How do YOU deal with severe anxiety or panic attacks?

Diana

LOOK HOW CALM SHE IS
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So, I've always had anxiety (usually social situational) but this year has been really ROUGH. Like the worst I have ever been kicked around. D:< And for awhile there I was having almost daily meltdowns. Thankfully that has tapered off (basically when i realized i am autistic and finally got a scheduled therapist!) but I am still trying to manage that baseline of anxiety and I am looking for NEW WAYS TO DO IT cause my usual methods are unavailable or not working.


Right now I am trying to:
- Reserve daily quiet time where I drink one of my calm the fuck down teas and listen to my music.
- If I feel THE ANXIETY coming on, try a stimming technique. (The one I learned last week is gently tapping my collarbone to activate the vagus nerves!)

What are things that YOU do to try and calm yourself down or keep yourself regulated? D:
 
D-Diana......how did you know I was dealing with this?! WHERE ARE YOUR CAMERAS?!

Anyways I'm going to the doctor for professional opinion

I immediately distract myself.
I'll message a friend something nice, try to find a good song to pop on, things like that.
 
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I just rock back and forth while trying to convince myself I'm not dying OuO

For less severe attacks I try to focus on something really hard and only concentrate on that one thing. (Generally cause I don't have a choice cause I'm at work and dun have time for attacks, so just be hyper focused on the customer! DUN THINK ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE!)

Should probably try breathing techniques, is probably good for you, but when have I ever done what's good for me 🤔
 
I also forgot to mention this WARHEAD TECHNIQUE my therapist told me about last week. O_O Apparently someone did a study somewhere about how popping a warhead candy in your mouth during a panic attack will stop it in it's tracks cause of the shock of the super sour, and it had good results for people?

I bought me a big old bag. 😂 I haven't had a moment to test it out yet, mostly cause I am trying to avoid even getting to that panic stage in the first place. BUT I AM READY
 
When I feel myself sort of losing control of my current mental state and spiralling, I put ice cubes in my hands and hold them really hard. (My therapist suggested this to me ages ago and I still use it!) I work from home and also attend all my uni courses online, so when I deal with panic attacks, it's usually at home... So my proposed solution might not be possible for everyone, haha. I just find that the cold really grounds me and when thinking about how goddamn cold my palms are, I'm able to calm my breathing LOL
 
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Fact of the matter is that I don't really deal with it.

I don't have panic attacks regularly, and I can't say that I ever thought of them as panic attacks. I do have OCD, though and it basically controls my life. Ever watched the show Monk? If you haven't, in short, it's a show about a former police detective who works on a case-by-case basis with the police since the death of his wife. He's OCD and he's got it bad. I don't have it nearly that bad, but similarly I am a clean freak. I have these rituals (that's the actual medical/clinical term for it, I'm not in a cult) that relieve the anxiety, but over the past few years it's gotten increasingly difficult for me to assuage the anxiety. The more I can't make the feeling go away, the more frustrated I get, which only makes it worse. I've upped my dose of meds twice this year already, and it seems to be helping more now.

I have to force myself to stop, which has a fifty-fifty chance of working. I did take up writing about things that make me anxious or frustrated, though. Which kinda helps. Mostly it helps with the depression, but I digress. Taking the time to put my thoughts and feelings on paper, I have to stop and look inside myself and it calms me down. Then I can just let it go.
 
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Sitting outside and meditating. I tend to dwell a lot on past experiences or the future, and it just so happens that the voice in my head is louder in a quiet room than when I have external sounds I can focus on. Luckily, the neighborhood I live in has a fuckton of birds, and the sound of their chirping helps ground me in present reality.

Exercise also helps! When body tired, mind go blank.

Also, aromatherapy. I like nice smells, they're very relaxing.
 
I have a playlist of songs I like, a mix of ambient and acoustic and otherwise calming, music I listen to while taking a drive through some of the nice, calming wooded areas where I live.