Panic Attacks - What to Do About a Panic Attack?

When you experience a panic attack, your body goes into overdrive. Your body is sounding the alarm and your heart starts to race faster, your breathing becomes shallower and quicker and blood flows to the core of your body, leaving your extremities tingling.

These sensations can be overwhelming and often only serve to increase the anxiety you are suffering with. Your body is prepared to fight or flee; this is an ancient survival instinct that kicks in when we feel cornered, vulnerable or scared.

It is our body´s way of protecting us. These powerful sensations can´t simply be dismissed or wished away. They have to be fooled into thinking everything is okay even if your mind is telling you it´s not.

People who suffer from panic attacks have these episodes strike them at unfortunate times and in unfortunate places. The stimulus that is causing the intense reactions is usually something that wouldn´t spark such an intense reaction in non anxiety sufferers.

Panic attacks can be triggered by a meeting with the boss, speaking in front of others, meeting with your child´s teacher, going to the theater. There are so many reasons that someone might have an attack, it is important to examine your particular triggers. Is it crowded places, meeting with authority figures, or fear of embarrassment.

Once you understand your triggers, you can more effectively work towards conquering them.

What you don´t want to do is to avoid activities and people because of your panic attacks. Don´t put off that meeting with your child´s teacher for months because you don´t want to talk to her, don´t refuse a promotion because you know you will have to go to more speaking engagements. Avoiding activities because of your panic positions you to develop more severe anxiety problems.

There are many ways to deal with panicked responses besides medication. While prescriptions may be a solution for some people and some people have had great results with drugs like Paxil and Zoloft, many people don´t want to become dependent on prescription medications or deal with their potential side effects.

There are ways, non-prescription ways to deal with panic which may better suit the needs of some anxiety sufferers.

Exercise is always a good place to start; it releases natural endorphins and provides an outlet for worry and aggression. It can also be a great self esteem booster and help you feel better about yourself. In addition, you can learn and utilize various relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation and deep breathing. All of these are a good way to spread positive vibes throughout your mind and body, triggering your body´s natural relaxation response.

Another great way to deal with the negative effects of panic attacks is to redirect your negative thoughts into positive ones. This is a simple premise but it takes practice and work to execute effectively.

Essentially you are turning your thoughts away from obsessing on doom and gloom and all the potential things that can go wrong in a given situation to focusing on prior successes in similar situations or the positive outcomes that might be achieved. By actively and consciously changing your thought pattern, you will lessen the natural physical response that your body goes through when feeling panicked.

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