What I Do When I’m Having a Panic Attack

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before on my blog, but I’m no stranger to having panic attacks. The first bad one that I remember having was in sixth grade. I was asked to read a paper in front of the entire class, but as I was reading I started to worry about what everyone was thinking about me and all of a sudden the words on the page started getting a little bit blurry and I started swaying back and forth. As I grabbed for the edge of the desk, the teacher stopped me and told me that I should head to the nurse. I had no idea what had just happened, but essentially it was written off as a one and done panic attack and we moved on.

Then came high school. The first two years went fine. Then we got to junior year – the year that I decided it was a good idea to take AP US History, AP Biology, and AP Spanish all at the same time. I still have no idea what I was thinking. I spent more nights up until 3:00am that near than I did my entire college career and goodness gracious it took a toll on me. By halfway through the year I was having panic attacks again. The worst was the day that I was so worked up my legs started to go numb. Please don’t ask what the correlation is between these two things, but I knew even then that this was the cause of it. Somehow the conclusion at that point was to get glasses – maybe my vision was actually causing the dizziness, which was then making me more panicked. It was good in theory. And senior year was nowhere near as bad as junior year, so we never quite approached that level of anxiety again in high school.

Fast forward to now. I’ve finally figured out a few techniques to talk myself down from these panic attacks. I know more about them, I know what cause them, I know things to avoid, and I know what my body starts to do when it happens. Believe it or not there are still some days that I get on airplanes and have panic attacks (said the girl who is on 4 planes a week).

I’ve also learned at this point that the key is to stop the panic attack before my body realizes it’s happening. The second I start to get short of breath I start to get anxious about fainting. The second my stomach starts to hurt I start to get anxious about getting sick in public. None of these things have ever happened, but I have to find a way to divert my brain’s attention before it gets there.

Now, please keep in mind that I have not spoken with anybody for long enough about these panic attacks to have any real, scientific knowledge about how to stop panic attacks, but here are some tricks that I have up my sleeve when I start to feel myself getting anxious.  (aka nothing I’m about to say can be substituted for real sound medical advice from somebody who actually knows things)

I adjust my temperature.

What do I mean by that? Am I actually freezing cold because I’m not wearing socks? I put some on. Am I actually really warm because I just went from outside to inside and haven’t taken of my jacket yet? I take my jacket off. Did I just go up four flights of stairs? I take a second and sit down. Step one, regulate temperature.

I drink water.

Somewhere along the line I started noticing that I don’t drink nearly enough water. So if I start to get a headache or my stomach starts to hurt, my first go to is now drinking water, it seems to solve more problems than not. It also takes my mind off of my panic attack.

I start a conversation with someone.

I know that nobody wants to sit next to that annoying girl on a plane who can’t shut up. But I also know that nobody wants to sit next to the girl having the panic attack. I don’t talk about having a panic attack, I talk about anything else. One of the up-sides to be on a plane is that you can always as the question “so are you heading home or coming from home?” and they have to have an answer.

I get absorbed in music.

I learned two years ago to always keep a copy of my church choir’s album (yes, that’s right, we had an album) on my phone. I find that going back to that music is my safe place. Whether it’s the harmonies, or the fact that I sung it, or the fact that it’s about God that does it for me, I don’t know – probably a combination of all three. Whatever music does it for you – or book if you’re a reader – or television show if you have access – get lost in it. Forget your own reality for a bit.

I focus on my breathing.

I count in for four breaths and out for four breaths. Then I usually decide that the number four is far too high (probably because I’m feeling short of breath) and switch to three. Once I can up that number back to four I know that it’s starting to work.

There are other things that I do that are completely irrational and probably shouldn’t be tried by anyone else. Such as putting my hand on my forehead (because part of me is convinced that I can only be sick if I have a fever, so if my head doesn’t feel hot, then I can’t have a fever and nothing is actually wrong) – or swallowing air (because if I’m swallowing air I can’t get sick – this one actually makes no sense). The only person who’s ever consistently called me on this was one of my best friends in high school.

Then there are quirky things that you’ll find that I do. I used to wear my high school class ring and spin it around when I got nervous. Somehow focusing on something so mundane was able to get my mind off the problem at hand. Then the stone came loose and I couldn’t wear it anymore (note to self: get that fixed). I used to carry my grandmother’s rosary with me when I got on an airplane in high school and before. And when I used to cantor at church (before I got used to it – please note that I still hate singing or playing in public) I used to slide my shoes on and off so that I had something else to focus on besides all of the people that I was looking at. I never questioned what they thought about me constantly changing heights.

What about you? What nervous or anxious habits to you have? How do you get rid of the anxiety?