Dr Harriet Doyle
The physical symptoms of a panic attack are driven by adrenaline released by your body in a fight or flight response to a situation you find alarming or frightening. Your body is actually trying to help you by breathing faster to take in more oxygen, and speeding up your heart rate to make sure the oxygen reaches all the essential parts of your body. Your muscles become tense in readiness to react appropriately. However for panic attack sufferers, these natural response can become extreme making them feel numb, sweaty and dizzy. They might feel chest pain or become aware of palpitations and feel confused. These symptoms can be overwhelming and quite terrifying.
The best way to deal with panic attacks is to avoid them! Understanding what might trigger them and learning to recognise the early warning signs will help
However if you miss the clues there are a few things that can help settle you do
1. Regain control of your breathing by doing the opposite of what your body is trying to do. Instead of sucking breathing, by blowing out for as long as possible
2. During an attack your brain believes you are in danger, so look around and tell yourself that you are safe and that nothing here is going to harm you
3. Distract yourself by focusing your attention soon something else, such as watching TV or listening to music. Have a panic busting playlist on standby!
4. Exercise can help to channel the adrenaline into a positive outlet.
Life events such as menopause, puberty, divorce, work stress, exams and moving home, may trigger panic attacks. In addition to the above immediate treatment there are many therapies that might help long term management and exploring your emotions, thinking pattens, diet and exercise will all be constructive.
Seeing someone struggling with an attack can be really frightening and we can feel helpless, especially if it is a child. We want to help them to see they are safe ad that there is no need to be afraid because we can see that the fear is irrational. But no matter how irrational the fear may seem to us, it is a very real threat to the sufferer. If you find yourself in this situation, stay calm and use gentle tones and plenty or reassurance Point out they are safe and encourage them to look around and describe non threatening aspects of their environment. Remind them to take slow steady breaths focusing on blowing out
Attacks usually last for between 5 and 20 minutes so let them know too that it won’t last much longer and that it might already be beginning to subside
It is important to let your doctor know if the attacks last longer than 20 mins, or if they become more frequent or leave you feeling unwell