Exercising and Panic Attacks

dentedcan

Anyone else deal with panic attacks? I've had them since '96, and learned to keep them under control for the most part. Been doing a 3 mile walk daily for the past 6 weeks, and this was the first time it triggered an attack. Felt a little dizzy near the end, which got the mind racing. It was damn hot, and given the soaked shirt, the 2L prior to heading out probably wasn't enough for me.

Anyhow, this is what a panic attack looks like on a Polar HRM, which I thought was pretty neat. Red line is HR, gray is pace. I trimmed to the last leg of the walk so it would fit here.



Think l'll be sticking to early evening walks while it's this hot, from now on!

lithezebra

Cool image of your panic attack! It's not a bad idea at all to exercise when it's cooler, at least until you get used to the heat, or slow down if it's hot. You could carry some water.

My dad used to go for a run as soon as he started having a panic attack, to convince himself he wasn't about to die. The worst panic attacks I had were when I couldn't exercise because of forest fires/horrible air quality/asthma. Now that I'm doing something almost every day, I rarely have one. You're doing a great job with your walks.

EmilyJackCO

WOW. That right there is enough to make me think about getting an HRM. My Fitbit won't track that.

I have suffered anxiety and panic attacks for 20 years... and yes, I either feel like I'm dying or want to really bad. It just depends. They are two very different episodes, but the end result is the same: sickly, weak, dejected, exhausted and drained for 24-48 hours after.

I have had workouts trigger both. Fortunately, I have a trainer who can recognize it and helps me work through it, just from a fitness perspective. Doing something new for the first time can do it. Not being able to perform where I think I can can do it. Just walking on the treadmill zoned out can do it.

And of course, popping a Xanax in the middle of a workout is not exactly advisable (I also will not work out within 6 hours of having to take one - I don't want to hurt myself). SO. One of the things that my therapist has suggested - keep at it. Keep working through it. Focus on each small movement. Focus on the footfall, the beat, the path, the pace. Focus on each breath - slow your breathing pace, breathe a little deeper, a little longer, relaxing your diaphragm. Walking actually helps me cope with stress and anxiety more than anything else.

Since increasing my workouts to 4x a week, I have found my attacks decreasing. And I've been through a helluva lot in the past year. They are down to one or two a week, rather than at LEAST once a a day. I still get them, and I still get them working out - but I'm not relying on medication to deal with them - unless it's an anxiety attack that gets out of control (because those get dangerous quickly for me with my asthma). I am also struggling with a relapse in depression - turns out that the cure isn't forever, after all. Caveat: I did try going back on Lexapro that I was prescribed 3 years ago to treat head to toe anxiety hives, and that caused me to become 10x worse all around. So yeah - diet and exercise and therapy are how I'm treating it all now, and I struggle - but I'm fighting back.

You can do this - you will get through this, and you'll be so much stronger for it. I promise!!

rbarragato412

Wish i read this before I made my post tonight.
I had a terrible panic attack tonight after doing the arc trainer at a high intensity and at a moderate pace. My max heart rate on my monitor is 166, and today I was up to 171-172 which I never do because I never go that crazy.
I literally wanted to go to the emergency room, and resorted to my "just in case" medications. It was absolutely TERRIBLE. I guess lesson learned from not listening to my HRM. Panic sucks!

TigerBite

Evening walks: Smart thinking with the heat being so intense.

Unrelated to exercise, but I gave my self a panic attack in the shower once, lol. I was really sore from a morning run, so I took a really hot shower. Problem was, it was summer (my family rarely uses the air in the summer, we like the heat). Well, I made it so hot that my BP dropped really low, I started freaking out and had a full blown panic attack ... My first one ever. I've had them since in certain situations, usually srress induced, but I've learned how to breath/talk myself out of them. Sometime sucking on a peice of cany helps to, as sometimes I can become hypoglycemic when I have a "freakout".

gmallan

Sometimes when I have a really hard sprint session or take a big hit in football my throat start to close over and I can't breath properly which leads to a mini panic attack. Very freaky

shadus

That sounds very similar to my eldest son's description of his asthma, might wanna poke a doctor about being checked.

spamantha57

I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder in 2007 & it started getting really bad towards the end of 2009, where 2010-2012 I couldn't do much of anything which led to my health problems & weight gain, til I kicked all my prescriptions & used healthy food as medicine.

I've only had maybe 3 this year so far. I felt one about to creep up a couple weeks ago when I was getting off work (I work at 24 Hour Fitness now) & started using a leg machine. I was about to freak out right there & felt like I needed to do something, so I ran downstairs into a boot camp class that already started. I think focusing that "fight or flight" energy actually helped - which was the opposite of everything I sort of had been doing for those few years my condition had been getting worse.

If you're exercising & feel like you need to stop, then stop of course. But I do believe exercise can be a very positive powerful good thing for those of us that suffer or have suffered through things like anxiety & depression.