You’re not speaking metaphorically, anxiety for an exam, or even for just showing up at work, is the same emotion one feels when in a warzone. Your brain is mistakely interpreting some signals as life threatening and trying to save your life by preparing for fight/flight. The immediate cause might be hard to find.
You’re safe right now.
Repeat that to yourself as many times as you need, out loud. Whisper or mouth it if you have to.
That’s the thing that finally started working for me on my worst attack.
I’m not sure if I am actually in a safe environment to be able to convince myself that I’m safe
Sorry I am over an hour or two past your posting of this, but in the future you should know about vagal maneuvers. Assuming you are stable and no other compounding medical issues are occuring.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/22227-vagal-maneuvers
Specifically, the modified valsalva. Start by sitting on the ground or in a bed then, begin breathing out intensly while holding your mouth and nose closed for about 20 to 30 seconds, then quickly roll directly back onto your back and bring your knees up to your chest. Hold there for about 30 seconds. You should feel your heart rate drop into the normal range rapidly. If this does not work, try one of the other methods. Cold water on the face (diving method) is also a very common one done at home.
Do you take any medication for it? I lived with anxiety for decades before getting medication. It has helped immensely.
took me three years, two cardiologists, multiple sleep studies, halter monitors, stress tests, all for them to finally listen to me about my anxiety.
you know what finally did it?
I said the magic words, “sometimes I just want to not wake up from sleep so that I don’t have to deal with this anymore.”
within 24 hours I had meds in hand and an excuse to take a week off work for medical reasons.
I said the magic words, “sometimes I just want to not wake up from sleep so that I don’t have to deal with this anymore.”
I’m scared to say that. I really wanna kms right now, like there’s a part of me that want to just jump off a nearby bridge tomorrow morning… like… morning is in a few hours, but there’s the other part of me that’s struggling to fight it off.
I don’t trust the system, I don’t wanna be involuntarily held at a place I don’t wanna be at, that seems worse than death tbh. Just talking about the words “involuntary held” reminds me of that time when my brother literally used zipties to tie me up when I was probably 6 years old, and I just spent the rest of that day waiting for my parents to come home. (Dead serious, not even exaggerating) And also that time when fascist pigs unjustifiably detained me and held me at the police station for several agonizing hours, essentially psychological tortue imo. I fucking hate it.
I’m sorry you have to go through that.
there’s nothing I could say or do that could even remotely assure you. I’ll try my best though.
you know how to build a campfire? you start with small straw/sticks and move on to twigs, and so on until you have a raging warm fire. building joy in life was kind of like that for me.
find the joy in the small things. one a day or a week. I remember when I was battling a bad episode of depression the first thing I found joy in was the peace and quiet of my house. kids were gone, wife was gone, and that first sip of coffee hit me just right. it reminded me of my dad, who also struggled with bipolarity. although he wasn’t always the best father, I know he loved me in his own fucked up way.
I found new joys the next week and the week after that. eventually over months I found that I was finding joy in larger things and eventually I didn’t have to look for the joy anymore, but I still took the time to appreciate the little things in my routines.
so please, find your small joys. could be anything from putting on some fuzzy socks to how the sunlight refracts through the window. it doesn’t matter what it is, only that you get something positive out of it.
Guessing you dont have any panic pills like Busiprone on hand? Benadryl works in a pinch for me.
Sorry friend, it sucks I know :( hope it clears up soon
If it’s alcohol-induced, electrolytes can be very helpful.
If not, drink a big glass of water. Try to take a hot shower, and try some aromatherapy (I seriously just use shampoo or soap in the shower). Or go exercise if that’s more your thing. Even a walk.
When you are able to calm down, go talk yo your doctor and tell them you had a panic attack. If you cant address the base cause (my anxiety was coming from work), daily Lexapro has worked really well for me.
Are you doing anything to calm down? Square breathing, arms across your chest and slow tapping with your fingers, calm environment?
