When one has panic attacks...

okay, i just had a panic attack

Believe it or not, hard exercise does help with stress.

But panic attacks need investigation as to what the "trigger" is . . . Neither rest or exercise will alleviate them.

I know what my trigger was (this time around) but I rather not discuss it here. Thankfully they've been minor. Haven't had them in a long time.

Re the trigger: I could have posted this thread in Boomerang's worry thread and be too far off.

Are you really up to date on the biology and treatment of panic attacks?

Exercise can be a great way of dealing with the adrenaline....after all our bodies are designed to be ready for explosive physical activity when we become anxious, not to deal with threats or perceived threats for which fight or flight is not a reasonable response.

However, one of the big morbidity worries from them is avoidance of the situations in which they occurred, so I think going back to, or remaining in the office if that is where the thing occurred, is a wise idea.


Sorry you had one.....they're not nice.

It was Jimmie Breslin , I believe who wrote about a button man who worked for the Five Families . Hed get panic attacks every time he was required to dispose of a body in the MEadowlands

I'd go to the gym but do a light workout. One advantage of the gym is, there are people around. Not to be morbid - it's more in the sense that company can help.

But I would definitely be working on dumping the adrenaline positively.

I'm going to differ with the others here, and say go home and rest.

My understanding of panic attacks is that during it you've sucked every iota of adrenaline out of your system, wasted it quickly, now your body is looking for more....causing the panic. There's nothing to fuel it.

If this isn't a regular occurence, I say go home and rest quietly.

Light exercise could help it from reoccuring, but now is the time to be gentle and kind to yourself.

Thanks guys. I did go to the gym and rode the bike on an easy level for 25 minutes. After a third of that, it was much easier to breath and the panic attack ended.

Now I should try and learn and develop some kind of breathing exercise that would help when I'm trapped at work.

At work, try breathing into a paper bag. It's supposed to work. Although I've never seen it myself. But that's the recommended thing.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ate/mentalhealth/205625.html

"When people get anxiety attacks they 'over-breathe'. This lowers the level of carbon dioxide in the blood and that makes them feel worse! Breathing into a paper bag for half a dozen or so breaths, builds up the carbon dioxide in your body again, so you should immediately start feeling better.
The size of the bag doesn't matter – but unless you use a decent-sized one, you won't be able to breathe very much air into it. I suggest at least six inches by four.
I've never heard of anyone doing this exercise every day, but it's worth a try. Many therapists would suggest structured breathing exercises (combined with relaxation) every day.
Ask your doctor about this."

you can do the breathing thing without the bag, try square breathing, inhale slowly to a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale to a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, repeat

Yes, just as soon as you have the wherewith-all to realize that you're having a panic attack and not a heart attack or stroke or other potentially fatal attack. You aren't going to die from a panic attack so the first thing to do is to tell yourself just that. THEN, once you've acknowledged that your current distress is panic-related four square breathing is quite helpful. With time and support you can feel the onset of an attack and go into four-square breathing before it hits.

The slow breathing......which has already been described will help.

The paper bag thing went out of favour for ages, however it is back again because the physiology works. When you hyperventilate you actually end up with too much oxygen in your blood....the transfer of oxygen to cells requires a certain level of carbon dioxide in order to happen. The weird feelings you get when you have too much oxygen....eg feeling breathless, trigger you to feel more anxious. As do the weird feelings from adrenaline etc that is not expended in intense physical activity. We naturally over breathe when we feel anxious because we evolved the anxiety response in order to meet real physical danger.

When we have a panic attack we get into a cycle of responding to the symptoms as though they are dangers...vicious cycle.

Breathing into and out of a paper bag will naturally increase your carbon dioxide levels and you start to feel physically more normal..

The key is the cognitive part, though....to be aware that your body is reacting too hard to some sort of anxiety......often such attacks occur separate from the triggers, which can be confusing...like when we are relaxing!

Your mind interprets the physical symptom as a threat.....usually that we are dying, or nuts, or that something awful is about to happen. You need to ride the thing like a wave...maintaining awareness that, like a wave in the ocean, if you remain aware of what is happening, you won't be adding to the symptoms and it will pass.

If they become a problem, they're usually easy to treat...lots of people are helped just by reading about them in a good self help book so they really understand what is happening.

Lol.....and Lola already said it while I was typing!

Its better to go gym for workout and then go home.

It will depend on the person, personally if the gym is near your office then it does not make sense to go home.

Well, some people cant pull out a paper bag at work or get down and do 20 pushups.

So when a person feels "trapped" in a place, like work or in a store or restaurant, what can they do?

I understand that sitting in a chair and lowering your head between your legs may help - but that could be a problem, too. Breaking out in song helps, too, I hear.

That's hyperventilating which doesn't happen to me. I go to the opposite extreme where I find out I'm not breathing enough and I have to force my self to take deeper breaths. My breathing problems tend to make me very tired indeed.

Nobody wants to hear my brain aneurism inducing singing. Even the army weapons of mass destruction scientists told me to stop singing for the death count of my hypothetical singing weapon would be too brutal, too devastating, too monstrous to unleash on the world.

If I have to deal with another panic attack with some breathing exercises, I'll not remain at my desk and head to the restroom for some privacy.