Need Help With Panic Attacks!

[Smorck5]

So my husband has been working nights the last 3 weeks...nights are the hardest time for me trigger wise since thats when most of my phyiscal attacks happened as a child. So I have been hit with these major panic attacks at night for the last couple of weeks and I can't take it anymore. To make matters worse my T is on vacation so I can't talk to him about this.
I'm used to anxiety and even tightness in my chest and throat during a trigger, but this is different I'm just sitting there calm and this wave of heat comes over me and my heart starts pounding my throat and chest tighten up and begin shaking I feel like my whole world is falling apart. Afterward I feel like I just got into a fight with someone and I feel sad and drained.

 

[Smorck5]

I'm just wondering if anyone has tips on how to stop or prevent this from happening and even if they are in fact Panic attacks.

Thanks,
~S~

 

[anthony]

Sounds like a panic attack... basically, you become so anxious, even make yourself more anxious due to being anxious, that you begin to struggle breathing, etc. People pass out from panic attacks, being the worst outcome, as the bodies protective mechanisms kick in to remove control from you for self preservation, thus when unconscious your brain will take control and regulate your bodily functions again.

The cause is that your trauma occurred at night, your husband is now working nights, so you possibly feel like your security is now jeopardised, thus safety net is falling down around you, hence you spiral into panic! Sound about right?

The hard part is that you have to learn how to change your own thinking about your current situation. You are associating your present tense to your past tense, which is no longer the actual reality of your situation. You use reality to reinforce change within your thinking, to atleast minimise panic attacks to just plain old anxiety.

 

[thinlizzy4010]

exhale,I always catch myself holding my breath.I had my last panic attack a couple months back, hubby was on night shift. I had just gone to bed and started an attack. Loss of breath, pain in chest, funny head, then i got over anxious and my over vigilence started up. I hadnt had a panic attack in a couple years, so it snuck up on me. I just tried to breathe slowly and turned the light up and started a book. I did not sleep very well, and took a bit to get off to sleep. but i did wake up alive and well the next morning, just like I knew i would.

 

[BloomInWinter]

((((Smork))))

Are you journaling them afterwards so you can identify where you are sitting, what you hear, etc.

This could hopefully identify the worst of the triggers then you can attack them in order of severity...

Panic attacks for me are usually the top of a big mountain od triggers (though not always)...one that path is mapped, however, we can locate that vantage point, and say to ourselves 'oh! That's where I am. Ok, self...well, what got me here?' and identify alternative reactions.

Can you go to bed before that time? Add new comforting parts to your routine? Read certain meditations? Look at hubby's pic and say 'It may feel like it was then, but I'm safe now...)

Nighttime is the worst time for me. Hang in there...those are rough and vicious in that they feed on themselves.

I think nghttime anxiety is at the heart of why so many people drink/eat at night.

 

[OKRADLAK]

When I get them, I use BDT skills to counter them.I look at them and say, "This is just a panic attck" and try very hard not to judge. I do get pissed at it and tell it to F off, but I am really supposed to just sit there and watch it pass. And it really does pass. It's so painful that, truly, a bad panic attack itself can be VERY TRAUMATIC.

I had one that even now I cringe to think of. They are worse than a terrible migrane because it feels like it will never stop.

Honestly, I get tired of watching feelings and waiting for them to pass. I try to use it, get mad, say OK now I am going to use this energy........go to the neighbor, give money to a homeless man, etc.....but it is EXHAUSTING.

Fight, fight, fight all day long. ....Grrrrrrrrrr

 

[Smorck5]

Thank you all for your help!
I have been doing a little better with the attacks, but I'm sure it will be a long road. Today I had one while trying to find my daughters soccer shorts I tore up my whole house looking and couldn't find them and watching the clock tick away knowing we would be late just sent me over the edge and I had a class A flip out...I feel sooo horrible. I wish I could handle things like a normal person!

=0(

 

[Gamereign555]

Breathing correctly helped a lot, I had no idea at first I was hyperventilating myself into more panic. I also would do things to distract myself from my own awareness of my symptoms. When I was really bad I would lay down next to my girlfriend while she read to me and it was still a really painful and anguishing thing to go through. I ended up in the doctors office for medication after having panic symptoms for days. I tried my best and felt like I had failed, that what people were telling me would work did not.

If you feel your going to end up in the hospital with this, you should think about medication for panic and anxiety for this if you can't manage it.
It took me a few therapy sessions to have the confidence in myself to remember coping mechanisms. I several times ended up being driven and in one case being ambulanced to a hospital for treatment. This is a very expensive thing...you wouldn't want to go down that road. I wish that the doctors would have given me something to take at the time, but I was by myself and uneducated and unable to cope. I have medication now which I keep on hand, I only really take it if I feel its out of control, maybe twice in a month. I have a certain peace of mind knowing I have the pills in case it happens, therapy has helped me gain control of my need to take the pills also. This helped me learn to cope at my own pace.

Just remember, a prescription is cheaper than a trip to urgent care. I hope you are feeling better soon. Ultimately though you probably will have to go through the anguish later that you numb now, pills only let you decide the pace, as long as you don't abuse the pills...that is a whole other can of worms. Fact is there are meds out there that can prevent and even stop panic in its tracks, it's pretty hard to ignore that. It is also important to continue therapy while on these meds.

 

[Smorck5]

Thanks Gamereign,
I have had some luck with distraction but I'm still trying to figure it out! I didn't know there was meds for this, something to talk to my T about maybe as a back up plan. Breathing and ground sound simple until your in the throws of a panic attack and then they can become really hard concepts!

S~

 

[Gamereign555]

Yeah I understand you, and it depends on the severity of the panic attack really. Some can be distracted away and they are gone in about a half hour, but others last days. I wasn't able to think my way out of my first panic attacks, it was like I was always at the threshold of high anxiety and panicking, and some of the panic attacks would last days not miniutes.
Controlled breathing and distraction felt more like maintenance than calming down and every time it happened to me depression would soon follow leaving me in a terrible, harsh, torture like feel.

Talking to my mother on the phone was a godsend, talking to anyone is a nice ground for me, you could try it, my mother was willing to talk to me at 2 or 3am thankfully. She understood what I was going through though.

For the most part the changing the way you think thing is ultimately what you will do through therapy and realizing you have the confidence and truely know what is going on with your body and that none of it can harm you. Mindfulness, reminding yourself to breath correctly, distraction, these things work. But if you feel like you have had an elephant sitting on your chest for 3 days, in which you did not sleep, its time for medication. Also good sleep is our lifeline, we don't empty our stress cup without sleep, it just adds onto whatever anxiety levels you already have. A doctor should know if you have these symptoms anyway, because they will want to check the calcium level in your blood to rule out a hypo-thyroid condition which they say mimics some of the symptoms you might be feeling, fatigue, anxiety/panic, tingling sensations, dizziness, ect.

 

[Smorck5]

That is just how I feel that breathing is maintenance that just keeps my heart from beating out of my chest, not really a fix. Also I don' t sleep much and have been on meds to help with that at least twice a week so I'm hoping that helps a little with the amount of stress I feel.

Thank you for all the help it really means a lot to me.

S~

 

[Didntaskforthis]

I have tried lately to embrace the panic and invite it to give me all it's got in an effort to get through it more quickly after years and escalating panic attacks. I know I will have to ride it out,d so far it has not killed me, it' just become a part of my life. I blame my rapist for giving me this, and other problems in my life. anger can sometimes be good. I never realized what he did to me was so much more than the act. The fear and helplessness is something that makes me hyper vigilant, and leads to panic. I become wesry with insomniaridebride