Panic Attacks Options

[nicki_flute]

Sounds like TO has meant your brain is now hypersensitive to performing situations...

[elmo]

I'll send reiki! I haven't sent anyone it in ages! (It doesn't cure them, but I think it works!) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Try Tai chi or yoga to calm your mind. Tidy your room. Untidy surroundings lead to an untidy mind, which can lead to feelings of panic. Can't remember who told me that, but I think it makes sense.

[crazy cow]

Tidy your room.

*makes mental note*
i don't think i've had panic attacks before, but i have felt unable to breathe properly sometimes - mainly when i have to go and talk to teachers. it's nothing major, but taking deep breaths and looking at the situation in perspective works really well - i seem to view it as something scary, despite the fact that i get on really well with the teachers in question (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif). looking at it as something much smaller helps a lot.

[fluteandbassoon]

Sounds like TO has meant your brain is now hypersensitive to performing situations...

That is what I think is the cause. Especially when playing bassoon and sometimes playing flute (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

I'll send reiki! I haven't sent anyone it in ages! (It doesn't cure them, but I think it works!) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Try Tai chi or yoga to calm your mind. Tidy your room. Untidy surroundings lead to an untidy mind, which can lead to feelings of panic. Can't remember who told me that, but I think it makes sense.

please could you send me some reiki? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Gae]

Having a panic attack or attack of nerves before performing to an audience is the Body's self defense mechanism kicking into overdrive and even telling you hey look, this is a weird situation that I feel uncomfortable with. I guess professional performers have to try to overcome this if they want to have any career. I recently sat my Grade 8 Exam and my whole system just went into an involuntary state of anxiety and nervousness which fortunately I managed to convert into positive playing, simply by telling myself off and giving myself an imaginary slap across the face! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Panic attacks are something totally different. You feel you cant cope with or face every day events and you can have a rush/wave of fear come over you which can then bring on palpitations, butterflies, sweating and difficulty breathing. Not nice when it happens! This usually happens when you are in high stress situations or come out of or are experiencing a traumatic event. Sometimes I think the brain just has moments of "self-awareness" at the magnitude of the daily tasks ahead of it and the very nature of just being alive. After all, the brain is working hard just to keep us doing those daily things that we all take for granted. At some point, when it is overloaded with too much, or reaches a milestone moment in life, something has to give.

Gae

[meerkat]

[quote name='elmo' date='Feb 25 2006, 05:40 PM' post='270959']
[quote name='meerkat' date='Feb 25 2006, 04:49 PM' post='270916']
I think it really depends what you mean by panic attack. If you mean proper panic attacks, as opposed to a nasty sense of anxiety, then deep breathing is generally not a great idea. Rather, getting up and doing something is better - deep leg bends / squats help a lot. Panic attacks are an exaggeration of the flight or fight response - your bodies' natural reaction to fear. The fear response is oriented towards making it possible for you to run away - the best way to deal with it is to allow a release of the physical tension that arises when you are afraid by allowing your body to take action.
[/quote]

But what if you can't move? let alone squat?

[quote How you deal with them best probably depends on how severe they are. If you're having significant trouble breathing, then you might want to think about seeking a doctor's advice. I rarely get them these days, but if I have a very bad one, I tend to take a prescribed beta blocker, which can be very helpful (they're not suitable for everyone, though, so do take a doctor's advice). The beta blocker acts to reduce the symptoms - particularly the heart and breathing related ones - without making you drowsy.
[/quote]

They're ok once you're on them, but coming off them can have the same affect as several serious panic attacks.

[/quote]


Well, I think you might actually be mixing up beta blockers with other anxieletics. Have you taken either elmo? Beta blockers are not miracle cures, but they're non-addictive, and you do NOT get withdrawal effects. I've dealt with severe paralysing panic, both my own, and my clients' when I used to practice. Deep breathing, meditation, etc all sounds fine, but unless you're very skilled at it, it's not going to work in the face of crippling panic. It might work applied BEFORE the panic sets in, but once an attack has started it will not help an unskilled person. (And I'm a buddhist, so I'm not dissing meditation, I'm just saying it has its limitations, and I'm speaking from a lot of personal experience!)


By the way ceri, if you can get in to see a reiki practitioner, a day or two before a performance, I reckon you'd find that helpful. It can be so deeply relaxing. Alternately perhaps a reflexologist (gentle not hard method) or even a good masseuse.

In the long term, meditation or deep relaxation strategies can help. But they need to be practised regularly - just having a go when you're facing down a panic won't help, and can make it worse (focusing in on breathing while you're having trouble breathing can increase tension, which in turn can intensify that feeling of having to fight for breath).

And I forgot to address elmo's 'what if you can't move' query: well, that's what progressive muscle relaxation was developed for. If you / ceri don't know how to do pmr, I'd be happy to give a full explanation.

[elmo]

Yeah I'll send you some reiki- I'll send you some later tonight if that's ok?

I have been on Beta Blockers, and decided they weren't working, and made my asthma worse. So I came off them really slowly and after not taking them for 3 days I had 4 days in bed after a big panic attack.

Was the last bit sarcasm? Coz if it wasn't, what is pmr and how will it/could it help?

[meerkat]

They're contraindicated for asthmatics - your doctor should have known that, really (though perhaps they had something else in mind, I don't know). It's more likely that your 'after effects' related to the interaction with your asthma, than to the medication itself.


No, there was nothing sarcastic at all in my post - I'm not sure how you could possibly read it as sarcastic. PMR = progressive muscle relaxation. I'd just referred to it, in the sentence immediately before, and didn't think that the abbreviation would cause confusion. Apologies.

[elmo]

He told me that I had to monitor asthma, but whatever it was after i stopped taking them wasn't astham related - felt different.

I didn't misunderstand the abreviation, I'm now just curious as to what it is. I was just checking th sarcasm, because sometimes I misread people online. If it works, I'll try it, I'm running out of solutions by myself (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[meerkat]

I would guess, if you've been treated for anxiety related probs, you've probably been shown the technique before - but basically it involves tensing and relaxing muscle groups through the body, focusing on the sensation of the muscles as you do it. In a seated position, starting with your feet, tense your toes, hold the tension, feeling it for a count of 3 (or so) then relax, noticing the difference between the tense and relaxed state. Repeat. Then point your toes as hard as you can, then relax, again feeling the difference between the tense and relaxed state. Draw your toes upwards towards your shins, (relax after each tightening, and repeat 2 or 3 times), then tighten your calves, then your thighs (pressing your feet against the floor tends to work well for that), your buttocks (squeeze them together, your stomach muscles, make your hands into fists, creating tension in your arms, then your back by pressing your elbows to the back of your chair. Shrug your shoulders - high towards your ears, then drop. Drop your head forwards, then backwards. To the middle, and then (carefully!) to the side (imagine your ear falling to your shoulder) and then the other side. Then screw your face up like you've tasted a lemon, then open your mouth wide in a yawn.

The effect of this is to a) distract you from the feelings of panic, by taking you into different parts of your body (not your chest with the breathing), and (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif) to let some of that nervous energy generated in the flight / fight response of your body be used and redirected.

Another really good visualisation based relaxation technique is to imagine that you're lying under a tree, with your head in the shade, and your body in the sun. Then imagine the sun is warming your body from your toes upwards. Feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, warming and relaxing, moving in the spaces between the muscles and the bones, easing any tension. Again, move up your body in very small visualised movements - just like a nice warm spreading sensation. Your forehead should be visualised as cool.

If you're going to the Leicester concert, I wouldn't mind showing you. I haven't taught it to anyone for a while, but I used to be pretty good at it... lol.

[elmo]

Never been told anything like that, so thanks (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I can't go to the liecestershire concert, but it was still helpful anyway.

[nicki_flute]

You could show me at the Leicestershire concert, Meerkat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[meerkat]

sure, lol. I could do a group relaxation session... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Elmo, if you do a search on google, I'm sure you'll find sites about progressive muscle relaxation. It's good if you can't get exercise, but can feel an attack coming on. It's not perfect, but then what is when dealing with panic? Sometimes, if it's going to happen, it's just going to happen, and I think as I said much earlier, sometimes just accepting the attack is coming, and not fighting it too much can be the difference between a mild and a severe one.

[nicki_flute]

I got the can't breathe feeling again yesterday....wasn't too bad though, thankfully.

[meerkat]

Nicki, if we can find somewhere quiet, I'd be really happy to do some relaxation work with you. I'm sorry you're having trouble with the breathing again. It really is distressing, and there's something about panic attacks that I find people just don't really understand or fully empathise with. As if you should just kind of pull yourself together, and it would all be ok.