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Stress = adrenaline = racing heart, hyperventilating, high blood pressure...
You betcha I've had these, so has DH. We tend to take on alot, whether it's building a house, or his high-pressure job. Sometimes we both just feel overwhelmed. If I feel I can handle a situation, or if I pray about it and 'hand it over to God' I don't have this happen. It's a matter of feeling if I have any control over something, or if I am at the mercy of something beyond my control.
(It also helps to take plenty of B-complex vitamins, which are good for the central nervous system. Helps alot.)
I just had one in church this morning! My husband and I were having a "heated discussion" on the way to church, because I was (yet again) late getting ready. By the time I sat down in the pew, I was so angry and mentally exhausted, that it started....sweaty palms, racing heart, feeling like I was going to pass out. It only lasted a minute, though, because over the years I've learned to control the attacks by building up my confidence. I believe that many anxiety/panic attacks stems from a feeling of being overwhelmed or a feeling of "I jusy can't do this". The more confident I feel, the less they happen. I have been to doctors who've prescribed anti-depressants, but I've refused to take them. (For my own reasons. And, no, I'm not a Scientologist.) Believe it or not Yoga has helped a tremendous amount. We are very stressed-out at the moment, because we are in the process of relocating. So I think that's where my anxiety is coming from. But, I'm CONFIDENT that soon everything will be fine and we'll be settled. I just hope that I can teach my children better stress management, so that they will never have anxiety attacks.
By the way, you'll be surprised to know just how many, many people suffer from panic. You're NOT alone!
I just had one in church this morning! My husband and I were having a "heated discussion" on the way to church, because I was (yet again) late getting ready. By the time I sat down in the pew, I was so angry and mentally exhausted, that it started....sweaty palms, racing heart, feeling like I was going to pass out. It only lasted a minute, though, because over the years I've learned to control the attacks by building up my confidence. I believe that many anxiety/panic attacks stems from a feeling of being overwhelmed or a feeling of "I jusy can't do this". The more confident I feel, the less they happen. I have been to doctors who've prescribed anti-depressants, but I've refused to take them. (For my own reasons. And, no, I'm not a Scientologist.) Believe it or not Yoga has helped a tremendous amount. We are very stressed-out at the moment, because we are in the process of relocating. So I think that's where my anxiety is coming from. But, I'm CONFIDENT that soon everything will be fine and we'll be settled. I just hope that I can teach my children better stress management, so that they will never have anxiety attacks.
By the way, you'll be surprised to know just how many, many people suffer from panic. You're NOT alone!
I'm sorry you had a rough morning! I hope your husband saw the stress that issue caused and let you know he's sorry! I think as others have stated that it's stress, and there comes a point sometimes where it accumulates and what you could tolerate before becomes suddenly over the top and your body is telling you... "ENOUGH ALREADY!!" And if you think about it, a panic attack does just that! It shuts down your body to all outside interference and forces you to move to someplace quiet and peaceful to recover, away from the immediate stress. I think it's a sign from the body that although YOU might be willing to put up with more, it's had it!
The exact situation is happening to me.
We will be moving for the seventh time in six years this coming summer and the thought of it put me in the emergency room. Quickening of my heart beat, feeling like I couldn't catch my breath...Now I am on Prozac and anti-anxiety meds when needed. Having my teen age son and husband always arguing doesn't help. Having all this time to think about the move makes it worse. For the first time in my life I started to have drinks with dinner. Hopefully the Prozac will kick in soon. The weird part was I thought for sure that my blood pressure would be through the roof but it was 85/65!
I haven't resorted to drugs (YET!) My kids argue but all in all I'm very fortunate. Sometimes I wish I could just go to sleep and wake up 1 year from now where I am relocated and settled! Hang in there!
I'm sorry you had a rough morning! I hope your husband saw the stress that issue caused and let you know he's sorry! I think as others have stated that it's stress, and there comes a point sometimes where it accumulates and what you could tolerate before becomes suddenly over the top and your body is telling you... "ENOUGH ALREADY!!" And if you think about it, a panic attack does just that! It shuts down your body to all outside interference and forces you to move to someplace quiet and peaceful to recover, away from the immediate stress. I think it's a sign from the body that although YOU might be willing to put up with more, it's had it!
VERY well put! And yes, he did apologize! Thank you!
That 1 panic attacked developed into a year long panic attack.
That is the most horrible thing imaginable. During a panic attack, one minute seems like it lasts an hour. I'm really sorry you had to go through that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrshvo
My doctor prescribed me Xanax.
I've only had short panic attacks but I do have fairly chronic anxiety issues. Having a prescription for Xanax helps me a lot because I know I have them in case I start to have a panic attack. Simply feeling that sense of control helps me to NOT have the panic attack. But it's very important to avoid using those drugs unless you really need them, otherwise they can make your problem worse. What we need is to feel like we have some control over our lives, our minds, our circumstances. If we become dependent on a drug for that sense of control, then we give up our control to the drug and we're right back where we started.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrshvo
...mine sometimes come out for NO reason! Three times it happened to me while I was driving, and I thought I was going to pass out and actually had to pull over...
There is usually a reason, a trigger, and it's kind of fun to suss it out. For example, I noticed that I had a problem with Friday nights after I had a few panic attacks that all happened after doctors' offices were closed on Fridays. See the problem? It was pretty easy for me to discover this once it happened a few times --- it was the unconscious sense of being out of control, having nowhere to turn if anything happened to me. Last spring I had a Friday night panic attack that I thought was a heart attack because even after taking 5 Xanax I still felt like there was something seriously wrong with my heart. So I went to the emergency room, spent about 2 hours and $2,000 (no insurance, I'm still paying it off), and got sent home with a piece of paper saying that I had "acute anxiety" and it gave me advice on how to avoid it. Boy, did I feel like a dork!
But what I learned was that my subconscious mind is very creative at inventing new "symptoms" to make me think I'm dying or something horrible is happening, and this happens during times when I feel a lack of control over my circumstances such as not being able to reach my regular doctors. It's helpful to take a look at what things trigger your panic attacks because then you will have more power over them. Ultimately it is completely within our control, the question is how to convince ourselves that we really do have the power and we don't have to live as victims of symptoms that are based in our own minds.
I have a personal situation with my family going on that is causing me alot of stress...
I was recently speaking to a friend who screens people for inpatient admission to the local psych ward and she said that I am having panic attacks...based on what I described to her...
AND NO, I was not talking to her at the local psych ward...although if this family problem isn't taken care of or I don't find a way to stay away from it completely, I might well end up in the psych ward...
Does anyone that doesn't mind talking about it have this problem, did you figure out how to deal with it?
Is this something that you deal with forever or is it situational...
Yes I am going to get on some meds for anxiety, I have a script for Paxil but I don't consider this something I would want to take for the rest of my life, it has some hard to deal with side effects, at least they are for me.
I have SO often heard people say that they felt they were having a heart attack when they were having a panic attack...well after having witnessed both my parents have heart attacks in the same summer, I never thought thats what was going on with me, I just wrote it off as an extreme stress reaction...its good to talk with someone on the outside so they can help you see things a little more clearly.
I get panic and anxiety attacks a lot and it can be paralyzing. I find the best way to deal with it is to concentrate on your breathing and breathe slowly and deeply trying to think of somethig pleasant. It' really hard but it works two out of three times !
I've had panic attacks since I was 19 (am now 34). I even remember the what brought them on. Me and 5 of my friends' car broke down up the mountains, in the middle of the night. We pushed it off on the side of the road. As we were sitting in the car, freezing, staring at the dark woods, someone mentioned a true story that happened to a kid from our hometown-that he was sitting in a dark stranded car and an oncoming car didn't see it there, slammed into it, and the kid got decapitated. So then we stood outside of the car-but then we're thinking bears from the woods, Texas chainsaw wood people....and that was the start of a year long panic attack.
Throughout the year, I thought my heart was racing and I was going to have a heart attack. Bouts of fear came onto me, and then I started thinking I was going to die. A couple of times I thought I couldn't breathe, and a few times I almost passed out. never having a panic attack, I didn't know what it was so I went to the doctor. I got all kinds of tests done on my heart...nothing wrong, so he summed it up to a panic attack and I prescribed Xanax.
Then, throughout the years, it would come and go, and usually for apparently no reason. I only remember one time when I knew the reason, and it was so bad that I got prescribed the medicine again.
Any other time it happens, I just try to make it go away, thinking it's mental. I slow my breathing down and just try to ...mentally calm myself down. Get occupied in something else.
3 times it has happened while driving...and since then I start getting worried that I could crash...I make it worse. Twice I had to pull over because I thought I was going to pass out at the wheel (had my children in the car for one of those episodes). One time I was able to work through it.
I am a very anxious person so for years i have taken xanax and they have no side effects at all and they work on your thinking. i use them mostly for sleep b ecause my mind is always working and it keeps me awake and they help there too. i get .50mg and take 1/2 but you may need something stronger. you can take them forever it seems and when you stop thinking so much, yhou feel better. also walking or excersise helps relieve it and deep breathing.
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By the time I sat down in the pew, I was so angry and mentally exhausted, that it started....sweaty palms, racing heart, feeling like I was going to pass out. It only lasted a minute, though, because over the years I've learned to control the attacks by building up my confidence. I believe that many anxiety/panic attacks stems from a feeling of being overwhelmed or a feeling of "I jusy can't do this". The more confident I feel, the less they happen. I have been to doctors who've prescribed anti-depressants, but I've refused to take them. (For my own reasons. And, no, I'm not a Scientologist.) Believe it or not Yoga has helped a tremendous amount. We are very stressed-out at the moment, because we are in the process of relocating. So I think that's where my anxiety is coming from. But, I'm CONFIDENT that soon everything will be fine and we'll be settled. I just hope that I can teach my children better stress management, so that they will never have anxiety attacks.
You're NOT alone!
Thank you!
Anyone deal with panic attacks?
