might leave me! : “So what. You always found a job thus far in your life and what makes you think that you will all of a sudden fail. Your family may have less, and you all might have to move into a smaller house, apartment, trailer, or whatever – but this is all temporary as I will eventually find a job and it will be fine. I’ve always found work and supported my family so why would I fail now? If your spouse is so shallow as to up and leave you because you can’t earn money at this brief moment in time, then she or he is not a very good spouse anyways and you will be fine without them. You were alone once before you met your spouse and you found them didn’t you. What makes you think you will not find a friend and lover again? Your children will be fine no matter what happens because children are VERY resilient. You can look after them better if you stop worrying about possibilities that are not the end of the world. Just be grateful you live in a place where 2nd starts are allowed, and happen everyday to millions.

You are not your job. Repeat: YOU ARE NOT YOUR JOB. You are simply you and the job was just a place you went and thing you did to make money. You can find another job just like it, or find a job that is completely different. Just think how much fun it would be to try something completely different!

√ I don’t think I can be happy without all my stuff! : “So what. Being happy all the time is completely unrealistic. All your stuff will never make you happy. Maybe more comfortable, but you can those things back in time. If you really think HAVE to have those things and comforts, then how on earth did you survive before you had those things? You were likely just as happy before you had those things, perhaps even happier! Don’t forget your true essence here. You are not your things, your house(s), car(s), toy(s), status, etc. You are just you are – perfectly imperfect in every way.

When you are suffering from anxiety then you are entertaining unreasonable fear and you need to “call yourself on it”. Ask yourself if your fears are reasonable. When you answer that question it will be yes. Then you can begin looking at what is really concerning you and using the above methods you can say this to yourself, “SO WHAT”. You’ve been on mother earth this long and have done OK. You will continue to move on OK regardless of the changes you will most certainly experience.

Embrace the changes in your life. Learn to love the uncertainty. It’s not a “crazy” way to live. It’s the sanest way to live. Embrace the uncertainty of your life and all the lives around you. Go with the flow and stop trying to control your surrounding all the time. Let yourself float with the river running down the mountain. You are a perfect act of nature just like the flowing streams, rivers and oceans. Have faith in your physical and mental strength – you have a miraculous mind and body that won’t let you down.

Try and relax and have faith in your imperfect perfection. Everything will turn out alright.